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Published on: 14 Dec 2017
Listening Practice Test 4
Answer Keys:
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Review & Explanations:
You will hear a man called Tim and a woman called Laura discussing preparations for their holiday.
Complete the notes below.
Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
Things to do before we go |
Example Collect the currency. |
Instructions for Laura's mum
Vet's details: Name: Colin 7 Tel: 8 Address: Fore Street (opposite the 9 )
|
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q1. Cancel appointment with the _______ (Monday) | Good thinking. And wasn’t there an appointment you said you’d got to cancel? Yes, the hairdresser ... Thanks for reminding me. Can you write that down too? The shop will be closed now, but I’ll do it first thing on Monday. |
ANSWER: hairdresser + Skim through the Question to find out some words that need to be highlighted such as ‘cancel, appointment, Monday’ + While listening to the tape, pay attention to those words (which were highlighted orange, blue’ + After all, the answer for the blank space is hairdresser |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q2. Begin taking the _______ (Tuesday) | OK ... Then, starting on Tuesday we’ve got to take the tablets we got from the pharmacy | ||
ANSWER: tablets + Skim through the Question to find out some words that need to be highlighted such as ‘begin, taking, Tuesday’ + Focus carefully on the word ‘Tuesday’, this is the most important word in the Question that can easily lead you to the correct answer because this word cannot be paraphrased + While listening to the tape, you can find out that ‘begin’ has been paraphrased to ‘starting’, ‘taking has been changed form to ‘take’ + The answer must be something around these orange, blue, green highlighted keywords + Therefore, the answer should be tablets |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q3. Buy _____ | I’ve already bought that. But what we do still need to get is sunglasses | ||
ANSWER: sunglasses + Skim through the Question to find out some words that need to be highlighted such as ‘buy’ + While listening, you can hear that the speaker says ‘I’ve already bought’ but he/she mentions ‘we do still need to get…’ It means that he/she still need to buy ‘sunglasses’ + Therefore, only the word ‘sunglasses’ can be the answer for this question |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q4. a small bag, a spare ____ | OK ... I’ve noted that down. And I think I’m going to get another bag too. Just a small one. We always seem to come back with more things than we take! Shall we get an extra lock for our suitcase as well? | ||
ANSWER: lock + Skim through the Question to find out some orange, blue highlighted keywords. + When you listen you can find out that the tape mention ‘get another bag too. Just a small one which is equivalent to the phrase ‘a small bag’ in the Question; ‘a spare…’ is similar to ‘an extra…’ + According to this evidence, the answer for this question should be lock |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q5. an electrical _______ | Yes, they are a bit flimsy. OK ... Right ... Oh yes and we need an adaptor for our electrical things. | ||
ANSWER: adaptor/adapter + You should keep an eye on the green highlighted keywords in the Question + The answer for this question should be a Noun + Pay attention to a word which is near the word ‘electrical’. You can hear from the tape that ‘we need…’ for our electrical things’ + After all, the answer for this question should be adaptor |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q6. book a _____ | I think so. As far as shopping’s concerned. But we also need to order a taxi to take us to the airport. . | ||
ANSWER: taxi + The keyword in the Question is ‘book’ (which is highlighted orange’) + Notice that keywords in the Question can be changed in the recording + In this occasion, ‘book’ (verb) in the Question is alternated to ‘order’ in the recording. ‘we also need to order…’ + Understanding the idea in the question, the answer here should be taxi |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q7. Feed the cat Vet's details: Name: Colin ____ | Hang on, I’m just looking ... Yes. His name’s Colin Jefferey. Is that spelt with a G? Actually it’s J-E-double F-E-R-E-Y. Quite an unusual spelling, isn’t it? | ||
ANSWER: Jefferey + In this Question, you need to fill out what is the Vet’s family name’s + You can easily hear in the recording that his full name is ‘Colin Jefferey’ + Based on what you hear, you can guess the answer to this Question by writing down the word ‘Jefferey’. + Do not worry your answer is right or wrong because in this type of question, the speaker will spell the Vet’s family name’s for you + Therefore, the final answer should be Jefferey after hearing the speaker’s spelling |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q8. Tel: _________ | Mmm. And his number? Oh treble seven, five nine four ... one two eight. It’s a mobile. | ||
ANSWER: 0777594128 + This Question requires you to fill in the blank the ‘Tel’ which is equivalent to ‘number’, so the keyword that you should pay attention while listening is related numbers (it can be a telephone, a mobile phone or etc.) + The speaker will say his number, focus on what he/she will say. After all, the answer is 0777594128 Notes: The speaker says ‘oh’ which also means ‘zero’ (0) ; ‘treble seven’ which is similar to ‘seven seven’(777) |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q9. Address: Fore Street (opposite the _______) | And you should write down where it is - it’s Fore Street, not sure what number, but it’s next to the bus stop isn’t it? That’s not a very good landmark, but it’s on the other side of the road to the church, so I’ll tell her that. Let’s hope she won’t need a vet anyway! | ||
ANSWER: church + Firstly, focus on green, orange highlighted phrases to get the answer + Next, pay attention so that you can hear these highlighted keywords. It is one step to get the answer + According to the recording, it can be clear that the speaker uses another word to describe what the vet’s address is. + The speaker does not mention the word ‘opposite’ in the direct way. He/She describes that Fore street is not next to the bus stop, but it is on the other side of the road to the church. Notes: A is on the other side of the road to B is similar to A is opposite B + Therefore, the answer must be church |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q10. Meet the heating engineer on__________ | Oh yes, and I’ve already mentioned the problem with the boiler, and your mum said she’d come round to meet the heating engineer and let him in. Yes. It’s a lot for her to do, but we really need to get the problem sorted out, and the earliest date I could get an appointment was April the thirtieth | ||
