Tool or game
Lesson
Listening skills: Dates, numbers and spelling
Ten short dictation items read aloud: dates, prices, postcodes and spelled names. Then check your spelling of the words IELTS candidates get wrong most often.
How numbers are said
| You hear | You write |
|---|---|
| the twenty-first of March / March the twenty-first | 21 March |
| nineteen eighty-seven | 1987 |
| two thousand and nine | 2009 |
| three pounds fifty | £3.50 |
| quarter to eight | 7.45 |
| oh / zero | 0 |
| double six | 66 |
Letters
Some letters are easy to confuse: A / E / I, G / J, B / P / V, M / N. If you aren't sure, check that the word looks possible.
Spelling counts
In IELTS Listening, a wrong spelling = a wrong answer. These words are misspelled all the time:
accommodation · necessary · library · February · Wednesday · environment · government · beginning · restaurant · business
Practise freely
Listening
Dictation: ten details
Listen and write each detail. Use "Slower" if you need to, then try again at normal speed.
0:00
Answer the questions while you listen. In the real test you hear the recording once.
Your browser can't read the recording aloud. Open the transcript below and read it instead.
Show the transcript (try the questions first)
Speaker: Number one. The course starts on the twenty-first of March.
Speaker: Number two. The fee is three hundred and forty pounds.
Speaker: Number three. My surname is Fitzgerald. That's F, I, T, Z, G, E, R, A, L, D.
Speaker: Number four. The meeting is in room one oh six.
Speaker: Number five. The flight leaves at quarter to eight in the evening.
Speaker: Number six. The postcode is M, fourteen, six, T, Q.
Speaker: Number seven. The company was started in nineteen eighty-seven.
Speaker: Number eight. The hotel is on Thackeray Road. That's T, H, A, C, K, E, R, A, Y.
Speaker: Number nine. The town has a population of about eighteen thousand.
Speaker: Number ten. The ticket costs fifteen pounds ninety-nine.
Questions 1–10
Write each detail you hear. Use numbers where you can.
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Course starts: March
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Fee: £
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Surname:
-
Meeting room:
-
Flight leaves at pm
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Postcode:
-
Company started in
-
Hotel: Road
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Population: about
-
Ticket price: £
Questions 11–16
Is each word spelled correctly?
-
accomodation
-
library
-
Febuary
-
environment
-
goverment
-
Wednesday
More vocabulary practice
Practice test
Cambridge IELTS Listening tests (Books 10–21)
PDF worksheet