IELTS Practice Tests Plus Volume 3

Published on: 14 Dec 2017
Tests taken: 401,083

Answer Keys:

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Part 1: Question 1 - 10

1 (an) accountant
2 over 50
3 family
4 9/nine
5 doctor

6 (swimming) pool
7 pay(extra)
8 social events
9 air conditioning
10 (the) restaurant

Part 2: Question 11 - 20

11 E
12 F
13 B
14 D

15 C
16 G
17 18 B,E
19 20 A,D

Part 3: Question 21 - 30

21 C
22 A
23 B
24 A
25 B

26 E
27 G
28 A
29 D
30 B

Part 4: Question 31 - 40

31 ice age
32 invisible
33 infection(s) (from)
34 flavour/flavor
35 fungus/fungus species

36 sexes
37 (swift) extinction
38 lowland
39 shelter(s)
40 cuttings

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Questions 1-10

Complete the form below.

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

Health club customer research

Example	Answer
Name:	Selina Thompson
Occupation:	1
Age group:	2
Type of membership:	3
Length of membership:	4 years
Why joined:	Recommended by a 5
Visits to club per month:	Eight (on an average)
Facility used most:	6
Facility not used (If any):	Tennis courts (because reluctant to 7 )
Suggestions for improvements:	Have more 8
	Install 9 in the gym.
	Open 10 later at weekends.

1 Answer: (an) accountant

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q1.

Question 1 asks about Selina's occupation.
When the man said the line “what you do for a living?”, we know the woman’s next response should contain the answer.
She said she’s an accountant.
The “but I’m between jobs at the moment” was there only to cause confusion. The man’s response - “but that’s the job I’ll put down on the form” - confirmed that accountant was indeed the correct answer.

2 Answer: over 50

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Q2.

Question 2 asks about the woman’s age group.

When the man asked “which age group you fall into? Below thirty, thirty-one to fifty and above”, we know the woman’s next response should contain the answer.

The woman replied “Over fifty” and it is what we should write down.

3 Answer: family

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q3.

Question 3 asks about the woman’s type of membership.

When the man asked “which type of membership do you have?”, we can expect the next few lines to contain the answer.

The woman was confused and asked “I’m not sure what you mean? Do you mean how long?”
The man tried to elaborate by asking “No, is it a single person membership ... ?”. which implies that he was not asking about the length of the membership but rather the number of people included in it. It could be something like “couple membership”, “company membership”,...
The woman replied “no, it’s a family membership” to give us the correct answer for question 3.

4 Answer: 9/nine

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q4.

Question 4 asks about the woman’s length of membership

When the man asked “how long have you been a member?”, we can expect the next few lines to contain the answer.

The woman’s response - “I was certainly here five years ago ... and it was probably two to three years more than that ...” - was the build up, we know now that 7 or 8 can potentially be the correct answer.
When the man asked “Shall I put down eight?”, if the woman said “yes”, we could put it down as the correct answer. However she said “I remember now ... it’s nine ... definitely”.
He replied “I’ve got that”. Therefore, nine was what he wrote in the form and is the correct answer.

5 Answer: doctor

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q5.

Question 5 asks the reason why she joined the club.
He asked “How did you find out about the club? Did you see any ads?”. If the woman confirmed it then ads or advertisements is the correct answer.
The woman did see the ads, however, she said the true reason was “through word of mouth”. “word of mouth” could potentially be the correct answer.
However, the man wanted the answer to be more specific. He asked “So you were recommended by a friend?”
The woman’s response - “Actually my doctor” confirms that “doctor” is the most correct answer.

6 Answer: (swimming) pool

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q6.

Question 6 asks which facility she used the most.
When the woman said that out of eight times she visited the club, four were for aqua-aerobics classes, we know that a type of facility belongs to aqua-aerobics class is likely to be the answer.
The man made it more specific by asking “would you say the swimming pool is the facility you make most use of?”.
The woman response - “Fair to say that ... yeah” - confirms that swimming pool is the correct answer

7 Answer: pay(extra)

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q7.

Question 7 asks the reason for facility that she does not use.
The man’s asking “are there any facilities you don’t use?” was the cue for question 7.
The woman said that she’s never used the tennis courts.
The man guessed the reason was because she doesn’t play tennis, which could be the answer. However, the woman said “Actually, I’m not bad at it” meaning that she does play and even plays well.
She said she wasn’t happy to pay extra for tennis court access. Hence, pay extra is the correct answer.