ANSWER: 30th April/10.04 + Skim through the passage to find out the orange, blue and green highlighted keywords in Questions + In this Question, ‘meet the heating engineer on…’ the blank space may be filled with something relates to date (on Monday, on Tuesday,…) or it is a place such as ‘on a boat’, ‘on the bridge’… You should guess the answer no matter how hard it is + When you listen, to can hear that ‘your mum would come round to meet the heating engineer and let him in’ and there is an appointment for ‘I’ is on ‘April the thirtieth). + After considering all these evidences, the answer to this question is 30th April |
You will hear a talk on local radio about a ‘short film’ festival in the town of Adbourne.
Choose the correct answer A, B or C.
Why was the Film Festival started?
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q11. Why was the Film Festival started? A To encourage local people to make films. B To bring more tourists to the town. C To use money released from another project. | Can you tell us a bit about the background to the festival and what it brings to the town? Well the festival was started in nineteen ninety six by the then Mayor of Adbourne, Joanne Smith. She wasn’t a film maker herself - she’d actually been a very energetic tourism development officer for many years - but Adbourne had run a classical music festival which had been becoming less and less popular in recent years ... Joanne was looking around for something to replace it and to use funds allocated to it to promote something which local people can enjoy. | ||
ANSWER: C + You can hear from the recording about the background of the Film festival from Joanne Smith. She mentioned that the classical festival had been becoming less popular and she wanted to replace it and used funds from the classical music festival to promote something which local people can enjoy. + According to this information, Film Festival was started based on the allocation from the project (the classical music festival). So the correct answer should be C |
What is the price range for tickets?
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q12. What is the price range for tickets? A £1.00-£2.50 B 50p - £2.00 C £1.50-£2.50 | Tickets are very reasonably priced - under twelves used to get in for fifty pee but now we charge just one pound which is still very good value! One pound fifty for students and two pounds fifty for everyone else. | ||
ANSWER: A + Focus on the pink and purple highlighted keywords in the Question. The question wants to know the price RANGE for tickets + It may be a little bit difficult to get the answer because of some traps set by the speaker: - the speaker mentions 3 types of money charging- under twelves, students, everyone else- so, the price range should include these 3 types of tickets - the speaker states that tickets for under twelves USED TO BE (which is the price in the past, not now); however, the Question asks for the NOW price (‘is’) + After listening carefully to avoid these traps above, the answer is A (under twelves: 1 pound; students: 1.5 pounds; everyone else: 2.5 pounds => PRICE RANGE: £1.00-£2.50) Notes: there are some traps for answering the question by using the wrong tense in contrast to what required in the question |
As well as online, tickets for the films can be obtained
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q13. As well as online, tickets for the films can be obtained A from the local library. B from several different shops. C from the two festival cinemas. | Performances are advertised all round town and also on our website www.adbournefest.com . If you’re interested in attending any performances you can buy tickets online of course and you can also get them in the library , | ||
ANSWER: A + Focus on the pink, purple, orange highlighted keywords in the Question + It is clear from the recording that tickets can be buy online or buy in the library + Consequently, the answer is A |
Last year’s winning film was about
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q14. Last year’s winning film was about A farms of the future. B schools and the environment. C green transport options. | Last year for example, the theme was ‘Future Planet’ and the winner was a ten minute documentary encouraging youngsters to be more aware of environmental issues, focusing on getting school kids to cycle to school instead of going by car . | |
ANSWER: C + Focus on the pink, purple highlighted keywords in the Question + The Question wants to know what last year’s winning film was about, so the content of the film should be paid attention to + The last year winner was a documentary emphasizing on environment issues (also relates to green issue) and about school kids’ vehicles (transport) to get to school + Hence, the answer for this Question should be C Notes: transport includes vehicles such as car, cycle,…; environment issue is similar to green problem |
This year the competition prize is
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q15. This year the competition prize is A a stay in a hotel. B film-making equipment. C a sum of money. | This year you can win a hi-spec movie camera worth over eight hundred pounds. | |
ANSWER: B + Focus on the pink, purple highlighted keywords in the Question + You need to find out what is the prize for this year competition + You can hear that the prize for this year competition is a ‘hi-spec movie camera’ which is equivalent to ‘a film-making equipment’ as mentioned in the Question + Finally, the answer is B |
The deadline for entering a film in the competition is the end of
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q16. The deadline for entering a film in the competition is the end of A May. B June. C July. | Application forms are on the website and the deadline for sending in your film to enter the competition is the last day of July | |
ANSWER: C + Focus on the pink, purple highlighted keywords in the Question. These highlighted keywords has been paraphrased in the the recording, pay attention to them. + The deadline for entering the film competion is ‘the last day of July’ which is similar to ‘the end of July’ + Finally, your answer should be C |
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
What TWO main criteria are used to judge the film competition?
