Cambridge IELTS 19 Academic Listening Test 3

• 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 19 Academic Listening Test 3 sits squarely in the official format and is a reliable benchmark for anyone targeting band 7 or above. Section 1 features a rental accommodation enquiry; Section 2 moves into a briefing on a festival or community event; Section 3 shifts into students discussing an experiment or laboratory study; and Section 4 closes with a lecture on bees and pollination.

Section 1 uses note completion plus table completion; Section 2 uses completion plus multi-answer multiple choice; Section 3 uses multiple choice plus flow-chart 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.

Use the thirty-second preview before each section to read every gap and predict word class — noun, plural, number, name. During the audio, write only what the speaker actually says, not what you expect. Reserve the final ten minutes for transferring answers to the answer sheet, double-checking spelling and singular/plural forms. A solid band 7 here is built on disciplined prediction, not on faster reading.

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.