8 Answer: social events

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q8.

Question 8 asks of Selina’s suggestion to improve the club and to which her response was about having more of something.
She said that she’d like to see more social events and did not go into details about what kinds of social events were that. So we can safely assume social events is the correct answer.

9 Answer: air conditioning

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q9.

Question 9 asks of Selina’s suggestion to improve the club and to which her response was about installing something in the gym.
She complained that when she and her classmates having the yoga class, they were all sweltering in the heat. We can guess at this point that the answer should be something like air conditioners, fans, or better ventilation systems. Because there was no “a” before the blank, the noun should be either in plural form or uncountable.
The man helped her finish her sentence by saying “air conditioning”. She replied with “that’s exactly what i mean”. So air conditioning is the correct answer.

10 Answer: (the) restaurant

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q10.

Question 10 asks of Selina’s suggestion to improve the club and to which her response was about opening something later at weekends.
Selina said that even though the service couldn’t be any better, it’s a shame the restaurant isn’t open in the evening on Saturday and Sunday.
The man tried to confirm the information one more time by saying “So ... the club should ...” and to which she replied “... open it later on those days”. Therefore, the restaurant is the correct answer.

Part 1

Part 2: Questions 11-20

Questions 11-16

You will hear a trainer giving a talk to people who want to learn outdoor survival skills.

Complete the flow chart below.

Choose SIX answers from the box and write the correct letter, A-G, next to questions 11-16.

A	air
B	ash
C	earth
D	grass
E	sticks
F	stones
G	water

Making a steam pit

Dig a pit

Arrange a row of 11 over the pit.

Place 12 on top.

Light the wood and let it burn out.

Remove 13

Insert a stick.

Cover the pit with 14

Place wrapped food on top, and cover it with 15

Remove the stick and put 16 into the hole.

11 Answer: E

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Q11.

According to the chart, after digging a pit, we must arrange a row of something over the pit.
The passage said that the sticks have to be wider because they will be put into a line along the top of the pit.
These are just different ways of saying the same thing. Therefore, sticks is the correct answer for question 11.

12 Answer: F

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q12.

In question 12, something are placed on top of the sticks.
The passage mentioned that some large stones are arranged on top. Therefore, stones is the correct answer.

13 Answer: B

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Q13.

The chart shows that, after lighting wood and letting it burn out, we remove something.
In the passage, after waiting till the wooden platform burns through, we brush away pieces of hot ash from the stones.
“brush away” and “remove” in this context both mean get rid of “ash”. Therefore ash is the correct answer for question 13.

14 Answer: D

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Q14.

The chart shows the next step after inserting a stick is to cover the pit with something.
In the passage, we can see clearly that something here is “grass” as in “After that you cover the whole pit with a thick layer of grass“

15 Answer: C

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q15.

The step in question 15 is about placing wrapped food on top, and then covering it with something.
It’s possible to confuse “grass” as the answer since “wrap” and “cover” are synonyms. However, only the food are wrapped while the whole thing is covered with earth. Therefore earth is the correct answer.

16 Answer: G

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Q16.

Question 16’s step requires removing the stick and put something into the hole
The passage said that “Then all you have to do is take the stick out and pour a bit of water into the opening that it leaves”. The opening in this context is the hole. Therefore, the correct answer is water.

Questions 17-18

Choose TWO letters, A-E.

Which TWO characteristics apply to the bamboo oven?

A It’s suitable for windy weather.
B The fire is lit below the bottom end of the bamboo.
C The bamboo is cut into equal lengths.
D The oven hangs from a stick.
E It cooks food by steaming it.

17-18 Answer: B,E

Locate Explain Report

Q17 - Q18:

We can immediately eliminate option A since the passage emphasized very clear that the bamboo oven method should only be used when it’s safe to have an open fire. Which means there is no strong wind for the fire to spread.
Option C is also can also be excluded because we only make holes in the dividing walls inside the bamboo, we don’t cut the whole bamboo apart.
Option D can’t be verified by the text.
Option B is correct: “You pour enough water in the top to fill the bottom section, and then light a fire underneath that section to heat the water”
Option E is also correct: “Then you put your food inside the top section, and the steam coming up the bamboo through the holes you made cooks it”

Questions 19-20

Choose TWO letters, A-E.