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q17- Q18. Choose TWO letters, A-E. What TWO main criteria are used to judge the film competition? A Ability to persuade. B Quality of the story. C Memorable characters. D Quality of photography. E Originality. | Well, although we choose very topical issues like the environment, we’re not looking for propaganda - you know, trying to get people to do something. Instead we’re looking for a new angle ... a fresh way of looking at a theme. And of course, because it’s a short-film festival, it’s not really about a fully worked story with well-rounded characters; it’s more about good photography ... conveying things visually. | |
+ Firstly, pay attention to the purple highlighted phrases while you listen that match those in the question + The 2 main criteria are ‘a new angel’ NOT ‘propaganda’ => about the ORIGINALITY ; ‘good photography’ rather than ‘fully worked story’ => about the QUALITY of photography + Therefore, the suitable answer to this Qs is D, E Notes: ‘propaganda’ is false information used by government to make people agree with them (which is also relates to Originality) |
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
What TWO changes will be made to the competition next year?
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q19- Q20. Choose TWO letters, A-E. What TWO changes will be made to the competition next year? A A new way of judging. B A different length of film. C An additional age category. D Different performance times. E New locations for performances. | We’ve used the same judges for many years and we’re very happy with their expertise. One thing we probably will change next year though is we want to add another class and another prize for older film makers. We’ll keep it at a maximum of ten minutes though ... the length works well for our festival. We also want to use different venues for the film shows ... such as community centres and at least one school. It might make performances more accessible to a wider audience. We did explore the possibility of having late-night showings but that’s unlikely to happen in the coming year. | |
+ Firstly, look at some pink, purple highlighted phrases. + Overall, it can be clear that some changes are: ‘add another class and another prize for OLDER filmmakers’;’ use different venues for the film shows’. (‘add another class and another prize for OLDER filmmakers’ is similar to ‘additional age category’; ‘different venues’ is equivalent to ‘new location’ + Consequently, the answer should be C, E Notes: ‘venue’ is the place where a public event or meeting happens (which is similar to ‘location’ |
You will hear two undergraduates doing a research methods course - a girl called Leela and a boy called Jake - having a seminar with their tutor.
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
Leela and Jake chose this article because
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q21. Leela and Jake chose this article because A it was on a topic familiar to most students. B it covered both IT and education issues. C it dealt with a very straightforward concept. | And we selected the article because ... well it seemed an accessible topic, even though we weren’t familiar with the technique ... you know ... using IT to design crosswords for higher education. | |
ANSWER: + Firstly, pay attention to the pink and purple highlighted phrases in the Question. + It confirms from the recording that the reason for choosing this article is because the topic is accessible, even though they were not familiar with the topic + They were not familiar with the topic, so omit A. + You can hear that the speaker mentions using IT to design crosswords for higher education, but it does not means that the article covers both IT and educational issues, so omit B + After considering carefully, the answer should be C |
How did Leela and Jake persuade students to take part in their research?
