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Free IELTS Listening Part 4 Practice Test

Lume Test

Published on: September 4, 2026

IELTS Listening Part 4 is a monologue on an academic subject — a lecture extract. Ten marks, one speaker, and one structural difference that catches candidates out: in Part 4 there is usually no break halfway through. You get your preparation time at the start and then ten questions run continuously.

Note completion is by far the most common task type, and the notes follow the lecture’s structure, which is your map through it.

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Key Takeaways

Part 4 is a monologue on an academic subject, worth 10 of the 40 Listening marks.
There is usually no pause in the middle, so the whole part must be tracked in one continuous pass.
Note completion dominates: the headings in the notes mirror the sections of the lecture.
Answers are almost always words the speaker says, but the words around the gap are paraphrased.
Grammar in the completed sentence matters — a plural gap needs a plural answer.

What Part 4 looks like

Feature	Detail
Speakers	One
Context	Academic — a lecture or talk on a subject of study
Questions	10
Common task types	Note completion, sentence completion, table completion, multiple choice
Mid-part pause	Usually none
Heard how many times	Once

Practice set: lecture on urban tree canopy

Questions 1-10. Complete the notes. Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.

Transcript

“Today I want to look at urban tree canopy — what it does, how cities measure it, and why the political economy of planting is more complicated than it first appears.

Start with definitions. Canopy cover is the proportion of a city’s surface area shaded by tree crowns when viewed from above. Note that it is measured from above, which means a street of mature planes with wide crowns can register higher cover than a park of the same footprint planted with young trees.

The benefits divide into three groups. The first is thermal. Trees cool cities in two distinct ways: by intercepting solar radiation before it reaches surfaces, and by transpiration, which converts liquid water to vapour and consumes energy in the process. Of the two mechanisms, shading has the larger effect on how a pedestrian actually feels, while transpiration matters more for the temperature of the air mass.

The second group is hydrological. Leaf surfaces intercept rainfall, which delays the moment water reaches the drainage system rather than reducing the total volume. In storm events this delay is the whole benefit — it flattens the peak flow that overwhelms drains.

The third is respiratory. Trees remove particulates from air, though this benefit is frequently overstated. Species matter considerably: conifers with fine needles capture far more particulate matter than broad-leaved species, but many conifers also emit volatile organic compounds that contribute to ozone formation. So the same tree can improve one air-quality measure and worsen another.

Now, measurement. Most cities use aerial imagery, which is cheap and repeatable but systematically undercounts narrow street trees whose crowns are obscured by buildings. A handful use lidar, which captures height and therefore volume, at roughly ten times the cost. The choice matters because targets are set against whatever the baseline method reported, so a city that switches method mid-programme can appear to lose canopy it never lost.

Which brings us to the political economy. Planting is cheap and visible; maintenance is expensive and invisible. A newly planted street tree costs perhaps two hundred pounds to put in and requires watering for three summers to establish. Mortality in the first three years is where programmes fail, and the figure ranges from about five percent in well-resourced schemes to over thirty percent where watering is not funded. Yet almost every announced target counts trees planted, not trees surviving.

The final complication is equity. Canopy cover correlates strongly with income in almost every city that has been studied, and the mechanism is largely historical: wealthier districts were laid out with wider verges, which physically accommodate larger species. So closing the gap is not simply a matter of planting more trees in poorer districts — in many cases the space does not exist without redesigning the street.”

Notes	Your answer
Definition 1 Canopy cover is measured from ___.
Thermal benefits 2 Two mechanisms: shading and ___. 3 ___ has the larger effect on pedestrian comfort.
Hydrological benefits 4 Interception ___ the arrival of water at drains rather than reducing volume. 5 The benefit in storms is flattening the ___ flow.
Air quality 6 ___ capture more particulates than broad-leaved species. 7 But some also emit compounds contributing to ___ formation.
Measurement 8 Aerial imagery ___ narrow street trees. 9 Lidar additionally captures height and therefore ___.
Programme failure 10 Programmes fail through ___ in the first three years.

