IELTS LISTENING PRACTICE TEST 2026 WITH ANSWERS | 12.11.2026 — Transcript

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1. 0:00[music]
2. 0:07[music]
3. 0:09Now turns to part one. Part one. In this
4. 0:13section, you will hear a conversation
5. 0:15between two students in the dining hall
6. 0:18of the college. First, you have some
7. 0:20time to read questions 1 to 4.
8. 0:53Now listen carefully to the conversation
9. 0:56and answer questions one to four.
10. 0:59>> Hi Max, how are you?
11. 1:01>> Hi Melanie, I'm fine. In fact, I'm
12. 1:04preparing the coming holidays and I want
13. 1:06to have a car tour with my friends.
14. 1:08>> That sounds lovely. Well, how is your
15. 1:10preparation? Well, I haven't begun yet
16. 1:13because I'm not quite sure how to rent a
17. 1:16car and what the expense is like and
18. 1:18something like this.
19. 1:19>> Huh?
20. 1:20>> You've run into the right person. I did
21. 1:23the same last holiday and I can
22. 1:25recommend it to you. I went to Avis
23. 1:27Rental Car Company which is at 14A Do
24. 1:31Road, Oxford.
25. 1:32>> Let me write it down. Is it D O V E R?
26. 1:36>> Yes. And the telephone number is 634963.
27. 1:42But if you book for the first time, dial
28. 1:45another number with extension. That is
29. 1:48634853
30. 1:51extension 54.
31. 1:53>> Okay. Thank you very much. I'll have a
32. 1:55try.
33. 1:57Before you hear the rest of the
34. 1:59conversation, you have some time to read
35. 2:01questions 5 to 10.
36. 2:34Now listen to the conversation between
37. 2:37Max and the assistant and answer
38. 2:39questions 5 to 10.
39. 2:42>> Good morning Avis Rent Car Company. How
40. 2:44can I help you?
41. 2:46>> Hi, I want to book a car for tour. I
42. 2:49want to inquire some information about
43. 2:50the grade of the cars and the prices.
44. 2:53>> No problem. We offer a wide selection of
45. 2:56rental cars to choose from from luxury
46. 2:58car to economy car, compact car,
47. 3:01minivan, and pickup truck.
48. 3:03>> Well, uh, luxury car is obviously out of
49. 3:06my price range, but compact or economy
50. 3:10is not big enough. You know, we have
51. 3:12seven persons together.
52. 3:14>> Well, how about a minivan? It's perfect
53. 3:17for road trips and will make your
54. 3:19journey feel like you're in a living
55. 3:20room on wheels.
56. 3:22>> I think that's good. Well, what does it
57. 3:24feature? I I mean, what facilities does
58. 3:27it have?
59. 3:28>> Unlike most minivans with manual
60. 3:30transmission, the rental minivan cars
61. 3:32have feature automatic transmission, air
62. 3:35conditioning, and AM FM stereo. If you
63. 3:38drive a long smooth way, you can use the
64. 3:41cruise control, which will save you a
65. 3:43lot of energy.
66. 3:44>> Good. How much is the price?
67. 3:47>> If you rent an intermediate one, it will
68. 3:49cost you £55 each day. If it is
69. 3:52standard, the cost is £45 per day.
70. 3:56>> I think the standard is enough.
71. 3:58>> Oh, we have a special 50% discount for
72. 4:01weekends from Friday to Sunday, but that
73. 4:04doesn't apply to tax, recovery fees, and
74. 4:07optional services.
75. 4:09>> What are the optional services?
76. 4:10>> Well, they usually include some extra
77. 4:12facilities like first aid kit or
78. 4:15something like that.
79. 4:16>> I know. We plan to start off on Friday.
80. 4:19So we have to prepare one day in
81. 4:21advance. I want to book from 30th of
82. 4:24April which is Thursday and it will end
83. 4:27next Monday.
84. 4:29>> Okay. Could you leave your name and the
85. 4:31driving license number?
86. 4:33>> My name is Max and the license number is
87. 4:36M9021.
88. 4:38>> Okay. You can pick up the car on
89. 4:40Thursday noon. Besides, we offer some
90. 4:43optional services like street maps,
91. 4:45flashlight, and sunshade. What would you
92. 4:48like to have?
93. 4:49>> Flashlight is not necessary, I think.
94. 4:52But street maps are useful, especially
95. 4:54when we drive in a strange place. As for
96. 4:57the sun sheet, I'd like to give that a
97. 5:00miss. We don't want to spend too much
98. 5:02extra money.
