Listening Practice Museum

Listening Practice

This listening practice is on the topic of museums. It’s a common topic in IELTS listening and reading.

Read the questions below first and then listen to the recording. Post your answers in the comments box below.

Natural History Museum

Listening Recording

Read the questions below first and then listen to the recording.

Questions 1-5

Complete the sentences below with no more than three words and/or a number.

      1. The Natural History Museum houses about ……………….. items.
      2. The items are taken from five collections: botany, entomology, mineralogy, paleontology and ………….
      3. The cast of a large Diplodocus was the main focus in the …………………..
      4. The Diplodocus was replaced by the skeleton of a ……………….. in 2017.
      5. The skeleton is 25m long and weighs ……………

Answers

The answers to this listening practice are now available. Click below:

View transcript and answers: Museum Listening Answers

 

You can find more listening tips and exercises for IELTs on this page: Liz’s Main Listening Page

If you want to read more about the Natural History Museum in London, visit the wiki page. This where I found the information to create this lesson.

 

Get my free lessons by email

Subscribe for free to get my new IELTS lessons sent to your email inbox.

IELTS Listening: Which answer is correct?

Hi guys,

I continue to have students who ask me how to write answer for their IELTS listening test. See the questions below and decide which of the answers is correct.

Recording:

Hi Mary, I guess you are not home so I’ll leave a message for you. You mentioned popping round for lunch tomorrow. I forget to tell you two things. The first one is to ask you to bring a cake. Make sure it’s free from milk or butter for John. You know he’s lactose intolerant. Also I forget to tell you that there’s a car park behind my house where you can park. But you’ll need to bring some small change because you have to purchase a ticket which will cost about 75p. Also I must warn you that the car park shuts at 9.30pm so make sure you get your car out before that. Well, that’s all. See you tomorrow.

Questions:

Answer using no more than three words and/or a number.

  1. John can’t have  ……………or …………….
  2. Mary will need  to buy …………… for the car park.
  3. The car park will close at ………………………

Answers:

Choose below which are the correct answers for these questions

**  You can choose more than one correct answer. In some cases, there might be two or three correct answers. **

Answer to Q1:   a) milk or butter         b) milk, butter           c) milk  / butter      d) milk  butter

Answer to Q2   a) ticket      b) a ticket     c) the ticket        d) car park ticket

Answer to Q3   a) at 9.30pm     b) at 9:30pm     c) 9.30pm     d)9:30pm

Answers to Above Options:

You can find the answers to this exercise on this link: Answers to Exercise Above

 

 

Get my free lessons by email

Subscribe for free to get my new IELTS lessons sent to your email inbox.

 

Student Tips for Getting IELTS Band 8.5 Overall

My Tips for IELTS Overall 8.5

This page gives you my tips for how I got IELTS band score 8.5 overall in 3 steps. And also my tips for getting band 8 in IELTS writing and band score 9 in IELTS speaking.

by Deeksha

My IELTS Test Results

24th June; United States; First Attempt. I just received my IELTS score:

  • Listening – 7.5
  • Reading – 8.5
  • Writing – 8.0
  • Speaking – 9.0
  • Overall – 8.5

I barely had 5 days to prepare. 70% of my preparation included watching the videos on your blog, answering your sample questions, and going through your tips! For the rest 30%, I printed some of the full-fledged tests and
sample answer sheets from the Cambridge IELTS books and just practised using those.

For anyone of you who has a very little time to prepare, I hope that the process I followed can help you lay out a basic schedule.

My 3 Step Tips for IELTS Band Score 8.5

See my 3 steps:

Step -1 (Know the test)

– Go through the test format.
– Spend some time and understand the question patterns in each segment.
– Keep in mind the time limit for every segment.
– Do an initial sample test (download from IELTS official website) just to see where you stand.

Links:

Step-2 (Prepare using Liz’s blog)

– Go through every one of the 4 segments (L, R, W, S) in this blog, one after the other. Links: Listening Tips, /Reading / Writing T1 /  Writing T2 / Speaking
– In each segment, read every tip and watch every video.
– Make notes of the points that you would like to keep in mind.
– Try and answer every sample question that Liz has laid out there. She has specified at least one sample question for every possible pattern that could appear on the test.
– Look at the answers and compare with yours. Figure out what you got wrong and more importantly, “analyze why you got them wrong.” This helps you understand how you approached the question, and how you should have.

