IELTS General Training Volume 1

Published on: 06 Jan 2017
Tests taken: 3,892,837

Answer Keys:

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Part 1: Question 1 - 10

1 85
2 3/three
3 thrillers
4 comedy (programmes)
5 parts

6 record
7 71.99
8 labour|labor
9 CDs
10 insurance

Part 2: Question 11 - 20

11 back door
12 top floor
13 sign
14 blue light
15 spider

16 company office
17 hall(ways)
18 with a neighbour/neighbor
19 in the evening(s)
20 monthly

Part 3: Question 21 - 28

21 organizing/organising
22 argument
23 interpretation
24 preparation

25 style
26 edit
27 learn
28 30 B,C,E

Part 4: Question 31 - 40

31 select
32 invest
33 research
34 sell
35 buy

36 calculate
37 29/twenty nine
38 manufacturing
39 import prices
40 February 5th/fifth

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IELTS Academic Reading Practice #2: The hidden lives of solitary bees

There ere 275 different species of bee in Greet Britain and Ireland. Apart from the familiar honeybee and 25 species of bumblebee, the rest are...

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02 Sep 2018

Review & Explanations:

Part 1: Questions 1-10

Questions 1-4

Complete the form below.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS OR A NUMBER for each answer.

DVD Customer Profile

Occupation: student (For example)

Have you owned a DVD player before?

What is the maximum you want to spend on a DVD player?

£ 1

How many DVDs does the customer watch a month?

What type of films do you enjoy?

What other DVDs (non-film) do you watch?

1 Answer: 85

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q1 must be “maximum” and “spend on”.
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a number.
Shop assistant’s question “how much do you think you want to spend on a player” can be seen as a suggestion for the answer’s appearance.
The customer says that “I can’t afford over 85 pounds”. Therefore, the answer for Q1 must be “85”.

Note:

A hundred pounds is the amount of money suggested by the customer’s friend, not herself. For that reason, a hundred is an incorrect answer.

2 Answer: 3/three

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q2 must be “how many” and “DVDs”.
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a number
The shop assistant’s question “do you watch DVDs very often” suggests that the answer will soon appear
The customer says that “I suppose I watch three a month”. By answering "three", the customer means she watches three DVDs a month. Therefore, the answer for Q2 must be “three” or “3”.

Note:

You can find that the assistant wants to know about the customer's frequency of watching DVDs. However, she does not mention about frequency but her DVDs count.

3 Answer: thrillers

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q3 must be “type of films” and “enjoy”.
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a noun.
The shop assistant’s question “What sort of films do you like watching then” suggests that the answer will soon appear.
As the customer says that “I prefer thrillers”, the answer for Q3 must be “thrillers”

Note:

Remember that the answer must be in plural form.
There are three types of film mentioned in the coversation: action, science fiction and thrillers. Any misunderstanding or inattention may result in incorrect answer.
At first, the shop assistant asks whether action movies are the customer’s favourite type of films but she says no. Thus, “action movies” is not the correct answer.
Although science fiction is another type of films mentioned in the customer’s answer, she states that her boyfriend always insists they watch science fiction movies but she prefer thrillers. For the reason, “science fiction” is not the correct answer.

4 Answer: comedy (programmes)

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q4 must be “other DVDs (non film)” and “watch”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a noun.
The shop assistant’s question “Do you watch other DVDs – ones that are not films” suggests that the answer will soon appear.
In the conversation, the customer states that “I occasionally rent out comedy programmes”. Therefore, the answer for Q4 must be “comedy programmes”

Note:

Remember that the answer must be in plural form
In the conversation, the customer also claims that “And I fight with my boyfriend over all the sports DVDs he watches.”, which means that she does not enjoy sports DVDs. For that reason, “sports DVDs” is an incorrect answer.

Questions 5-10

Complete the table below.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

Player	Features	Cost	After-sales service
DB 30	basic	£69	5 only
XL 643	Can also 6	£ 7	8 at reduced cost
TriX 24	Will also play 9	£94 including 10	Guaranteed for 3 years

5 Answer: parts

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q5 must be “DB 30”, “after-sales service” and “only”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a noun
As the equivalent keywords “DB 30”, “after-sales service” and only” are heard, we can be sure that the answer must soon appear.
From the conversation, it is inferred that the DB 30 comes with a limited after-sales service as it only includes parts. Therefore, the answer for Q5 must be “parts”

Note:

Remember that the answer must be in plural form

6 Answer: record

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q6 must be “XL 643”, “features” and “also”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a verb
As the equivalent keywords “XL 643 ” and “features” are heard, we can be sure that the answer must soon appear
The shop assistant claims that “XL 643 comes with an additional feature in that it has extra button allowing you to record.” It means that besides having the basic features of a DVD player, XL 643 can also record. Therefore the answer for Q6 must be “record”

7 Answer: 71.99

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q7 must be “XL 643” and “cost”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a number
As the phrase “Let me see how much it is” is heard, we can be sure that the answer must soon appear.
From the conversation, it is inferred that XL 643 reduced at the moment from 79 pounds to 71.99. Therefore, the answer for Q7 must be “71.99”

Note:

79 is the former price, whereas 71.99 is the discounted price at the moment. Students need to fully concentrate on the phrase “reduced at the moment from” so that there is no misunderstanding or inattention may result in incorrect answer.

8 Answer: labour|labor

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q8 must be “XL 643”, “after-sales service” and “reduced cost”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a noun.
The customer’s question “is that the same level of after-sales service as the other one” suggests that the answer will soon appear.
From the conversation, it is inferred that the shop is offering is a discount on labour. It means that the customer can get the after-sales service labour at reduced cost. For that reason, the answer for Q8 must be “labour”/labor.

9 Answer: CDs

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q9 must be “TriX 24”, “features” and “also play”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a noun.
As the equivalent keywords “TriX 24 ”, “also” are heard, we can be sure that the answer must soon appear.
The shop assistant introduces that “TriX 24 can be used to listen to CDs as well as watch DVDs”. We can infer that while playing DVDs is the basic feature of all mentioned DVD players, playing CDs is another additional feature of TriX 24. Moreover, Q9 is about the additional feature of TriX 24. Thus, the answer for Q9 must be “CDs”

Note:

Remember that the answer must be in plural form

10 Answer: insurance

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q10 must be “TriX 24”, “94” and “including”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a noun.
As the equivalent keywords “TriX 24 ”, “94” and “including” are heard, we can be sure that the answer must soon appear.
The shop assistant claims that TriX 24 is 94 pounds, that includes insurance. Therefore, the answer for Q10 must be “insurance”

Part 1

Part 2: Questions 11-20

Questions 11-20

Complete the sentences below.

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

Your home:

A quarter of break-ins are through the 11

The 12 of the house should also be protected.

You should warn burglars your house is alarmed by putting a 13 in the window

The alarms:

The alarms show a constant 14

The alarms can be set off by a 15

The alarms are connected to the 16

Installation:

The alarms are usually installed in 17

The security code should be kept 18

The alarms can be installed 19 at an additional cost.

Customers can pay 20 for their alarm system.

11 Answer: back door

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q11 must be “a quarter of break-ins” and “through”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a noun.
As the parallel expressions “25% of all burglaries” and “via” of keywords “a quarter of break-ins” and “through” respectively are heard, we can be sure that the answer must soon appear.
The salesman claims that 25% of all burglaries are committed by burglars breaking and entering via the back door. Therefore, the answer for Q11 must be “backdoor”

12 Answer: top floor

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q12 must be “of the house” and “should also be protected”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a noun.
As the salesman states that there are parts of our house that we think are not vulnerable because they look inaccessible, but they’re not, we can infer that vulnerable parts of the house needed protecting may be mentioned in the following part of the speech.
Later, it is stated that if you’re trying to protect your home, you should make the sure top floor is covered by that protection, not just the ground floor. Therefore, the answer for Q12 must be “top floor”

Note:

Since ground floor is also mentioned as a part of the house needed protecting, students may misunderstand it as the correct answer. According to the passage, while ground floor is usually protected, the vulnerable top floor is emphasised that should also be protected. Moreover, Q12 is about the part of the house needs more protection. For that reason, ground floor is an incorrect answer.

13 Answer: sign

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q13 must be “warn burglars”, “by putting” and “in the window”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a noun.
As the keyword “warn burglars” is heard, we can be sure that the answer must soon appear.
It is stated that we also recommend that you warn them about the alarm. To do this, we suggest you stick a sign in the front window of the house so it can be seen clearly. The parallel expressions of two other “by putting” and “in the window” are also mentioned in the sentence. Therefore, the answer for Q13 must be “sign”

14 Answer: blue light

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q14 must be “the alarms” and “show a constant”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a noun.
The salesman states that all of our alarms are highly visible . They’re colored red and on the underneath , there is a blue light. which you can see whether they are switched on or not. From the statement, we can infer that in order to be highly visible the alarms are coloured red and also show a constant blue light in order to be highly visible. Therefore, the answer for Q14 must be “blue light”

15 Answer: spider

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q15 must be “the alarms” and “be set off by”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a noun.