99. 5:03>> Okay, Mr. Max, thank you for calling.
100. 5:07>> That is the end of section one. You now
101. 5:10have half a minute to check your
102. 5:13answers.
103. 5:47Before we move to the second section, if
104. 5:49you want to practice IEL speaking with
105. 5:51teacher for free, then download the baby
106. 5:54code app link in the pin comment.
107. 5:59>> Now turns to part two.
108. 6:02Part two.
109. 6:03>> You'll hear Melanie, a student, talking
110. 6:06to one of her lecturers about her
111. 6:08studies.
112. 6:09>> First, you have some time to look at
113. 6:11questions 11 to 17.
114. 6:44Now listen carefully and answer
115. 6:47questions 11 to 17.
116. 6:51>> Excuse me, Dr. Johnson. May I speak to
117. 6:53you for a minute?
118. 6:54>> Sure, come in.
119. 6:56>> I'm Melanie Griffin. I'm taking your
120. 6:59course in population studies.
121. 7:01>> Right. Um, well, Melanie, how can I help
122. 7:04you?
123. 7:05>> I'm having a bit of trouble with a
124. 7:08second assignment and it's due in 12
125. 7:11days.
126. 7:12>> What sort of trouble are you having? Is
127. 7:14the assignment question a problem?
128. 7:16>> Well, that's part of the problem. I'm
129. 7:19also having I've been having trouble
130. 7:22getting hold of the books. I've been to
131. 7:24the library several times and all the
132. 7:26books are out. Sounds like you should
133. 7:28have started borrowing books a bit
134. 7:29earlier.
135. 7:30>> Well, I had a really big assignment due
136. 7:33in for another course and I've been
137. 7:36spending all my time on that and I
138. 7:38thought
139. 7:39>> uh you might get an extension of time to
140. 7:41finish your assignment for me.
141. 7:44>> If that's possible, but I don't know if
142. 7:47>> Well, yes, it is possible, but uh
143. 7:50extensions are normally given only for
144. 7:53medical or compassionate reasons.
145. 7:55Otherwise, it's really a question of
146. 7:57organizing your study, and we don't like
147. 8:00giving extensions to students who simply
148. 8:02didn't plan their work properly.
149. 8:06What did you get for your first
150. 8:07assignment?
151. 8:08>> I got 87%.
152. 8:11>> Yes, you did very well indeed. So,
153. 8:15obviously, you can produce good work.
154. 8:17>> I don't think I'll need too much extra
155. 8:20time as long as I can get hold of some
156. 8:22of the important references. Well, since
157. 8:25you did so well in your first
158. 8:26assignment, I'm prepared to give you an
159. 8:29extra two weeks for this one. So,
160. 8:31that'll mean you'll need to submit it
161. 8:33about a month from now.
162. 8:35>> Oh, thank you.
163. 8:37>> Now, what about the reading materials?
164. 8:39Have you checked out the journal
165. 8:41articles in the list?
166. 8:42>> Um, uh, no, not yet. There were about 20
167. 8:47of them, and I wasn't sure which ones
168. 8:49would be most useful or or important.
169. 8:52Well, they're all useful, but I don't
170. 8:54expect anyone to read them all because a
171. 8:57number of them deal with the same
172. 8:58issues. Um, let me give you some
173. 9:01suggestions.
174. 9:02The article by Anderson and Hawker is
175. 9:05really worth reading,
176. 9:07>> right? I'll read that one.
177. 9:08>> You should also read the article by
178. 9:10Jackson. Uh, but just look at the part
179. 9:12on the research methodology how they did
180. 9:14it.
181. 9:15>> Okay, Jackson. Got that? And if you have
182. 9:20time, the one by Roberts says very
183. 9:22relevant things, although it's not
184. 9:24essential.
185. 9:25>> So,
186. 9:26okay, if it's useful, I'll try and read
187. 9:29that one.
188. 9:30>> No, the one by Morris.
189. 9:32Uh, I wouldn't bother with that at this
190. 9:34stage if I were you.
191. 9:36>> Okay, I won't bother with Morris. Oh,
192. 9:39now someone told me the article by
193. 9:41Cooper is important. Well, yes, in a
194. 9:44way, but just look at the last part
195. 9:46where he discusses the research results.
196. 9:50And lastly, there's Forester. I can't
197. 9:53think why I included that one. It's not
198. 9:56bad and could be of some help, but not
199. 10:00that much.
