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foreign
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this is the IELTS listening test
you will hear a number of different
recordings and you will have to answer
questions on what you hear
there will be time for you to read the
instructions and questions and you will
have a chance to check your work
all the recordings will be played once
only
the test is in four parts
at the end of the test you will be given
10 minutes to transfer your answers to
the answer sheet
now turn to part one
part one
you will hear a man called David asking
for information about how to place an
advertisement for selling his laptop and
other items
first you'll have some time to look at
questions one to five
listen carefully and answer questions
one to five
hi I'm Debbie how can I help hi my
name's David I'm just looking to place
an advertisement on the main Union
notice board to sell a laptop and a few
accessories if that's possible sure
that's not a problem I take it you are a
member of the students union yes I am
right then I'll just get a form up and
as there is no one around and it looks
as if it's going to be quiet for a while
I'll just type the details straight into
the computer for you thanks very much no
problem shall we just title it laptop
for sale yeah okay can you describe it
generally well it's in very good
condition in fact it's hardly been used
why are you selling it if I may ask well
I've got another one which is much
lighter and I don't really need to I see
what weight is the one you are selling
it's 3.5 kilograms that is heavy these
days can you give more details about the
one you want to sell right
well it's an Allegro and it's got all
the latest programs okay what about the
memory the memory is only 0.5 gigabytes
and what about the screen size and the
other features well
um the screen is let's see it's
um
37.5 centimeters with a standard size
keyboard and a touchpad
but I've got a cordless mouse that I can
put in with it if necessary
some people don't like using a touchpad
what about ports or holes for attaching
things to the laptop it's got two ports
hmm more modern laptops have more than
two ports for all the extra attachments
they do let's see what else is important
oh yeah the battery lasts for two and a
half hours which is okay but not enough
for train Journeys
but one thing is that it's not wireless
right okay not wireless
before you hear the rest of the
conversation you'll have some time to
look at questions six to ten
now listen and answer questions six to
ten
anything else I can put on the
advertisement
there's a webcam built at the top of the
screen and I can throw in a printer a
scanner and headphones which I got with
it in a special deal it also comes with
its own case for carrying it around
actually the case is quite smart I'm
hoping these things will help it sell
they should do right I think I've got
all that how much do you want for it
that I'm not sure about it's worth about
900 pounds to a thousand pounds new yeah
but you won't get that much if it's used
and even if it's in good condition what
about 500 pounds I doubt if you'd get as
much as that more like 200 pounds or 300
pounds if you look at the notice board
there is one on there which is
comparable to yours and it's not more
than about 250 pounds I think as little
as that I'm afraid so shall we say 300
pounds okay put that can I take some
contact details for the advert the names
David Bristow
b r i s t o w yes that's it and uh
mobile or email both if you want that's
zero nine eight seven five four two
three three eight seven that's it if you
send the picture I'll add it and print
it out and stick it up for you okay I
can get that to you today right I'll
type in here advert placed the 22nd of
October fine and good luck with the sale
thanks
that is the end of part one
you now have one minute to check your
answers to part one
part two
you will hear an announcement made by an
official for the preparation plans for
the town's 250th anniversary
celebrations
first you'll have some time to look at
questions 11 to 15.
now listen carefully and answer
questions 11 to 15.
and now for the preparation plans for
the town's 250th anniversary
celebrations we are going to follow the
same system we had last year but with a
few changes to increase the party Spirit
first of all this time we are going to
make the concert on the Beach open to
everyone without charge this is because
we have been given money by the council
for the celebration and also because
last year we had so many problems with
keeping people out who had not paid
and on top of this people will not have
to pay for Refreshments either as these
are being donated right now
um we are going to divide into four
teams the first one the beach team will
be responsible for cleaning up the beach
on the Saturday morning picking up
litter bottles plastic bags wood and
anything else that's lying around
everyone is meeting at the beach shop at
8am it's an early start but we want to
give everywhere a good thorough clean we
have had permission from the council to
close the beach to get it ready for the
anniversary celebration on Sunday
the second team will be responsible for
setting out seating in the Square for
the speeches and prize giving again an
early start is preferable but the Vans
with the seats can't be there until 9am
so shall we say that everyone should
meet at the Village Hall at 9 30
starting then will allow extra time if
the Vans are late
before you hear the rest of the talk you
will have some time to look at questions
16 to 20.
foreign
and answer questions 16 to 20.