Which TWO pieces of advice does the speaker give about eating wild fungi?

A Cooking doesn’t make poisonous fungi edible.
B Edible wild fungi can be eaten without cooking.
C Wild fungi are highly nutritious.
D Some edible fungi look very similar to poisonous varieties.
E Fungi which cannot be identified should only be eaten in small quantities.

19-20 Answer: A,D

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q19-20.

The passage said that all fungi, regardless of being poisonous or not, should be cooked before eating. It only said “should” not “must”. which means whether fungi can be eaten without cooking or not is not given. Therefore, option B should not be chosen.
Option C is wrong since the trainer said that fungi are only “moderately” nutritious, not “highly”.
Option E is the most incorrect and can be eliminated by common sense alone. The trainer also said that “Unless you can definitely identify a fungus you should never eat it”.
Option A is correct as it is stated in the text “But be aware that any amount of cooking won’t make poisonous varieties any safer to eat ”.
Option D is also correct and can be chosen after having eliminated all other three options : “you need to be really sure, because some fungi that are poisonous are very similar in appearance to certain edible varieties”.

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Part 2

Part 3: Questions 21-30

Questions 21-25

You will hear a woman called Phoebe, who is training to be a teacher, talking to her tutor, called Tony, about research she has done in a school.

Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

Research project on attitudes towards study

Phoebe’s main reason for choosing her topic was that

A her classmates had been very interested in it.
B it would help prepare her for her first teaching post.
C she had been inspired by a particular book.

Answer: C

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q21:

Word/Term Explanation: “a teaching post” is “a teaching position”.

Option A and B might sound plausible since Phoebe mentioned her classmates who chose their focus based what they thought would help them in their first year’s teaching. Tony also thought these were her reasons for choosing the topic, that why he tried to verify by asking: “So that’s what helped you decide?”

Keep on listening, we can see that Phoebe’s actual motivation was from a book: “Actually, it was that I came across a book written by experienced teachers on student attitudes and that motivated me to go for the topic”. Therefore, Option C is correct.

Phoebe’s main research question related to

A the effect of teacher discipline.
B the variety of learning activities.
C levels of pupil confidence.

Answer: A

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Q22:

Information regarding option B and C was not provided.
Option A is correct, her focus was to find out if teacher’s strictness affect students negatively: “whether very strict teachers made teenagers less motivated”. Teacher discipline is how strictly the teacher makes his/her students follow the rules and regulations. This can often be seen in the form of punishment for violation.

Phoebe was most surprised by her finding that

A gender did not influence behaviour significantly.
B girls were more negative about school than boys.
C boys were more talkative than girls in class.

Answer: B

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Q23:

We can see right away option A is incorrect. Phoebe even used the same word as in the the option -“significant”- to describe how much gender affects students’ behaviour: “what really amazed me was the significant gender differences”.
Option C is not given.
Option B is correct, it’s a very simple paraphrase of what Phoebe said: “boys were much more positive about being at school”.

Regarding teaching, Phoebe says she has learned that

A teachers should be flexible in their lesson planning.
B brighter children learn from supporting weaker ones.
C children vary from each other in unpredictable ways.

Answer: A

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Q24:

We can tell right off the bat that option B is wrong. Phoebe did talk about children with different abilities helping each other, but she did not discriminate between brighter and weaker children.
Option C is also wrong since Phoebe did acknowledge that those kids have different abilities but she did not discover anything unpredictable about those differences. Option B and C are here mainly to cause distraction.
Option A is correct. Phoebe said: “it’s great if they also allow lessons to go their own ways”. This means that if the a lesson develops in an unexpected way, teachers should let it does, they don’t have to be too fixed on their teaching plan. Or in other words, they should be more flexible.

Tony is particularly impressed by Phoebe’s ability to

A recognise the limitations of such small-scale research.
B reflect on her own research experience in an interesting way.
C design her research in such a way as to minimise difficulties.