200. 10:02>> Before you hear the rest of the talk,
201. 10:04you have some time to look at questions
202. 10:0618 to 20.
203. 10:39Now listen and answer questions 18 to
204. 10:4120.
205. 10:43>> Now let's deal with the assignment
206. 10:45question. What's the problem there? It's
207. 10:48the graph on page two.
208. 10:50>> What seems to be the problem? It's just
209. 10:51the bar graph showing reasons why people
210. 10:54change where they live.
211. 10:55>> Well, I've got a photocopy, but the
212. 10:58reasons at the bottom are missing.
213. 11:00>> Oh, okay. Uh, look at the first bar on
214. 11:03the graph. Now, that indicates the
215. 11:05number of people who move because they
216. 11:07want more space.
217. 11:09>> Oh, I see.
218. 11:11Bar one. Okay. Now, what about the next
219. 11:15bar? Bar two is to do with the people
220. 11:18living nearby disturbing them. [snorts]
221. 11:20So they chose to move away to somewhere
222. 11:22quieter. Now let's look at bar number
223. 11:25three. Another reason people change
224. 11:28their place of living is because they
225. 11:30want to be closer to the city.
226. 11:32>> Okay. Proximity to the city is an issue.
227. 11:37>> Now bar number four refers to problems
228. 11:39when the owner of the property won't
229. 11:41help fix things that go wrong. In other
230. 11:45words, the owner is not helpful and so
231. 11:47the tenants move out.
232. 11:49>> Okay. Now, what about bar five?
233. 11:52>> Bar five is about those people who move
234. 11:54because they need a bus or train to get
235. 11:57them into the city or to go to work.
236. 12:00>> Okay. And bar six,
237. 12:03>> bar number six is interesting. That
238. 12:06reason was given quite a lot. People
239. 12:08moving because they wanted to be in a
240. 12:10more attractive neighborhood.
241. 12:12>> Oh, yes.
242. 12:14Thank you very much.
243. 12:16>> That is the end of part two.
244. 12:18>> You now have half a minute to check your
245. 12:21answers.
246. 12:52Now it turns to part three.
247. 12:55Part three.
248. 12:57>> You will hear two geography students,
249. 12:59Jack and Katie, talking about a field
250. 13:02trip to Kenya in Africa. First, you have
251. 13:06some time to look at questions 21 to 4.
252. 13:40Now listen carefully and answer
253. 13:43questions 21 to 24.
254. 13:46Katie, hi. Thanks for inviting me
255. 13:49around.
256. 13:49>> Oh, thanks for coming. I know you're up
257. 13:52to your neck in finals revision, but
258. 13:54I've got to make up my mind about next
259. 13:56year's geography field trip, and I'd
260. 13:59really like your advice. We've got to
261. 14:01choose between an African trip and one
262. 14:03in Europe. They've told us a bit about
263. 14:06both trips in the lecture, but I really
264. 14:08can't make up my mind. And I know you
265. 14:11did the African one last year.
266. 14:13>> That's right.
267. 14:14>> So, where exactly did you go? I mean, I
268. 14:17know it was in Kenya, in East Africa.
269. 14:19>> Yes. Well, we were right up in the
270. 14:22northwest of the country. It was
271. 14:24beautiful. We stayed in a place called
272. 14:26the Marriage Pass Field Studies Center,
273. 14:30>> right? Dr. Rose said the accommodation
274. 14:32was traditional Africanstyle cottages.
275. 14:35Uh, he had a special name for them.
276. 14:38>> Bandas. Yes, they're fine. You have to
277. 14:41share two or three people together.
278. 14:43They're pretty basic, but you have a
279. 14:46mosquito net. They don't provide spray
280. 14:48though, so remember to take plenty with
281. 14:51you. You'll need it. And there's no
282. 14:54electricity in the field center. You'll
283. 14:56have hurricane lamps instead. They give
284. 14:58a good light. It's no problem.
285. 15:00>> What about places to study?
286. 15:02[clears throat] Dr. Rose said there was
287. 15:03a library.
288. 15:05>> Yes, but it's quite small. There's a
289. 15:07lecture room as well, but most of us
290. 15:09worked out in the open air. There are
291. 15:11plenty of places outside, and it's so
292. 15:13beautiful. You're right in the middle of
293. 15:15the forest clearing.
294. 15:17>> I gather it's a relatively unmodernized
295. 15:20area.
