Test Format & Audio Rules

Does the audio play automatically, and can you replay it?

Every Listening task begins the same way: the audio begins to play automatically once the task loads, and you get exactly one playthrough. Both Test Taker Handbooks state this directly: “You will not be able to replay the video/audio clips during the test.” Each task page repeats the same rule in its own words, Academic tasks say you are “only able to listen to the audio recording once”, Core tasks say you “can only listen to it once”, but the rule itself does not change between exams.

• Autoplay: The recording begins to play automatically; there is no “play” button to click first.
• One playthrough: No task in either exam allows a replay, confirmed in both Handbooks and on every task page.
• One clock, not many: Seven of the eight Academic tasks (and six of the seven Core tasks) show “Not applicable” for an individual answer timer; only the overall Part 3 section clock counts down.

Because the audio begins to play automatically once the task loads; there is no window to settle in once the recording is already running, any adjusting of your posture, headset or whiteboard needs to happen in the brief on-screen instructions before that, not after. Treat the instructions screen as your only preparation moment for that item, since it is genuinely the last quiet second you get.

What about pausing, volume and the equipment check?

Before the test proper begins, both Handbooks describe an equipment check “The test will guide you through an equipment check to make sure your headphones and microphone are working correctly.” Pearson also publishes a separate article on getting familiar with test equipment and headset positioning, the same check that opens the Speaking section. Neither source describes a distinct step for calibrating listening volume, and neither confirms nor denies whether you can pause the audio once a Listening task has started.

One sentence in both Handbooks is easy to misread here: “Our test and systems are designed to test normal conversational flow and volume.” That line sits in the same paragraph as the equipment check, but it describes how your own speaking is captured for the Speaking tasks, not the playback volume of the recordings you listen to in Part 3. Don’t take it as an official statement about listening audio volume; it isn’t one.

Can you take notes while the audio plays?

Yes. Both Test Taker Handbooks describe the same physical tool issued for the whole test: “an erasable whiteboard and two pens”. Several Listening tasks repeat a note-taking tip in their own on-screen instructions, Summarize Spoken Text tells you to “note down the supporting points as well as the main idea”, Fill in the Blanks tells you that “while the audio is playing; you can take notes”, and Write from Dictation gives the identical instruction. Tasks that do not repeat the tip in their own instructions, Multiple Choice, Select Missing Word, Highlight Correct Summary, Highlight Incorrect Words, still fall under the same general whiteboard policy; the absence of a per-task reminder is not a restriction.

• Explicit reminder: Summarize Spoken Text, Fill in the Blanks and Write from Dictation all repeat a note-taking tip in their own on-screen instructions.
• General policy only: Multiple Choice, Select Missing Word, Highlight Correct Summary and Highlight Incorrect Words rely on the whole-test whiteboard policy instead of a task-specific reminder.
• Same tool, one Handbook term: Both Handbooks call it an erasable whiteboard and two pens, “noteboard” only appears in some of Academic’s own on-screen task instructions, not as a different physical item.

Knowing you can take notes is only half of the skill; what you actually write down, and how fast, is what separates a usable note from a distraction. That system is the subject of the next lesson, Core Listening & Note-Taking Skills.

Why does Summarize Spoken Text have its own timer?

Summarize Spoken Text is the one task in each exam that is not governed only by the overall Part 3 clock; it carries its own combined listen-and-write timer, separate from every other task’s “Not applicable” answer time.

Do the arithmetic before test day, not during it: subtract the recording length from the total window and what is left is your realistic writing-plus-review time, since the listening itself already happened while the recording played. In Academic that is roughly 8.5–9 minutes once the 60–90 second recording has played; in Core it is closer to 7 minutes after a 45–75 second recording. Neither figure gives you much room to plan your summary from scratch after the audio ends, most of that planning has to happen through the notes you take while it is still playing.

Because this timer is unusual; it is worth rehearsing on its own rather than assuming the pacing habits you build on the other seven tasks will transfer automatically; full technique for this task is in its own lesson, Summarize Spoken Text.

What accents should you expect?

Both Handbooks confirm you will hear “international English speakers with a variety of accents”, and repeat the no-replay rule alongside it, so an unfamiliar accent is exactly the situation the note-taking habits above are meant to protect you against. The wording is otherwise identical between exams, down to one small difference: the Academic Handbook says “Some tasks test your ability to listen”, while Core’s says “Some items”, a wording choice, not a difference in what you will actually hear. A full treatment of accents, how paraphrase interacts with them, and the vocabulary that tends to recur across recordings is in Accents, Paraphrase & Vocabulary, later in this course. The Speaking course covers the same official wording on accent and intelligibility from the other side of the microphone.