Answer: B

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q25:

All three options were mentioned in the conversation.
Option A seems really plausible. Phoebe knew that the data she collected was too little to derive any meaningful conclusion. Tony noticed this and ensured her that her data was usable as long as she didn’t make any grand claim. However, it was not shown in the conversation that he was impressed by her acknowledgement of this limitation.
Option C is incorrect. Phoebe said that she could had done a better research then Tony consoled her by saying that she would be better at reducing risk of difficulties once she became more experienced. This can be understood as she didn’t do that well in minimizing difficulties in this very research.
Tony said that he liked how Phoebe was stepping back and was thinking about what she’d learnt from the research. This is an equivalence of option B. Moreover, this was the only part that Tony showed commendation. Therefore B is the correct answer

Word/Term Explanation: “Reflect” is an act of contemplating/thinking carefully about a past experience.

Questions 26-30

What did Phoebe find difficult about the different research techniques she used?

Choose FIVE answers from the box and write the correct letter A-G, next to questions 26-30.

	Difficulties
A	Obtaining permission
B	Deciding on a suitable focus
C	Concentrating while gathering data
D	Working collaboratively
E	Processing data she had gathered
F	Finding a suitable time to conduct the research
G	Getting hold of suitable equipment

Research techniques

26 Observing lessons

27 Interviewing teachers

28 Interviewing pupils

29 Using questionnaires

30 Taking photographs

26 Answer: E

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Q26:

Word/Term Explanation: “grueling” means exhausting, tiring.

Phoebe said that the lesson observation went smoothly without any difficulties. It was the later work that was tiring.
Tony made it more specific on what was the later work: “Making sense of...analysing ... your observation notes”
We know what Phoebe was doing were visiting classes, observing lectures by other teachers, and taking notes of what she saw. Then afterward, she needed to analyse and make sense of those data. This is often called “processing data”. Therefore E is the correct answer.

27 Answer: G

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Q27:

Even though this part of the conversation did not specify who were the interviewees, we can safely assume they were the teachers because of two reasons.
- The questions are arranged in order corresponding to the conversation.
- The next question asks about difficulties interviewing pupils.
Phoebe said that she wanted to use high quality recorder and had to wait until one became available. From the list, we can see G “Getting hold of suitable equipment” is the most probable answer.

28 Answer: A

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Q28:

Word/Term Explanation: “relented” in this context means the teacher finally changed his mind and allow Phoebe to interview the kids.

Phoebe said that she having trouble with one of the teachers who didn’t allow her to interview the kids in his class.
From the list, we can see that A “Obtaining permission” is the most plausible answer since Phoebe needed to obtain permission from the teacher to interview his pupils.

29 Answer: D

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Q29:

Word/Term Explanation: “agendas” are lists, plans, outlines. In this context they are the lists of questions that Phoebe and her partner wanted to ask people. Because they had too many different questions, altogether, they had to ask twice as much.

From the list, we can see that D “Working collaboratively” is the correct answer. Had Phoebe and her partner could agree on a common, shorter list of questions, they wouldn’t have to do as much work.

30 Answer: B

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Q30:

Word/Term Explanation: “snapping away” is taking photographs in a quick fashion, repeatedly/continuously. In this context, Phoebe meant that she could have taken a lot of photos without thinking carefully.

Phoebe said that she wanted her photographs to have purposes contributing towards her research goal, however, she found it difficult to do. Looking at the list, only B seems plausible. “Deciding on a suitable focus” here can be interpreted as choosing a good central point, a purpose for her photographs.

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Part 3

Part 4: Questions 31-40

Questions 31-40

You will hear an Environmental Studies student giving a presentation about his project on saving an endangered species of plant.

Complete the sentences below.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.

Saving the juniper plant
Background Juniper was one of the first plants to colonise Britain after the last 31 Its smoke is virtually 32 , so juniper wood was used as fuel in illegal activities. Oils from the plant were used to prevent 33 spreading. Nowadays, its berries are widely used to 34 food and drink Ecology Juniper plants also support several species of insects and 35 Problems In current juniper populations, ratios of the 36 are poor. Many of the bushes in each group are of the same age so 37 of whole populations is rapid. Solutions Plantlife is trialling novel techniques across 38 areas of England. One measure is to introduce 39 for seedlings. A further step is to plant 40 from healthy bushes.

31 Answer: ice age

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Q31.

Word/Term Explanation: “to colonise” is to form a community of itself in a foreign country. In this context, it means the juniper plant was originally from a different country, then it started to grow in Britain.

