Free IELTS Listening Practice Test with Audio and Answers
We have prepared a full IELTS Listening practice test (same as the real exam) with an audio player and answers that you can take for free to test your listening skills. New to the format? Read IELTS Listening test format and tips first.
What's in the test
- 4 sections
- 40 questions
- 30 minutes + 10 to transfer
How to take the test
- 1Press playThe four sections play one after another, like the real exam.
- 2Answer as you listenWrite on paper, then take 10 minutes to transfer your answers.
- 3Check your bandAnswer key and score table are at the end.
About this test: this practice test is based on a free sample test published by IELTS. For their current sample questions, see IELTS.org.
All 4 sections · 30:50
IELTS Listening Practice Test
Section 1: City Bank Customer Service Log
Questions 1–4
Complete the table below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
City Bank Customer Service Log
Customer's Term Deposit details:
Current Term Deposit interest rates:
4 Term Deposits
Minimum deposit: $20,000
Questions 5–10
Complete the table below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
| 5 tax rate: | 28% | |
| Investment returns | Depend on 6 | |
| Term | Effective rate of return | |
| 2 years | Salary $48,001 – $70,000
3.75% per annum |
Salary $70,001 – 7 $ 3.92% per annum |
| Minimum investment amount: | $10,000 | |
| Hidden charges/fees: | 8 | |
| Interest payment options: | monthly, 9, 6‑monthly, annually | |
| Application options: |
online 10 in person |
|
Section 2: A City Park and its September Celebration
Questions 11–15
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
11The September Celebration day is held
Afive times a year to honour the city
Bon the park’s important birthday
Cto remember the history of the park
12The park was first built in
A1955
B1979
Cthe 1990s
13The park still uses
Aa children’s play area
Ba petting zoo
Ctwo of the early rides
14The Hurricane roller-coaster is
Atall and made of wood
Bdesigned for smaller children
Cvery fast and exciting
15The rides with a height limit are coded
Ayellow
Bblue
Cblack
Questions 16–20
Complete the notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.
Food options:
- Italian, Chinese, etc. at the Food Court
- hamburgers, sandwiches, etc. at 16
Special events:
Parade
- Starts at noon
- On the 17
- Run by final year high school students
Concert
- At the amphitheatre
- Theme: 18
- Starts at 7:00
Safety and Security:
- Ten 19 centres in the park
- Children ask any staff member for help
- Ask security team at the 20
Section 3: Student Project – Designing a Water Treatment System
Questions 21–24
Complete the flowchart below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.
Session outline:
Project topic: design a water treatment system
Tutorial structure:
Step 1: go over 21
Step 2: think about research 22
- search online databases using good search terms
- consider the kind of research, e.g. 23 from other projects
Step 3: develop an 24
Questions 25–27
Complete the summary below.
Write NO MORE THAN ONE WORD for each answer.
Project description:
You need to design a grey-water treatment system to reduce the pressure on the water 25 in a Cameroon village. Grey-water is wastewater from household 26. The system needs to treat this water to remove bacteria, and recycle it to use for purposes such as watering plants, flushing toilets and doing 27.
Questions 28–30
Complete the notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.
Research tips
General internet searches:
Avoid websites where 28 try to sell their products.
Engineering library:
Use key words when searching the catalogue
e.g. grey-water treatment systems / 29 use
EWB website
Check examples from the 30 last year.
Section 4: Lecture – Origins of the Caveman Diet
Questions 31–34
Complete the summary below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.
Origins of the Caveman Diet
There are many popular fad diets nowadays. They all promise good health if you stick to the 31. The Caveman diet is a popular example. This diet includes foods such as lean meat and fish that our forebears ate before we developed 32. We need to find out what our ancestors did eat, so researchers are studying some existing hunter-gatherer tribes. These tribes typically like to eat meat but they can’t always get it, even though they are skilled with their weapons, e.g. 33 and . So, instead, they eat foods that their wives gather. They get only about a 34 of their energy from meat.
Questions 35–36
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
35Research evidence suggests that
Athe tribesmen’s traditional diet is unhealthy
Bour bodies can digest only certain foods
Cwe can adapt to a range of diets.
36Thai people have difficulty digesting milk because
Athey have too much lactase in their bodies
Bin the past they didn’t farm cows
Ctheir saliva lacks certain enzymes.
Questions 37–40
Complete the notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.
Variation in global diets:
- Inuit – most calories from 37 foods, e.g. seal meat
- Jains – vegetarian, but milk is permitted
- Others – fish, insects
Implications for the caveman diet:
- Cavemen did not all eat the same diet
- Diets come from complicated cultural 38
Problems with Caveman diet:
- Costs a lot of money for lean meat and 39
- Too much red meat may be unhealthy
- Reliance on meat is bad for the 40
Listening Answer Key
Check your answers and tick each one you got right (drag over the boxes to tick several at once). Your score and band appear below.
IELTS Listening Score
| Band | Correct answers |
|---|---|
| 9 | 39–40 |
| 8.5 | 37–38 |
| 8 | 35–36 |
| 7.5 | 32–34 |
| 7 | 30–31 |
| 6.5 | 26–29 |
| 6 | 23–25 |
| Band | Correct answers |
|---|---|
| 5.5 | 18–22 |
| 5 | 16–17 |
| 4.5 | 13–15 |
| 4 | 11–12 |
| 3.5 | 8–10 |
| 3 | 6–7 |
| 2.5 | 4–5 |
Want your overall band too? Try our IELTS band score calculator: add your four skills and it rounds the result the way IELTS does.