IELTS Mock Test 2024 May

BarterOnlineUK is a young, up and coming website in the United Kingdom where users can ‘buy’ new and used goods; however, instead of paying with money, registered users instead exchange their purchase for an item of similar value. This part is perhaps the most complicated, as the registered users themselves must mutually decide on an appropriate value, with value either being the recommended retail price (RRP), or simply how much they believe the item to be worth. The website has been founded by a group of four friends in the north of England. Originally they exchanged their belongings among family members. They frequently found themselves swapping their belongings when they no longer had any use for them. They live by the motto ‘one person’s trash is another person’s treasure’, and hate to throw things away. As more and more people caught wind of the idea and wanted to participate in the exchanges, the group decided that the idea had the potential to become a successful business venture, and so it did.

BarterOnlineUK is a start-up online business, which took 3 months to set up and has now been running for around half a year. Despite only being founded a short time ago, the website has already garnered about 1,500 registered users, with 500 more than expected, a huge achievement for the founders. Some of the users are registered in the United Kingdom and Canada, with the majority from the Republic of Ireland. In order to become a registered member, users must first fill in their personal details followed by their credit or debit card details, which will be used to take payment of a monthly fee of £5. As long as this fee is paid, users will be able to perform an unlimited number of online exchanges.

A multitude of items are sold on the website, such as textbooks, soft toys, and tools, however books for children and computer games are by far selected most. The exchange process itself is not as complicated as it might seem, users can enter their preferences for what they would like to receive, and also explicitly state what they would like to give away, and the website will automatically pair up suitable users. If, however, a user doesn’t want to give anything away, but would simply like to buy something, BarterOnlineUK does support a secure online payment system where users can perform a normal monetary transaction. Despite this, the founding group strongly discourages the use of the online payment system, clearly stating that this goes against the intended ethos of the company.

Although bartering is an age-old process, many of the website’s users are unsure how to decide which of their own items to exchange. It often helps to order items by popularity using the ‘filter’ button provided, this will tell the website to find out popular items for users’ convenience. To this, the founding members say just put everything you don’t want on there, different people have different tastes, and you never know what they might be looking for! In order to aid registered users in their exchanges, and to provide them with assurance, the founders recently added a new feature whereby on completion of an exchange, users will be encouraged to provide each other with feedback. This feedback will include criteria such as the quality of the item as compared with how it was advertised, the ease of communication with the seller, the speed at which the item was delivered, and so on. The friends believe that using this method, users will have a more transparent and trustworthy bartering experience, [fade out]

Tom: Professor Tomlinson, may Annie and I please quickly ask you a few questions about the reflective journal assignment? It’s just that we’re a bit confused as to what you want us to include and discuss.

Prof. Tomlinson: Yes of course, what are you having trouble with?

Annie: Well, everything really. To start with, what should be included first in the reflective journal? Perhaps suggestions from others?

Prof. Tomlinson: No no, firstly you should include the study goals you set yourself at the beginning of the module. This section should have been discussed in some detail towards the beginning of the course by Professor May. You should be able to find her suggestions on the slides she has provided the class online.

Annie: Okay, thank you, Professor. Could I also trouble you to take a brief look at my bibliography and footnotes? I feel like they’re missing something; most of our friends’ bibliographies are longer.

Prof. Tomlinson: Well, looking at this Annie, I can see that you have used a wide range of resources, which shows that you have made effective use of communication technology. As far as I can tell, you need not make any changes to this, although you might want to double check that your referencing complies with the Harvard Referencing Style regulations.

Annie: Oh I’m very surprised you’ve said that! Thank you, now I can set my mind at ease. Tom, you said you wanted to ask the Professor about the achievements section?

Tom: Ah yes, Professor, in the assignment guidelines, we are asked to introduce and elaborate on our biggest achievement in the past, saying which skills we learnt in the process, and how these skills can be transferred to various different future careers. The only problem is that I don’t know what my greatest achievement actually is. I’ve only ever worked as a waiter in a hotel restaurant during the summer holidays from university.

Prof. Tomlinson: If you worked as a waiter in a hotel restaurant, you’re bound to have worked with other waiters as part of a team. Would you say that during your time as a waiter, you developed any leadership skills?

Tom: Yes, well I suppose I was asked to become the team leader of the food and beverage department. But that’s hardly an achievement.

Prof. Tomlinson: You might not think so, but if you write that you were offered the position of the team leader, it shows a lot more about your character, for example that you’re charismatic and work well in a high-pressure situation.

Tom: I never would have thought to write that down, thank you! I guess I should start listening to others more often ! Annie, do you have any more questions or are you ready to go back to the library?

