IELTS Academic Listening Practice

IELTS Listening has four sections. Section 1 is a conversation between two people in a social context. Section 2 is a monologue in a social context. Section 3 is a conversation in an academic or training context. Section 4 is a monologue on an academic topic.

There are 40 questions in total (10 per section). Each correct answer scores 1 mark. The raw score out of 40 is converted to an IELTS band score.

Yes. The IELTS Listening test is identical for both Academic and General Training. Only Reading and Writing differ between the two versions.

In IELTS Listening, 35 correct answers out of 40 typically converts to approximately Band 8.0. The rough conversion is: 39–40 = Band 9, 37–38 = Band 8.5, 35–36 = Band 8, 32–34 = Band 7.5, 30–31 = Band 7, 26–29 = Band 6.5.

The most frequent question types are form and note completion, multiple choice, matching, plan and map labelling, and sentence completion. In all completion tasks, you must use words taken directly from the recording and observe any word limit (e.g., 'write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS').

Yes. In Bandleep you can replay audio as many times as you need during practice. In the real IELTS test, each recording is played only once. Once you feel ready, challenge yourself to attempt each set of questions after a single listen to simulate exam conditions.

The fastest gains come from: (1) reading the questions before the audio starts so you know what to listen for; (2) practising note-completion tasks with a strict word limit; (3) reviewing transcripts after every test to identify which types of information you consistently miss; and (4) listening to a variety of English accents — British, Australian, American, and Canadian — as all appear in the IELTS test.