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q22. How did Leela and Jake persuade students to take part in their research? A They convinced them they would enjoy the experience. B They said it would help them do a particular test. C They offered to help them with their own research later on. | Was it easy to find participants? It wasn’t easy at first. But then we convinced them that by taking part in the research they were actually benefiting themselves by preparing for an exam which is coming up later this term. | |
ANSWER: B + Focus on the pink and purple highlighted keywords in the Question + The question requires you to find out the way that Leela and Jake used to persuade students to take part in their research + Leela and Jake convinced them that they could benefit themselves by preparing for an up coming exam this term. This information covers the main purpose of option B + Therefore, the answer should be B |
Leela and Jake changed the design of the original questionnaire because
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q23. Leela and Jake changed the design of the original questionnaire because A it was too short for their purposes. B it asked misleading questions. C it contained out-of-date points. | Tutor: Good. So how did you find out what the students thought about doing the crosswords? Jake: A questionnaire. The original article used a two-page long questionnaire. There were lots of excellent questions on it but the whole section on difficulties using IT is now obsolete ... old-fashioned even, even though it had only been written a couple of years ago. | |
ANSWER: C + Focus on the pink key phrases in the question + Jake says that the original article used a two page long questionnaire. This page contains excellent questions; however, it is NOW ‘obsolete…old- fashioned’ (obsolete or old-fashioned is similar to ‘out of date’- mentioned in option C + Hence, the answer is B |
Leela was surprised by the fact that
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q24. Leela was surprised by the fact that A it is normal for questionnaire returns to be low. B so many students sent back their questionnaires. C the questionnaire responses were of such high quality. | Then we sent it to the forty students by email and got twenty-eight replies. I was taken aback by the fact that everybody we talked to thought this was a good return! I mean the responses were well written, you know, people had taken a lot of care, but I was really disappointed with the low numbers. | |
ANSWER: A + Focus on the pink highlighted key phrases in the Question. Fortunately, in this occasion, these phrases are not changed in the recording. So, it is easy for you -to get the correct answer + From the recording, Leela was surprised that although the questionnaires were well written and people had taken a lot of care, but the results made she disappointed because it turned out to be low. + Only option A can covers the information from the recording + So, the answer for this question is A |
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
What TWO things did respondents say they liked most about doing the crossword?
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q25- Q26 Choose TWO letters, A-E. What TWO things did respondents say they liked most about doing the crossword? A It helped them spell complex technical terms. B It was an enjoyable experience. C It helped them concentrate effectively. D It increased their general motivation to study. E It showed what they still needed to study. | QS 25: The students said that doing the crossword on a computer helped them really focus on the work in hand and not be distracted, which is something that commonly happens with other ways of doing of revision. QS 26: Respondents also said that doing the crossword hadn’t really increased their general motivation to study but that it had highlighted the gaps in their memory so they knew what further work was necessary. | |
ANSWER: 25. Answer: C, E (in either order) 26. Answer: C, E (in either order) + Focus on the pink and green highlighted phrases in the Question + 2 things that the respondent liked most about doing crossword are ‘… focus on the work and not be distracted’ which is similar to ‘concentrate effectively’ (option C); ‘knew what further work was necessary’ which is similar to ‘showed that they still needed to study’ (option E0 + According to these evidenced, the answer should be C, E |
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
In which TWO areas did these research findings differ from those of the original study?
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q27- Q28: Choose TWO letters, A-E. In which TWO areas did these research findings differ from those of the original study? A Students’ interest in doing similar exercises. B How much students liked doing the crossword. C Time taken to do the crossword. D Gender differences in appreciation. E Opinions about using crosswords for formal assessment. | There were lots of similarities but ... .there was probably two main differences. We found that more males than females liked the technique, whereas the original study found the reverse. Also our respondents said they wouldn’t mind doing a crossword as a final official exam ...whereas in the original study students said they would hate doing it even if it meant having a shorter test | |
ANSWER: 27. Answer: D OR E IN EITHER ORDER + Focus on the difference between research findings and those of the original study. + The mint highlighted phrases are for research findings of the original study, which is contrasted to those of research findings (yellow highlighted phrases) + The research findings are ‘more males than females’ – relate to ‘ gender differences’ (option D); different opinions about doing crosswords in the final exams: ‘ Also our respondents said they wouldn’t mind doing a crossword as a final official exam ...whereas in the original study students said they would hate doing it even if it meant having a shorter test’ => option E |
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
What TWO skills did Leela and Jake agree they had learned from the project?