Word/Term Explanation: “to establish” is to settle in a place, position. In this context, it means the juniper plant migrated into Britain from a different country.

It can be clearly seen that Q31 is a paraphrase of the correspondent part we heard in the talk. And because the blank in Q31 should be a noun describing a period, Ice Age is the correct answer.

32 Answer: invisible

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Q32.

Word/Term Explanation: “illicit activities” are activities that forbidden by law or regulation.

It can be seen easily that the blank in Q32 is a adjective describing the smoke that Juniper gives off. Moreover, this characteristic of the smoke makes Juniper useful for illegal activities.
In the talk, the student said that the smoke given off was invisible and it helped illicit activities go undetected. It is clear that invisible should be the correct answer.

33 Answer: infection(s) (from)

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Q33.

The blank in Q33 is something that can spread and is something which the oils from Juniper can prevent.
Regarding the oils, the student said that they were extracted from the juniper wood and sprayed in the air to prevent infection spreading in hospital. Infection matches what we are looking for and should be the correct answer.

34 Answer: flavour/flavor

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Q34.

Moving on to Juniper’s berries, in Q34, they are used to do something to the food and drink.
Since the blank should be a verb, and the student said that the berries were used to flavour meat dishes and drinks, the answer is flavour.

35 Answer: fungus/fungus species

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Q35

The blank in Q35 is a plural noun that have species.
In the talk, the student said that juniper was important for supporting other living things and they being wiped out would affected many insect and fungus species. It is clear that fungus (species) is the correct answer.

36 Answer: sexes

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Q36.

Word/Term Explanation: “get pollinated” is to get pollen from another plant to make seeds. It is how plants reproduce.

Since Q36 is labeled under the “problems” section, we can guess the blank is a noun that have poor ratios and is causing problems to juniper populations.
In the talk, the student said that the ratios between the sexes were unbalanced and preventing bushes from getting pollinated. We can safely assume now the answer is sexes.

37 Answer: (swift) extinction

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Q37.

We can see that the blank in Q37 is a noun, to be more specific, it is an action noun since the adjective describing it is “rapid”. Moreover, it is an action that Juniper populations do as the result of being the same age.
In the talk, the student said that because the plants were the same age, when they died at similar times, it led to swift extinction of whole populations. We can see that (swift) extinction here fits our description the most, it is the correct answer.

38 Answer: lowland

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Q38.

Word/Term Explanation: “salvage” is the act of saving, persevering something.

Word/Term Explanation: “trialing” - present continuous form of “trial” - in this context, is to test the new techniques to see how suitable and effective they are.

The blank in Q38 is an adjective or a noun as adjective describing some particular areas of England. In addition, these areas are being trialed with some new techniques by Plantlife.
In the presentation, the student said that the charity Plantlife was trying out two new salvage techniques focusing on lowland regions of England. So lowland should be the correct answer.

39 Answer: shelter(s)

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q39.

Word/Term Explanation: “seedlings” are young plants often grow in a nursery and often used for transplanting.

Word/Term Explanation: “shelters” in this context (botany/horticulture) are houses built for young plant to protect them from harsh conditions.

In Q39, the blank is a noun that was introduced to seedlings as a measure to persevere Juniper.
In the talk, the student said that the first method they were trying out is to provide shelters for the seedlings. Therefore, shelters is the correct answer

40 Answer: cuttings

Listen from here Locate Explain Report

Q40.

Word/Term Explanation: “cuttings” (horticulture) are roots, stems, or leaves that were cut from a plant and used to reproduce more of that plant.

The blank in Q40 is a uncountable or plural noun that was taken from healthy bushes and then planted.
In the presentation, the student said they were planting cuttings of healthy bushes in areas where Juniper had died out. We can see clearly “cuttings” matches what we are looking for. It is the correct answer.

Great thanks to volunteer Anh Kiệt Trương has contributed these explanations.
If you want to make a better world like this, please contact us.

Part 4

Change Audio Sources

Section 1

Oh, excuse me, I wonder if you’d have the time to take part in some market research?

Umm ... What’s it about?

About this club and your experiences and opinions about being a member. It’ll take less than five minutes.

Oh ... OK then ... as long as it’s quick.

Can I start by taking your name?

It’s Selina Thompson.

Is that T-H-O-M-P-S-O-N?

Yes.

Great, thanks ... And what do you do for a living?

