IELTS General Training Volume 3

Published on: 15 Dec 2017
Tests taken: 942,366

Answer Keys:

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Part 1: Question 1 - 10

1 D
2 A
3 C
4 A
5 to the office/the office

6 (his) brother
7 (by) 8 pm / 8 o’clock
8 City Square
9 People are funny
10 (the) new office / Newtown / New Town

Part 2: Question 11 - 22

11 Mrs Brooks
12 Lee
13 May / Mai / Mei
14 002312
15 (Mr) Anderson / Andersen
16 Flat 5-10 or 5/10 University Avenue / Ave

17 818 6074
18 B
19 C
20 B
21 D
22 C

Part 3: Question 23 - 31

23 classical
24 drums
25 country
26 piano
27 jazz

28 hearts / heartbeat / blood (flow)
29 blood pressure / heart beat
30 calming / relaxing / gentle
31 cultures

Part 4: Question 32 - 40

32 (the) patient / himself
33 smoking
34 young (working) men
35 (the) sun/sunlight
36 public health (standards)

37 healthy lifestyle (choices)
38 fun / a pleasure
39 warm-up (time) / stretching (exercises)
40 cross training

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IELTS Academic Reading Practice #1: How Pterosaurs- a prehistoric predator took to the skies

IELTS Reading paper-based Oct 29th, 2022

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04 Nov 2022

Review & Explanations:

Part 1: Questions 1-10

Questions 1-4

Listen to the conversation between two people in a shop which sells electronic goods. Put a circle around the letter of the item they choose.

Example:

Answer: D

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 1:

It is useful to identify the feature of each option

Option A: Big Corded Telephone
Option B: Small Corded Telephone
Option C: portable (cordless) phone
Option D: portable (cordless) phone, has a hinge in a middle so it can be folded.

In the recording Tom said :I’d like to get a portable phone. You know, one of those cordless ones.” so option A and B are eliminated.
Next Mary and Tom said: “I really like the one with the hinge in the middle. A folding telephone”. So option D is correct

Answer: A

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 2:

It is useful to identify the feature of each option

Option A: has large earphones, the most expensive $59
Option B: no outstanding feature noticed.
Option C: has small earphones
Option D: is the cheapest $17

In the recording Mary said :”I don’t think you should buy the really cheap one. $17. I believe they give a very bad sound quality” so option B is eliminated.
Next Tom said: “I really hate the ones where you have to put the small earphones into your ear.”, so option C is eliminated. Then Mary said :”Here’s one with big earphones you put over your ears.” and when Tom hesitated because it was expensive, Mary said :”It’s only $20 more than the one with the little earphones. Take it”. So option A is correct

Answer: C

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 3:

It is useful to identify the feature of each option

Option A: is the biggest, 68 cm
Option B: 51 cm
Option C: 48 cm
Option D: is the smallest, 34 cm

In the recording Tom said: “ I don’t want anything larger than 48 cm.”, so option A and B are eliminated. Then he said: “ I really think 34 cm is too small for our room.” so option D is eliminated. And Mary confirmed: “ Let’s take the size bigger than 34 cm”. so option C is correct

Answer: A

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 4:

It is useful to identify the feature of each option

Option A: has s curved carry handle
Option B: has a clock and most expensive among the 4.
Option C: has a straight carry handle
Option D: has a clock and cheapest among the 4.

In the recording Tom said: “ I don’t want a clock radio”, so option B and D are eliminated. Next he said: “ I like this radio with the curved carry handle.”, so option A is correct

Questions 5-10

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

Where will Mary go now ?

Who is waiting for Tom?

What time does Mary expect to come home?

Where is Mary’s office?

What TV program does Tom plan to watch tonight?

Where does Tom have to go tomorrow?

5 Answer: to the office/the office

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 5:

Key word is: “Where”
From the clue “Where”, candidates can expect to hear a name of a place.
In the recording it said: “I’ll go to the office”, so the answer is (to) the office.
Some candidates may write “office” only rather than “(to) the office” and it may not be acceptable, so try to be specific.

6 Answer: (his) brother

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 6:

Key words are: “Who” and “waiting”
From the clue “Who”, candidates can expect to hear a name/ a noun which refer to a person, and from the word “is”, they can gather that this is just one person.
In the recording it said: “My brother’s waiting at the house”. So brother/his brother is the answer.
If candidates write “ my brother” or “your brother”, it will not be accepted.

7 Answer: (by) 8 pm / 8 o’clock

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 7:

Key words are: “What time”and “come home”
From the clue “What time”, candidates can gather the gap should be a time/number
In the recording it said: “ I should be home by eight.If I think I’ll be later than 8 o’clock I’ll call you”
Candidates might be confused at first when the recording said ;”I’ll be late home tonight. I’ve got a meeting at 5 o’clock.”, as they expect to hear the time she got home after she said “”I’ll be late home tonight.”. However , if they listen further, they should easily find the answer. Some candidate may write “8/eight” only rather than “8pm” or “8 o’clock”, and it may not be acceptable, so try to be specific.