As the keyword “set off” is heard, we can infer that the answer must be somewhere around here.

It is stated that a cat can often slink around unnoticed under the infrared beams but a spider crawling across them will set them off. Therefore, the answer for Q15 must be “spider”

Note:

Students need to concentrate not to miss out the answer, as the answer of Q15 comes before the keywords
Cat is also mentioned in the sentence with keywords, however, it is not the correct answer. According to the passage, a cat slink around unnoticed under the infrared beams, which means that cat is not able to set the alarm off. Thus, cat is an incorrect answer. Any misunderstanding or inattention may result in incorrect answer.

16 Answer: company office

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q16 must be “the alarms” and “connected to”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a noun.
As the parallel expressions of keywords “the alarms” and “connected to” are heard, we can be sure that the answer must soon appear.
It is stated that All our alarms have an automatic link to our company office. Therefore, the answer for Q16 must be “company office”

Note:

In the passage, it is also stated that Most companies offer an option that connects their alarms to the police station. However Q16 is about the connection of the salesman’s alarms, not the normal ones. For that reason, police station is not the correct answer.

17 Answer: hall(ways)

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q17 must be “the alarms” and “installed in”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a noun.
As the parallel expressions of keywords “the alarms” and “installed in” are heard, we can be sure that the answer must soon appear.
It is stated that as we normally put them in hallways rather than individual rooms. Therefore, the alarms are normally installed in hallways, not individual rooms. Hence, the answer for Q17 must be “hallways”

Note:

Remember that the answer must be in plural form.
Students need to fully concentrate on the word “rather than” in order not to answer wrongly

18 Answer: with a neighbour/neighbor

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q18 must be “the security code” and “kept”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be an adverb or a preposition phrase.
As the keywords “the security code” and “kept” are heard, we can be sure that the answer must soon appear.
The salesman suggests that don’t leave your security code in your house. A lot of people keep it in the kitchen or their study but we suggest you leave it with a neighbour. Therefore, the answer for Q18 must be “with a neighbour”

Note:

in the kitchen or their study is another preposition phrase mentioned in the sentence with keywords. According to the passage, although kitchen and their study are places people normally keep their security code, the salesman suggests not keeping it in these places. Moreover, the task requirement is NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS. For that reason, in the kitchen or their study is not the correct answer.

19 Answer: in the evening(s)

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q19 must be “the alarms”, “installed” and “additional cost”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be an adverb or a preposition phrase.

As the parallel expressions of keywords “the alarms” “installed” and “additional cost” are heard, we can be sure that the answer must be somewhere here.

The salesman claims that we do offer a service where we can fit the alarm system in the evenings for you but we do charge a little bit extra for that. Therefore, the answer for Q19 must be “in the evening(s)”

20 Answer: monthly

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q20 must be “customers”, “pay” and “alarm system
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be adverb.
As the phrase “so I suggest you look at the leaflets on our prices.” is heard, we can infer that the salesman is going to talk more about the price and the payment method in the following part and the answer will soon appear

The salesman claims that please don’t be put off from investing in a more sophisticated system to protect your home as we do allow you to set up a monthly payment if it’s too much in one go. It means that customers can pay monthly for their alarm system if they cannot pay in one go. Therefore, the answer for Q20 must be “monthly”

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Part 2

Part 3: Questions 21-30

Questions 21-27

Complete the summary below.

Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.

Essay Writing

Essay writing is simply the process of 21 information and presenting your 22 . You will need to use skills of analysis, 23 and expression. The more essays you write, the more you will develop these skills. The key to producing a good essay is in the 24 . Allow plenty of time to work out what you need to do. You will find several books in the library to help you with the particular 25 of academic writing. When you have completed your essay you must remember to 26 it carefully and take out anything irrelevant. Also, once you have received your mark, you should check your essay through as, by doing this, you can 27 from it.