Step-3 (Practice)

– Download all the versions of Cambridge IELTS books (you can just google them out).
– From these books, print out the full-fledged tests and sample answer sheets.
– Take these tests using a clock and write your answers in the sample answer sheets.
– Grade your tests and find out your weak areas.
– Make notes of your analysis and try to keep it in mind during the following tests.

In addition, go through the comments in this blog and find out what the recent test takers said about their tests. Know about the tips that helped them, learn from their experiences and be prepared.

Writing Tips for Band Score 8

On my test:

  1. Write a letter to your friend who is going to stay in your apartment during the next month while you are away on vacation
  2. Tell your friend where to get the keys
  3. Tell your friend about the equipment in your apartment
  4. Tell your friend about some places to visit in the area
  5. Advancement of technology has obliterated libraries and hard copies of books. Do you agree or disagree?

–          Apart from your writing skills and the topic at hand, it may help to do this section in a way that encompasses all the elements that the examiner is looking for. Liz’s writing section mentions specific guidelines for content organization, format, tone, logical reasoning, titles, signatures and many other tips. Go through them and try to follow all those tips as you write. In other words, you will have a shell prepared in your mind even before you know what the questions are. Click here: IELTS GT Letter Tips 

–          I didn’t have time to practice this section at all so I had a bit of an issue managing time on the test. If you have very little time to prepare for IELTS, make sure you squeeze in at least a few writing tests and see where you stand with the time limit.

Speaking Tips for Band Score 9

Go through Liz’s list of sample topics, sample answers (Liz’s Speaking Page), comments from recent test takers (Recent Topics) on this blog and questions from IELTS Cambridge speaking tests. Try to answer them. These should be more than enough to help you familiarize with the test pattern and to understand what to expect on the test. From the comments, I also found out that most of these questions are being repeated so make sure you go through them. Almost all the questions that my examiner (whose name was coincidentally Liz) asked me were also from the above lot.

As Liz mentioned, they expect you to be casual and test you only for your language and not for your knowledge on the topic at hand. Think about this segment like you just bumped into a fan who would like to know some of your opinions and experiences. Well, you don’t simply meet a fan every day, so this is your chance – talk her ear off! J Be casual, funny, and confident and you’ll do just fine.

Try to book your test in a test center that does not use hallway speakers to play the audio in the listening section. There is a definite distinction in terms of quality compared to headphones. There is always a possibility of noise and distraction. I didn’t know about this while booking my test and I certainly experienced the difference.

Thanks,

Deeksha.

Good Luck!

Liz – Thanks again for the effort you are putting in, to assist so many test-takers all over the world, each with their own questions and training needs. It must feel incredible to know that most of these people credit their success to you. Keep up the good work!

Deeksha.

Message from Liz

Deeksha, you’ve done exceedingly well. Congratulations!! I love your tips! They are logical and very helpful for all IELTS students. Tackling IELTS methodically is essential and Deeksha has really hit the nail on the head !!! 🙂

Listening Practice: Office Etiquette

This is a listening exercise based on a current IELTS topic. The topic of modern office layout was reported in writing task 2 this year, 2017.  This lesson will give you listening practice and also useful ideas for the topic.

Modern Office Layout: Listening Exercise

Instructions

Listen once to the recording and write down your answers at the same time. In the real test, you will only be able to listen once. So, use this practice lesson to try focusing and getting the answers in the first listening.

Questions 1-5 

Choose no more than one word from the recording to complete each sentence below. Listen only once and write down your answers.

  1. Many offices favour the …………..  interior design.
  2. There is less ……………. in the modern office design.
  3. The ability to focus on work becomes a problem if there is too much ……………..
  4. Being ………… of other people’s beliefs is important.
  5. If you are ………………., it’s better for everyone if you stay at home.

Recording:

 

Answers

Click below to reveal the answers and the transcript:

 

Transcript

Office etiquette is all about common courtesy to other people in the work place. It is becoming more common for offices to have a modern open-plan design with members of staff all working in one large room without dividers. This type of office design unfortunately does result in a lack of privacy which means staff need to be more mindful and considerate than ever before of each other.

Here are a couple of rules for common office etiquette. Keep your desk tidy. There’s nothing worse than working along side someone who has spread their chaos. Focus on keeping your desk clear and avoid too much mess. Also keep the noise level to a minimum as noise can be distracting to others who need to concentrate on their work. Another rule is to be friendly but, at the same time, respect people’s boundaries and wish for solitude. Working in close proximity to other staff means that you need to be tolerant of other people’s beliefs and also work methods. Lastly, keep your illness to yourself and stay at home. Don’t come to work, if you’re sick. Spreading illness will not help you, your colleagues or the company you work for.