296. 15:20>> Definitely. They actually set up the
297. 15:23center there because it's on the
298. 15:24boundaries of two distinct ecological
299. 15:26zones. The mountains where the people
300. 15:29are mainly agriculturalists
301. 15:31and the semiarid plains lower down where
302. 15:34they're semi-nomatic pastoralists.
303. 15:37Before you hear the rest of the
304. 15:39conversation, you have some time to look
305. 15:41at questions 25 to
306. 16:14Now listen and answer questions 25 to
307. 16:1830.
308. 16:20>> So how much chance did you get to meet
309. 16:22the local people there? Did you get the
310. 16:24chance to do interviews?
311. 16:26>> Yes, though we had to use local
312. 16:28interpreters but that was okay. Then we
313. 16:31did field observation of course looking
314. 16:33at environmental and cultural conditions
315. 16:35and morphological mapping.
316. 16:37>> What's that? Oh, looking at the surface
317. 16:40forms of the landscape, the slope
318. 16:42elements and so on.
319. 16:43>> What about specific projects?
320. 16:45>> Yes. After the first 2 or 3 days, we
321. 16:48spent most of our time on those. We
322. 16:51could pretty well do what we wanted,
323. 16:53although they all had to relate to
324. 16:54issues concerned with development in
325. 16:56some way. People did various things.
326. 16:59Some were based on social and cultural
327. 17:01topics like the effect of education on
328. 17:03the aspirations of young people and some
329. 17:06did more physical process-based studies
330. 17:09looking at things like soil erosion. My
331. 17:11group actually looked at issues relating
332. 17:13to water things like sources such as
333. 17:16rivers and wells and quality and so on.
334. 17:19It was a good project to work on but a
335. 17:22bit frustrating. We felt we needed a lot
336. 17:24more time really.
337. 17:26>> Right. Dr. Ro did say something about
338. 17:29limiting project scope.
339. 17:31>> Yes, he told us that too at the
340. 17:33beginning and I can see why now. What
341. 17:36else? Well, we had some good trips out
342. 17:39as part of the course. We went to a
343. 17:41market town, a place called Sigor. That
344. 17:44was to study distribution. And to look
345. 17:46at agricultural production, we went to
346. 17:48the Weiwayi Valley. That's an important
347. 17:51agricultural region.
348. 17:52>> And what about animals? Did you have a
349. 17:55chance to go to a national park? Sure,
350. 17:58we did a trip on the last day on the way
351. 18:00back to the airport at Nairobi. But
352. 18:02actually, there was lots of wildlife at
353. 18:04the field center. Vervet monkeys and
354. 18:07baboons and lizards.
355. 18:09>> It does sound good.
356. 18:11>> It was excellent, I'd say. In terms of
357. 18:14logistics, it was very wellrun, but it
358. 18:17was more than that. I mean, it's not the
359. 18:19sort of place I'd ever have got to on my
360. 18:22own. And it was a real eye opener. It
361. 18:25got me really interested in development
362. 18:27issues and the way other people live. I
363. 18:29did find it frustrating at the time that
364. 18:31we couldn't get as far as we wanted on
365. 18:33the project, but actually I'm going to
366. 18:36follow it up in my dissertation. So,
367. 18:38it's given me some ideas and data for
368. 18:40that as well.
369. 18:42>> So, you'd say it was worth the extra
370. 18:44money.
371. 18:44>> Definitely.
372. 18:46>> That is the end of part three.
373. 18:48>> You now have half a minute to check your
374. 18:50answers.
375. 19:22Now it turns to part four.
376. 19:25Part four,
377. 19:27>> you will hear a talk about the Kentish
378. 19:29pipe, a 17th century musical instrument.
379. 19:33First, you have some time to look at
380. 19:35questions 31 to 40.
381. 20:08Listen carefully and answer questions 31
382. 20:12to 40.
383. 20:14>> Good evening. I'd like to introduce
384. 20:17Jeffrey Ror of the Early Music
385. 20:20Foundation.
386. 20:21Jeffrey has recently restored a genuine
387. 20:2417th century Kentish pipe and as you all
388. 20:28know will be giving us a recital on it
389. 20:31later this evening. But first he's
390. 20:35kindly agreed to talk to us about this
391. 20:37exciting and little known instrument.
392. 20:41>> Thank you very much. I'd like to begin,
393. 20:44if I may, by talking to you about the
394. 20:47rather unusual construction of the
395. 20:49Kentish pipe. The main part of the
396. 20:52instrument, as you can see, is a long
397. 20:56straight wooden tube, which we call the
398. 20:59chanter. This one is in beachwood, but
399. 21:03other woods were used. At one end, there
400. 21:06is the airbag. This rests under the arm
401. 21:10of the player
402. 21:12like this.