8 Answer: City Square

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 8:

Key words are: “Where” and “Mary’s office”
From the clue “Where”, candidates can predict the gap should be a noun/a place.
In the recording it said: “It’s nice now that your office is in City Square”, and “City Square” are mentioned twice, so candidates have the chance to check if they cannot clearly catch the answer at the first time.

9 Answer: People are funny

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 9:

Key words are: “TV program” and “tonight”

From the clue “What TV program”, candidates can predict the gap should be a Title, and it should be more than one word, because rarely TV show has a one-word title.
In the recording it said: “What TV show? Oh, People are Funny”, so the answer is People are Funny.
The TV show name are mentioned twice, so candidates have the chance to check if they cannot clearly catch the phrase at the first time.

10 Answer: (the) new office / Newtown / New Town

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 10:

Key words are: “Where” and “tomorrow”
From the clue “Where”, candidates can predict the gap should be a noun/a place.
In the recording it said: “ I’m going to the new office at Newtown tomorrow”, so the answer can be: (the) new office / Newtown / New Town

Part 1

Part 2: Questions 11-22

Questions 11-17

Complete the table belows. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND TWO NUMBER for each answer.

REQUEST TO TERMINATE OR TRANSFER CLASSES
Message for:	11 Student affairs
Student’s family name:	12
Student’s first name:	13
Student number:	14
Teacher’s name:	15
Student’s address:	16
Telephone:	17

11 Answer: Mrs Brooks

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 11:

Key word is: “Message for”
From the key word “Message for”, candidates can gather the gap must be a person’s name, and the additional detail “in student affairs.”, helps candidates to identify this person
In the recording it said: “This message is for Mrs Brooks , in student affairs.” . So the right answer is Mrs Brooks, however, the woman did not spell the name, therefore candidates might lost mark for misspelling. For example, Mrs Brokes is not accepted.

12 Answer: Lee
Listen from here Locate Explain Report
Question 12:
Key word is: “my family name”
In the recording it said: “my family name is Lee, spelled L-E-E”, so the answer accepted is Lee only, as the woman spelled her last name.

13 Answer: May / Mai / Mei

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 13:

Key word is: “my first name”
In the recording it said: “and my first name is May”. On the contrary to the previous question, the answers here vary, it could be May, Mei, Mai… Because the woman did not spell her name, so as long as the pronunciation of the name given is reasonable, it can be accepted.

14 Answer: 002312

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 14:

Key word is:” student number”
From the clue “student number”, candidates can predict the gap should be a string of numbers.
In the recording it said: “My student number is 002312, that’s 002312 .” The answer was repeated.

15 Answer: (Mr) Anderson / Andersen

Locate Explain Report

Question 15:

Key words are: “Teacher’s name”
From the clue “Teacher’s name”, candidates can predict the gap should be a name of the teacher who is in charge of her class.
In the recording it said: “ I’m in Mr Anderson ’s class”. Similar to Question 13 when answer was not spelled, the answers here vary, it could be (Mr) Anderson / Andersen

16 Answer: Flat 5-10 or 5/10 University Avenue / Ave

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 16:

Key words are: “address”
From the clue “address”, candidates can predict the gap may be a number , together with a name of a street or flat.
In the recording it said: “The next part of the form asks for my address”, so candidates can get themselves prepared to hear to the answer. After that, the woman said : “I live at Flat 5, 10 University Avenue” .The answers Flat 5/10 or 5/10 University Avenue / Ave or Flat 5 10 university are all accepted.

17 Answer: 818 6074

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 17:

Key words are: “telephone”
From the clue “telephone ”, candidates can gather that they are going to hear a string of numbers.
In the recording it said: “The telephone number is 818 6074”, Then the woman repeated this information : “I’ll give it to you again, 818 6074”

Questions 18-22

Circle the appropriate letter A-D.

May wants to change classes because

A she doesn’t like her teacher
B too many students share a language
C she can’t understand the work
D the class is too large.

Answer: B

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 18:

Key word : “change classes”.She said “ I’ll tell you why I want a transfer between classes.” so from here candidates can come to a conclusion that they are going to hear the reason why she want to change classes
Option A - she doesn’t like her teacher is incorrect because in the recording she said : “I really like my teacher and my classmates”
Option B - too many students share a language is correct because in the recording she said “ I’m surrounded by other people from my country so it’s natural that we all speak in our mother tongue” means the woman and her classmates come from the same country and they share a language/speak in mother tongue
Option C - she can’t understand the work is incorrect because this statement is nowhere to be found. However, candidates might confused if they just hear the phrase :”but I find it very hard not to speak in my own language.”, if they miss the second part of this sentence, they will think she find the work at school is hard, not the fact she cannot resist speak her own language.
Option D - the class is too large. is incorrect because this statement is nowhere to be found.

