IELTS Listening Part 3 and Part 4: how to follow discussions and lectures

Parts 3 and 4 are the second half of the IELTS Listening test, and many candidates find them the hardest. The topics move from everyday life to study and training, the language becomes more academic, and in Part 4 there is no second speaker to break up the information. The good news is that both parts follow predictable patterns. Once you know how a discussion and a lecture are organised, you can listen for the structure, not just the words.

This guide explains what IELTS Listening Part 3 and Part 4 involve, the language that signals answers, how to take notes, and an original practice extract with explained answers. For a full breakdown of the six question types, see IELTS Listening question types.

What Parts 3 and 4 involve

The Listening test takes approximately 30 minutes and has four parts with 10 questions each, 40 in total. According to the official format, Parts 1 and 2 deal with everyday social situations, while Parts 3 and 4 deal with educational and training situations.

Rules that apply to the whole test matter even more here. You hear each recording once only. The questions follow the order of the information in the recording. Different accents are used, including British, Australian, New Zealand and North American. Each correct answer receives one mark.

Why Parts 3 and 4 feel harder

• Opinions, not just facts. In Part 1 you often listen for a name or a date. In Part 3 you listen for what a speaker thinks, and speakers change their minds, agree partly, or reject an idea the other person suggested.
• Academic vocabulary. Topics come from study and training, so you meet words like methodology, sample, findings and evaluation, plus subject vocabulary from science, history or the environment.
• Longer stretches of speech. Part 4 is one voice. There are no questions from another speaker to slow things down or repeat information.
• Heavier paraphrase. The words on the question paper are rarely the words you hear. Our paraphrasing guide shows how the same idea can be expressed in different ways.
• Fatigue. These parts come at the end, when concentration is lowest. Short, regular practice sessions help build listening stamina.

Question types you are likely to meet

Any of the six official question types can appear in any part. In practice, many candidates find that Part 3 often uses question types that test opinions and relationships, such as multiple choice and matching, while Part 4 often uses note, summary, table or flow-chart completion. Do not rely on this pattern; read the instructions for every set.

Note completion deserves special attention. IELTS describes a set of notes as a way “to summarise information and show how different points relate to one another”, and says completion tasks focus on “the main points the person listening would naturally write down”. In other words, the notes follow the lecture's own structure. If you understand that structure, you know where each gap belongs.

Part 3: following a discussion

Part 3 conversations usually involve a task: choosing a topic, planning a project, reviewing feedback or comparing sources. The answer is often the speakers' final decision or agreed view, not the first idea mentioned.

A short Part 3 example (original)

Which topic do the students choose for their presentation? A a survey of recycling on campus B interviews with local café owners C a comparison of two parks

• Tom: For the presentation, I was thinking we could survey students about recycling on campus.
• Lena: It's a good idea, but Dr Ellis said three groups have already picked that.
• Tom: Ah. What about interviewing the café owners on the high street about their packaging?
• Lena: I like that, actually. Though getting appointments might take ages. What if we compared the two parks near the station instead? We could do that this weekend.
• Tom: Hmm, but we'd only be describing them. With the cafés we'd have real data. Let's at least email them today.
• Lena: OK, fair enough. Cafés it is, and if nobody replies by Friday, we'll fall back on the parks.

Answer: B. All three options are mentioned, which is normal. A is rejected (three groups have already picked that). C is suggested, then argued against, and kept only as a back-up. The decision comes at the end: fair enough. Cafés it is. If you had chosen as soon as you heard I like that, actually, you would have been right by luck; if you had chosen when Lena suggested the parks, you would have been wrong. Wait for the decision.

Part 4: following a lecture

Lectures are organised for listeners. Speakers announce what they will cover, mark each new section, and signal examples, contrasts and conclusions. These signposts are your map.

Note-taking and prediction

1. Use the reading time. IELTS notes that you only have limited time to look at the questions before the recording starts. Read the title and headings of the notes first: they are the lecture's outline.
2. Predict each gap. Noun or verb? Singular or plural? A number, a material, a process, a place? Write a small mark beside each gap (n, v, pl).
3. Check the word limit. You will lose the mark for writing more than the limit. Hyphenated words count as one word, and contracted words such as they're are not tested.
4. Follow the headings, not just the gaps. When the speaker says Moving on to…, move your eyes to the next heading. If you miss an answer, the next heading tells you where to rejoin.
5. Write what you hear. IELTS says you do not have to change the words in the recording, so write the exact word. Spelling counts: mistakes are marked as wrong. Our guide to spelling and numbers covers the common errors.
6. Never leave a blank. IELTS advises guessing because you won't lose marks for wrong answers.

