Cambridge IELTS 16 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 16 Academic Listening Test 4 works best as a timed mock rather than a study exercise — the surprises here lie in pacing rather than vocabulary. Section 1 features a rental accommodation enquiry; Section 2 moves into an introduction to a town or village for visitors; Section 3 shifts into an academic discussion between two or more students; and Section 4 closes with an ornithology lecture.

Section 1 uses note completion; Section 2 uses multiple choice plus map labelling; Section 3 uses multi-answer multiple choice plus completion; Section 4 uses note completion. Section 3's distractor lines often come from the second speaker correcting the first, so listen for hesitations like 'actually' or 'on second thoughts' as a signal that the answer has just changed.

Spend the preview seconds underlining the keyword in each gap and pencilling a word-class hint above it. Resist over-correcting in real time — if you miss an answer, leave it and rejoin at the next signpost. Use the ten-minute transfer window to clean up capitalisation, plurals and word limits. For band 7, accuracy on the last ten questions usually decides the score.

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.