In the evening class most students’ first language is

A English
B Italian
C Spanish
D Japanese

Answer: C

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 19:

Key word: “most students’ first language”
Option A- English is incorrect when she said :”most people speak English at the break, although sometimes the Spanish slip into their own language.” means most of them speak English at the break, however it is not their first language
Option B - Italian is incorrect as she mention she just has one Italian friend in the class
Option C - Spanish is correct because in the recording she said “Most of the students in that class come from countries which speak Spanish” and she said : “there are two Hong Kong Chinese, six Spanish speakers and one Japanese student.”
Option D - Japanese is incorrect as she mention “one Japanese student” only.

There is room in the new class because two students

A went home
B dropped the course
C transferred
D graduated

Answer: B

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 20:

Key words are: “room in the class” and “two students”
Option A went home is incorrect because this statement is nowhere to be found.
Option B dropped the course is correct because in the recording she said “two students have dropped out of the evening class so there should be room for me.”
Option C transferred is incorrect because this statement is nowhere to be found.
Option D graduated is incorrect because this statement is nowhere to be found.

May prefers the evening class because it is

A in the same room
B in the room next door
C in the same building
D in the building next door

Answer: D

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 21:

Key word: “prefers”.She said “but the evening class I want is” so from here candidates can come to a conclusion that they are going to hear the reason why she prefers that class.

Option A in the same room is incorrect because this statement is nowhere to be found.
Option B in the room next door is incorrect because this statement is nowhere to be found.
Option C in the same building is incorrect because this statement is nowhere to be found.
Option D in the building next door. is correct because in the recording she said “The class I’m in now is next door to the Trotter building in Prince Tower”

May wants Mrs Brooks to leave a message at

A the library
B her work
C her friend’s house
D her home.

Answer: C

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 22:

Key words are: “leave a message at”
in the recording she said “could you please leave a message for me at my friend Margaret’s house” so option C “her friend’s house” is correct. Other options are nowhere to be found.

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Part 2

Part 3: Questions 23-31

Questions 23-27

Complete the table showing the students’ opinions.

Choose four answers from the box below.

There are more words than spaces so you will not use than all.

You may use any of the words more than once.

INSTRUMENT

guitar violin pipa

organ flute bouzouki

piano drums harp

STYLE OF MUSIC

ballet music rap classical

heavy metal opera jazz

rock be-bop country

Student	favourite instrument	favourite style of music
Example *Greg*	*drums*	*classical*
Alexandria	guitar	23
Katja	24	rock
Rachel	violin	25
Harry	26	opera
Emiko	flute	27

23 Answer: classical

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 23:

Key words are: “favourite style of music” and “Alexandra”
the teacher asked “will you tell us the students’ favourite style of music?” Therefore candidates shall be notified that they are moving to Q23.
in the recording, the man said: “ My favourite is classical music, and that’s Alexandra’s choice too”. So the answer here is classical. If candidates just wait for the key word Alexandra to appear first and skip the information about the man, they will miss this Question.

Note: Even when there is no word limit, but if candidate write :classical music as an answer they will lose point, as the instruction says “Choose answers from the box below”, and in that box,there is no classical music just classical only. Same rule goes for Q25 and Q27

24 Answer: drums

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Usually, the questions come in order. In other words, the speaker(s) will provide the answer to question 23 before you will hear the answer to question 24, and so on. However, in this section, the speaker talked about favourite instruments first, and list out the favourite instruments of each students. Candidates can figure this out by listening the Dr asked :”What were the favourite instruments?” and his students answer their favorites. In other words,in the recording, the information was mentioned vertically while the questions in questions paper are listed horizontally. Therefore in this test you should find the answer for Q24 before Q23. The order you shall hear is Q24 then Q26, next is Q23, Q25, Q27.

Question 24:

Key words are: “favourite instruments” and “Katja”
As candidates listen and gather that the information for favourite instruments is mentioned first, they can predict that this will follow the order of students, Greg will be mentioned first, then Alexandra. Followed is Katja, and the information after this name should be the answer.
in the recording the student said: “Katja is like Greg. She loves to listen to drums”.The answer drums is mentioned twice, both directly and indirectly as she said Katja is like Greg, and his favourite instruments is drums :”Greg loves drums.”

25 Answer: country

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 25:

Key word: “Rachel ”
in the recording the man said “Rachel says that she prefers country music .” So the answer here is country
Some candidates may rush and give an answer :”classical” as they heard the Dr. asked :” Doesn’t Rachel prefer classical music?”, and skip the detail given afterwards.
Some may confused when receiving additional details : “She plays the violin, so I expected classical or opera” and choose “classical” or “opera” as an answer.

26 Answer: piano
Listen from here Locate Explain Report
Question 26:
Key word: Harry
in the recording the student said: “Harry says the best instrument of them all is the piano”

27 Answer: jazz

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 27:

Key words are: “Emiko”
in the recording the man said “Emiko says jazz is her favourite music”. So the answer here is jazz.
Some candidates may confused as they heard : “She also likes opera, heavy metal, classical” and choose “classical” “heavy metal” or “opera” as an answer. However, the man confirmed :”but jazz is the best.”

Questions 28-31

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS to complete the sentences.

Stimulating music speeds up our 28

Calming music reduces our 29

30 music has very predictable rhythms.

