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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.

IELTS Listening score table converter

Number of correct answers
(Raw Score)

IELTS Listening
Band Score

39-40

9

37-38

8.5

35-36

8

32-34

7.5

30-31

7

26-29

6.5

23-25

6

18-22

5.5

16-17

5

13-15

4.5

11-12

4

* The IELTS Listening band score tables that are shown here highlight the average number of marks required to achieve a particular IELTS band score. Actual marks may vary slightly between tests due to the variation in listening questions used on different occasions.

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Here are some handy tips to help you understand the IELTS Listening test in the IELTS on computer test format.

Band scores

Listening band scores