Answer key

Q	Answer	Said as	Note
1	above	“measured from above”	Direct
2	transpiration	“by transpiration”	Spelling matters
3	shading	“shading has the larger effect on how a pedestrian actually feels”	Notes paraphrase “how a pedestrian feels” as “pedestrian comfort”
4	delays	“delays the moment water reaches the drainage system”	Third person singular required by the sentence
5	peak	“flattens the peak flow”	Direct
6	Conifers	“conifers with fine needles capture far more”	Plural required; “conifer” scores zero
7	ozone	“contribute to ozone formation”	Direct
8	undercounts	“systematically undercounts narrow street trees”	One word only, so “systematically undercounts” scores zero
9	volume	“captures height and therefore volume”	Direct
10	mortality	“Mortality in the first three years is where programmes fail”	Direct

The three ways Part 4 marks are lost

Cause	Example from this set	Fix
Word limit breach	Writing “systematically undercounts” for question 8	Re-read the instruction; ONE WORD ONLY is absolute
Wrong grammatical form	“conifer” instead of “conifers”; “delay” instead of “delays”	Read the sentence with your answer in it before moving on
Losing the thread	Missing questions 5 and 6 after a lapse at question 4	Use the note headings to relocate yourself; they name the section

The note headings are your map

In this set the headings were Definition, Thermal benefits, Hydrological benefits, Air quality, Measurement, Programme failure. The lecture moved through them in exactly that order, and so did the answers.

Use the headings to…	How
Predict the lecture structure	Read all headings during preparation time before reading any gaps
Recover after losing the thread	Listen for the next heading topic rather than the next gap
Predict the answer type	A gap under a “Measurement” heading is likely a method or a verb about accuracy
Confirm you are on schedule	Two gaps under one heading means both come before the topic changes

Academic signposting language

You hear	It signals
“The benefits divide into three groups”	Three sections are coming; expect one heading per group
“Note that…”	A detail the lecturer thinks is counterintuitive — frequently an answer
“Of the two, X matters more for…”	A comparison question is likely
“though this is frequently overstated”	A qualification; the qualification is often what is tested
“Which brings us to…”	Section change; check your position in the notes
“The final complication is…”	Last section — the remaining gaps are here

Preparation time checklist

Read every heading first, then the gaps. The headings tell you the shape of the whole lecture.
Underline the word limit and write it at the top of the page.
Predict the part of speech for each gap: noun, verb, adjective.
Check for gaps that need a plural, and mark them.
Note any gap that follows a comparative (“larger”, “more”) — those answers come from a comparison and are easy to attribute wrongly.
Accept that you will not read ahead again. Part 4 usually has no mid-part pause.

FAQ

What is IELTS Listening Part 4?

A monologue on an academic subject — effectively a short lecture extract — carrying 10 of the 40 Listening marks. It is the only part of the Listening section set in a purely academic context.

Is there a pause in the middle of Part 4?

Usually not. Parts 1 to 3 typically give you a break halfway through to read the next set of questions; Part 4 normally gives you preparation time at the start and then runs all ten questions continuously.

What question type is most common in Part 4?

Note completion, followed by sentence and table completion. The notes are organised under headings that mirror the sections of the lecture, which makes them the most useful navigation tool in the part.

Do I need academic knowledge for Part 4?

No. Every answer is stated in the recording and no background knowledge is assumed. Familiarity with academic signposting language helps far more than subject knowledge.

Why do I lose marks when I heard the right word?

Most often word limit or grammar. “ONE WORD ONLY” means a two-word answer scores zero, and a gap that needs a plural or a third-person verb scores zero with the wrong form. Read the completed sentence back before moving on.

How do I recover if I lose my place?

Use the note headings. They name the section of the lecture, so listen for the next topic rather than the next gap, and pick the questions up from there. Going back is never possible.

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