Worked example: an original lecture extract

The extract and questions below were written by Stride for study. They are not official IELTS material. Ask a friend to read the transcript aloud once at a natural speed, or record yourself and play it back, before you look at the answers.

Questions 1–6: note completion

Complete the notes. Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.

Transcript

Good morning, everyone. Today I want to look at something many of you will have felt on a summer evening without knowing its name: the urban heat island. Put simply, it's the tendency for a city to stay warmer than the countryside around it, and the difference is usually most noticeable at night rather than during the day.

So, why does it happen? I'll focus on three causes. The first is the materials we build with. Dark surfaces such as asphalt absorb a great deal of the sun's energy during the day and then release it slowly after sunset, which is why the night-time difference is so marked. The second cause is the lack of vegetation. Trees don't just provide shade; they also cool the air through evaporation, as water leaves their leaves. Replace a park with a car park and you lose both effects. The third, which people often overlook, is waste heat: from traffic, from industry and, ironically, from air-conditioning units pumping hot air out into the street.

Now, how do researchers actually measure this? Fixed weather stations are useful, but there are rarely enough of them in one city. One approach some researchers use is to fit temperature sensors to bicycles and ride a set route across the city. It's cheap, and it shows how temperature changes from one street to the next.

Finally, what can be done? Planting street trees is the obvious answer, but trees take years to grow. A quicker measure is to paint roofs white or a pale colour, so that they reflect sunlight rather than absorbing it. Green roofs, that is, roofs covered with plants, are another option, although they're more expensive to install and they need regular maintenance.

Answers and explanations

Notice how the notes mirror the lecture: the speaker's three causes, how do researchers measure this? and Finally, what can be done? match the headings exactly. That is what makes the structure such a useful tool. Topic vocabulary helps too; our environment vocabulary page covers many of the words in this extract, and education vocabulary is useful for Part 3 discussions about study.

How to practise Parts 3 and 4

• Listen to short academic talks on topics you don't know well. After each one, write the outline from memory: the main sections and one detail from each.
• Practise with transcripts. Listen once without the transcript and take notes, then read the transcript and underline every signpost you missed.
• Train for paraphrase. Before checking answers, compare the wording of each question with the wording in the transcript. This is the same skill tested throughout IELTS Reading, so timed Reading practice supports your Listening work.
• Build stamina. Do Parts 3 and 4 back to back, without a break, so the end of the real test feels familiar.
• Track your score. On the published conversion, 30 correct answers out of 40 corresponds to band 7. Use the band score calculator to convert practice scores.

For more strategies across all four parts, read our IELTS Listening tips. If map questions trouble you, our guide to map and plan labelling covers the language of location.

What is the difference between IELTS Listening Part 3 and Part 4?

Both are set in educational or training situations. Part 3 is a conversation between two main speakers, for example two students, perhaps guided by a tutor. Part 4 is one person speaking on an academic subject, like a short lecture.

Is Part 4 the hardest part of IELTS Listening?

Many candidates find it the most demanding because it is one long, uninterrupted talk on an academic topic. But it is also the most structured, and following the lecturer's signposts makes it much more manageable.

How many questions are there in Parts 3 and 4?

Each part has 10 questions. The whole Listening test has four parts and 40 questions and takes approximately 30 minutes.

Do I hear the recording twice?

No. You hear each recording once only, so use the time before each part to read the questions and predict the answers.

Can I practise IELTS Listening on Stride?

Not yet. Stride currently offers timed Reading, Writing and Speaking practice. For Listening, use our Listening tips and guides, and practise paraphrase recognition with Reading tests.

What if I miss an answer in Part 4?

Let it go and move to the next question straight away. Answers come in order, so the next heading in the notes tells you where the speaker is. Guess the missed answer at the end; you won't lose marks for a wrong answer.