Listening part tests your ability to understand spoken English in an academic environment. It also tests your ability to understand a variety of accents, both native and non-native.
Listening (total time 45-57 minutes)
| Task type | Number of Tasks | Task description | Skills assessed | Text/ Recording Length |
| Summarize spoken text | 2- 3 | After listening to a recording, write a summary of 50- 70 words. | listening and writing | 60- 90 seconds |
| Multiple choice, choose multiple answers | 2- 3 | After listening to a recording, answer a multiple-choice question on the content or tone of the recording by selecting more than one response. |
listening | 40- 90 seconds |
| Fill in the blanks | 2- 3 | The transcription of a recording appears on screen with several Fill in the blanks. While listening to the recording, type the missing words into the blanks. | listening and writing | 30- 60 seconds |
| Highlight correct summary | 2- 3 | After listening to a recording, select the paragraph that best summarizes the recording. | listening and reading | 30-90 seconds |
| Multiple choice, choose single answer | 2- 3 | After listening to a recording, answer a multiple-choice question on the content or tone of the recording by selecting single response. | listening | 30- 60 seconds |
| Select missing word | 2- 3 | After listening to a recording, select the missing word or group of words that completes the recording. | listening | 20- 70 seconds |
| Highlight incorrect words | 2- 3 | The transcription of a recording appears on screen. While listening to the recording, identify the words in the transcription that differ from what is said. | listening and reading | 15- 50 seconds |
| Write from dictation | 3- 4 | After listening to a recording of a sentence, type the sentence. | listening and writing | 3-5 seconds |
Each recording is played only once. You may take notes using the Erasable Noteboard Booklet and pen, and use these notes as a guide when answering the tasks.
With the exception of Summarize spoken text, listening task types are not timed individually. You can refer to the timer in the upper right-hand corner of the computer screen “Time Remaining” which counts down the time remaining for the listening part.
LISTENING TASK SCORING
| COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS | Enabling skills and other traits scored |
| Summarize spoken text | |
| LISTENING AND WRITING | Content: 2 Provides a good summary of the text. All relevant aspects are mentioned. 1 Provides a fair summary of the text, but one or two aspects are missing. 0 Omits or misrepresents the main aspects. Form: 2 Contains 50- 70 words. 1 Contains 40- 49 words or 71 – 100 words. 0 Contains less than 40 words or more than 100 words. Summary is written in capital letters. contains no punctuation, or consists only of bullet points or very short sentences. Grammar: 2 Correct grammatical structures. 1 Contains grammatical errors with no hindrance to communication. 0 Defective grammatical structures which could hinder communication. Vocabulary: 2 Appropriate choice of words. 1 Some lexical errors but with no hindrance to communication. 0 Defective word choice which could hinder communication. Spelling: 2 Correct spelling, but there may be one typing error. 1 One spelling error and/or more than one typing error. 0 More than one spelling error and/or numerous typing errors. |
| Multiple-choice, choose multiple answers | |
| LISTENING | Partial credit, points deducted for incorrect options chosen: 1 Each correct response -1 Each incorrect response 0 Minimum score |
| Fill In the blanks | |
| LISTENING AND WRITING | Partial credit: 1 Each correct word spelled correctly 0 Minimum score |
| Highlight correct summary | |
| LISTENING AND READING | Correct/Incorrect: 1 Correct response 0 Incorrect response |
| Multiple-choice, choose single answer | |
| LISTENING | Correct/Incorrect: 1 Correct response 0 Incorrect response |
| Select missing word | |
| LISTENING | Correct/Incorrect: 1 Correct response 0 Incorrect response |
| Highlight incorrect words | |
| LISTENING AND READING | Partial credit, points deducted for incorrect options chosen: 1 Each correct word -1 Each incorrect word 0 Minimum score |
| Write from dictation | |
| LISTENING AND WRITING | Partial credit: 1 Each correct word spelled correctly 0 Each incorrect or misspelled word |