Cambridge IELTS 12 Academic Listening Test 4

• 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 12 Academic Listening Test 4 offers the familiar four-section progression from social to academic English, and the difficulty curve here is steeper than it first looks. Section 1 features a job-related telephone enquiry; Section 2 moves into a guided introduction to a museum; Section 3 shifts into students preparing a joint presentation; and Section 4 closes with a lecture on bees and pollination.

Section 1 uses completion; Section 2 uses multiple choice plus map labelling; Section 3 uses table completion plus completion; Section 4 uses note completion. The transition between Section 2 and Section 3 catches most candidates: the speaker count doubles and the vocabulary tightens, so reset your concentration during the preview rather than carrying momentum across.

Before each section, count the gaps and read them silently to fix the structure in your head. Track the speakers using the question numbers as a stopwatch — if you are still on question 14 when the speaker reaches the next topic, jump forward. Use the transfer window to verify spellings against the recording in your memory. Bands above 7 reward composure under time pressure.

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.