Cambridge IELTS 15 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 15 Academic Listening Test 2 works best as a timed mock rather than a study exercise — the surprises here lie in pacing rather than vocabulary. Section 1 features a community-centre booking call; Section 2 moves into a tour inside a leisure facility; Section 3 shifts into an academic discussion between two or more students; and Section 4 closes with a lecture on bees and pollination.

Section 1 uses table completion plus note completion; Section 2 uses multiple choice plus map labelling; Section 3 uses multi-answer multiple choice plus completion; Section 4 uses note completion. The map task in Section 2 is the obvious risk: anchor yourself to the entrance arrow and rotate the page mentally before the audio begins, because the speaker's 'left' depends on where they are standing, not where you are.

During the previews, decide for each gap whether the answer will be a number, a person's name, a place, or a common noun, and write the hint above the line. Avoid panic-erasing during the audio — keep the booklet messy and tidy it during transfer. Re-read every plural ending before you commit to the answer sheet. Band 7 is mostly about not losing easy marks.

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.