now the third team will be the judges
for each of the various competitions we
will have three judges on the whole they
will have had experience of judging
before there will be a boat race a
swimming competition and the best fancy
dress
a cash prize will be given to the winner
in each category and for the two
runners-up there will be book tokens
there is a sponsored mini marathon and
by the deadline lunchtime today we had
263 applicants with ages ranging from 15
to 60 that's 80 more than last year each
entrant has paid a 20 pound registration
fee to enter and all the profits will go
to the local children's hospital to help
fund much needed specialist apparatus
the fourth team consists of the wardens
for the day itself we are expecting at
least 10 000 people if last year is
anything to go by the fields near the
entrance to the beach can be used as car
parks and we need wardens to help make
sure the actual parking is more
organized than last year which was a
mess we also need someone to be in
charge of the first aid which will be at
the entrance to the beach
finally we need some volunteers for the
cleanup last year we didn't do this very
well and so the council has agreed to
provide large bags to collect all the
recyclable material like glass and
plastic Etc but we have to deal with the
rest like leftover food ourselves we
don't want to leave piles of rotten food
around or dangerous bottles
that is the end of part two
you now have 30 seconds to check your
answers to part two
part three
you will hear a tutor and a student
discussing a research project
first you'll have some time to look at
questions 21 to 26.
now listen carefully and answer
questions 21-26
okay is everyone ready
over the past two weeks we've been
listening to different students giving a
presentation on their research projects
so for this morning session I'd like to
invite Susan to take the floor
for my project I looked at different
types of study techniques and tried to
ascertain what students opinions of the
different methods were I began with
lectures because of course there's
something we're all familiar with now
the problem with lectures is that you
have to sit and listen for quite a long
time sometimes maybe as much as one hour
yet people's average concentration span
is only about 20 minutes this means of
course within the first half an hour
most people actually stop listening not
consciously of course but you know what
it's like your mind tends to well kind
of Wonder you start thinking about what
you're going to have for dinner or about
the party you attended last night
so I wanted to know what the most
effective method of taking down all the
important points was
Susan if I may interrupt you what's your
strategy for listening to lectures
personally I always record the lectures
that way you can listen to the lecture
again afterwards and make really good
notes in fact I know a lot of people who
use this method yet surprisingly when I
talk to students they felt that it
wasn't such a good method because the
quality of the recording is often very
poor so quite a few preferred to listen
for the main points and take notes some
even used a form of shorthand you know
abbreviations and symbols that sort of
thing although everyone agreed that the
best way to approach lectures was to do
the required reading beforehand that way
it makes the lecture a lot easier to
understand because you already know
something about the topic
could you tell us something about how
students approach their assignments you
know essays reports that sort of thing
actually when it came to assignments
people were divided on the issue of
essay plans
some thought it was a good method of
planning others well didn't think so
generally though most students didn't
really Express much of an opinion
brainstorming however was different you
know just sitting down and thinking of
as many ideas as you can just about
everyone said it was a really good
method of preparing to write an
assignment especially if they got
together in groups this they said was by
far the best method because it helped
them to really analyze the issues
discussing ideas was the same in fact
many respondents claimed they often got
together with friends for the purpose of
discussing ideas even if they weren't
preparing an assignment they said it
helped them to understand the lectures
better and surprisingly enough get
better grades in their exams
now reading like lectures is a necessary
part of student life and we all know how
much time we spend with our head buried
deep in a book but what exactly is the
best way to read well I discovered that
hardly anyone tries to read the whole
book or even whole chapters but skim
reading came out a real favorite the
majority of students I spoke to in fact
found this to be a really effective
technique because it saved lots of time
and it meant they could absorb far more
knowledge this way
before you hear the rest of the
conversation you'll have some time to
look at questions 27 to 30.
now listen and answer questions 27 to
30.
