Cambridge IELTS 2 Listening Test 1
4 parts · 40 questions · 30 minutes
Joining a video library
Questions 1–5
Complete the form below. Write NO MORE THAN ONE WORD OR A NUMBER for each answer.
VIDEO LIBRARY — APPLICATION FORM
Example — Surname: Jones First names: Louise Cynthia
Address: Apartment 1, 72 (1) ………………………… Street, Highbridge
Post code: (2) …………………………
Telephone: 9835 6712 (home) · (3) ………………………… (work)
Driver's licence number: (4) …………………………
Date of birth: Day: 25th · Month: (5) …………………………
Questions 6–8
Circle THREE letters A–F.
6. What types of films does Louise like?
A Action
B Comedies
C Musicals
D Romance
E Westerns
F Wildlife
7. What types of films does Louise like?
A Action
B Comedies
C Musicals
D Romance
E Westerns
F Wildlife
8. What types of films does Louise like?
A Action
B Comedies
C Musicals
D Romance
E Westerns
F Wildlife
Questions 9–10
Questions 9 and 10: Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
9. • How much does it cost to join the library? …………………………
10. • When will Louise's card be ready? …………………………
An interview about a mountain expedition
Questions 11–13
Complete the notes below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
Expedition Across Attora Mountains
Leader: Charles Owen
Prepared a (11) ………………………… for the trip
Total length of trip: (12) …………………………
Climbed highest peak in: (13) …………………………
Questions 14–15
Questions 14 and 15: Circle the correct letters A–C.
14. What took the group by surprise?
A the amount of rain
B the number of possible routes
C the length of the journey
15. How did Charles feel about having to change routes?
A He reluctantly accepted it.
B He was irritated by the diversion.
C It made no difference to his enjoyment.
Questions 16–18
Circle THREE letters A–F.
16. What does Charles say about his friends?
A He met them at one stage on the trip.
B They kept all their meeting arrangements.
C One of them helped arrange the transport.
D One of them owned the hotel they stayed in.
E Some of them travelled with him.
F Only one group lasted the 96 days.
17. What does Charles say about his friends?
A He met them at one stage on the trip.
B They kept all their meeting arrangements.
C One of them helped arrange the transport.
D One of them owned the hotel they stayed in.
E Some of them travelled with him.
F Only one group lasted the 96 days.
18. What does Charles say about his friends?
A He met them at one stage on the trip.
B They kept all their meeting arrangements.
C One of them helped arrange the transport.
D One of them owned the hotel they stayed in.
E Some of them travelled with him.
F Only one group lasted the 96 days.
Questions 19–20
Questions 19 and 20: Circle TWO letters A–E.
19. What does Charles say about the donkeys?
A He rode them when he was tired.
B He named them after places.
C One of them died.
D They behaved unpredictably.
E They were very small.
20. What does Charles say about the donkeys?
A He rode them when he was tired.
B He named them after places.
C One of them died.
D They behaved unpredictably.
E They were very small.
Two students comparing their courses
Questions 21–25
Complete the table below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
| TIM | JANE | |
|---|---|---|
| Day of arrival | Sunday | (21) ………………………… |
| Subject | History | (22) ………………………… |
| Number of books to read | (23) ………………………… | (24) ………………………… |
| Day of first lecture | Tuesday | (25) ………………………… |
Questions 26–30
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
26. • What is Jane's study strategy in lectures? …………………………
27. • What is Tim's study strategy for reading? …………………………
28. • What is the subject of Tim's first lecture? …………………………
29. • What is the title of Tim's first essay? …………………………
30. • What is the subject of Jane's first essay? …………………………
A talk on sports training courses
Questions 31–35
Complete the table below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
| Course | Type of course: duration and level | Entry requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Physical Fitness Instructor | Example Six-month certificate | None |
| Sports Administrator | (31) ………………………… | (32) ………………………… in sports administration |
| Sports Psychologist | (33) ………………………… | Degree in psychology |
| Physical Education Teacher | Four-year degree in education | (34) ………………………… |
| Recreation Officer | (35) ………………………… | None |
Questions 36–40
Complete the table below. Write the appropriate letters A–G against Questions 36–40.