Research may show if people of different 31 perceive music differently

28 Answer: hearts / heartbeat / blood (flow)

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 28:

Key words are: “Stimulating music speeds up our”
Candidates may think of synonyms of both key words in order to catch the idea easier. For Stimulating music it could be exciting music, thrilling music… and speeds up can be express by the similar words such as accelerate, rise, increase, make it goes faster, quicker...
The gap may be noun (countable noun in plural form or uncountable noun) that relate to system in our body or organ, that comes after the possessive adjectives “our”
in the recording the man said “It seems that music which stimulates us gives rise to actual changes in our bodies. We listen to exciting music and our hearts beat faster, our blood pressure rises, and our blood flows more quickly.”So candidates can gather this sentence is talking about Stimulating music .
There are two things that linked to the term “speeds up ”.

First is our hearts/ heartbeats as in “We listen to exciting music and our hearts beat faster”. If candidates just transfer the whole term “heart beat” without modify the form, it will not be accepted.
First is our blood (flow) as in “and our blood flows more quickly.” If candidates just transfer the whole term “blood flows” without modify the form, it will not be accepted.

So the answer here can be hearts/ heartbeats OR blood (flow)

Note:

Even “blood pressure” is mentioned as in “our blood pressure rises”. However, “blood pressure” cannot be “ speeds up” as this verb is using for motion
“music which stimulates us gives rise to actual changes in our bodies” is confusing for some candidates too, but base on the word “our” before the gap, and the word limit (no more than three) “actual changes” and “bodies” cannot be considered an answer as it is meaningless (Stimulating music speeds up our actual changes (!) - Stimulating music speeds up our bodies (!!) )

29 Answer: blood pressure / heart beat

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 29

Key words are: “Calming music” and “reduces”
Candidates may think of synonyms of both key words in order to catch the idea easier. For Calming music it could be relaxing music, soothing music… and reduces can be express by the similar words such as lower, drop, decrease…
The gap may be noun (countable noun in plural form or uncountable noun) that relate to system in our body or organ, that comes after the possessive adjectives “our”
in the recording the man said “Soothing music, however, has the opposite effect. We relax, and let the world go by. Our heart beats more gently, our blood pressure drops, and we feel calm” .So candidates can gather this sentence is talking about Calming music .
There are two things that linked to the term “reduces”.

First is Our heart beats, as gently means slowdown or reduces.
Second is blood pressure as in “our blood pressure drops”

So the answer here can be blood pressure OR heart beats

30 Answer: calming / relaxing / gentle

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 30:

Key words are: “predictable rhythms”.
From the word “music” after the gap, candidates can predict this gap require an adjective/ or a genre of music
in the recording the man said “The melodies which help us to relax are smooth flowing and often have repeated rhythms. Their very predictability is sedating, relaxing “ So the answer here can be sedating or relaxing or even Gentle as in the woman guess: “Gentle rhythms?” because the Dr agree with her by saying :”Yes, in part”

31 Answer: cultures

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 31:

Key words are: “research ” “people of different___ perceive music differently”
The phrase “people of different” before the gap 31 indicates that this gap must be noun in plural form.
in the recording the man said:” We still have a lot of research to do to find out what, ah, for instance, people of different cultures hear and feel when they listen to music.”So the answer here is cultures.

Previous Next

Part 3

Part 4: Questions 32-40

Questions 32-36

Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS, answer the following questions.

Who should take charge of the patient’s health?

What, in the speaker’s opinion, is the single greatest threat to health?

Which group in the study was most at risk of early death?

Which environmental hazard does the speaker find most under-rated?

What will be improved by an education campaign?

32 Answer: (the) patient / himself

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 32:

Key words are: “Who” and “take charge of”
From the Key word: “Who”, it must be a noun referring to a person,
in the recording the woman said: “When the patient takes responsibility for her or his own health” and as candidates continue to listen, they shall gather that this section is talking about how a patient should take care of himself.
So the answer here is (the) patient or himself.

Note: “herself” may not be considered correct answer as in the recording, it said : “let’s decide the patient is male for now – men are in fact more at risk than women anyway“

33 Answer: smoking
Listen from here Locate Explain Report
Question 33:
Keyword :” greatest threat”.
From the question, the answers should be a noun
In the recording the woman said: “Smoking is the worst threat to health”. So the answer here is Smoking

34 Answer: young (working) men

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 34:

Keywords are: “early death” and “Which group”
From the keyword group, the word needed should be noun in plural form.
In the recording the woman said: “We looked at men in different age groups ... Young men, particularly working class men, are at considerable risk of premature death”. “premature death” means dying at young ages, “early death”. So the answer here is Young men.

Note: Some candidates might get confused as they heard “ particularly working class men”, and take “working class men” as an answer. However, this is incorrect, as working class men is not the group the speaker was talking about. Not all people belong to “working class men “ expose to early death , just the young ones.

