IELTS Listening drill · Part 2 · Maps and plans
The station tour
A guide shows visitors around an old railway station. Map questions like this come up often in Listening Part 2, and they hide the traps that cost the most marks: answers that change, numbers that sound alike, spelling and word limits. You don't need a recording. Pick how you want to hear it below.
1Choose how to hear it
There's no recording for this drill. Pick one of these three ways. Whichever you choose, try not to read the script before you answer.
👥 With a partner
- Read the questions in step 2 first (about 1 minute).
- Give your partner the script. Tap the button below and hand them your device, or open this page on their phone.
- They read it once, at a normal speed. No stopping, no repeating, just like the real test.
- Answer the questions while you listen. Then check your answers in step 3.
Afterwards, swap roles: you read the script aloud to them. Saying names, numbers and spellings clearly is great Speaking practice.
🔊 Use your own read-aloud tool
- Google Translate (any device): copy the script below (the words you will hear, not the questions), paste it into Google Translate with English on the left, then press the 🔊 speaker button.
- iPhone or iPad: turn on Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → Speak Selection. Then paste the text into a note, select it and tap Speak.
- Android: turn on Select to Speak in Settings → Accessibility, then use it on the pasted text.
- Computer: in Microsoft Edge, paste the text into a page and use Read aloud.
Copy and paste without reading it! These tools are made by other companies, so we can't promise how they sound or work. In the real test you hear each part once, so listen to it once only.
⚡ Flash mode: read it once, at speaking speed
Each sentence appears for about as long as it takes to say it, and then disappears. You can't go back. This trains the same skill as listening: catching the answer the first time, while you keep up with the speaker.
Read the questions in step 2 first, then press Start. The line stays at the top of the screen while you answer.
2Read the questions, then listen
In the real test you get time to read the questions first. Use it to guess what kind of answer each gap needs.
Questions 1–4 · Complete the notes. Write one word and/or a number for each answer.
Larkfield Station Visitor Centre
Questions 5–10 · Label the plan. Choose the correct letter, A–H. Two letters are not used.
Before you listen: find reception and the red dot (you are here). The platform is at the back, so "on your right as you come in" means the right side of the plan.
- 5Café
- 6Gift shop
- 7Model railway
- 8First aid room
- 9Signal box exhibition
- 10Lockers
3Your results
Which traps caught you?
Why each answer is right
📄 Read the full script, with the answers highlighted
4Now you speak Speaking practice
Use the same direction words in your own speaking. First be the guide, then try a real Part 2 card.
- Look at the plan. Explain to a visitor how to get from reception to the lockers.
- Now explain how to get from the café to the signal box exhibition.
- Describe the building where you study or work: what's on the left and right as you come in?
Describe a place in your town or city that has changed.
- what the place is
- what it was like before
- how it has changed
Record your answer and listen back. The recording stays on your device and isn't sent anywhere.