Aptis ESOL Listening Test: Overview

Aptis ESOL Listening Test: Overview

This post will give you an overview of what you can expect when you take the Aptis ESOL Listening Test. We also give you some helpful tips on how to do this part of the exam successfully.

We’re going to look at the Listening tests for Aptis ESOL General and Aptis ESOL for Teachers here. [Click here for Aptis ESOL Advanced Listening.]

The only noticeable difference between the two Listening tests is the content, which is designed specifically for teachers.  As always with Aptis ESOL for Teachers, the questions relate to an educational context, dealing with themes and scenarios that teachers come across every day. We’ve included British Council screen grabs from both exams for each part of the test, so that you can see the differences.

The practicalities

You do this listening test individually (unlike the Cambridge exams, where you take the test in a group). Headphones which are supplied by the exam centre. You’ll hear each recording twice. To listen to the recording, all you have to do is click on the ‘Play’ button.

What the Aptis ESOL Listening Test consists of

There are four parts to the Listening, and four task-types.  These get progressively more challenging. It takes approximately 40 mins to complete this component of the exam. 

All the tasks focus on different aspects of real-world listening. There are 17 recordings in total.

We’ve included screenshots of each part of the test so that you can see what the exam looks like.

So let’s have a look at the four task-types.