| The real purpose of the IELTS Listening test is to | | | | Typically a campus tour or the orientation of new |
| determine a candidate's preparedness to deal with | | | | students to a particular campus facility; sometimes a |
| actual situations in the study-abroad contexts that | | | | simulated radio news report. Particular skills tested are |
| require accurate hearing of English. Accordingly, the | | | | the ability to hear information in a variety of accents |
| test is in four sections, all of which represent actual | | | | and acoustical settings, hear key words, note phrases |
| kinds of conversation, public speech, and lectures | | | | the change the meaning of other words heard, and |
| that a foreign student doing advanced study abroad | | | | comprehend information given from multiple points of |
| might encounter. They are: | | | | view. |
| -- A social situation. Typically a conversation between | | | | -- A single speaker in an academic situation. Typically |
| two people about an everyday-life matter, such as | | | | a portion of a lecture. The subject matter is not |
| travel events, planning to spend time together, | | | | highly technical and requires no prior knowledge. Even |
| making personal introductions, going to a restaurant, | | | | so, candidates must demonstrate the ability to hear |
| and the like. This section tests ability to hear key | | | | key word and concepts accurately, to distinguish |
| words, comprehend descriptions of locations and | | | | between true and false statements and facts and |
| spoken directions about how to reach them, how to | | | | opinions, and to recognize reported speech and other |
| recognize and identify other people from physical | | | | qualifiers that change the meaning of some phrases. |
| descriptions, and comprehend ordinary language. | | | | The four sections or the IELTS Listening test tend to |
| Particular challenges are hearing English in a variety of | | | | increase in difficulty, but careful preparation is |
| accents, spoken quickly, and the speakers changing | | | | recommended. Some candidates find the first section |
| their minds and using slang. | | | | hardest, simply because of the extensive use of |
| -- A single speaker in a nonacademic situation. | | | | slang and their difficulty in understanding words in |
| Typically a talk by a school or other administrator | | | | unfamiliar accents. Some of the best preparation is |
| about a program or service; sometimes an interview | | | | free: extensive listening to radio and TV news on |
| in which only one of the speakers provides | | | | channels such as BBC, which naturally report news in |
| information. Particular skills tested are the accurate | | | | British and Commonwealth accents. British, American |
| hearing of information about things such as times, | | | | and other English foreign movies and TV shows also |
| places, dates, names, and particular aspects of policy | | | | give good exposure to English as spoken by natives |
| and the ability to complete forms. | | | | and slang speech. |
| -- Multiple speakers in a nonacademic situation. | | | | |