MAIN ROLES
A the coaching of teams
B the support of elite athletes
C guidance of ordinary individuals
D community health
E the treatment of injuries
F arranging matches and venues
G the rounded development of children
36. Physical Fitness Instructor
37. Sports Administrator
38. Sports Psychologist
39. Physical Education Teacher
40. Recreation Officer
Answers
1. Black
2. 2085
3. 9456 1309
4. 2020BD
5. July
6. Comedies
7. Romance
8. Wildlife
9. $25
10. next week
11. route book
12. 900 miles
13. North Africa
14. the amount of rain
15. It made no difference to his enjoyment.
16. They kept all their meeting arrangements.
17. One of them helped arrange the transport.
18. Some of them travelled with him.
19. He named them after places.
20. They behaved unpredictably.
21. Friday
22. Biology
23. 57
24. 43
25. Wednesday
26. she records them
27. skimming
28. The French Revolution
29. Why study history?
30. animal language
31. four-month certificate
32. current employment
33. one-year diploma
34. none
35. six-month certificate
36. C
37. F
38. B
39. G
40. D
Explanations
- 1. Black
- 'Apartment 1, 72 Black Street, Highbridge.' — confirmed by 'Black Street, that's just around the corner, isn't it?'Common trap: 'Highbridge' and 'Apartment 1, 72' are already printed, so only the street name is wanted.
- 2. 2085
- 'OK, so the post code is 2085, right?' — 'Yes, 2085.'Common trap: Four numbers follow in quick succession — post code, two phone numbers and a licence number.
- 3. 9456 1309
- 'Home is 9835 6712 and work is 9456 1309.'Common trap: Both numbers come in one breath and the home number is already printed beside the gap.
- 4. 2020BD
- 'Yes, I know it off by heart, it's an easy one, 2020BD.'Common trap: The letters run straight onto the digits with no pause, and no spelling-out follows.
- 5. July
- '25 July 1977.' The day is already printed, so the month is the answer.Common trap: The whole date is said as one run — the day is printed and the year is not asked for.
- 6. Comedies
- 'Well, I love anything that makes me laugh. I just love to hear jokes and funny punch lines.' Comedies is the first of her three preferences.Common trap: Two of the six options are named only to be rejected — westerns ('my father likes them') and musicals ('too much!').
- 7. Romance
- 'I'm a real softie, so anything with a bit of a love story is good for me. It doesn't matter how old.'Common trap: The word 'romance' is never used — it has to be inferred from 'a love story'.
- 8. Wildlife
- 'I'm completely taken by documentaries of the great outdoors, you know the sort, animals, plants and far away places.'Common trap: 'documentaries' is the word used, not 'wildlife' — the dolphin example is what confirms the category.
- 9. $25
- 'Oh, and I nearly forgot, the membership fee. $25, refundable if you leave the library for any reason.'Common trap: The fee is tacked on as an afterthought at the end of a long turn about signing the form.
- 10. next week
- 'You can borrow videos now, if you like, but your card won't be ready until next week.'Common trap: 'now' opens the same sentence — that is when she can borrow videos, not when the card arrives.
- 11. route book
- 'I've collected maps and other data to prepare what I call a route book for this trip and this book basically shows the route across the mountains that we took.'Common trap: 'maps and other data' are what went INTO the route book — the ingredients, not the thing prepared.
- 12. 900 miles
- 'Yes, it was 900 miles in total and we managed to climb 32 peaks that were over 3000 metres high.' The book requires the unit — '900' alone is marked wrong.Common trap: Three numbers sit in one sentence (900, 32, 3000) and the key explicitly rejects '900' without 'miles'.
- 13. North Africa
- '...including Toubkal, which is of course the highest in North Africa.' The key rejects 'Africa' on its own.Common trap: 'Morocco' is named at the start of the section — the country, not the region the peak tops.
- 14. the amount of rain
- 'It got us right from day one and we were pretty taken aback really to find that it rained on quite a number of days.'Common trap: 'taken aback' is the only signal of surprise, and it attaches to the rain rather than to the re-planning in the same sentence.