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q29-Q30.Choose TWO letters, A-E. What TWO skills did Leela and Jake agree they had learned from the project? A How to manage their time effectively. B How to process numerical data. C How to design research tools. D How to reference other people’s work. E How to collaborate in research. | Yeah, that’s true. Anyway, I think we designed our questions well so that they gave us manageable data. Yeah, it really helped having the original study to guide us, as it were ... and that helped us see what a good research instrument is ... .what a good questionnaire should be like. Absolutely - we got a lot from that. But when we were writing up the project, I’m not sure whether we’ll know how to acknowledge the work of the original study ... you know our referencing. No ... that’s something we’ll both have to work on in the future. Actually that part’s been great, finding ways to share and support another person. That’s the real plus from the project ... learning ways to do that. Well, it’s obviously been very successful ... | |
ANSWER: 29. Answer: C, E (in either order) + Pay attention to what BOTH Leela and Jake agree that they had learned from the project (blue highlighted phrases) + From the recording, you can figure out that 2 benefits from the projects are: ‘see what a good research instrument is ‘(which is also means how to design research tools; ‘tool’ is substituted to ‘instrument’ in the recording); ‘finding ways to share and support another person.’ (Which is also means how to collaborate in the research; ‘collaborate’ means sharing and supporting) + After all, the answer are C, E Notes: ‘collaborate’ means ‘supporting and sharing with another person’; ‘instrument’ is equivalent to ‘tool’ |
You will hear a postgraduate psychology student talking to other students about a job-satisfaction study he has investigated.
Complete the sentences below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.
Workers involved in the study were employed at a 31
Despite some apparent differences between groups of workers, the survey results were statistically 32
The speaker analysed the study's 33 to identify any problems with it.
The various sub-groups were 34 in size.
Workers in the part-time group were mainly 35
The 36 of workers who agreed to take part in the study was disappointing.
Researchers were unable to 37 the circumstances in which workers filled out the questionnaire.
In future, the overall size of the 38 should be increased.
In future studies, workers should be prevented from having discussions with 39
Workers should be reassured that their responses to questions are 40
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q31. Workers involved in the study were employed at a _____ | For this purpose, employees at a call centre had been asked to complete a questionnaire about their work. | |
ANSWER: call center/centre. + Focus on the purple highlighted key phrases. + The word ‘employed at a’ in the Question is alternated to another form ‘employees at a’ + You need a noun to fill in the blank + Hence, the answer is call center |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q32. Despite some apparent differences between groups of workers, the survey results were statistically______ | But although these results seemed interesting, and capable of being explained, perhaps the most important thing to mention here is that in statistical terms they were inconclusive. | |
ANSWER: inconclusive + Focus on the pink, purple highlighted phrases in the Question that match the highlighted phrases in the recording + From the recording, it has been assumed that most important things to mention here is that the survey results in statistical terms were inconclusive + Consequently, the answer should be inconclusive |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q33. The speaker analyzed the study's _____ to identify any problems with it. | So I then looked more carefully at the methodology employed by the researchers, to see where there may have been problems. This is what I found. | |
ANSWER: methodology/methods + The word ‘analyzed’ also means ‘looked more carefully’ (highlighted purple) (this word is paraphrased to other phrases that have similar meanings) + The word ‘identify’ is also means ‘to see’ (highlighted red) + After finding out these highlighted key phrases, the answer should be methodology |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q34. The various sub-groups were _______ in size. | Also the numbers in the different sub-groups were unequal | |
ANSWER: unequal + Focus on the red, orange, purple highlighted keywords to figure out the answer. These words are similar to words you hear from the recording + ‘various’ is similar to ‘different’; ‘in size’ means ‘the numbers’ of people in sub-groups + These words are paraphrased so that you cannot easily get the answer. However, after finding out them, your answer is obvious + Hence, the answer is ‘unequal’ |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q35. Workers in the part-time group were mainly _____ | And amongst this part-time group, only ten were male, compared to fifty-nine who were female. | |
ANSWER: female/women + Focus on the orange, purple highlighted keywords to figure out the answer. + It is obvious that the number of men in this part-time group is only 10 while the female number is 95. So, female are the main workers in the part-time group. + Therefore, the answer should be D |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q36. The _____ of workers who agreed to take part in the study was disappointing. | Secondly, although quite a large number of people had been asked to take part in the survey, the response was disappointingly low - a lot of them just ignored the invitation | |
ANSWER: response. + Focus on the red, purple, orange key phrases in the Question + It confirms from the recording that although a large number of people had been asked to take part in the survey, the response from them was too low because they ignored the invitation + After all, the answer should be response |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q37. Researchers were unable to _____ the circumstances in which workers filled out the questionnaire. | Thirdly, as the questionnaires had been posted to the call centre for distribution, the researchers had had very limited control over the conditions in which participants completed them. | |