21 Answer: organizing/organising

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q21 must be “essay writing”, “process” and “information”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a gerund (V-ing).
As the keywords “essay writing” “process” and “information” are heard, we can infer that the answer must be somewhere around here.
The tutor says that essay writing is a very straight forward process really. What it involves is organising the information that you want to include. Therefore, the answer for Q21 must be “organising”

22 Answer: argument

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keyword concerned in Q22 must be “presenting”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a noun.
As the phrase “put forward”, the parallel expression of the keyword “presenting” is heard, we can be sure that the answer must soon appear.
The tutor advises that you just have to think about how you’re going to put forward your argument. Therefore, the answer for Q22 must be “argument”

23 Answer: interpretation

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q23 must be “skill”, “analysis” and “expression”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be noun.
In the conversation, Alex mentions that “I’m worried I haven’t got the necessary skills for writing an effective essay” and it can be seen as a suggestion for the answer’s appearance.
The tutor claims that you need to be able to analyze your data and then I would say the skills of interpretation and expressing yourself are important. Therefore, the answer for Q23 must be “interpretation”

24 Answer: preparation

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q24 must be “the key” and “producing good essay”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be noun.
The phrase “What is vital to good essay writing is”, which is the parallel expression of keywords, can be seen as a suggestion for the answer’s appearance.
The tutor claims that What is vital to good essay writing is preparation so make sure you build in enough time to do the research you need. Therefore, the answer for Q24 must be “presentation”

25 Answer: style

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q25 must be “find several book in the library”, “help” and “of academic writing”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a noun.
As the synonym of “book” – “reference” and other keywords are heard, we can infer that the answer must be somewhere around here.
The tutor suggests that You should go to the library and look through the reference section because there are books that focus on the style we use in academic writing and those will help you a lot. Therefore, the answer for Q25 must be “style”

26 Answer: edit

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q26 must be “completed your essay”, “remember to”, “carefully” and “take out anything irrelevant”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a verb.
As the parallel expressions of keywords are heard, we can infer that the answer must be somewhere around here.
The tutor suggests that Too many students just complete their work and hand it in. Whereas what you should be doing is making sure that you edit it as thoroughly as possible. Moreover, Alex says that I’d pick up any mistakes and also see if it reads logically and the tutor agrees with that idea. Therefore, we can conclude that the tutor wants to remind Alex that she should remember to edit carefully and take out anything irrelevant after completing her essay. Hence, the answer for Q26 must be “edit”

27 Answer: learn

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q27 must be “have received your mark”, “check your essay through as”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a verb.
As the tutor statement “what a lot of students do is get their essays back, look at the marks, then just file it away.” and other keywords are heard, we can infer that the answer must be somewhere around here.
The tutor suggests that They don’t realize that if they checked it through and looked at what the tutor had written, then they can learn from their old essays. Hence, the answer for Q27 must be “learn”

Questions 28-30

Choose THREE letters A-G.

Which THREE pieces of advice does the tutor give the student?

A break the question down into smaller questions
B check the vocabulary in the question
C limit how much you read
D make sure you have good notes
E use only a few quotations
F ask a friend to read your essay
G try to be objective

28-30 Answer: B,C,E

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q28, Q29, Q30 must be “advice does the tutor give the student”
The phrase “one tip I can give you is” can be seen as the suggestion for the answer’s appearance
In the passage, the tutor gives another advice to Alex that you might find it useful to break the question down even further by making sure you, understand all the words perfectly before you start. Moreover, the main idea in this advice is to clearly understand the vocabulary of the question, not breaking the question into smaller parts. For that reason, option B is the correct answer and option A is incorrect.
The tutor advises that one tip I can give you is to try and not read too much, otherwise you end up including irrelevant material in your essay. Therefore, option C is correct.
Throughout the passage, Alex and her tutor does not mention anything about taking notes. Hence, Option D is an incorrect answer.
The tutor also advises that One final comment I can make is about using your own words – you must try to do this as far as possible. You’re expected to summarize what you’ve read not just string together a list of quotations. Hence, option E is correct.
In the passage, the tutor mentions about the idea of reading other students essay. However she also says that she is against it and does not advise that Alex should ask a friend to read her essay. Hence, Option F is an incorrect answer.
Option G is an incorrect answer as Sometimes, after an objective analysis , the question actually asks you for a subjective opinion, but you must remember to support your arguments , if that’s the case. The main idea of this advice is to give to support to subjective opinions in some essays, not try to be objective when writing essays. For that reason, Option G is incorrect.

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Part 3

Part 4: Questions 31-40

Questions 31-36

Complete the flow chart below.

Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.