 Answers
  1. open-plan / modern
    1. This answer means that you can have the word “open-plan” as your answer or the word “modern” as your answer. You can’t have both words. Also you can’t have the answer “open”
    2. You can’t write “open plan” as your answer as that is too words. There should be a hyphen between the words.
  2. privacy
  3. noise
    1. In the transcript you will see that the information about “ability to focus on work” is paraphrased as “distracting to others who need to concentrate on their work”. This is about noise levels.
    2. The topic of mess is before this and is not about focusing on work. But it is easy to get confused due to the words “too much…”.
    3. If you got this question wrong, read through the transcript and see how you made the mistake by focusing too much on words and less on meaning.
  4. tolerant
    1. You can’t have the answer “respectful” because that word is not given in the recording. Your answer must come from the recording – you can’t use synonyms as answers.
    2. You can’t have the word “friendly” as the answer. “Being friendly of other people’s beliefs” has not meaning in English and is grammatically incorrect. Your answer must make sense and be grammatically correct.
  5. sick
    1. You can’t have the word “ill” or “unwell” because that word was not used in the recording.
    2. The word “illness” was in the recording but it grammatically incorrect to use in this sentence and is an incorrect answer.

 

I hope you found this lesson useful. 

Liz

 

If you would like more listening exercises, see my main listening page: IELTS Listening Lessons & Tips

Main IELTS Pages

Develop your IELTS skills with tips, lessons, free videos and more.

Get my free lessons by email

Subscribe for free to get my new IELTS lessons sent to your email inbox.

 

 

Transferring Answers in IELTS Listening and Reading

Do you get an extra 10 mins to transfer your answers in IELTS listening and reading? This is extremely important to know.

IELTS Listening: Extra 10 mins

You will listen for 30 mins to a recording and you will answer 40 questions. Your answers will be written on the question paper. You can also make notes and underline on your question paper. At the end of the recording, you will be given 10 mins to transfer your answers from the question paper to the answer sheet.

IELTS Reading: ?

You will be given your reading passages with questions. You will have 1 hour to read the passages and write your answers. Your answer will not be written on the question paper, you MUST write your answers directly onto the answer sheet. You will NOT be given an extra 10 mins to transfer answers. At the end of 1 hour, the invigilator will collect your answer sheet.

Writing Answers: Tips

  • Always pay attention to spelling. If you spell the word wrong, you will lose the point.
  • Pay attention to plurals. If you miss the plural “s”, the answer will be marked wrong.
  • Make sure you put the answer in the right box on the answer sheet. Putting answers in the wrong boxes will affect your score.

IELTS Listening & Reading Lessons

You can find more tips and practice lessons on the main pages. Click to open …

IELTS Listening: Tips & Practice Lessons

IELTS Reading: tips & Practice Lessons

Get my free lessons by email

Subscribe for free to get my new IELTS lessons sent to your email inbox.

Listening Practice for English Names

These two listening practices focuses on listening for English names. This practice is important for students preparing for their IELTS test as well as other students studying English or planning to move to the UK.

Below are TWO LISTENING PRACTICE EXERCISES FOR NAMES.

You will find more useful tips for IELTS listening, after the practice exercise, lower on this page.

Instructions for Listening Practice

You should listen to the recordings and write down the names you hear.

Before you listen, please make sure you watch English Names Tips for Listening Video.

  • Don’t forget to listen for titles. Some will have titles and other won’t. If there is a title, you must write it.
  • Write down the complete name given.
  • Some names will be spelled and others will not.
  • You can learn some common English names here: Boys Name and Girls Names
  • All free listening practice and tips: IELTS Listening Main Page

Capital letters: Please see this page: Using capital letters in IELTS

Listening Practice for Names 1

You will hear 10 names. Listen and write down what you hear.

 

Answers

Click below to reveal the answers:

Answers
  1. David Darwin
  2. Mrs Alice Smith
  3. Balthazar Jones
  4. Sara Bartholomew
  5. Sean Bean
  6. Mr Frank Allenson
  7. A R Beevers
  8. James Chichester
  9. Mary Schooling
  10. Sir Paul McKellen

 

Listening Practice for Names 2

You now have a chance to listen again to 10 new names. Think about the mistakes you made in the previous practice and see if you can improve.