ANSWER: control + Focus on some words and phrases that are highlighted orange, red, purple above + It is clear from the recording that the researchers had had very limited control (which also means that they were unable to control); ‘the circumstances in which workers filled out the questionnaire’ is another expression to ‘the conditions in which participants completed them’ + Considering every evidence, the answer is control |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q38. In future, the overall size of the ____ should be increased. | In the last part of my assignment I made recommendations for a similar study, attempting to remove the problems that I’ve just mentioned. Firstly, a much larger sample should be targeted, and care should be taken to ensure that equal numbers of both genders, and both full and part-time workers, are surveyed. | |
ANSWER: sample/group + ‘In the future’ is equivalent to the expression which is highlighted purple from the script. + In the question, the size of… should be increased. The word ‘increased’ is similar to ‘larger’ + Obviously, the answer should be sample after finding out all these paraphrases |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q39. In future studies, workers should be prevented from having discussions with _______ | And they should require the workers to complete the questionnaire under supervised conditions, so that the possibility of influence from other colleagues is eliminated. | |
ANSWER: their/other colleagues + You can hear from the recording that in the future, workers need to complete the questionnaire under supervised conditions so that the influence from other colleagues is limited. This also means that workers should be prevented from having discussion with other colleague as well (the influence can be eliminated if workers do not discuss with other colleges) + Hence, the answer is colleagues |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | |
Q40. Workers should be reassured that their responses to questions are _______ | Finally, as workers may be unwilling to provide details of their job satisfaction when they are on work premises, it’s important that the researchers reassure them that their responses will remain confidential, and also that they have the right to withdraw from the study at any time if they want to. | |
ANSWER: confidential + It states from the recording that ‘researchers reassure THEM…’ (‘THEM’ in this case means ‘workers’) + Considering the purple, red, orange phrases in the Question that match perfectly in the recording, the answer is confidential |
Great thanks to volunteer Huong Hoang Lan Nguyen has contributed these explanations.
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Our plane tickets arrived this morning ... it reminded me how much there is to do before we go.
Let’s write everything down shall we, so we don’t forget anything .
Yes. Last time we went away we almost forgot to collect our currency from the bank. So let’s start with that.
Good thinking. And wasn’t there an appointment you said you’d got to cancel?
Yes, the hairdresser ... Thanks for reminding me. Can you write that down too? The shop will be closed now, but I’ll do it first thing on Monday.
OK ... Then, starting on Tuesday we’ve got to take the tablets we got from the pharmacy. We really mustn’t forget to do that, we’re not protected against malaria till we’ve been taking them for at least seven days.
No, so that’s really important.
And what about shopping? There’s still a few things we’ve got to buy the next time we’re in town. We need some more sun block don’t we? We’ve only got that factor ten stuff - it won’t be strong enough.
I’ve already bought that. But what we do still need to get is sunglasses. The ones I’ve got aren’t good enough, and I don’t think yours are either.
OK ... I’ve noted that down. And I think I’m going to get another bag too. Just a small one. We always seem to come back with more things than we take!
Shall we get an extra lock for our suitcase as well?
Just in case the one we’ve got breaks. They don’t seem to last long.
Yes, they are a bit flimsy. OK ... Right ... Oh yes, and we need an adaptor for our electrical things. Your hair dryer and my shaver ... The plugs on them are bound to be the wrong type.
We could get one at the airport. They always have them there.
Well I’d rather get it beforehand, so I’m writing it down. And then I think that’s it isn’t it?
I think so. As far as shopping’s concerned. But we also need to order a taxi to take us to the airport. We should do that well in advance. My sister left it too late and she had to take the train - with that huge suitcase of hers!
I know, she really struggled with it ...
Now let’s see ... Your mother said she’d come in regularly while we’re away, so what do we want her to do? I’ll write some instructions and we can give them to her tomorrow. Good idea. Well ... the cat’s the main thing.
Feed ... the cat ...
We ought to leave her the vet’s details as well, just in case there’s a problem.
Yes. Have you got them handy?
Hang on, I’m just looking ... Yes. His name’s Colin Jefferey.
Is that spelt with a G?
Actually it’s J-E-double F-E-R-E-Y. Quite an unusual spelling, isn’t it?
Mmm. And his number?
Oh treble seven, five nine four ... one two eight. It’s a mobile.
OK.
And you should write down where it is - it’s Fore Street, not sure what number, but it’s next to the bus stop isn’t it?
That’s not a very good landmark, but it’s on the other side of the road to the church, so I’ll tell her that. Let’s hope she won’t need a vet anyway!
Yes. Right, apart from that there are the plants to water. Ask her to make sure they don’t dry out.
Oh yes, and I’ve already mentioned the problem with the boiler, and your mum said she’d come round to meet the heating engineer and let him in.
Yes. It’s a lot for her to do, but we really need to get the problem sorted out, and the earliest date I could get an appointment was April the thirtieth.
Isn’t it the day after we go?
Yes - we leave on the twenty-ninth. And she’ll have to hang around till the job’s finished. Oh well, she won’t mind I’m sure. She likes helping people out.
