What are the contents and types of IELTS listening test
Today we are going to study the content and types of IELTS listening test. It is hoped that through this article, students who have just started preparing for the IELTS test or have first contact with the IELTS test can have a general understanding of the IELTS listening test.
IELTS Listening Test Form
IELTS listening consists of four parts, with 10 questions for each part and 40 questions in total. One point for each question. The length of each part of audio is about 7 minutes. A certain amount of time will be given before the beginning of each audio segment, and a certain amount of time will be given after the end of each audio segment. The first three parts of the audio will be played in two segments, and the fourth part of the audio will be played as a whole, without any interval pause. After the exam, candidates have 10 minutes to copy their answers onto the answer sheet. Analytical version of IELTS listening scoring standard
Content of IELTS Listening Test
The following is the official IELTS listening test content. It can be seen that the first two parts are more inclined to life, while the third and fourth parts are more academic. That is to say, the first two parts mainly examine whether you can live abroad, and the second two parts mainly examine whether you can adapt to foreign learning, at least understand the discussion between students and the teacher's teaching content.
| part |
Topic range |
Material content |
Main investigation focus |
Number of questions |
| one |
civil life |
A two-way conversation (e.g. about travel arrangements) |
Understanding and recording specific factual information |
ten |
| two |
civil life |
Monologue for communication purposes (such as introducing the opening hours of the museum) |
Understanding and recording specific factual information |
ten |
| three |
Education and training |
Discussions between 2-4 people in an academic environment (such as coaching or seminars; discussions between teachers and students on homework) |
Understand conversations involving semantic guessing. Understand specific information, attitudes, and speakers' opinions |
ten |
| four |
Education and training |
Monologue in academic environment (such as lecture content of general academic topics) |
Understand academic argumentation. Understand specific information, attitudes and speakers' opinions |
ten |
Characteristics of IELTS Listening Test
1. All recordings will be played once only, and there will be no pause between topics. So it is very important to keep up with the recording rhythm and know where the answers are easy to come from.
2. Various accents. Because the full name of IELTS is International English Language Testing System, it will deliberately appear the accents of multiple countries in the exam. British accent accounts for 70%, American accent and Australian accent account for 25%. The remaining 5% may have strange accents such as Japanese, Indian and Middle Eastern accents.
3. Sequence principle. The advance order of the original IELTS listening text must be consistent with the order of the questions, and there will be no jumping questions, disordered order, etc.
4. What you hear is what you get. The answer to the IELTS listening test must be the words in the original listening text. The same synonym, change of part of speech, difference between singular and plural, etc. will be counted as errors.
5. Case does not matter. It is clearly stated on the official website of IELTS that the capitalization of words is not the basis for judging right and wrong in the listening test. That is to say, everyone is willing to use lower case and upper case. It doesn't matter.
Types of IELTS Listening Test
1. Personal information notes. It mainly appears in Section 1. It usually appears in the form of application form, and the inspection content often includes time, number, place, address, name spelling, scene words, etc.
2. Fill in the blanks in the table. The probability of appearing in Section 2 is the highest, but recent exams are relatively rare. As the name implies, the questions are mainly in the form of tables, and attention should be paid to the contents of the header and the first column.
3. Single sentence blank filling questions. It mainly appears in Section 2 and Section 3. That is, to give a sentence, you need to fill in the empty words. The difficulty of this problem is that the rhythm is fast, and it is easy to miss one after another.
4. Summary type blank filling questions. It mostly appears in Section 3 and Section 4. Given a paragraph, you need to fill in the missing words according to the original listening. The difficulty is that the interval between the questions is not clear. It is not easy to hear when a question ends and when a question begins.
5. Outline type blank filling questions. The most common question type in Section 4 of the current exam. In form, like the outline, it can be divided into subtitles, sub arguments, etc. The rhythm is slow and there is much nonsense. Compare and test your ability to follow the original listening.
6. Single choice questions. It mainly appears in Section 2 and Section 3. The focus is on synonymous substitution and interference terms. The choice of Section 2 is often simple, while the choice of Section 3 is the most difficult question in listening at present.
7. Multiple choice questions. Not every exam will be given, and the investigation method is almost the same as that of single choice questions. It can be divided into 2 out of 5 and 3 out of 7. At present, the probability of two out of five is higher.
8. Matching questions. Section 2 and Section 3 mainly investigate the question types. Examine your ability to quickly match synonymous replacement with information. Because the rhythm is fast, it is easy to be unresponsive.
9. Map question. Basically all appear in Section 2. As long as it is not left and right, it should be the simplest question in listening. The inspection frequency is basically once a month.
10. Flow chart. It mainly occurs in Section 3, and the investigation frequency is low. In addition to the test points of the conventional blank filling questions, it mainly focuses on logical connectives.
11. Questions. Now it almost no longer appears, and it is also a relatively simple topic.
What are the best IELTS listening textbooks
Official version of IELTS Listening Score Comparison Table
The above is the introduction of the content and question types of IELTS listening test brought by the old roast duck editor. I hope it will be helpful to the students who have just come into contact with IELTS.