Annie: Yeah, I think I’ve got everything I need. Thank you very much, Professor Tomlinson!

Tom: That was really helpful. I’m actually starting to look forward to writing this now, and it should be a really useful exercise to prepare us for writing CVs and applying for jobs. It’s shocking how bad I am at identifying my strengths and weaknesses. Professor Tomlinson has shown me that I definitely need to start displaying some self-awareness!

Annie: Yeah, Tom, you really do. You’re always so modest! Modesty is great until it comes to applying for jobs!

Annie: Oh no! I forgot to ask the professor about the section on identifying the skills gained through different activities, do you remember? When it asks you, for example, whether writing an essay develops your study skills or your independent learning and so on?

Tom: Oh goodness, we really should have asked him that. I’ve been having trouble with it too. It just seems like such a pointless task. What do you reckon the answers are?

Annie: Hmm... I think writing an essay might be a way of identifying and resolving a problem, because you have to state the problem in the introduction and then solve it. I’m not so sure about taking exams... I thought they were supposed to develop lots of different skill sets. If I really had to choose, I’d say that taking exams enables you to become more confident in yourself … do you agree?

Tom: Maybe, I really don’t know either. What do you think about the last two? Making class notes and presentation notes?

Annie: Oh it’s so difficult! I think making class notes has to be a way of becoming a more independent learner because you yourself decide what the important information is and learn it. That reminds me, I find taking presentation notes is a disaster! The professors speak much too quickly, and I write much too slowly, [fade out]

Welcome back to my series of short lectures on apes. Today we will examine recent and historical breakthroughs on the behaviour of chimpanzees, otherwise known as chimps.

The word ‘chimpanzee’ is an umbrella term for two different species of apes in the genus Pan, which are the Common Chimpanzee, or Pan Troglodytes, found in West and Central Africa, and the Bonobo, or Pan Paniscus, which are found in the forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Chimpanzees belong to the Hominidae family, together with gorillas, orangutans and indeed humans. Current research tells us that the chimps broke away from the human branch of the Hominidae family approximately six million years ago, and remain the closest living relative to humans to this day. More modern researches into chimpanzees have centred on their behavioural characteristics, once all biological and genetic factors have been ruled out. In this way, scientists have unearthed an unfathomable amount of similarities between human and chimpanzee behaviour. Although much of this research has taken place through observation of captive chimps, the results are widely seen as an authoritative reflection of chimps living in the wild. Chimps live in large so-called communities comprised of many male and female members, with the social hierarchy determined by an individual chimp’s position and influence. Through such research, scientists have found that chimps learn and adapt through observation of others’ behaviour. Once in power, the alpha male is often seen to alter its body language in order to retain power, for example he might puff himself up in order to intimidate others, while lower-ranking chimps are noted to behave more submissively and holding out their hands while granting. Female chimpanzees also have a distinct social hierarchy, with high social standing inherited by children. It is not unheard of for dominant females within a community to unite and overthrow the alpha male, backing another in his place.

James Diamond, in his book The Third Chimpanzee suggests that chimps should now be reclassified in the genus Homo, instead of Pan, and there are many arguments still in favour of this. Male common chimpanzees are on average 1.7 metres in height, weighing 70kg, with their female counterparts being somewhat smaller. By comparison, the Bonobo is slightly shorter and lighter, but with longer arms and legs; however, both species walk on all fours, and climb trees with great ease. Jane Goodall made a groundbreaking discovery in 1960, when she observed the use of tools among chimpanzees, including digging for termites with large sticks. A recent study claimed to reveal that common chimpanzees in Senegal have been using spears sharpened with their teeth to hunt; however these reports remain unsubstantiated. Researchers have witnessed such tools, namely rocks, being used by chimps to open coconut shells and indeed crushing nuts with stone hammers. As scientific technology has developed, so too has our knowledge of the sheer extent of the chimp’s intelligence. Research has now shown that chimps have the capability to learn and use symbols, and understand aspects of the human language, including syntax as well as numerical sequences.

As I mentioned earlier, the umbrella term ‘chimpanzee’ is comprised of the common chimpanzee and the bonobo. These two sub-species are divided along the Congo River, with the common chimps living on one side, and the bonobos living on the opposite side of the river. Over the past few decades, both of these sub-species have witnessed an alarming decrease in population density, with animal activists now working harder than ever to protect those remaining and encourage procreation.

In addition, next week’s episode will focus more closely on how chimpanzees in captivity are able to learn things through imitating the behaviour of humans, as well as how chimpanzees’ behaviours have developed over many generations. Thank you very much for attending this evening’s lecture. I hope you found it intellectually stimulating, and I look forward to seeing you again next week. Goodnight!