35 Answer: (the) sun/sunlight

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 35:

Key words are: “environmental hazard” and “most underrated”
From the question, candidates can predict that the answer is a noun which referring to environmental factors
In the recording the woman said: “ the effects of the sun emerged as a threat which people simply do not take sufficiently seriously”. Means many people do not consider the sun/ sunlight as a hazard, and it is underrated
So the answer here is (the) sun/ sunlight.

Note: Some candidates may heard :” find air or water pollution to be the biggest hazards, and they must not be ignored.” and take air or water pollution as an answer, however, the speaker did not mention that these factors are underrated.

36 Answer: public health (standards)

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 36:

Key words are: “education campaign ” and “improved”
So the question word “what” candidates can predict that the answer is noun.
In the recording the woman said: “ I believe that a well-funded education campaign will help us improve public health standards”. So the answer here is public health standards or public health

Questions 37-40

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS to complete the sentences.

Statistics quoted show that 37 would prevent many illnesses.

Exercise should be 38 , so find someone to join you in your activity.

One important way of preventing sports injury is by adequate 39

Injuries can also be reduced by using 40 techniques.

37 Answer: healthy lifestyle (choices)

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 37:

Key words are: “Statistics ” and “prevent many illnesses.”
From the question, candidates can predict that the answer is noun
In the recording the woman said: “the Surgeon-General of the United States said that 53 percent of our illnesses could be avoided by healthy lifestyle choices”. The speaker did not directly mention Statistics, however she quoted a figure 53 percent which is extracted from Statistics. So the answer here is healthy lifestyle choices/ healthy lifestyles

Note: some candidates may write the answer in singular form :”healthy lifestyle choice” or healthy lifestyle” and lose mark. As a group of somethings considered to be a “choice”, it should have more than one - “choices” so there are many of them in order to choosing.

38 Answer: fun / a pleasure

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 38:

Key words are: “Exercise” and “find someone to join you in your activity.”
From the verb “be” before the gap, it should be an adjective, or noun ( but if you choose a noun to fill the gap, you must include the article a/an to make it grammatically fit)
In the recording, it stated from the beginning that :”You should try to make keeping fit fun” . keeping fit is another word for Exercise. So the answer here is fun
If candidates just focus to listen for the idea of “find someone to join you in your activity”, they might miss the statement above. However, it was repeated again, in another way, and the answer change from an adjective to a noun. “Your exercise regime should be a pleasure”. So another answer that could be accepted is a pleasure

39 Answer: warm-up (time) / stretching (exercises)

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 39:

Key words are: “technique “ “preventing sports injury” and “adequate ” .It is useful for candidates to think of synonym for these keyword, for example, “enough” for adequate.
From the adjective “adequate”, candidates can predict that the answer is nouns
In the recording the woman said: “the most important thing to remember before any sport is to warm up adequately. Do stretching exercises”. So the answer here is warm up, but another answer that could be accepted is stretching (exercises) as the speaker listed it as an example for warm-up activities

40 Answer: cross training

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Question 40:

Key words are: “technique “ and “reduce injuries”
From the noun “technique” after the gap, candidates can predict that the answer is a noun referring to a type of technique.
In the recording the woman said: “I think one of the most sensible and exciting developments in the reduction of injury is the recognition that all sports can borrow from each other.” Even when it does not reach the answer yet, candidates still can gain an vague concept of the recommended technique. Next it mentioned ‘Many sports programmes are now’ encouraging players to use cross training techniques, that is, to borrow training techniques from other sports” So the answer here is the word before “technique” : cross training

Great thanks to volunteer Châu Phan has contributed these explanations.

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Part 4

Change Audio Sources

Section 1

Tom: Well, here we are. There’s certainly plenty to choose from.

Mary: I’m finding it hard to know’ where to start. Would you like to look at the answering machines? Tom: Let’s start there. I like this one.

Mary: We have a lot to buy, Tom. We can’t afford to pay $129 for an answering machine. And we can’t afford to pay $127.50 for the dual tape answering machine, either.

Tom: Alright. We’ll buy a cheaper one then. There’s this one for $89 or the smaller one for $59.95.

Mary: I like the square shape of the smaller one. It’ll fit neatly on my desk.

Tom: And it’s the cheapest. Okay. We’ll buy that one.

Tom: Well, here we are. There’s certainly plenty to choose from.

Mary: I’m finding it hard to know where to start. Would you like to look at the answering machines?

Tom: Let’s start there. I like this one.

Mary: We have a lot to buy, Tom. We can’t afford to pay $129 for an answering machine. And we can’t afford to pay $127.50 for the dual tape answering machine, either.

Tom: Alright. We’ll buy a cheaper one then. There’s this one for $89 or the smaller one for $59.95.

Mary: I like the square shape of the smaller one. It’ll fit neatly onto my desk.

Tom: And it’s the cheapest. Okay, we’ll buy that one.

Mary: Good. Now’, we need to buy a telephone for the office.

Tom: I’d like to get a portable phone. You know, one of those cordless ones.

Mary: Are you sure?

Tom: I think it’s a good idea. We don’t need another telephone answering machine, so we can look for a small one.

Mary: I really like the one with the hinge in the middle.