Well, I’m an accountant but I’m between jobs at the moment.

I understand, but that’s the job I’ll put down on the form. And would you mind my asking which age group you fall into? Below thirty, thirty-one to fifty and above.

Over fifty ... I think we can safely say.

Great, thanks. And which type of membership do you have?

Sorry, I’m not sure what you mean? Do you mean how long ... ?

No, is it a single person membership ... ?

Oh right ... no, it’s a family membership.

Thanks and how long have you been a member?

Oh ... let me see ... I was certainly here five years ago ... and it was probably two to three years more than that ...

Shall I put down eight?

I remember now ... it’s nine ... definitely ... sorry.

No problem ... I’ve got that. And the last question in this first part is, what brought you to the club?

Sorry ... ?

How did you find out about the club? Did you see any ads?

Woman: Well, I did actually but I have to say I wasn’t really attracted to the club because of that. It was through word of mouth.

Man: So you were recommended by a friend?

Woman: Actually my doctor ... I’d been suffering from high blood pressure and he said the club was very supportive of people with that condition, so I signed up.

Man: Great ... thanks.

Now for the second part of the form I want to ask a bit more about your experience of the club.

Sure.

How often would you say you use the club ... ?

It varies enormously depending on how busy I am.

Of course ... but on average ... per month?

I’d say it averages out at twice a week.

OK, so eight on average.

Yeah. And four of those are aqua-aerobics classes.

That leads me to the next question ... would you say the swimming pool is the facility you make most use of?

Fair to say that ... yeah.

Right, thanks ... And are there any facilities you don’t use?

One area I realise I’ve never used is the tennis courts ... and there’s one simple reason for that ...

You don’t play tennis?

Actually, I’m not bad at it ... it’s that I’m not happy having to pay extra ... for that privilege.

I’ve made a note of that ... thanks. Now in the last section are there any suggestions or recommendations you have for improvements to the club?

Only about health and fitness?

Anything at all ...

Well, I’d like to see more social events ... it isn’t just a question of getting together for games or classes but other things, you know.

Yes, sure.

And another thing that I was thinking when I had my yoga class in the gym last night - we were all sweltering in the heat - was that I think they should put in ... you know ... air conditioning.

That’s exactly what I mean. The rooms are really light and well designed but they do need proper installations.

Sure ... well I’ve made a note of that ...

Good.

... so is there anything else you’d like to suggest ... about quality of service, for example?

Oh, everyone’s very nice here ... they couldn’t be more friendly and helpful ... oh but I tell you what ... it’s a shame the restaurant isn’t open in the evening on Saturday ... and Sunday as well for that matter.

So ... the club should ...

... open it later on those days.

OK . well thank you very much, that’s all the questions .

Section 2

Good morning everyone, and welcome to our outdoor survival programme. As you know, this week you’ll be learning some of the basic information and skills you need to look after yourself independently in the outdoors. These first two days we’ll be based here in the classroom, and then we’ll be taking a camping trip to put into practice some of the things you’ve learned.

I’m going to start off with the topic of food. And to start with I’ll describe just two methods which we’ll be putting into practice at our camp, and which make use of natural resources: the steam pit and the bamboo pot. I’ve got two posters here to make things clearer ... And I’ll start with the steam pit here ...

To make this you’ll need some dry sticks, some grass, some loose earth and some stones. And for this week only, some matches!

The first thing you do is to dig a shallow pit in the place you’ve chosen to do your cooking. Let’s say about twenty five centimetres deep, and thirty centimetres wide. Your sticks have to be a bit wider than the pit, because you have to put a line of them along the top from one end of the pit to the other. Before setting light to these you take some large stones and arrange them on top. Then you start the fire and wait till the wooden platform burns through and the stones fall into the pit. At this point, brush away any pieces of hot ash from the stones - you can use a handful of grass - and then take another stick and push it down into the centre of the pit, between the stones. After that you cover the whole pit with a thick layer of grass. And then you can put your food on it. wrapped in more pieces of grass, like parcels. Finally, cover the whole thing with earth. You have to pat it firmly to seal the pit. Then all you have to do is take the stick out and pour a bit of water into the opening that it leaves. It should take about four hours for your food to cook, as it cooks slowly in the steam that’s created inside the pit.

