Understanding Section 2
Section 2 of the IELTS Listening test features a monologue — one person speaking about a general topic, such as a city tour, museum guide, or an event announcement. This part focuses on your ability to catch details, dates, places, and numbers accurately while following the speaker’s ideas smoothly.
1. What to Expect
- One speaker giving information or instructions
- Common topics: travel, public talks, museum tours, or schedules
- You may need to complete notes, sentences, or short summaries
- Numbers and names are often the key to answers
Tip: Don’t write down everything — focus on keywords, figures, and transitions like “next,” “then,” or “finally.”
2. Listening for Details
- Underline question keywords before listening (e.g., *date, price, location*)
- Pay attention to tone changes — speakers often stress important details
- Ignore extra or repeated info meant to confuse you
- Remember: answers usually appear in the same order as the audio
Example: “The tour will begin at 11:30 AM, not 11:00.” — be careful with corrections!
3. Handling Numbers with Ease
- Familiarize yourself with dates, prices, years, phone numbers
- When you hear a correction (e.g. “Sorry, that’s 13, not 30”), always note the final version
- Listen for spoken connectors: “point” for decimals, “double” or “triple” for repeated digits
- Practice spelling letters and numbers together (e.g., “B15”, “Room 204B”)
Tip: Numbers are easy marks — train your ears to spot them confidently.
Mini Challenge 🔢
In the listening, the guide says: “The event starts at 5:15, not 5:50 as mentioned earlier.” What’s the correct start time?
🎧 You Did It!
Beautiful work! You’ve completed Lesson 6: Section 2 — Monologues.
You now know how to listen for details, corrections, and numbers — all crucial for high-band answers.
Next up: Lesson 7 — Section 3: Academic Discussions & Tone Recognition