403. 21:15The blow pipe that inflates the airbag
404. 21:18is quite long and bends around the front
405. 21:21of the body to be inserted in the mouth
406. 21:24of the player like this.
407. 21:29You see the flexible nature of this tube
408. 21:32is a unique feature of the Kentish pipe.
409. 21:36In my restored version here, the
410. 21:39blowpipe [clears throat]
411. 21:40is, I'm sorry to confess, made out of
412. 21:43plastic. In the original version, it
413. 21:46would have been made out of leather
414. 21:49using an elaborate stitching and waxing
415. 21:51technique. However, the skills required
416. 21:55to do this have now been lost. Good old
417. 21:59plastic was the only alternative we
418. 22:02could come up with.
419. 22:04The airbag is obviously a modern
420. 22:07replacement, too. This time it is made
421. 22:10out of leather and as far as we can be
422. 22:14certain is likely to be pretty much
423. 22:16identical to the original. A
424. 22:19particularly soft and supple yet strong
425. 22:22leather is required. Ordinary shoe
426. 22:26leather would start to crack in no time.
427. 22:30The main pipe or chanter is original of
428. 22:33course as its rather battered appearance
429. 22:36makes obvious I would imagine but it
430. 22:40still sounds pretty good after nearly
431. 22:42400 years. We can't actually put a
432. 22:46precise date on it because the maker
433. 22:49kindly inscribed it for us just here.
434. 22:53You probably can't see it. J D the
435. 22:57maker's initials and the date 1634.
436. 23:03The most recent feature is the reed, the
437. 23:06part that actually makes the noise,
438. 23:09although probably identical in every way
439. 23:12to the original. It is in fact a piece
440. 23:15from a plant picked yesterday morning by
441. 23:18my son by the river near our house.
442. 23:22So, that's the construction.
443. 23:25But why bother with the bag? You may be
444. 23:28wondering,
445. 23:30why not just blow directly into the
446. 23:32pipe? Well, you can play the instrument
447. 23:35that way. You can just detach the bag
448. 23:39like this and blow into this hole here,
449. 23:43but you need a lot of breath to do it,
450. 23:46much more than say a flute or clarinet.
451. 23:50After a few notes, you have to stop to
452. 23:52take a breath. The bag allows the player
453. 23:56to breathe while continuing to play.
454. 24:00This meant that music for the Kentish
455. 24:02pipe could be loud and fast, the way
456. 24:06they liked it in Kent in the 17th
457. 24:08century, no doubt.
458. 24:11So, we have the pipe, but unfortunately,
459. 24:15we don't have the music. Not a single
460. 24:19piece of music written specifically for
461. 24:22the Kentish pipe has been found.
462. 24:25Luckily, some of my colleagues from the
463. 24:27Early Music Foundation have adapted some
464. 24:30traditional music from the period for
465. 24:33the Kentish pipe and we hope this will
466. 24:36closely reflect the impression
467. 24:38performances on the original instrument
468. 24:40would have made.
469. 24:43During the recital, I'm also going to
470. 24:46play some modern pieces ranging from
471. 24:48rock to classical. And I hope you'll
472. 24:52agree with me that the instrument can
473. 24:54bring its own special character to
474. 24:56familiar tunes.
475. 24:59>> Well, thank you very much for that. And
476. 25:02I'm sure we're looking forward very much
477. 25:05to hearing you play it after the break.
478. 25:08That is the end of part four.
479. 25:10You now have half a minute to check your
480. 25:13answers.
481. 25:33Before
482. 25:44[laughter]
483. 25:46result I forget to tell baby code app
484. 25:48also provide free IELTS live classes
485. 25:51mock test and free speaking listening
486. 25:54reading writing practice test. So try
487. 25:57now link in the pin comment. [music]
488. 26:01Heat. Heat. Heat.
489. 26:11Heat. [music]
490. 26:16[music]
491. 26:22Heat.
492. 26:25[music]
493. 26:30[singing]
494. 26:33>> [music]
495. 26:34>> Give me
496. 26:43[music]
497. 26:54[music]
498. 27:01[music] Heat. Heat.
499. 27:10[music]
500. 27:17Heat. Heat. N. [music]
501. 27:22[music]
502. 27:27>> [music]