So ... simple but effective. The other method you’re going to practise this week is the bamboo oven. Now the steam pit is ideal in certain conditions because the heat is below ground level, for example, if there’s a strong wind and you’re afraid a fire might spread. But when it’s safe to have an open fire you can use the bamboo oven method. You get a length of bamboo, which as you probably know is hollow, and consists of a number of individual sections with a wall in-between. You use a sharp stick to make a hole in each of the dividing walls apart from the end one. Then you lean the bamboo over a fire, with the top propped up by a forked stick and the bottom sitting on the ground. You pour enough water in the top to fill the bottom section, and then light a fire underneath that section to heat the water. Then you put your food inside the top section, and the steam coming up the bamboo through the holes you made cooks it.

I’m going to move on now, to food itself, and talk about some of the wild plants you might cook. I’m going to begin with fungi - that’s mushrooms and toadstools. I’m sure you’ll be aware that some of these are edible, and they’re delicious, but some of them are highly poisonous. Now whether they’re poisonous or not, all fungi that you find in the wild should be cooked before eating, because that helps to destroy any compounds in them that might be mildly toxic. But be aware that any amount of cooking won’t make poisonous varieties any safer to eat. Unless you can definitely identify a fungus you should never eat it. It’s not worth the risk. And you need to be really sure, because some fungi that are poisonous are very similar in appearance to certain edible varieties. They can easily be mistaken for each other. So ... having said all that, fungi are delicious when they’re freshly picked, and although they are only moderately nutritious, they do contain minerals which the body needs.

I’ll move on now to leafy plants, which are generally ...

Section 3

So how did you get on with your school-based research, Phoebe?

Well, it was exhausting but really valuable.

Good. What was the specific focus you chose?

My title is ‘Attitudes towards study among eleven-twelve year-old pupils’.

Right. And what made you choose that focus?

Well, that’s a bit difficult ... lots of my classmates decided on their focus really early on.. .mainly on the basis of what they thought would help in their future career, you know, in their first year’s teaching.

So that’s what helped you decide?

Actually, it was that I came across a book written by experienced teachers on student attitudes and that motivated me to go for the topic.

So what were your research questions or issues?

Well I wanted to look at the ways students responded to different teachers particularly focusing on whether very strict teachers made teenagers less motivated.

And, from your research, did you find that was true?

No, not from what I saw you know, from my five days’ observation, talking to people and so forth.

OK ... We’ll talk about the actual research methods in a moment, but before that, can you briefly summarise what your most striking findings are.

Well, what really amazed me was the significant gender differences, I didn’t set out to focus on that but I found that boys were much more positive about being at school ... girls were more impatient, they talked a lot about wanting to grow up and leave school.

Very interesting.

Yeah ... it is. From doing the research it was clear to me that you might start out to focus on one thing but you pick up lots of unexpected insights.

Right. Did you get any insights into teaching?

Yes, certainly. I was doing a lot of observations of the way kids with very different abilities collaborate on certain tasks, you know, help each other and I began to realise that the lessons were developing in really unexpected ways.

So what conclusion do you draw from that?

Well, I know it’s necessary for teachers to prepare lessons carefully but it’s great if they also allow lessons to go their own ways.

Good point. Now, I’m really pleased to see you doing this - analysing and drawing conclusions based on data.

But surely this isn’t proper data ...

Because it’s derived from such small-scale research? Well, as long as you don’t make grand claims for your findings, this data is entirely valid.

Hmm .

I like the way you’re already stepping back from the experience and thinking about what you’ve learned about research ... well done.

But I know I could have done it better.

As you become more experienced you’ll find ways to reduce the risk of difficulties.

OK.

Tony: So, let’s look in more detail at how you gathered your data. Let’s start with lesson observation.

Phoebe: Well, it generally went quite smoothly. I chose my focus and designed my checklist. Then teachers allowed me into their classes without any problems, which surprised me. It was afterwards that the gruelling work started!

Tony: Yeah, it’s very time consuming, isn’t it? Making sense of...analysing ... your observation notes.

Phoebe: Absolutely. Much more so than interview data, for example ... that was relatively easy to process, though I wanted to make sure I used a high-quality recorder ... to make transcription easier and I had to wait until one became available.

Tony: Right. And did you interview some kids as well?

