How many questions are in IELTS Listening?
Quick answer
IELTS Listening has 40 questions in four parts, and each correct answer receives 1 mark. IELTS.org states that Parts 1 and 2 are set in everyday social situations and Parts 3 and 4 in educational and training situations. The question types listed are multiple choice, matching, labelling a plan, map or diagram, completion tasks, sentence completion and short-answer questions.
Part of The IELTS Speaking test, answered
Practise the thing this page describes out loud in the app and get it scored on all four criteria.
iOS and Android
The count is fixed at 40. What varies from test to test is how those 40 questions are made up.
Four parts, four settings
IELTS.org describes the four parts as follows. Part 1 is a conversation between two speakers, for example about travel arrangements. Part 2 has one main speaker, such as a talk about local facilities. Part 3 is a conversation between two main speakers in an educational or training context, for example university students discussing an assignment. Part 4 is one person speaking on an academic subject.
Parts 1 and 2 are set in everyday social situations, and Parts 3 and 4 in educational and training situations. IELTS.org states that different accents are used, including British, Australian, New Zealand and North American.
The question types
IELTS.org lists six types of question:
- multiple choice
- matching
- plan, map or diagram labelling
- form, note, table or flow chart completion
- sentence completion
- short-answer questions
Where you write a word or number, IELTS sets a word limit, and you must follow it.
How the 40 turn into a band
Each correct answer receives 1 mark, and the total out of 40 is converted to a band, given in whole or half bands. IELTS.org publishes example points only. The band score calculator shows how your section scores combine.
What is not published
IELTS does not publish how many questions of each type you will meet, and IELTS’s pages do not give a full raw-score table. Any list of question types in a fixed order is a pattern in past papers, not an IELTS rule.
Using the number
Ten questions a part means the parts are roughly equal in weight, so a bad start in Part 1 costs as much as a bad finish in Part 4. Practise whole recordings and check your answer in the format the paper requires.
What this means for your score
With 40 questions and 1 mark each, your raw score is simply the number you get right. IELTS.org's example points are about 23 out of 40 for band 6 and about 30 for band 7, though the exact figure varies slightly from test version to test version.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are in each part of IELTS Listening?
IELTS.org states that the paper has four parts with ten questions in each part. That makes 40 in total.
What are the IELTS Listening question types?
IELTS.org lists six. They are multiple choice, matching, plan, map or diagram labelling, form, note, table or flow chart completion, sentence completion, and short-answer questions. Fill-in-the-blank answers have a word limit.
Is the number of questions different for Academic and General Training?
No. Listening is the same in both. IELTS.org states that the Speaking and Listening sections are the same in the Academic and General Training tests, and both formats give 40 questions.
What raw score do I need for a given band?
IELTS.org gives example points, not a full table. About 16 out of 40 gives band 5, about 23 band 6, about 30 band 7 and about 35 band 8. It states that the exact number varies slightly from test version to test version.
Sources
- IELTS Academic: Listening test format — IELTS.org
- IELTS General Training: Listening test format — IELTS.org
- IELTS scoring in detail: band scores explained — IELTS.org
Last verified 30 Sep 2026
Practise this with instant AI feedback
Record your answer in the app and get your grammar, vocabulary, fluency and pronunciation analysed in seconds.