- 15. It made no difference to his enjoyment.
- '...either way we would have been rewarded... The scenery was as fine as any we saw on the trip and that was how it was every time - having to take another pass was never a disappointment.'Common trap: 'forced us into a northern bypass' sounds negative, but the verdict at the end of the turn is wholly positive.
- 16. They kept all their meeting arrangements.
- 'we'd arranged to meet up with friends at various points on the journey... and we managed to keep all these dates, which is amazing really considering the detours we made.'Common trap: Options A, D and F each pick up a real phrase but change one detail — 'various points' vs 'one stage', recommending the hotel vs owning it.
- 17. One of them helped arrange the transport.
- 'An old friend acted as a sort of transport organiser for everyone.'Common trap: The hotel is named in the very same sentence, which makes option D feel like part of the same fact.
- 18. Some of them travelled with him.
- 'Anyway, groups of friends actually joined us for three-week stints and others just linked up with us.'Common trap: 'we only met one other group of travellers like ourselves in the whole 96 days' closes the turn and matches option F word for word — but those were strangers.
- 19. He named them after places.
- 'Taza and Tamri, as we called them after the last places in the trip.'Common trap: 'long-suffering' and 'continuously demanding for them' hint at hardship, which makes option C tempting although no donkey dies.
- 20. They behaved unpredictably.
- 'On both the really high summits, they took diversions that were quite out of character and I can only assume that it must have been due to tiredness.'Common trap: 'due to tiredness' closes the sentence and can be misread as option A — but it is the donkeys who were tired, and nobody rode them.
- 21. Friday
- 'I got here a few days ago, on Saturday. No - wait a minute, what's today? - Sorry Friday, not Saturday.' Jane corrects herself: she arrived on Friday.Common trap: Jane says Saturday first and corrects it mid-turn; Tim's Sunday is already printed in the other column.
- 22. Biology
- 'And you're doing biology, if I remember correctly.' — 'Yes, although to start with I couldn't decide between that and geography.'Common trap: Three subjects are in play — English (Tim's original choice), history (his actual one, already printed) and geography (Jane's rejected alternative).
- 23. 57
- 'Well, I counted 57. I could hardly believe it!' Tim's reading list has 57 books.Common trap: Jane's 43 follows immediately in the next turn — the two totals must be kept in the right columns.
- 24. 43
- 'Well, it's not as long as yours, but it's still pretty big. There are 43.'Common trap: 'not as long as yours' confirms which list is which — reversing them loses both marks.
- 25. Wednesday
- Tim's first lecture is Tuesday; Jane says 'The day after' — Wednesday. The key rejects 'the day after'.Common trap: The answer is never named — it must be computed from Tim's Tuesday, and the key explicitly rejects writing 'the day after'.
- 26. she records them
- 'Well I'm going to use a cassette recorder and record them all.'Common trap: Taking notes is Tim's strategy, described in the very next turn — the two students' methods are contrasted throughout.
- 27. skimming
- 'My approach is to skim the book first to see what's important and what isn't. It saves hours of time.'Common trap: Reading every word is Jane's habit ('that's what I usually do'), stated two turns later.
- 28. The French Revolution
- 'Oh, it's a lecture on the French Revolution.'Common trap: Jane's first lecture ('animal behaviour') follows shortly after — and her first essay is on animal language, a third near-neighbour.
- 29. Why study history?
- 'He's given us the title "Why study history?"'Common trap: The title is a question, and it arrives after a long wind-up about the professor's sense of humour.
- 30. animal language
- 'Yes, I've got to write about animal language.' The key rejects 'language' on its own.Common trap: Her first LECTURE was on animal behaviour — one word apart from her first essay, and the key rejects bare 'language'.
- 31. four-month certificate
- 'For Sports Administrators we provide a four-month certificate course.'Common trap: Five course lengths are read out in sequence — six-month, four-month, one-year, four-year, six-month — and two of them are six-month certificates.
- 32. current employment
- '...this is designed for those who are in employment. This employment must be current and related to sports administration.'Common trap: 'in sports administration' is already printed beside the gap, so repeating it wastes the answer.