Yes, she does.
OK ... That’s it then I think. Unless you can think of anything else?
Not at the moment. Leave the list there and I’ll ...
Today we’re pleased to have on the show Fatima Johnson who is the organiser of the Adbourne Film Festival. Welcome, Fatima.
Hello.
Can you tell us a bit about the background to the festival and what it brings to the town? Well the festival was started in nineteen ninety six by the then Mayor of Adbourne, Joanne Smith. She wasn’t a film maker herself - she’d actually been a very energetic tourism development officer for many years - but Adbourne had run a classical music festival which had been becoming less and less popular in recent years ... Joanne was looking around for something to replace it and to use funds allocated to it to promote something which local people can enjoy.
Great. So tell us about the festival nowadays ...
Well, it’s held in the last two weeks of August every year and short films from all over the world are shown in three places - in the theatre and our two cinemas. Several films are shown in one performance and the whole thing lasts about ninety minutes. Tickets are very reasonably priced - under twelves used to get in for fifty pee but now we charge just one pound which is still very good value! One pound fifty for students and two pounds fifty for everyone else. Performances are advertised all round town and also on our website www.adbournefest.com. If you’re interested in attending any performances you can buy tickets online of course and you can also get them in the library, which is right next to the main shopping area - I’m afraid this year, tickets are no longer available from either of the two cinemas because of restricted opening times.
I understand you also run a film competition?
Yes, for under eighteens. We have a different theme every year. Last year for example, the theme was ‘Future Planet’ and the winner was a ten minute documentary encouraging youngsters to be more aware of environmental issues, focusing on getting school kids to cycle to school instead of going by car. This year the theme is ‘Sporting Nation’ - so there’ll also be lots of ideas to choose from. Now we’re always on the look-out for new local talent so if you live in the Adbourne area and are under eighteen, you should have a go. We have an excellent prize every year, donated by local businesses - shops, hotels etc. This year you can win a hi-spec movie camera worth over eight hundred pounds. Application forms are on the website and the deadline for sending in your film to enter the competition is the last day of July. It’s May now so you’ll have the whole of June to be working on it!
And what are the judges looking for?
Well, although we choose very topical issues like the environment, we’re not looking for propaganda - you know, trying to get people to do something. Instead we’re looking for a new angle ... a fresh way of looking at a theme. And of course, because it’s a short-film festival, it’s not really about a fully worked story with well-rounded characters, it’s more about good photography ... conveying things visually.
And who judges the films?
A panel of three people who know a lot about film. We’ve used the same judges for many years and we’re very happy with their expertise. One thing we probably will change next year though is we want to add another class and another prize for older film makers. We’ll keep it at a maximum of ten minutes though ... the length works well for our festival. We also want to use different venues for the film shows ... such as community centres and at least one school. It might make performances more accessible to a wider audience. We did explore the possibility of having late-night showings but that’s unlikely to happen in the coming year.
So, as I say, if anyone’s interested in submitting a film for our competition, go onto our website and you’ll be able ...
So, the task I gave you both was to choose an article about a small-scale research project.
Jake: Yes ...
You were then required to try to reproduce the research procedures in your own context ... i.e. try it out for yourselves.
Yeah ... and that’s what we’ve done.
Great. So I’d like you to tell me a bit about the article and why you chose it.
Well, the article’s written by two university lecturers who had started using crosswords to help their students revise terminology for exams .
And the crosswords were designed and set on computers.
And we selected the article because ... well it seemed an accessible topic, even though we weren’t familiar with the technique ... you know ... using IT to design crosswords for higher education.
That’s a good reason. So these lecturers wanted to see how well this innovation was received by their students?
Jake: Yes.
So how did you go about reproducing the research?
Well, we drew up a list of terms from one of our own modules ... and designed a crossword for revising these terms.
Then we asked our classmates to try out the crossword and give us feedback, you know, their opinions, on how they felt about using the technique.
Was it easy to find participants?
It wasn’t easy at first. But then we convinced them that by taking part in the research they were actually benefiting themselves by preparing for an exam which is coming up later this term.
Leela: And it worked!
Tutor: Good. So how did you find out what the students thought about doing the crosswords?
Jake: A questionnaire. The original article used a two-page long questionnaire. There were lots of excellent questions on it but the whole section on difficulties using IT is now obsolete ... old-fashioned even, even though it had only been written a couple of years ago.
Tutor: So you designed a shorter version?
Leela: Yeah. Then we sent it to the forty students by email and got twenty-eight replies. I was taken aback by the fact that everybody we talked to thought this was a good return! I mean the responses were well written, you know, people had taken a lot of care, but I was really disappointed with the low numbers.