Tom: A folding telephone! Yes, that’s a good idea. So we’ll take that one. Are you ready to look at the other things we need?

Mary: Yes. Let me look at the list. We need a couple of radios.

Tom: I want one I can listen to while I’m walking.

Mary: I know. They’re just over here. I don’t think you should buy the really cheap one.

Tom: You mean this one? $17 is a very good price.

Mary: Ah, that’s true, but I believe they give a very bad sound quality. And what if you want to use a cassette? It doesn’t have any space for a cassette.

Tom: You’re right. Hmm. Well, I really hate the ones where you have to put the small earphones into your ear.

Mary: Here’s one with big earphones you put over your ears.

Tom: Ooh. It’s expensive…

Mary: It’s only $20 more than the one with the little earphones. Take it!

Tom: Okay. What’s next?

Mary: We have to choose a television.

Tom: We need one which is – ah – big enough to … Mary: But not too big. I don’t want anything larger than 48 cm.

Tom: I really think 34 cm is too small for our room. That’s only about thirteen and a half inches.

Mary: Okay. Let’s take the size bigger than 34 cm.

Tom: What about another radio?

Mary: How would you feel about a clock radio instead of just a radio?

Tom: I don’t want a clock radio. I’m very fond of my alarm clock! But I like this radio with the curved carry handle.

Mary: So do I. It’s a good price, too. So, now we’ve chosen an answering machine, a cordless telephone, a radio for you to use when you go for a walk, another radio and a television.

Tom: Anything else?

Mary: No. Let’s go and have a cup of coffee!

Mary: Shopping’s hard work!

Tom: I’m glad it’s over.

Mary: Do you want to go home now?

Tom: Yes, I think I’ll take the things we bought home.

Mary: Okay. I’ll go to the office. I’ve got lots to do. I’ll come back later, straight from the office.

Tom: Okay. I’d better hurry. My brother’s waiting at the house to help carry the television in.

Mary: Good. I hope he’ll still be there when I get home – I haven’t seen your brother for ages. No, wait, I forgot to tell you. I’ll be late home tonight. I’ve got a meeting at 5 o’clock.

Tom: When do you think it will end?

Mary: I’m not sure. Still, I should be home by eight. If I think I’ll be later than 8 o’clock I’ll call you.

Tom: Okay. It’s nice now that your office is in City Square. You don’t have to travel very far at all.

Mary: I certainly appreciate it! Taxi drivers always know where City Square is, too. By the way, are you going to watch People are Funny on TV tonight?

Tom: What did you say? What TV show? Oh, People are Funny? Of course I am. I’ll tell you what happened when you get home. I need something to laugh at – I’m going to the new office at Newtown tomorrow, and I’m not looking forward to it.

Mary: I’d better go. Take care. I’ll see you later. Bye bye.

Section 2

May: Hello. This is May Lee speaking. This message is for Mrs Brooks, in student affairs. Mrs Brooks, I telephoned you last week and you told me to call back and put the details of my request to transfer on the answering machine. I hope you can hear me easily. I have the form here and I’ll give you the information working from the top to the bottom.

As you know, my family name is Lee, spelled L-E-E, and my first name is May. My student number is 002312, that’s 002312. I’m in Mr Anderson’s class – you know, he’s the one who helps out with the football team.

The next part of the form asks for my address. I’ll give it slowly. I live at Flat 5, 10 University Avenue – you probably know the building, it’s just near the engineering school.

The telephone number is 818 6074, and I share it with a lot of other people so it’s often engaged. I’ll give it to you again, 818 6074 think that’s all I have to put on this part of the form. I know you were curious about my reason for requesting a transfer, so I’ll explain that next.

May: Now I’ll tell you why I want a transfer between classes. Mrs Brooks, I really like my teacher and my classmates, but I find it very hard not to speak in my own language. I just begin to think in English when the class ends, and I’m surrounded by other people from my country so it’s natural that we all speak in our mother tongue. I have been looking around for a class where there are very few other people from my country so I will be forced to use English.

The best class I can find is the evening class which begins at 6 pm. Most of the students in that class come from countries which speak Spanish, and I can’t speak a word so I must use English. I have an Italian friend in the class, and she tells me there are two Hong Kong Chinese, six Spanish speakers and one Japanese student. She says most people speak English at the break, although sometimes the Spanish slip into their own language.

I checked the class list, and two students have dropped out of the evening class so there should be room for me. Could you please see if I can join the class? I’m not sure what the class number is, but the evening class I want is in Room 305 of the Trotter Building. The class I’m in now is next door to the Trotter building in Prince Tower, so it’s very easy for me to find my way to the new class.

I’m not going home until late today, so could you please leave a message for me at my friend Margaret’s house? Her number is 812 7543, and she has an answering machine.

I do hope you can transfer me, Mrs Brooks. If there Is any more information you need please call me. Thank you very much dropped the course

Section 3

Dr Lester: Hm. I’m not surprised. What were the favourite instruments?

Alexandra: Well, Greg loves drums. He told me he played drums when he was at primary school, and now he plays drums with his friends at weekends. They have a band.