 

Answers

Click below to reveal the answers:

Answers
  • Dr Davis
  • Richard Chamberlain
  • Miss Victoria Halley
  • Mr C J Billings
  • Robert Powers
  • Emily Jackson
  • Nora Ingalls
  • Mrs Caroline Castle
  • Charles Pringle
  • Emma Ford

Capital letters are not needed and are not marked so don’t worry if you use them or not. See this page: IELTS Exam FAQ

 

More IELTS Listening Practice

To get more tips and also free listening practice. See my MAIN IELTS LISTENING PAGE

Main IELTS Pages

Develop your IELTS skills with tips, lessons, free videos and more.

Get my free lessons by email

Subscribe for free to get my new IELTS lessons sent to your email inbox.

 

 

IELTS Listening Practice: Nadiya Hussain

This IELTS listening practice exercise is about a woman called Nadiya Hussain. It contains both short answer questions and sentence completion questions.  You can find more useful links for listening and vocabulary at the bottom of the page.

Tips: As you will hear this only once, make notes. In the IELTS test, you can make notes all over your question paper. It might help you find an answer that you have missed.

You can find more IELTS tips for each part of the test at the bottom of the page.

ielts-listening-nadiya-hussain

Read the questions from 1 to 5 before listening to the audio. Play the audio only once. In IELTS, you will hear the recording only once so get used to practising. When you finish listening, make a note of common paraphrases.

IELTS Listening Practice: Mixed Question Types

Nadiya

Questions 1 – 2: Write no more than one word and/or number.

  1. How many children does Nadiya have?
  2. In what year did she enter The Great British Bake Off?

Questions 3 – 5: Write no more than two words and/or a number.

  • 3. She was launched into her career by winning a UK ………………………….
  • 4. The BCC documentary followed her around Bangladesh on a ……….. tour.
  •  5. She also writes as a ……………… for the Times magazine.

Recording:

.

Answers and Transcript

Click below to open the answers and see the transcript.

Answers
  1. 3 (three)
  2. 2015
  3. baking competition
    1. Did you remember to read the instructions? The instructions change each time the question type changes. If you thought you could only write one word, go back and look at the instructions for Questions 3-5.
  4. culinary
  5. columnist
Transcript

Nadiya Hussain was born into a British Bangladeshi family in the south of England. Both a wife and mother of three, she entered The Great British Bake Off in 2015. Her ability to produce amazingly creative, tasty bakes earned her the title of Champion in the biggest baking competition in the UK. This launched her career. Later, she was asked to bake a cake for Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday. And then she went on to film the Chronicles of Nadiya, a BBC documentary of her culinary journey around Bangladesh. She is also a columnist for the Times magazine presenting mouth watering recipes for baking.

 

Practice more IELTS listening and get useful tips: ALL IELTS LISTENING LESSONS AND TIPS

 

Get my free lessons by email

Subscribe for free to get my new IELTS lessons sent to your email inbox.

Is Spelling Important in IELTS Listening

Yes, spelling is crucial in IELTS listening.

IELTS Listening scores are based on correct answers. This means for each question you answer correctly, you get one point. You don’t lose points for incorrect answers.

To get an answer correct, it must be spelled correctly. Any answer that is not spelled correctly will be marked wrong. IELTS accept both American and British English spelling.

Correct spelling includes the use of hyphens when necessary and knowing when compound nouns are written as one word.

Lessons for improving your Spelling

Click on the links below to practice your spelling:

How to improve your spelling

  1. Once way to improve your spelling is learning by heart. This means writing words down again and again until you can spell them correctly. Improve your vocabulary for IELTS with appropriate words lists for topics.
  2. Use spell checker on your laptop. When you do this, make sure you write down the list of words that you got wrong.
  3. When you write an essay at home, underline words that you think might be spelled wrong. Check them in a dictionary.
  4. Read more. Most people find that the more you read, the better your spelling will become. However, this is a passive method of learning and can take time. If you are short of time, then be active and make spelling lists.
  5. Use free spelling websites. You can find a link to one on this page: Useful Websites and Links for IELTS
  6. There is no quick easy way to improve your spelling, it takes time and dedication by you.

Main IELTS Pages

Develop your IELTS skills with tips, lessons, free videos and more.

Get my free lessons by email

Subscribe for free to get my new IELTS lessons sent to your email inbox.

 

error: Content is protected !!