- 33. one-year diploma
- 'For the Sports Psychologist course we offer a one-year diploma course.'Common trap: 'a degree in psychology' in the same sentence is the entry requirement, already printed in the next column.
- 34. none
- 'This degree course... needs no prior qualifications as it is entered directly by school leavers.'Common trap: 'primary and secondary schools' dominates the sentence, but that is where graduates teach, not an entry requirement.
- 35. six-month certificate
- 'And lastly for the Recreation Officer's course we offer a six-month certificate.'Common trap: This repeats the Example answer exactly, which makes students doubt it and hunt for something different.
- 36. C
- 'A Physical Fitness Instructor works in health and fitness centres preparing individual programs for ordinary members of the public.' = guidance of ordinary individuals.Common trap: 'the treatment of injuries' (E) is a natural association with a fitness centre, but nothing about injuries is said.
- 37. F
- 'Their duties include such things as booking playing fields with local councils and organising the schedule of games or events for the club.' = arranging matches and venues.Common trap: 'run clubs and sporting associations' opens the description and suggests A (coaching teams) rather than the administrative detail that follows.
- 38. B
- 'Sports Psychologists spend time with professional athletes helping them approach competition with a positive mental attitude to enable them to achieve their personal best.' = the support of elite athletes.Common trap: 'stress management' closes the description and pulls towards E (treatment of injuries) — but the support is mental, not medical.
- 39. G
- 'PE teachers help the development of co-ordination, balance, posture, and flexibility... They are not expected to be experts in all sports.' = the rounded development of children.Common trap: 'play sport' and the list of activities suggest A (coaching of teams), but the text says explicitly they are not sport experts.
- 40. D
- 'Their aim is to raise people's awareness of healthy lifestyles and improved general fitness through arranging recreational activities for groups of all ages.' = community health.Common trap: 'arranging recreational activities' echoes option F almost word for word, but F is about matches and venues for a club.
Audio transcripts
Part 1 — Joining a video library
LOUISE: Oh hello, I'd like to join the video library. MR MAX: OK. Would you like to fill in the application form now? LOUISE: Yes, I can do it now. MR MAX: Hold on and I'll get a form. Now, I'll just ask you a few questions and then I'll get you to sign at the bottom. LOUISE: Right. MR MAX: What's your full name? LOUISE: Louise Cynthia Jones. MR MAX: Jones? LOUISE: Yes, that's right. MR MAX: OK, and what's your address? LOUISE: Apartment 1, 72 Black Street, Highbridge. MR MAX: Black Street, that's just around the corner, isn't it? LOUISE: Yes. MR MAX: OK, so the post code is 2085, right? LOUISE: Yes, 2085. MR MAX: Mm. And your telephone number? I need both home and work. LOUISE: Home is 9835 6712 and work is 9456 1309. Do you need any ID or anything like that? MR MAX: Yes, we need your driver's licence number, that is if you have one. LOUISE: Yes, I know it off by heart, it's an easy one, 2020BD. Do you need to see it? MR MAX: Yes, I'm afraid I do. LOUISE: Mm... here. MR MAX: Right, thanks. And could you tell me your date of birth please? LOUISE: 25 July 1977. MR MAX: That's the most important part out of the way, but could I just ask you a few questions for a survey we're conducting? LOUISE: OK. MR MAX: What kind of videos do you prefer to watch? Have a look at this list. LOUISE: Well, I love anything that makes me laugh. I just love to hear jokes and funny punch lines. I'm not very keen on westerns, although my father likes them, but I'm a real softie, so anything with a bit of a love story is good for me. It doesn't matter how old. Not musicals though, they're too much! MR MAX: Anything else? LOUISE: I'm completely taken by documentaries of the great outdoors, you know the sort, animals, plants and far away places. I saw a wonderful one on dolphins last week. It was amazing. MR MAX: Now, I think that's all from me, except I need you to sign here on the line. Here's a pen. Oh, and I nearly forgot, the membership fee. $25, refundable if you leave the library for any reason. LOUISE: There you are. And do I sign here? MR MAX: Yes, that's it. You can borrow videos now, if you like, but your card won't be ready until next week. You can come and pick it up when you bring your first videos back. That is if you want to take some now. LOUISE: Yes, I'd like to. I'll have a look around. MR MAX: Fine.