Tutor: Yes, an important lesson to learn for an apprentice researcher .
Leela and Jake: Yeah.
Tutor: So what results did you get?
Jake: Well, basically the responses were extremely positive. The students said that doing the crossword on a computer helped them really focus on the work in hand and not be distracted, which is something that commonly happens with other ways of doing of revision.
Yeah ... that was really clear. But something that struck me was that ‘having fun’ hardly featured in their responses ... nor did anything to do with spelling of hard words ... which I thought would be an obvious benefit.
No? OK ...
Respondents also said that doing the crossword hadn’t really increased their general motivation to study but that it had highlighted the gaps in their memory so they knew what further work was necessary.
Right ... So how did your findings tally with those of the original researchers?
There were lots of similarities but ...
.there were probably two main differences. We found that more males than females liked the technique, whereas the original study found the reverse.
Also our respondents said they wouldn’t mind doing a crossword as a final official exam ... whereas in the original study students said they would hate doing it even if it meant having a shorter test.
But of course both sets of respondents said they’d be interested in doing more crosswords for informal purposes, revision and so forth.
Right, so let’s have a think about the whole project and what you’ve learned from doing it. Well ... it was very time consuming!
Yeah! And I don’t think we managed that aspect very well.
It could have been worse ... I mean we didn’t have a lot of data so we didn’t have to spend ages processing it. And of course, we’d already done a course on numerical data processing so there wasn’t much new there.
Yeah, that’s true. Anyway, I think we designed our questions well so that they gave us manageable data.
Yeah, it really helped having the original study to guide us, as it were ... and that helped us see what a good research instrument is ....what a good questionnaire should be like.
Absolutely - we got a lot from that. But when we were writing up the project, I’m not sure whether we’ll know how to acknowledge the work of the original study ... you know, our referencing.
No ... that’s something we’ll both have to work on in the future.
Actually that part’s been great, finding ways to share and support another person.
That’s the real plus from the project ... learning ways to do that.
Well, it’s obviously been very successful ...
Good morning everyone. For my presentation today I’m going to report on an assignment that I did recently. My brief was to analyse the methods used in a small study about job satisfaction, and then to make recommendations for future studies of a similar kind.
The study that I looked at had investigated the relationship between differences in gender and differences in working hours, and levels of job satisfaction amongst workers. For this purpose, employees at a call centre had been asked to complete a questionnaire about their work.
I’ll summarise the findings of that study briefly now. First of all, female full-time workers reported slightly higher levels of job satisfaction than male full-time workers. Secondly, female part-time workers reported slightly higher levels of satisfaction than female fulltime ones did. On the other hand, male part-time workers experienced slightly less job satisfaction than male full-time workers. But although these results seemed interesting, and capable of being explained, perhaps the most important thing to mention here is that in statistical terms they were inconclusive.
Personally, I was surprised that the findings hadn’t been more definite, because I would have expected to find that men and women as well as full and part-time workers would experience different levels of satisfaction. So I then looked more carefully at the methodology employed by the researchers, to see where there may have been problems. This is what I found.
First of all, the size of the sample was probably too small. The overall total of workers who took part in the survey was two hundred twenty-three, which sounds quite a lot, but they had to be divided up into sub-groups. Also the numbers in the different sub-groups were unequal. For example, there were one hundred fifty-four workers in the full-time group, but only sixty-nine in the part-time group. And amongst this part-time group, only ten were male, compared to fifty-nine who were female.
Secondly, although quite a large number of people had been asked to take part in the survey, the response was disappointingly low - a lot of them just ignored the invitation. And workers who did respond may have differed in important respects from those who didn’t. Thirdly, as the questionnaires had been posted to the call centre for distribution, the researchers had had very limited control over the conditions in which participants completed them. For instance, their responses to questions may have been influenced by the views of their colleagues. All these problems may have biased the results.
In the last part of my assignment I made recommendations for a similar study, attempting to remove the problems that I’ve just mentioned.
Firstly, a much larger sample should be targeted, and care should be taken to ensure that equal numbers of both genders, and both full and part-time workers, are surveyed. Secondly, the researchers should ensure that they are present to administer the questionnaires to the workers themselves. And they should require the workers to complete the questionnaire under supervised conditions, so that the possibility of influence from other colleagues is eliminated. Finally, as workers may be unwilling to provide details of their job satisfaction when they are on work premises, it’s important that the researchers reassure them that their responses will remain confidential, and also that they have the right to withdraw from the study at any time if they want to. By taking measures like these, the reliability of the responses to the questionnaires is likely to be increased, and any comparisons that are made are likely to be more valid.
So that was a summary of my assignment. Does anyone have any questions?
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