Susan in your opinion what do you think
is the biggest problem students face at
University
time management what I mean to say is
that it's a much underestimated skill
and because it's underestimated it's an
area often neglected by students
especially young students who are used
to other people planning their time for
them so I set about asking students
exactly how they planned their time
interestingly however nearly everyone
said that time management was
significant yet few people actually used
the technique most commented that they
were too busy with their studies
when it came to studies I found that the
vast majority of students worked
part-time generally in the evening which
most respondents claimed was the best
time to study because they'd been
thinking about the subject all day and
many ideas were fresh in their minds in
fact they said having to work was the
biggest burden they had because it meant
they couldn't study in an evening and
had to study on weekends instead when
they needed to relax and forget about
their studies
a few of the respondents even said they
got up early in the morning to study
on the whole I found that time
management is most people's biggest
problem and I feel that more should be
done by the university to help students
to plan their time more effectively
sorry Susan but I'm going to have to ask
you to start wrapping up now
we're quickly running out of time okay
well the final component of my research
was the dreaded exams now I don't know
about you but I really hate exams but
when I talk to the students I found that
some students actually liked them they
were very much in the minority though
and most students preferred not to have
them
I was of course interested to learn just
how students prepare for their midterm
and end-of-term exams and here people
were evenly divided on the issue I found
that most of the younger students
preferred to cram that is to say they'd
spend many hours just before the exam
trying to learn as much as possible some
even said they stayed up all night and
never went to bed and this was because
they were too interested in their social
life to pay much attention to exams
during the term
older students however were much more
conservative they tended to read much
more widely and spend time thinking
about the topic making notes and so
forth they did revise of course but they
rarely spent time cramming cramming they
said is of no use because you only
remember the information for the
duration of the exam and forget it
afterwards
that is the end of part three
you now have 30 seconds to check your
answers to part three
part four
you will hear a student talking about a
survey conducted among people of
different age groups to find out how
architecture may affect people's lives
first you'll have some time to look at
questions 31 to 40.
foreign
now listen carefully
and answer questions 31 to 40.
my group has been doing a project on the
importance of architecture in people's
lives and whether it has any impact on
the lives of people in general
the main part I have played is in the
collection of data to find out what
effect if any various buildings have on
people's mood
I.E whether ugly buildings make people
unhappy and whether beautiful buildings
do the opposite
we had originally thought of starting
measuring people's reactions by using a
questionnaire with about 40 questions
which we were going to hand out to
people including students at the
University
but we were worried that doing the
questionnaire would be too time
consuming for people to fill in so we
gave up the idea
I then asked several of the postgraduate
students for advice
one of them came up with the simple idea
of showing people images of various
buildings from different eras and styles
instead of giving out the questionnaire
and asking them to indicate how they
felt on a scale of one to five about the
images where one was unhappy and five
was very happy
people would also be given the option of
not saying what they felt
using the scale meant that it would be
much simpler to record people's
reactions
I decided to follow this advice and so
the first stage was to collect a large
number of images
I used Google to print off color images
of views of houses and apartment blocks
where people live and different types of
buildings where they work I started with
about 30 or 40 and reduced them to 10
images
media resources in the Amory building at
the Judd Street branch of the University
helped me produce the final images
I had them blown up to A4 size and we
used color rather than black and white
to make the detail on the images clearer
we made five sets of images and for
protection when handling we pasted the
images onto hard card then using a
machine to wrap them with plastic we
laminated the cards
five of us targeted different age groups
we went to a local school where we
obtained permission to ask a group of
teenagers between 11 and 18. we also
asked a sample of the general public
including tourists from all over the
world as they exited the Tate modern in
London what they thought
we aim to ask people from different age
groups namely 20 to 40 and 50 and over
what our group learned most from the
project was first of all the value of
teamwork and secondly we found that we
had to appoint a leader to stop us
pulling in different directions and
falling apart so this turned out to be
an invaluable lesson for all of us
as to the findings for us they proved
intriguing
in the end the sample consisted of 311
respondents
I thought initially that people wouldn't
be interested in taking part
with the youngest age group their
reaction was very mixed it was clear
that the youngest group had no pattern
of preference at all as they frequently
gave no reaction to the pictures
for the 20 to 40 age group we found that
they tended to score more in the middle
range around three
we found that out of the three groups
the most likely to be favorably affected
by the images that is they were more
likely to score the images as five were
those aged 50 and above
and nobody in this age group failed to
say what their reaction was which was
unique for the three groups in total I
have to say that about 71 people
indicated that they had no reaction at
all to an image
our general conclusion is that we need
to find out more about why people react
as they do by perhaps giving them a
chance to give reasons for their
decisions
I would like to finish there and give my
teammates a chance to add anything I
have missed or take any questions or
suggestions
that is the end of part four
you now have one minute to check your
answers to part four
that is the end of the listening test
in the IELTS test you would now have 10
minutes to transfer your answers to the
answer sheet
all right
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foreign
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