Skill hub
IELTS Listening
Four recordings, forty questions, and you hear each recording once. The band comes straight from how many answers you get right, so the mechanics matter as much as your ear.
Identical on Academic and General Training: the same recordings, the same questions and the same conversion table.
- 30 min
- Four parts, ten questions each
- 40
- Questions, one mark each
- Once
- Each recording is played one time only
What the test asks for
Four recordings, ten questions each, in about 30 minutes. Part 1 is a conversation between two people in an everyday situation. Part 2 is one speaker on a social topic. Part 3 is a conversation in an education or training setting, and Part 4 is one speaker on an academic subject. The accents are British, Australian, New Zealand and North American, and you hear each recording once.
How it is scored
One mark per correct answer, so a raw score out of 40, converted to a band. IELTS publishes the average marks behind each band: 16 for band 5, 23 for band 6, 30 for band 7 and 35 for band 8. The real cut-off moves a mark or two between test versions, which is why the converter below reports a range rather than a promise.
Start with the raw score to band guide
Where marks go missing
- Spelling and word limits. An answer that is right in meaning but misspelt, or one word over the limit, scores nothing.
- The correction. Speakers change their minds mid-sentence, and the first thing you hear is often the wrong answer.
- Losing your place. One missed answer costs one mark; chasing it costs the next three.
- The final minutes. On computer you check answers on screen as you go, so use the pause between parts rather than the end of the test.
Turn a raw score into a band
Based on the averages IELTS publishes.
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
Listening guides
All 1 in the guides indexFormat facts checked against ielts.org on 6 September 2026. Conversion figures are the average marks IELTS publishes for each band, not a guarantee for any single test.
More hubs
Practise Listening on a test that is scored like the real one
The Compass IELTS app plays each recording once, marks your answers to the official rules, and shows which part is costing you marks.