Part 2 — An interview about a mountain expedition
INTERVIEWER: A dream came true in 1995, when over 96 days of the spring and summer, an expedition of four men undertook what they believe to have been the first and only complete end-to-end crossing of Morocco's Attora mountains. I talked to Charles Owen, the leader of the expedition group, about the trip. Charles, how much planning went on beforehand? CHARLES: Well, as you know, I run these walking trips across the mountains for tourists and over the years, I've collected maps and other data to prepare what I call a 'route book' for this trip and this book basically shows the route across the mountains that we took. INTERVIEWER: You actually broke records while you were out there, didn't you? CHARLES: Mmm. Yes, it was 900 miles in total and we managed to climb 32 peaks that were over 3000 metres high, including Toubkal, which is of course the highest in North Africa. We weren't actually out to make a name for ourselves - it just happened really. INTERVIEWER: What was the weather like? CHARLES: It got us right from day one and we were pretty taken aback really to find that it rained on quite a number of days, and so we were forced to start re-planning our route almost from the outset. One of the obvious problems is the heavy snow which blocks the mountain passes, so you have to make considerable detours. When we were on the way to Imilchil, for example, the snow forced us into a northern bypass which was new to us, but anyway, either way we would have been rewarded because we fell upon amazing, high meadows, huge gorges and wonderful snow-capped mountains. The scenery was as fine as any we saw on the trip and that was how it was every time - having to take another pass was never a disappointment. INTERVIEWER: It was in many ways a social trip, wasn't it? CHARLES: Yes, yes... we'd arranged to meet up with friends at various points on the journey. I mean this was actually one of the purposes of the trip... and we managed to keep all these dates, which is amazing really considering the detours we made. An old friend acted as a sort of transport organiser for everyone and the Hotel Ali in Marrakech was a good social base - I'd really recommend it, although I can't remember who runs it. Anyway, groups of friends actually joined us for three-week stints and others just linked up with us. Some, whom we hadn't met before the trip at all, tagged on for short bursts - people from the area - who just came along for the ride. But outside the major visitor areas like Toubkal we only met one other group of travellers like ourselves in the whole 96 days. INTERVIEWER: Were there any bad moments? CHARLES: We took two, I must say, long-suffering donkeys with us to help transport water and tents and things. I suppose if we were to do it all again we'd probably hire donkeys along the way. Taza and Tamri, as we called them after the last places in the trip, well, they made quite a unique journey between them, and... but it was continuously demanding for them. On both the really high summits, they took diversions that were quite out of character and I can only assume that it must have been due to tiredness. INTERVIEWER: Well, thank you... And Charles has put together a video about this journey and continues to lead groups to the Attora mountains, so if you want further information...