31 a country and it's currency

↓

imagine you need to 32 £100

↓

33 facts about the state of your country's economy

↓

look at other student's notes on their countries

↓

decide what your exchange 'rate' is going to be against each currency

↓

try to 34 your currency

↓

35 other currency if you want

↓

36 your profit

31 Answer: select

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keyword concerned in Q31 must be “currency”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a verb.
The phrase The first thing that I’d like you to do can be seen as the suggestion for the appearance of the process’s first step. As the keyword “currency” is heard, we can also infer that the answer will soon appear.
The tutor announces that The first thing that I’d like you to do in order to prepare this is to select where you’re interested in. I mean, which country, and therefore which currency you’re going to be operating in. Hence, the answer for Q31 must be “select”

32 Answer: invest

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q32 must be “imagine”, “need to” and “100
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a verb.
The parallel expression “I want you to suppose that you” of the keyword “imagine” can be seen as the suggestion for the answer’s appearance.
The tutor says that So I want you to suppose that you have 100 pounds that you will have to Q32 invest purely in the rises and falls of the exchange system. The main idea of the statement is that students need to imagine to invest 100 pounds that they have, not just imagine to have 100 pounds. Therefore, to describe the second stage of the process correctly, the answer for Q32 must be “invest”, not
“have”

33 Answer: research

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q33 must be “facts” and “the state of your country’s economy”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a verb.
As the parallel expression “what you need to know about” of the keyword “facts” and keyword “your country’s economy” are heard, we can infer that the answer must be somewhere around here.
The tutor claims that you’ll have to go off and research what you need to know about the economy of that country and how well it’s doing or is expected to do in the near future. Therefore, the answer for Q33 must be “research”

Note:

Students need to concentrate not to miss out the answer as the answer of Q33 comes before the keywords

34 Answer: sell

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q34 must be “try to” and “currency”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a verb.
As the synonyms “attempt to” and “money” of the keywords “try to” and “currency” respectively are heard, we can infer that the answer must be somewhere around here.
The tutor claims that what you’re going to do is to go round the other students and attempt to sell your money to the others. Therefore, the answer for Q34 must be “sell”

Note:

Students should use the stages of the flowchart to help keep up with the listening and locate the answer correctly.

35 Answer: buy

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q35 must be “other currency” and “if you want”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a verb.
The keyword “currency” and the parallel expression “you may wish to”of keyword “if you want” can be seen as the suggestion of the answer’s appearance.
The tutor says that you’re not allowed to just swap currencies with each other but you may wish to buy from the other countries. From the passage we can infer that students can not swap but buy other currency if they want to. For that reason, the answer for Q35 must be “buy”. Any misunderstanding or inattention may result in incorrect answer.

36 Answer: calculate

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keyword concerned in Q36 must be “your profit”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a verb.
The parallel expression “how much you have made” of the keyword “your profit” can be seen as the suggestion of the answer’s appearance.
The tutor says that I will ask you to calculate how much you have made. Therefore, the answer for Q36 must be “calculate”

Questions 37-40

Answer the questions below.

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

How many main trading partners of the UK does the tutor want her students to focus on?

Which sector does the tutor want students to study?

What changing things does the tutor want students to look at?

When does the tutor want the project completed by?

37 Answer: 29/twenty nine

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q37 must be “how many”, “main trading partners” and “UK have”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a number.
As the key phrase “UK’s main trading partners” is heard, we can infer that the answer will soon appear.
The tutor claims that You need to look at the economies of the UK’s main trading partners. I don’t mean all of them because that would be over 80, but just the 29 principle ones. It means that Uk have over 80 trading partners, but just 29 main ones. Moreover, Q37 is about the main trading partners of UK. Hence, the answer for Q37 must be “29” or “twenty nine”. “over 80” is an incorrect answer.

38 Answer: manufacturing

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q38 must be “sector” and “tutor wants students to study”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a noun.
The keyword “sector” and the parallel expression “I’d like you to look at” of “tutor wants students to study” can be seen as the sugesstion of the answer’s appearance.
The tutor claims that The most common one across every country is farming but. as much agricultural produce is for domestic consumption , I’d like you to look at manufacturing. Therefore, the answer for Q38 must be “manufacturing”

Note:

“farming” is another sector mentioned in the sentence that have keywords. However, in the passage, the tutor only gives a little of information about this sector and does not states that he wants students to study it. Hence “farming” is not a correct answer.

