IELTS Academic Listening Syllabus

Listening syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Listening in IELTS Academic, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Listening Test Format

   2 topics

   • Four Recordings Overview
   • Timing and Answer Transfer
2. 2

   Question Types

   6 topics

   • Multiple Choice
   • Matching
   • Plan, Map, and Diagram Labelling
   • Form, Note, Table, Flow-chart and Summary Completion
   • Sentence Completion
   • Short-answer Questions
3. 3

   Core Listening Skills

   4 topics

   • Listening for Specific Information
   • Listening for Main Ideas and Detail
   • Following Signposting and Discourse Markers
   • Recognising Paraphrase and Synonyms
4. 4

   Accents and Pronunciation

   2 topics

   • Range of English Accents
   • Connected Speech Features
5. 5

   Common Pitfalls and Strategies

   4 topics

   • Distractors and Corrections
   • Word Limits and Grammar Accuracy
   • Spelling and Capitalisation Errors
   • Predicting Answers Before Listening

Listening flashcards for IELTS Academic

20 of 50 cards from the Listening deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. How many recordings and questions does the IELTS Listening test contain, and how many times is each recording played?

   Four recordings with 40 questions in total (10 questions per part). Each recording is played once only.

2. Describe the speaker setup and context of each of the four IELTS Listening recordings.

   Part 1: a conversation between two people in an everyday social context (e.g., making a booking). Part 2: a monologue in an everyday social context (e.g., a talk about local facilities). Part 3: a conversation between up to four people in an educational or training context (e.g., a tutor and students discussing an assignment). Part 4: a monologue on an academic subject (e.g., a university lecture).

3. How does difficulty change across the four parts of IELTS Listening?

   Difficulty increases progressively: Part 1 is the easiest (everyday conversation with factual details) and Part 4 is the hardest (an academic lecture with no mid-part break).

4. Is the Listening test different for IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training?

   No. The Listening test is identical for both Academic and General Training candidates.

5. How long does the IELTS Listening test last, and what extra time is given at the end?

   The audio lasts about 30 minutes. On the paper-based test you then get 10 minutes to transfer answers to the answer sheet; on the computer-based test you get only 2 minutes to check your answers (there is no transfer stage).

6. What two accuracy rules apply when transferring Listening answers to the paper answer sheet?

   Answers must be correctly spelled and must respect the word limit; any spelling or grammar error, or exceeding the limit, means the answer is marked wrong.

7. How is IELTS Listening scored, and is there a penalty for wrong answers?

   Each of the 40 questions is worth one mark; the raw score out of 40 is converted to a band score. There is no penalty for wrong answers, so you should never leave a question blank.

8. Approximately what raw Listening scores correspond to Bands 5, 6, 7 and 8?

   Approximately $\frac{16}{40}$ for Band 5, $\frac{23}{40}$ for Band 6, $\frac{30}{40}$ for Band 7, and $\frac{35}{40}$ for Band 8.

9. What two formats can IELTS Listening multiple-choice questions take?

   (1) A question or sentence stem with three options (A, B, C) from which you choose one answer; (2) a longer list of options from which you choose two or more correct answers.

10. In IELTS Listening multiple choice, why is hearing a word from an option not proof that it is correct?

    Because all options are usually mentioned in the recording as distractors; the correct answer is typically a paraphrase of what the speaker says, while wrong options often repeat the recording's exact words in a misleading way.

11. In what order do IELTS Listening multiple-choice questions appear relative to the recording?

    Questions follow the same order as the information in the recording, so if you miss one you should move on rather than lose your place.

12. What does an IELTS Listening matching task require, and what does it test?

    You match a numbered list of items from the recording (e.g., people, places, dates) to a set of lettered options. It tests detailed listening and the ability to recognise relationships and connections between facts in the recording.

13. In matching tasks, can an option from the box be used more than once?

    Yes — depending on the instructions, options may be used more than once or not at all, so always read the rubric carefully.

14. What kind of vocabulary should you master for plan, map and diagram labelling in IELTS Listening?

    Language of location and direction: left, right, straight ahead, opposite, next to/adjacent, in front of, behind, corner, past, across from, and compass points (north, south, east, west).

15. What should you do with a map or plan before the recording starts in a labelling task?

    Orient yourself: find the entrance or starting point and any already-labelled features, note the compass rose if given, and predict the route — the speaker usually describes locations in the same order as the questions.

16. What two answer formats are possible in plan/map/diagram labelling questions?

    Either selecting a letter (A, B, C, ...) from positions marked on the map/diagram, or writing words from the recording within the stated word limit.

17. Name the five completion task types in IELTS Listening and a typical use of each.

    Form completion (personal/factual details such as names and phone numbers), note completion (main points of a talk), table completion (information organised in categories), flow-chart completion (stages of a process linked by arrows), and summary completion (a paragraph summarising the recording).

18. Where must the words for completion, sentence-completion and short-answer tasks come from?

    Directly from the recording — you must write the exact word(s) you hear, without changing the word form, and they must fit the gap grammatically.

19. Under the instruction 'NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER', which of these are acceptable: 'a black cat', '25 students', 'twenty-five'?

    '25 students' and 'twenty-five' are acceptable ('and/or a number' allows a number plus up to two words, and a number written as figures counts as a number, not a word). 'a black cat' is wrong because it is three words. Hyphenated words count as one word.

20. Which signal words indicate sequence in a flow-chart completion recording?

    First(ly), to begin with, then, next, after that, following this, subsequently, finally/lastly.

See more Listening flashcards →

Planning Listening for IELTS Academic

Listening (IELTS Academic) FAQ