Timing
Approximately 30 minutes (plus 10 minutes transfer time).
Questions
There are 40 questions
A variety of question types are used, chosen from the following: multiple choice, matching, plan/map/diagram labeling, form completion, note completion, table completion, flow chart completion, summary completion, sentence completion, short-answer questions.
Test Sections
There are 4 sections
Section 1 is a conversation between two people set in an everyday social context (e.g. a conversation in an accommodation agency)
Section 2 is a one person speech set in an everyday social context (e.g. a speech about local facilities or a talk about the arrangements for meals during a conference)
Section 3 is a conversation between up to four people set in an educational or training context (e.g. a university tutor and a student discussing an assignment, or a group of students planning a research project)
Section 4 is a one person speech on an academic subject (e.g. a university lecture) Each section is heard once only A variety of voices and native-speaker accents is used
Skills Assessed
A wide range of listening skills is assessed, including understanding of main ideas and specific factual information; recognizing opinions, attitudes and purpose of a speaker; and following the development of an argument
Marking
Each correct answer receives 1 mark Scores out of 40 are converted to the IELTS 9-band scale. Scores are reported in whole and half bands