Part 3 — Two students comparing their courses
JANE: Hi Tim! (Tim: Jane.) How are you? (Tim: Fine.) I'd been wondering when I'd run into you. Have you been here long? TIM: I arrived yesterday, on Sunday. How about you? JANE: I got here a few days ago, on Saturday. No - wait a minute, what's today? - Sorry Friday, not Saturday. TIM: But we didn't have to be here till today. JANE: Yes, I know, but I wanted to get my things moved into my room, and just take a look around. So, did you decide to do English in the end? TIM: No, I changed my mind and opted for history instead. And you're doing biology, if I remember correctly. JANE: Yes, although to start with I couldn't decide between that and geography. TIM: How much reading have you got? I was given an amazingly long list of books to read. See! JANE: Wow, it does look pretty long. TIM: Well, I counted 57. I could hardly believe it! What's your list like? JANE: Well, it's not as long as yours, but it's still pretty big. There are 43. I don't know how I'm going to get through them all. TIM: Well you don't have to read them all this week! You just have to stay ahead of the lectures and seminars. Have you got your class schedule yet? JANE: Yep. It came with the reading list. When's your first lecture? TIM: Tuesday. How about you? JANE: The day after. It's my busiest day; I've got two lectures in the morning and one in the afternoon. JANE: It's going to be different from school, isn't it! TIM: Yeah, particularly the lectures. Have you got any special strategy for listening to lectures? JANE: Well I'm going to use a cassette recorder and record them all. TIM: What! Are you allowed to? JANE: Sure. Lots of people do it nowadays. It means you can listen to the lectures all over again later, and make really good notes. TIM: I couldn't do that. I like to take notes as I'm listening. I usually find I get all the important points. Reading is different of course. My approach is to skim the book first to see what's important and what isn't. It saves hours of time. JANE: But what if you miss something? TIM: You don't mean you're going to read every word, do you? JANE: Well, that's what I usually do. TIM: Well, that's up to you, but I think you're crazy! JANE: What's your first lecture on, anyway? TIM: Oh, it's a lecture on the French Revolution. JANE: The French Revolution! How boring! TIM: It's not boring at all! It was an amazing period of history. It changed everything in Europe. So what's your first lecture about? JANE: It's about animal behaviour. It sounds really interesting. TIM: Look, I was on my way to the library. I'm going to get some of these books out and start reading for the first essay I've got to write. JANE: And what have you got to write about? TIM: Well, you'll never believe it, I think our professor must have a sense of humour. He's given us the title "Why study history?" JANE: That's a good one. When you find the answer, let me know! TIM: I'm going to enjoy writing it. Have you been given any writing assignments yet? JANE: Yes, I've got to write about animal language. TIM: Hmm! That sounds a challenge. I suppose you'll be off to the zoo to do field research.
Part 4 — A talk on sports training courses
LECTURER: Welcome to further education Information Week. This is the Physical Education Faculty's session and I'm the Head of the Faculty. During the course of this morning we hope to give you a clear idea of what we offer in our training programs and we will look at the types of courses and the entry requirements, if any, for those courses. Some of these courses are open to school leavers, but for some you need previous qualifications, or relevant successful employment. So firstly, the Physical Fitness Instructor's course is offered as a six-month certificate course which includes an important component of personal fitness but there are no specific entry requirements. For Sports Administrators we provide a four-month certificate course but you should be aware that this is designed for those who are in employment. This employment must be current and related to sports administration. For the Sports Psychologist course we offer a one-year diploma course, but this diploma course is available only to those who already hold a degree in psychology, so you need to make sure you have that before you apply to do this course. Now... for Physical Education Teachers we offer a four-year degree in education. This degree course is designed for preparing students to teach in primary and secondary Schools and needs no prior qualifications as it is entered directly by school leavers. And lastly for the Recreation Officer's course we offer a six-month certificate. Entry to this course normally includes applicants of a wide range of ages and experiences, but we do not insist on any prerequisites for this course. Remember that this is a vocational training institute. We train you so that you can take up a particular kind of job. So it is important that you know the main roles of the jobs - what the work is like and what kind of qualities you need to succeed at them. A Physical Fitness Instructor works in health and fitness centres preparing individual programs for ordinary members of the public. Physical Fitness Instructors prepare routines of exercises to suit the individual client's age and level of fitness. Sports Administrators run clubs and sporting associations. Their duties include such things as booking playing fields with local councils and organising the schedule of games or events for the club, so they need good organisational skills. Sports Psychologists spend time with professional athletes helping them approach competition with a positive mental attitude to enable them to achieve their personal best. They do this by improving motivation and concentration or assisting with stress management. Physical Education or PE Teachers instruct young students in how to exercise, play sport, and do other recreational activities correctly and safely. PE teachers help the development of co-ordination, balance, posture, and flexibility with things like simple catching and throwing skills. They are not expected to be experts in all sports, but must be able to show students the basic techniques involved in a wide range of activities. Recreation Officers often find themselves working for local government authorities and local groups. Their aim is to raise people's awareness of healthy lifestyles and improved general fitness through arranging recreational activities for groups of all ages from the very young to the elderly. There are many other job opportunities which our graduates can look forward to. If you are interested in any of these...
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