ListeningGuide
IELTS Listening Test Format: Length, Questions and Scoring
Four parts, ten questions each, forty marks, about thirty minutes. The recording plays once, and the questions follow its order. Academic and General Training use the same Listening test, and your score out of 40 converts to a band.
The test has four parts of ten questions each and takes about thirty minutes source: ielts.org. Nothing in this shape changes between test versions, or between paper and computer.
The four parts
Parts 1 and 2 are everyday, social situations. Parts 3 and 4 are educational and training situations. In each pair, the first part has two speakers and the second has one source: ielts.org.
Everyday and social
Educational and training
Ten questions in each part, one mark each. The recording plays once.
Source: ielts.org, Listening format
Show the data
| Part | Questions | Situation | Speakers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 to 10 | Everyday and social | Two |
| 2 | 11 to 20 | Everyday and social | One |
| 3 | 21 to 30 | Educational and training | Two |
| 4 | 31 to 40 | Educational and training | One |
| Part | An example of what you might hear |
|---|---|
| 1 | Two people talk about travel arrangements |
| 2 | One main speaker gives a speech about local facilities |
| 3 | Two university students talk, perhaps with a tutor guiding them |
| 4 | One person speaks on an academic subject |
ielts.org calls them parts source: ielts.org. The British Council page uses both words, sections and parts, so you may see either source: British Council.
Part 1 is usually a transactional conversation, with questions on details such as names, dates, times, prices or addresses. In Part 3 you follow an exchange of ideas and the speakers' points of view. In Part 4 you follow the main ideas and the supporting detail source: British Council.
IELTS does not describe the four parts as getting harder. What changes is the setting and the number of speakers. Part 1 is two people arranging something ordinary. Part 4 is one person on an academic subject, with nobody to interrupt or explain again.
So practise all four parts. If most of your practice is Part 1 material, you have not practised the end of the paper.
The two rules that shape how you listen
You cannot hear the recording again. If you stop to think about a question you missed, the recording keeps going. By the time you start listening again, you may have missed the next answer too.
Use the question paper to keep your place. Suppose you are sure you are listening for question 12, and question 11 is still empty. That means the answer to 11 has already played. Leave 11 and keep listening.
The recordings use different accents, including British, Australian, New Zealand and North American source: ielts.org. Practise with more than one of them.
The six question types
There are six question types. The number of questions of each type is "variable" source: ielts.org. So you cannot know in advance how many of each type you will get.
| Type | What you do | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple choice | Choose one answer from three, or sometimes more than one answer from a longer list | Detailed understanding of specific points, or general understanding of the main points |
| Matching | Match items from the recording to a list of options | Listening for detail, following a conversation between two people, and seeing how facts connect |
| Plan, map or diagram labelling | Complete labels on a plan, map or diagram | Understanding a description of a place and how it relates to the plan, map or diagram, and following directions |
| Form, note, table or flow chart completion | Fill gaps in an outline of the recording | The main points a listener would naturally write down |
| Sentence completion | Fill a gap in a sentence that sums up the recording | Finding important information, and links between ideas such as cause and effect |
| Short-answer questions | Write a short answer using information from the recording | Listening for facts such as places, prices or times |
IELTS Listening question types explains each type and links its own guide.
On the Academic format page, you choose your map labelling answers from a list source: ielts.org. The General Training format page adds a second form, where you write words from the recording in the gaps source: ielts.org.
In form, note, table and flow chart completion, you may have to choose your answers from a list. Or you may have to take words from the recording that fit the gaps. You do not have to change them in any way source: ielts.org.
Marks are easiest to lose when you write the words yourself. How to write numbers, dates and times in IELTS Listening covers the rules those answers are marked against.
How it is scored
Each correct answer gets one mark, so the test is out of 40. Your score is given as a band, in whole or half bands source: ielts.org.
There is no weighting. A question in Part 4 is worth exactly the same as a question in Part 1.
The conversion from marks to a band has four published points: the average marks for bands 5, 6, 7 and 8 source: ielts.org.