39 Answer: import prices

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q39 must be “what”, “tutor wants sudents to look at” and “changes in”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a noun.
The parallel expression “I’d like you to look at” of “tutor wants sudents to look at” and the synonym “fluctuations in” of keyword “changes in” can be seen as the suggestion of the answer’s appearance.
The tutor claims that So the thing I’d like you all to look at is fluctuations in import prices. Therefore, the answer for Q39 must be “import prices”

40 Answer: February 5th/fifth

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

The keywords concerned in Q40 must be “when” and “project completed”
From the question, we can assume that the answer must be a date.
The keyword phrase “you’ve got plenty of time” and the keyword “project” can be seen as the suggestion of the answer’s appearance.
The tutor claims that Exam week is December 8th, then it’s the holidays until January 6th so I don’t need the project in till February 5th. From the statement, we can infer that the project must be completed in February 5th. Therefore, the answer for Q40 must be “February 5th” or “February fifth”

Note:

There are 3 dates mentioned in the passage. Any misunderstanding or inattention may result in incorrect answer.
December 8th is the date of exam week
January 6th is the holiday date
February 5th is the deadline for the project

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Great thanks to volunteer Minh Xuan Nguyen has contributed these explanations.

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Part 4

Change Audio Sources

SECTION 1

You will hear a woman asking a shop assistant about DVD players.

Customer: Hello. I’m interested in buying a dvd player . Can you help me as I don’t know very much about them.

Shop assistant: Of course. We sell quite a range . Actually, we’re doing a customer survey at the moment. So I wonder if 1 could fill in this form about you and that will actually help me to advise you on the best DVD player for you.

Customer: OK …

Shop assistant: First of all. your occupation ?

Customer: Um – student.

Shop assistant: OK. Then, have you already got a DVD player?

Customer: No. I’ve never had one hefore.

Shop assistant: And how much do you think you want to spend on a player?

Customer: I’m not sure really – but I have got a budget . My friend said I should allow about £a hundred pounds but I can’t afford over £85, so that’s what I’m working on.

Shop assistant: And do you watch DVDs very often?

Customer Um – depends what you mean by often. I don’t know w hat the norm is – is it about two a week?

I suppose I watch three a month . That’s enough for me!

Shop assistant: Yes (laughs). What sort of films do you like watching then? Action movies?

Customer: (laughs) Not really. My boyfriend always insists we watch science fiction movies but I prefer thrillers something . Somethin? to get your teeth into!

Shop assistant: OK. Just one more. Do you watch other DVDs – ones that are not films – like music or something?

Customer: Not much because I don’t want to spend the money on something I can watch on TV but I occasionally rent out comedy programmes. And I fight with my boyfriend over all the sports DVDs he watches.

Shop assistant: OK. Let me explain a bit to you about the DVD players that are in your price range . First there’s the DB 30 which has only got basic features but it is a bargain at £69. Now all the DVDs come with an after-sales service that starts when the guarantee runs out. As it’s so cheap the db 30 comes with a limited after-sales service as it unlv includes parts. You would have to pay for most of the repair.

Customer: Seems OK.

Shop assistant: Then a slight grade up from that is the xl 643 . This comes w ith an additionalfeature in that it has extra button allowing you to record. That’s quite useful.

Customer: Oh yes. That would mean spending less on DVDs to watch.

Shop assistant: Yes, so you’d make the extra money back on it that it costs. Let me see how much it is … ah. yes. that one’s actually reduced at the moment from 79 pounds to £71 99 . I think it’s worth the extra myself.

Customer: And is that the same level of after-sales service as the other one?

Shop assistant: Well, you get a bit more for your money because what we are offering is a discount on labour. So you don’t pay the full price if you have to call an engineer out.

Customer: I see.

Shop assistant: Then the last one is this tri x 24 . It’s a very good player and you can use it to listen to your CDs as well as watch DVDs.

Customer: It looks nice – but I bet it’s expensive .

Shop assistant: No, it’s not top of the range. I jet’s see – yes it’s 94 pounds – but. what von hnvc in remember is that, that includes insurance , so you don’t have to pay extra for that. And it comes with a guarantee that’s valid for three years as opposed to the usual one. What do you think?

Customer: Hm, maybe … (fade) …

SECTION 2

You will hear a salesman giving information to house owners about an alarm system.

Salesman: Thank you for inviting me to your residence meeting. My name is Martin Pugh from Safe Sell Alarms. I’m going to explain a little bit about home security and I hope you’ll all feel a bit better informed and perhaps that you will even purchase one of the alarms we sell. It is all too easy these days for people to break in to our homes. Did you know that 25% of all burglaries are committed by burglars breaking and entering via the back door? Even though it is locked, it is still relatively easy for someone to gain entry. And there are parts of our house that we think are not vulnerable because they look inaccessible, but they’re not. So, if you’re trying to protect your home, you should make the sure top floor is covered by that protection, not just the ground floor . We believe that the only way to secure your property is by having an alarm fitted. Just having the alarm on the outside can pul burglars off and we also recommend that you warn them about the alarm. To do this, we suggest von stick a sign in the front window of the house so it can be seen clearly . This alone should be enough to dissuade a burglar before they start.

