IELTS Listening band scores

The questions in your Listening test will be based on four audio recordings taken from different scenarios. Each recording will cover a different situation you might encounter in everyday life which can be a conversation between two people, a monologue from an everyday social situation (a speech), a conversation between up to 4 people and finally a monologue from an academic context (university lecture).

You will need to answer 40 questions in your Listening test where you will be given one mark for each correct answer. The total correct answers will be used to calculate your final Listening band score. It is very important to try and answer every question as a blank answer will get no marks.

For instance, you will need a raw score of 35 out of 40 to achieve a band score of 8 in the Listening test. This score will turn be used to calculate your overall band score for IELTS.