The Listening test is the first part of a series of tests in IELTS. Both the designation of Academic Module and General Training Module, both use the same listening test. The recording for the listening section will be played for 30 - 20 minutes to listen to the recording and answer the questions that are heard, and 10 minutes to transfer the answers to the answer sheet. The number of questions that must be answered is 38 to 40 items. The recording is played only once, without repetition or pause.

Listening is divided into 4 parts. The first and second parts usually revolve around problems in social situations, with a format in the form of a conversation involving two speakers and a monologue. The third and fourth parts are generally related to lectures in the academic world, with a conversation format involving up to 4 speakers and monologues or lectures. The gradation of questions starts with the easy category and continues to increasingly difficult types.

In more detail, the listening recording format is as follows:

• Section 1: A conversation between two speakers about a social or semi-official context;
• Section 2: A talk by a speaker (monologue) about a non-academic situation;
• Section 3: A conversation consisting of up to four speakers about academic topics or lecture-related situations;
• Section 4: A university-style lecture or monologue.

The types of questions vary and each focuses on various listening skills. The listening section question format includes multiple choice, short answer, choosing an image that represents the description in the recording, completing sentences, completing forms, completing various tables/sections/summaries/notes/flow/labeling diagrams where certain parts have been numbered, and matching.