Dr Lester: Hm. Good. Ah. What do you like to play, Alexandra?

Alexandra: My favourite is the guitar. However, I haven’t played for years, so I keep hoping to start again. Will I go on with the others?

Dr Lester: Hm. Yes, please.

Alexandra: Katja is like Greg. She loves to listen to drums. She says she’s not a player, just a listener. Rachel, as you know, is a violinist, so of course it’s natural that she should favour the violin.

Dr Lester: Hm. So we have two people who love the sound of the drum and two who like strings – ah, the violin for Rachel and the guitar for Alex. What does Harry like?

Alexandra: Harry says the best instrument of them all is the piano. He claims it’s more versatile than any other instrument. Emiko plays the piano, but her favourite instrument is the flute.

Dr Lester: The flute?

Alexandra: Yes. Emiko plays the flute too, of course.

Dr Lester: Hm. Thank you, Alexandra. Ah, Greg, will you tell us the students’ favourite style of music?

Greg: We’re really very conservative. My favourite is classical music, and that’s Alexandra’s choice too. Katja claims to like rock.

Dr Lester: So that’s a vote from Greg, Alexandra and Katja. Doesn’t Rachel prefer classical music?

Greg: Rachel made a choice which surprised me. She plays the violin, so I expected classical or opera, but Rachel says that she prefers country music.

Dr Lester Hm. How interesting! What’s Harry’s choice?

Greg: Harry likes to listen to opera, and loves to go to see a performance. He says opera has everything, colour and spectacle and theatre and great music.

Dr Lester: And Emiko?

Greg: Emiko says jazz is her favourite music. She goes to listen to jazz every Friday evening. She also likes opera, heavy metal, classical… but jazz is the best.

Dr Lester: Thank you, Greg. I wanted to see what you all liked so I could understand your musical tastes more, and I want to move from this to a discussion of the physiological effects of music.

Dr Lester: For the purposes of this discussion, I’m going to divide music roughly into two types: music which stimulates us and music which calms us.

It seems that music which stimulates us gives rise to actual changes in our bodies. We listen to exciting music and our hearts beat faster, our blood pressure rises, and our blood flows more quickly. In short, we’re stimulated. Soothing music, however, has the opposite effect. We relax, and let the world go by. Our heart beats more gently, our blood pressure drops, and we feel calm. Um Alexandra, can you think of things which help us to relax?

Alexandra: Um. Gentle rhythms?

Dr Lester: Yes, in part. The melodies which help us to relax are smooth flowing and often have repeated rhythms. These rhythms are constant and dynamic, a little like the crash of the sea on the beach. Their very predictability is sedating, relaxing. By contrast very loud, discordant music with unpredictable rhythms and structures excites and stimulates us. These two generalisations about the differences between music which stimulates and music which soothes are true as far as they go, but they are far from conclusive. We still have a lot of research to do to find out what, ah, for instance, people of different cultures hear and feel when they listen to music.

This department is taking part in a continuing study on the influence of culture on musical perception, and we’ll talk about that more next

Dr Lester: Hm. I’m not surprised. What were the favourite instruments?

Alexandra: Well, Greg loves drums. He told me he played drums when he was at primary school, and now he plays drums with his friends at weekends. They have a band.

Dr Lester: Hm. Good. Ah. What do you like to play, Alexandra?

Alexandra: My favourite is the guitar. However, I haven’t played for years, so I keep hoping to start again. Will I go on with the others?

Dr Lester: Hm. Yes, please.

Dr Lester: Hm. So we have two people who love the sound of the drum and two who like strings – ah, the violin for Rachel and the guitar for Alex. What does Harry like?

Alexandra: Harry says the best instrument of them all is the piano. He claims it’s more versatile than any other instrument. Emiko plays the piano, but her favourite instrument is the flute.

Dr Lester: The flute?

Alexandra: Yes. Emiko plays the flute too, of course.

Dr Lester: Hm. Thank you, Alexandra. Ah, Greg, will you tell us the students’ favourite style of music?

Greg: We’re really very conservative. My favourite is classical music, and that’s Alexandra’s choice too. Katja claims to like rock.

Dr Lester: So that’s a vote from Greg, Alexandra and Katja. Doesn’t Rachel prefer classical music?

Greg: Rachel made a choice which surprised me. She plays the violin, so I expected classical or opera, but Rachel says that she prefers country music.

Dr Lester Hm. How interesting! W’hat’s Harry’s choice?

Greg: Harry likes to listen to opera, and loves to go to see a performance. He says opera has everything, colour and spectacle and theatre and great music.

Dr Lester: And Emiko?

Greg: Emiko says jazz is her favourite music. She goes to listen to jazz every Friday evening. She also likes opera, heavy metal, classical… but jazz is the best.

Dr Lester: Thank you, Greg. I wanted to see what you all liked so I could understand your musical tastes more, and I want to move from this to a discussion of the physiological effects of music.

Narrator: In the second part of the discussion Dr Lester will talk about the way music affects our bodies. Look at questions 28 to 31 first.

