Section test

Listening practice test

Dictation and the interactive conversation set, including the Listen and Complete and summary tasks.

16 minutes, 2 task types — not a full hour
Moves Listening, Comprehension, Conversation on your report
A real adaptive engine — difficulty moves with your answers

Take listening test 1

16 minper section

2task types

Listeningsubscore trained

Adaptivedifficulty

This section serves only the task types that feed your Listening subscore, at difficulty that adapts to how you answer — the same engine that runs a full mock, pointed at one skill.

Because Listening also feeds Comprehension and Conversation, work here moves three of the eight numbers on your report.

Six tests

Six listening tests to choose from

Tests 1–3 use questions found nowhere else on the site. Tests 4–6 reuse the questions of Mock Tests 1–3, so take them before or instead of those mocks.

Listening · Test 1

Listening Test 1

Its own set of listening questions, used nowhere else on the site: not in any mock test and not in any other section test.

Take test 1

Listening · Test 2

Listening Test 2

A second unique set. Nothing here appears in listening test 1, test 3 or any mock, so a second sitting measures you again.

Take test 2

Listening · Test 3

Listening Test 3

The third unique set, same difficulty range and same scoring, so all three listening scores compare directly.

Take test 3

Listening · Test 4

Listening Test 4

The first slice of the listening bank, running the full difficulty range so it finds your level wherever it is. Shares its questions with Mock Test 1.

Take test 4

Listening · Test 5

Listening Test 5

A separate set. Nothing here appears in test 1 or test 3, so a second sitting is a fresh measurement rather than a memory test. Shares its questions with Mock Test 2.

Take test 5

Listening · Test 6

Listening Test 6

The third disjoint slice, same difficulty range and same scoring, so all three listening scores are directly comparable. Shares its questions with Mock Test 3.

Take test 6

16 minutes each. Free for a limited time.

Inside

What is in the listening section

1 minute

Listen & Type

You hear a sentence and type exactly what was said. You can replay it a limited number of times.

How it is scored →

7 min 45 s

Interactive Listening

You listen to a scenario and fill in 3–4 blanks about it, take part in a conversation by choosing the best reply at 5–6 turns, then write a 75-second summary of what was said.

How it is scored →

How it runs

What happens when you start the listening test

A short start screen, no camera
The start screen reminds you to turn your volume up. Nothing is recorded on this section, and no microphone or camera is needed.
The engine starts near the middle and moves
Your first item sits around the centre of the scale. From there difficulty tracks your answers — get one right and the next is harder. It is the same item-response engine that runs a full mock, pointed at Listening alone.
2 task types, 16 minutes
Each task carries its own timer, exactly as it does in the real test. Timers do not pause and there is no going back to a submitted answer.
A score on the same scale
You get a Listening estimate on the 10–160 scale with a confidence range, not a percentage. Because it is one skill, there is no overall score — that needs all four.
Feedback where a rubric applies
Every written and spoken response comes back with what worked and the one thing to change, graded by model against a rubric.

Why it matters

What listening is really costing you

Listening is the skill that improves slowest, because recognising a word on a page and catching it in connected speech at conversational pace are different abilities. It is also the one candidates most often misjudge — understanding the gist of a sentence feels like success, and dictation then reveals that half the function words never registered.

Take listening test 1

Diagnose

Find your pattern, then fix that

Four failure patterns cover most of what goes wrong here. Read down the left column until one describes you — the fix is beside it, and it is usually not the fix people assume.

If this sounds like you	What to actually do
You catch the content words and drop "the", "a", "-s"	The classic pattern, and it is grammar rather than hearing. Unstressed function words reduce almost to nothing in connected speech, and your ear only supplies them if your grammar expects them.
You spend all your replays on one unclear word	Type everything after the first play, then use the replays to check. Starting with a replay is the most expensive habit on the dictation task.
You follow conversations but pick the wrong reply	Interactive Listening distractors are natural English that answers a slightly different question — usually one that ignores a condition just set. Listen for if, unless, provided that.
Some accents throw you and others do not	Narrow exposure, not narrow ability. The test draws on a range of accents deliberately, and widening what you listen to fixes this faster than anything else. Our listening skills guide has a four-week plan.

On your report

Where listening shows up

One skill, three numbers. This is why a single weak section costs more than people expect.

Listening

Measured directly by every task in this section.

Comprehension

An integrated subscore built partly from Listening, so it moves when this does.

Conversation