The four parts of IELTS Listening
The test lasts about 30 minutes, with 40 questions over four parts. You hear each recording once only.
- Part 1: a conversation between two people in an everyday situation, such as booking a room or enrolling in a club. Usually form or note completion.
- Part 2: one speaker in an everyday context, such as a tour guide or a radio announcement. Often a map or plan, plus multiple choice.
- Part 3: two or three speakers in an academic setting, such as students discussing a project with a tutor.
- Part 4: a single speaker giving a lecture on an academic topic. Usually note or summary completion, with no break in the middle.
On the computer test you get 2 minutes at the end to check answers. On paper you get 10 minutes to transfer answers to the answer sheet. Listening and Speaking are the same for Academic and General Training.
Accents: more than British English
The recordings mostly use British voices, but you may also hear Australian, North American, New Zealand and other accents. Students in Pokhara have one natural advantage here: if you have grown up around Lakeside or worked in tourism, you have already heard English spoken by trekkers from dozens of countries.
The difference in the exam is speed and precision. A guest repeats themselves if you look confused; the recording never does. Our 88 Listening practice sets are recorded with British voices, so you get used to the rhythm and vowel sounds most common in the test.
Spelling and numbers
Part 1 in particular tests whether you can write exactly what you hear.
- Spelled names: speakers spell surnames and street names letter by letter. Practise the English alphabet aloud, especially letters that sound alike to Nepali ears: A, E and I; G and J; B and V; M and N.
- Numbers: "thirteen" and "thirty", "fifteen" and "fifty" differ mainly in stress. Listen for the stressed ending: thir-TEEN versus THIR-ty.
- Double letters: "double L" or "double S" in a spelled word.
- Dates and times: know the formats, such as "the twenty-third of March".
- Plurals: if the speaker says "tickets", writing "ticket" is wrong.
Map and plan questions
Map questions in Part 2 worry many students, but they follow a pattern. Before the audio starts:
- find where the speaker begins ("You are here" or the entrance);
- note compass directions and fixed features;
- read the labels already on the map.
Then follow the speaker's route with your finger or cursor. Language such as "opposite", "next to", "at the far end", "to the left of the main path" is essential, so learn it until it is automatic.
Answers come in question order
In almost every section, the answers follow the order of the questions. If you have missed question 14 and the speaker is clearly talking about question 16, leave 14, keep up, and guess at the end. Students who stop to worry about one missed answer often lose the next three.
Practising at home in Pokhara
Good Listening practice needs good sound.
- Use headphones, ideally closed over-ear ones. Phone speakers hide the small sounds (plural S, "-ed" endings) that decide marks.
- Choose your time. Monsoon rain on the roof, traffic on the main road or a busy household can make a set feel harder than it is. Early morning is often quietest.
- Keep a steady connection. Audio streams on the platform, so practise when your Wi-Fi or mobile data is stable.
- Simulate the test. No pausing, no replaying, until the set is finished.
Common errors and how to fix them
- Writing too many words when the instruction says ONE WORD ONLY.
- Writing a word you heard instead of the one that fits. Speakers often correct themselves: "on Tuesday... no, sorry, Wednesday."
- Missing distractors in multiple choice, where all three options are mentioned but only one answers the question.
- Spelling common words wrongly: "accommodation", "environment", "necessary", "Wednesday".
On IELTS Learning, every wrong answer goes to your Mistake Notebook automatically, so you can see whether your problem is spelling, numbers, distractors or simply losing your place. Band 7 needs roughly 30 out of 40, so each of these small errors matters.
Once you are scoring in the low 30s, try our Charged Listening sets, which are faster and denser and are designed for students aiming at 7 and above.
Start your IELTS Listening practice with a free set: register here or explore the practice tests. Full Access is $12 for 2 months.