IELTS

Listening
English Language Centre
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Test Format and Tasks

Format and Tasks
Strategies and Examples
Further Help
References
Questions

Test Format
Test Format (Recorded tape played o
nce only)
30 minutes
Four Sections, each with 10 questions
Time allocated for
Reading questions
Writing and checking answers
Transferring answers to an answer sheet

Test Format and Tasks

Based on Conversation and Monologue
A variety of question types
Multiple choice
Short-answer questions
Sentence completion
Notes/summary/diagram/flow-chart/table completion
Labeling a diagram which has numbered parts
Classification
Matching

Test Format
Section 1 Questions 1-10
Complete the table
Label the rooms on the map

Section 2 Question 11-20

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each
answer
Write NUMBERS OR NO MORE THAN THREE W
ORDS for each answer

Test Format Listening

Section 3 Questions 21- 30
Choose the correct letters A-C
Write NOT MORE THAN THREE WORDS for eac
h answer

Section 4 Question 31 -40

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each
answer
Write NUMBERS OR NO MORE THAN THREE W
ORDS for each answer

Test Format and Tasks: Assessmen

t Criteria
One mark is awarded for e
ach correct answer in the 4
0 item test
Care should be taken when w
riting answers on the answer
sheet as poor spelling and gr
ammar are penalised.

Test Format and Tasks Listening

Activities
Section 1: A conversation between two sp
eakers in a social and semi-official context
Section 2: A talk by a single speaker base
d on a non-academic situation
Section 3: A conversation with up to 4 spe
akers based on academic topics or courserelated situations
Section 4: A university-style lecture or talk

Approaching the listening tasks

Before you listen, survey the questio
ns and try to build up an idea and re
ason for listening; e.g. what is the to
pic? What is the situation? How man
y characters are there?
Follow the instruction carefully, get t
he information and answer the questi
on accurately

Example of Tasks
Complete the notes using no more than three w
ords.
1. In the mornings the student teachers will
.. ( teach and observe)
2. student teachers could be teaching large clas
ses with up to . (70 students)
3. Discussion groups are quite difficult to arrang
e in Vietnamese classes but not
.. ( impossible)

Example of Task
Tapescript
Good morning everyone. Wel
come to the second year of y
our teaching degree. My na
me is Simon Taylor. I'm a se
cond year lecturer in the edu
cation faculty. Today I'll be gi
ving you an overview of the
field trip to Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam, that you all registe
red for at the end of last yea
r.

Example of Task
Sample task
Tick the three items which are discussed in the ta
lk.
A. Teaching schedule for student teachers
B. Safety issues for student teachers on the field
trip
C. Accommodation
D. How the field trip fits into the teaching degree
E. Vietnamese students' level of proficiency in En
glish
F. How the work requirements for the field trip co
mpare with the work requirements for student
teachers who remain in Australia
G. Quality of English language teaching in Vietna
mese universities
H. Textbooks commonly used in Vietnamese Engli
sh classes

Strategies Test Tips

Your purpose of listening is
to identify what the questi
on requires you to
It is not necessary to unde
rstand every word that is s
poken
You will hear the informati
on once only, so prepare y
ourself by anticipating wha
t you will hear
Read and analyse the ques
tion as pre-listening task

Further Help
CILL Core A 3/F
ITELTS Listening Tapes
and CD-ROMs available
More information at
http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/ci
ll/ielts/

Further Help - CILL

CILL Centre for Indepen
dent Language Learning
Core A 3/F
CILL teachers can give you
suggestions for improving y
our listening skills.

References
You can find these books in CILL, Roo
m AG305:
Cambridge Practice Tests for the IELT
S, Books 1, 2 & 3 (with CD-ROM for l
istening tests)
Insight into IELTS - an IELTS prepara
tion course

Useful websites
UGC Introductory site
http://www.ugccepa.com
IELTS homepage
http://www.ielts.org/index.htm
ELC homepage
http://elc.polyu.edu.hk

Questions
Please do not ask us (or any ELC tea
cher) to predict what grade you will g
et, as this is forbidden by the IELTS o
rganisation.