Cambridge IELTS 11 Academic Listening Test 2

• Each audio plays once. You CANNOT pause or rewind during the exam.
• Take notes on the question section as you listen.
• After audio ends, you have 10 minutes to review and finalize answers.

Cambridge IELTS 11 Academic Listening Test 2 repays a careful diagnostic rather than a casual run-through; the section-by-section question types reveal exactly where your routine breaks down. Section 1 features a rental accommodation enquiry; Section 2 moves into a talk about a new or refurbished building; Section 3 shifts into students reviewing fieldwork or a field trip; and Section 4 closes with a lecture on bees and pollination.

Section 1 uses note completion; Section 2 uses multi-answer multiple choice plus map labelling; Section 3 uses multiple choice plus multi-answer multiple choice; Section 4 uses note completion. Section 2's map labelling rewards candidates who pre-read every spatial preposition — opposite, beyond, between, just past — and pin a finger on the starting reference point before the recording starts.

Read the preview gaps backwards from the last to the first — this forces you to notice the late-section cues that students normally miss. Pencil rough answers and circle anything you doubted, then resolve those during transfer. Watch your word limits: a four-word answer in a NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS task is automatically wrong. Steady, methodical work earns a clean band 7.

New to this skill? Read the Listening question types guide for tactics, scoring rules, and frequency analysis across Cambridge 10–20. Or browse all Listening practice tests.

Looking for written strategy? See the IELTS Blog for in-depth posts.