Now, our company has a range of alarms on offer and I’ve brought several along for you to see tonight. But let me just explain a few things about them. First of all, all of our alarms are highly visible . They’re colored red and. on the underneath , there is a blue light. which you can see whether they are switched on or not. This acts as a deterrent to burglars who can see it is an active alarm system. Like most systems, our alarms are very sensitive so you do need to look after them. You may be surprised to hear that a cat can often slink around unnoticedunder the infrared beams but a spider crawling across them will set them off. Also, our system is a little different from some. Most companies offer an option that connects their alarms to the police station . All our alarms have an automatic link to our company office. This means we can deal with the situation promptly and can sort out any alarms that have gone off by mistake.

OK, let me tell you about the installation of our alarms. Later on I’ll show you some house plans and diagrams of how the alarms operate but you don’t have to worry about them being intrusive , as we normally put them in hallways rather than individual rooms. The diagrams show you how the beams work to cover the whole house in this way. Oh, one small thing while I remember, is don’t leave your security code in your house a lot of people keep it in the kitchen or their study but we suggest you leave it with a neighbour so that if there is a break in, the burglars can’t switch the system off. Now, regarding the practical aspects of installation. I know that many of you are out all day and I’m afraid we don’t install the alarms at weekends, but we do offer a service where we can fit the alarm system in the evenings for you but we do charge a little bit extra for that. Finally, we do offer a range of systems , so I suggest you look at the leaflets on our prices. And please don’t be put off from investing in a more sophisticated system to protect your home as we do allow you to set up a monthly payment if it’s too much in one go. OK. now. if you’d like to … (fade)…

SECTION 3

You will hear a student, Alex, asking his tutor Tor advice about essay writing.

Tutor: Hi. Alex, comc in. I gather you wanted some help with writing essays.

Alex: Yes. I’m finding this first term difficult and I’m worried about the assignments we have to do for January.

Tutor: Well, let me see if I can help. You shouldn’t panic about it because essay writing is a very straightforward process really. What it involves is organising the information that you want to include. You shouldn’t have more than you can easily manage within the word count. Make sure you haven’t got too much or anything irrelevant hmm . You need to look at that and work out what you need and what you don’t need before you start. And then you just have to think about how you’re going to pul forward your argument

Alex: Oh, that sounds very straight forward when you put it like that. But I’m worried I haven’t got the necessary skills for writing an effective essay because English is my second language.

Tutor: Well, perhaps you misunderstand the skills you need. You need to be able to analyzeyour data and then 1 would say the skills of interpretation and expressing yourself are important. Perhaps it’s this last one that bothers you, but the more essays you write, the more you will develop these skills.

Alex: Yes and I don’t quite know how to improve at that though as you say. I know practice will help. And I need to make sure I’ve got everything ready before I start.

Tutor: Yes. What is vital to good essay writing is preparation so make sure you build in enough time to do the research you need.

Alex: Are there any other sources I can use to help me with essays?

Tutor Yes. You should go to the library and look through the reference section because there are hooks that focus on the style we use in academic writing and those will help you a lot, The other thing that you should think about is, what happens when you’ve actually written your essay. Too many students just complete their work and hand it in. Whereas what you should be doing is making sure that you edit it as thoroughly as possible.

Alex: Oh. yes. That’s a good idea. Then I’d pick up any mistakes and also see if it reads logically .

Tutor: Exactly. The other thing is. again, what a lot of students do is get their essays back, look at the marks, then just file it away. They don’t seem to realize that if they checkcd it through and looked at what the tutor had written, then they can learn from their old essays.

Alex: Yeah. I can see that’s a good idea.

Tutor So, is that OK? You can always come back to me.

Alex: Actually, there were a couple of other things I wanted to ask you about essay writing. 1 had had a few thoughts of my own about what 1 should do such as really taking good noteswhen I’m reading because that helps, doesn’t it?

Tutor I think if improves your knowledge rather than your actual writing. But one lip I can give you is to try and not read too much, otherwise you end up including irrelevant material in your essay. Remember to stay on task.