As you listen to the discussion, complete the sentences.

Dr Lester: For the purposes of this discussion, I’m going to divide music roughly into two types: music which stimulates us and music which calms us.

Alexandra: Um. Gentle rhythms?

This department is taking part in a continuing study on the influence of culture on musical perception, and we’ll talk about that more next

Section 4

When the patient takes responsibilty for her or his own health – and let’s decide the patient is male for now – men are in fact more at risk than women anyway – when the patient takes over his own health regime he must decide what he wants to do. The first thing, of course, is to give up the demon nicotine. Smoking is the worst threat to health, and it’s self- inflicted damage. I have colleagues who are reluctant to treat smokers. It you want to stay well, stay off tobacco and smoking in all its manifestations.

Our department has recently completed a survey of men’s health. We looked at men in different age groups and occupations, and we came up with a disturbing insight. Young men, particularly working class men, are at considerable risk of premature death because of their life style. As a group, they have high risk factors: they drink too much alcohol, they smoke more heavily than any other group, their diet is frequently heavy in saturated fats, and they don’t get enough exercise.

We then did a smaller survey in which we looked at environmental factors which affect health. I had privately expected to find air or water pollution to be the biggest hazards, and they must not be ignored. However, the effects of the sun emerged as a threat which people simply do not take sufficiently seriously. Please remember that too much sunlight can cause permanent damage.

Given this information, and the self-destructive things which people, particularly young men, are doing to themselves, one could be excused for feeling very’ depressed. However, I believe that a well-funded education campaign will help us improve public health standards and will be particularly valuable for young men. I’m an optimist. I see things improving, but only if we work very hard. In the second part of the talk I want to consider different things that you as students can do to improve your fitness.

Parker So now I’d like to issue a qualification to everything I say. People will still get sick, and they’ will still need doctors. This advice is just to reduce the incidence of sickness – it would be great if disease were preventable, but it’s not. However, we have power. In the late 80’s the Surgeon-General of the United States said that 53 percent of our illnesses could be avoided by healthy lifestyle choices. I now’ want to discuss these choices with you.

You should try to make keeping fit fun! It’s very hard to go out and do exercises by yourself, so it’s wise to find a sport that you like and play it with other people. If you swim, you can consider scuba diving or snorkelling. If you jog, try to find a friend to go with. If you walk, choose pretty places to walk or have a reason for walking. Your exercise regime should be a pleasure, not a penance.

The university is an excellent place to find other people who share sporting interests with you, and there are many sports teams you can join. This, unfortunately, raises the issue of sports injuries, and different sports have characteristic injuries. As well as accidental injuries, we find repetitive strain injuries occurring in sports where the same motion is frequently performed, like rowing and squash.

The parallel in working life is repetitive strain injury which may be suffered by typists or other people who perform the same action hour after hour, day after day.

In this context, therefore, the most important thing to remember before any sport is to warm up adequately. Do stretching exercises, and aim at all times to increase your flexibility. Be gentle with yourself, and allow time to prepare for the game you have chosen to play. Don’t be fooled by the term “warm up”, by the way. It’s every bit as important to do your warm up exercises on a hot day as on a cool one.

I think one of the most sensible and exciting developments in the reduction of injury is the recognition that all sports can borrow from each other. Many sports programmes are now’ encouraging players to use cross training techniques, that is, to borrow training techniques from other sports. Boxers have been using cross training for years: building up stamina by doing road work and weight training, while honing their skills and reflexes. Other sports which require a high level of eye-hand coordination are following this trend, so you see table tennis players running and jogging to improve their performance, and footballers doing flexibility exercises which can help them control the ball better. All of these results are good, but the general sense of well-being is best, and is accessible to us all, from trained athletes to people who will never run a 100 metres in less than 13 seconds.

Good health is not only for those who will achieve athletic greatness!

Narrator: That is the end of Section 4. Now you have some time to check your answers.

NEW

NEW

IELTS General Training Volume 3

Part 1: Question 1 - 10

Part 2: Question 11 - 22

Part 3: Question 23 - 31

Part 4: Question 32 - 40

Tips for improving your ielts score

IELTS Academic Reading Practice #1: How Pterosaurs- a prehistoric predator took to the skies

Questions 1-4

Questions 5-10

Questions 11-17

REQUEST TO TERMINATE OR TRANSFER CLASSES

Questions 18-22

Questions 23-27

Questions 28-31

Questions 32-36

Questions 37-40

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Comments:

About us

Our mission

NEW

IELTS General Training Volume 3

Part 1: Question 1 - 10

Part 2: Question 11 - 22

Part 3: Question 23 - 31

Part 4: Question 32 - 40

Share your score

Tips for improving your ielts score

IELTS Academic Reading Practice #1: How Pterosaurs- a prehistoric predator took to the skies

Questions 1-4

Questions 5-10

Questions 11-17

REQUEST TO TERMINATE OR TRANSFER CLASSES

Questions 18-22

Questions 23-27

Questions 28-31

Questions 32-36

Questions 37-40

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Comments:

About us

Our mission