Phoebe: In the end, yes, I talked to ten, and they were great. I’d imagined I’d be bored listening to them, but.. .

Tony: So it was easy to concentrate?

Phoebe: Sure. One of the teachers was a bit worried about the ethics, you know, whether it was right to interview young pupils, and it took a while for him to agree to let me talk to three of the kids in his class but he relented in the end.

Tony: Good. What other methods did you use?

Phoebe: I experimented with questionnaires, but I really regret that now. I decided to share the work with another student but we had such different agendas it ended up taking twice as long.

Tony: That’s a shame ... it might be worth you reflecting on ways you might improve on that for future projects .

Phoebe: You’re right, yeah.

Tony: OK.

Phoebe: And the other thing I did was stills photography. I didn’t take as many pictures as I’d hoped to .

Tony: Lack of time?

Phoebe: It’s pretty easy just snapping away ... but I wanted each snap to have a purpose, you know, that would contribute to my research aims and I found that difficult.

Tony: Well, that’s understandable, but remember...

Section 4

For my presentation, I’m going to summarise what I’ve found out about efforts to save one plant species ... the juniper bush. It once flourished in Britain and throughout the world’s temperate zones, but over the last few decades has declined considerably. Before I go on to explain the steps being taken to save it in England, let me start by looking at some background information and why the juniper has been so important in cultural as well as ecological terms, historically and in the present day.

Firstly, I want to emphasise the fact that juniper is a very ancient plant. It has been discovered that it was actually amongst the first species of plants to establish itself in Britain in the period following the most recent Ice Age. And, as I say, it has a much valued place in British culture. It was used widely as a fuel during the Middle Ages because, when burnt, the smoke given off is all but invisible and so any illicit activities involving fire could go on without being detected, for example, cooking game hunted illegally. It also has valuable medicinal properties. Particularly during large epidemics, oils were extracted from the juniper wood and sprayed in the air to try to prevent the spread of infection in hospital wards. And these days, perhaps its most well known use is in cuisine...cooking, where its berries are a much-valued ingredient, used to flavour a variety of meat dishes and also drinks.

Turning now to ecological issues, juniper bushes play an important role in supporting other living things. If juniper bushes are wiped out, this would radically affect many different insect and also fungus species. We simply cannot afford to let this species die out.

So, why is the juniper plant declining at such a rapid rate? Well a survey conducted in the north and west of Britain in two thousand and four to five showed that a major problem is the fact that in present-day populations, ratios between the sexes are unbalanced and without a proper mix of male and female, bushes don’t get pollinated. Also, the survey found that in a lot of these populations, the plants are the same age, so this means that bushes grow old and start to die at similar times leading to swift extinction of whole populations.

Now, the charity Plantlife is trying to do something to halt the decline in juniper species. It’s currently trying out two new major salvage techniques, this time focusing on lowland regions of England. The first thing it’s trying is to provide shelters for the seedlings in areas where juniper populations are fairly well established. These, of course, are designed to help protect the plants at their most vulnerable stage. A further measure is that in areas where colonies have all but died out, numbers are being bolstered by the planting of cuttings which have been taken from healthy bushes elsewhere.

Now, I hope I’ve given a clear picture of the problems facing this culturally and ecologically valuable plant and of the measures being taken by Plantlife to tackle them. If anyone has any questions, I’d be happy to ...

IELTS Practice Tests Plus Volume 3

Part 1: Question 1 - 10

Part 2: Question 11 - 20

Part 3: Question 21 - 30

Part 4: Question 31 - 40

Tips for improving your ielts score

Top 15 Reading Tips by an Expert IELTS Mentor

Questions 1-10

Questions 11-16

Making a steam pit

Questions 17-18

Questions 19-20

Questions 21-25

Questions 26-30

Questions 31-40

Saving the juniper plant

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Comments:

About us

Our mission

IELTS Practice Tests Plus Volume 3

Part 1: Question 1 - 10

Part 2: Question 11 - 20

Part 3: Question 21 - 30

Part 4: Question 31 - 40

Share your score

Tips for improving your ielts score

Top 15 Reading Tips by an Expert IELTS Mentor

Questions 1-10

Questions 11-16

Making a steam pit

Questions 17-18

Questions 19-20

Questions 21-25

Questions 26-30

Questions 31-40

Saving the juniper plant

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Comments:

About us

Our mission