Alex: Yes, sometimes I have problems interpreting the questions correctly, or the whole question seems overwhelming to me. What I try to do is highlight the key parts and divide it into smaller chunks , so I can manage it.

Tutor: Well, you might find it useful to break it down even further by making sure you, understand all the words perfectly before you start. Things like ‘assess’ or ‘comment’ and such like.

Alex: Yes, I see.

Tutor: Sometimes, after an objective analysis , the question actually asks you for a subjective opinion, but you must remember to support your arguments , if that’s the case. One final comment I can make is about using your own words – you must try to do this as far as possible. You’re expected to summarize what you’ve read nol just siring together a list of quotations . In fact, you shouldn’t have too many – just use them where it’s really important.

Alex: OK. thanks.

Tutor: Do you read other student’s essays when you’ve finished?

Alex: No. Why? Is that a good idea?

Tutor: Well, you can confuse each other so I’d advise against it – but it’s up to you.

Alex: OK. Thanks very much … (fade) …

SECTION 4

You will hear a tutor giving some Business students instructions about a finance project.

Tutor. OK, can you quiet down please? Now. today. I’m going to talk to you about your assignment .

We’ve been studying the effects of the exchange rate so I’m going to give you a project to do on this. Right, can you make some notes while I’m talking. The first thing that I’d like you to do in order to prepare this is to select where you’re interested in. I mean, which country, and therefore which currency you’re going to be operating in. OK. Now the purpose of the project is to make money and I’m hoping some of you will make a significant amount! So I want you to suppose that you have 100 pounds that you will have to invest purely in the rises and falls of the exchange system. In other words, you’ll be trying to predict rates. This is a project that you’ll be doing together but, before you work together, you’ll have to go off and research what you need to know about the economy of that country and how well it’s doing or is expected to do in the near future. You could all make up a little information sheet with your notes on. clearly legible , because then I want you to get together – we can do that next week – and to go round and read about each other’s countries . When you see how well or badly each country is doing, I want you to decide what your exchange rate is going to be against all the other currencies . After that is all sorted, what you’re going to do is to go round the other students and attempt to sell your money to the others – remember this will depend on the success of your country’s economy anti the rate you’ve fixed for your currency. Now, you’re not allowed to just swap currencies with each other but you may wish to buy from the other countries – but you must do a proper transaction . All the way through this you must keep your accounts properly for each transaction. I’ll give you one week to do this and then we will set a time for the deals to finish – a bit like the stock exchange – and. at that point. I will ask you to calculate how much you have made. Is that clear?

Now before you begin that, there are a few things I want you to read up on to prepare. You need to look at the economies of the UK’s main trading partners. I don’t mean all of them because that would be over 80, but just the 29 principle ones. There are summaries in the last three books on the booklist I’ve given you. And so that you can practise applying the criteria on assessment I gave you. I’d then like you to focus just on one sector across all the countries. The most common one across every country is farming but. as much agricultural produce is for domestic consumption , I’d like you to look at manufacturing. Then, I would like you to do a detailed investigation of one particular aspect . I was going to give you a choice but I think, as we’ve just started the course, it’s better if we all look at the same thing and then we can discuss it in the seminars. So the thing I’d like you all to look at is fluctuations in import prices. Now you need to do all that before you start the project as it will help you assess the economies of the countries you’ll be representing in the project. Don’t worry you’ve got plenty of time. Exam week is December 8th, then it’s the holidays until January 6th so I don’t need the project in till February 5th. Is that OK? Now, any questions ...

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IELTS General Training Volume 1

Part 1: Question 1 - 10

Part 2: Question 11 - 20

Part 3: Question 21 - 28

Part 4: Question 31 - 40

IELTS Academic Reading Practice #2: The hidden lives of solitary bees

Questions 1-4

DVD Customer Profile

Questions 5-10

Questions 11-20

Questions 21-27

Essay Writing

Questions 28-30

Questions 31-36

Questions 37-40

SECTION 1

SECTION 2

SECTION 3

SECTION 4

Comments:

About us

Our mission

IELTS General Training Volume 1

Part 1: Question 1 - 10

Part 2: Question 11 - 20

Part 3: Question 21 - 28

Part 4: Question 31 - 40

Share your score

IELTS Academic Reading Practice #2: The hidden lives of solitary bees

Questions 1-4

DVD Customer Profile

Questions 5-10

Questions 11-20

Questions 21-27

Essay Writing

Questions 28-30

Questions 31-36

Questions 37-40

SECTION 1

SECTION 2

SECTION 3

SECTION 4

Comments:

About us

Our mission