These are averages. The exact number varies a little between test versions. Between the pins there is no official figure.
Source: ielts.org, IELTS scoring in detail
Show the data
| Band | Average marks out of 40 |
|---|---|
| 8 | 35 |
| 7 | 30 |
| 6 | 23 |
| 5 | 16 |
You can try any raw score against these averages here.
Drag to your number of correct answers out of 40. The band updates as you go.
Listening band
7.0
30 out of 40 is the average IELTS publishes for band 7 in Listening. 5 more marks reach the band 8 average.
- Correct answers
- 30 / 40
- Next published average
- Band 8 at 35
- Marks to reach it
- 5
Open the IELTS Listening Band Score Converter on its own page
IELTS Listening raw score to band score explains why one raw score can give more than one band. IELTS band scores explained covers how your Listening band counts towards your overall band.
Listening answer sheet and transfer time
What you do with your answers depends on how you take the test.
Where paper is still offered, you write your answers in the question booklet as you listen. At the end you copy them to the answer sheet. You get ten minutes to do this source: British Council.
ielts.org does not say the same on every page. Its General Training test page lists about 30 minutes plus 10 minutes to transfer your answers source: ielts.org. Its Academic test page and both Listening format pages list about 30 minutes and no transfer time (ielts.org, ielts.org, ielts.org). So ask your centre whether you will get the ten minutes.
On computer there is no transfer step. You type each answer as you hear it. No extra time is given. You have two minutes at the end to review your answers (IDP, British Council).
On computer you set the volume yourself. You get headphones source: British Council. A volume bar at the top right of the screen sets the level source: IDP. The recording still plays once.
The rules that cost marks even when you heard the answer
Two rules cost marks on answers you heard correctly: the word limit and spelling.
Two more details in the word limit rule are easy to miss.
A hyphenated word such as "check-in" counts as one word. Contracted words such as "they're" are not tested source: ielts.org. So "check-in" fits a one word limit, and you will never need to write "they're".
Spelling is marked. A word with a spelling error in Listening or Reading is marked wrong. If you hear "library" and write "libary", you lose the mark, even though you heard the word correctly source: IDP.
British and American spellings are both accepted. Mixing the two is not a spelling error as such, but it is inconsistent source: IDP.
The same test in both versions
Listening and Speaking are the same in the General Training and Academic tests. Only Reading and Writing differ source: ielts.org.
So any Listening practice counts, whichever version you have booked. If you have not chosen yet, Academic or General Training helps you decide.
What to expect on IELTS test day covers the rest of the day. It gives the order of the sections, the timings and what you may take into the room.
If Listening is your lowest section, how to get band 7 when you are stuck at 6.5 sets it beside the other three. The Listening improvement plan takes Listening one band step at a time.
The format, the four parts, the question types and what each tests, the once-only recording, the question order, the accents, the word limit rules and the marking above come from ielts.org's Listening format page, last checked on 27 September 2026. The average marks at band level, and the note that the precise number varies from version to version, come from its IELTS scoring in detail page, and the rule that Listening is the same in both tests from its test types page, both checked the same day. The second form of map labelling comes from its General Training Listening format page, read on 3 October 2026. The spelling rule comes from IDP, one of the three organisations that own IELTS, in an article dated 24 May 2021. The section names and what each part asks for come from the British Council's Listening format page. The paper transfer time and the computer review time come from the British Council's article on paper or computer, marked as last updated on 24 December 2023, and IDP's article on how IELTS on computer works, dated 23 December 2021. The two ielts.org test pages that disagree are the Academic and General Training pages. All of these were read on 19 October 2026. IELTS announced that it would move all testing onto computer from mid-2026, with the timing different in each market. Check with your own centre whether you will take the test on paper or on computer.
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- Compass IELTS Editorial Team, the team behind the Compass IELTS band score tools and practice tests
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- Words in a quote box, and sentences just before a source link such as ielts.org, come from the test owners. Everything else is our explanation. Facts about the test come from official sources, linked where we use them. Read our editorial policy.
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