IELTS Listening Practice Test | 2026-01-03

**Narrator:** Now turn to section one. Jack is on his way to Margaret's house party. He is phoning her for directions. First, you'll have some time to look at questions 1 to 5. Now listen carefully and answer questions 1 to 5.
**Margaret:** Hello. Is that Margaret?
**Jack:** Yes. Who's speaking?
**Margaret:** Margaret, it's Jack. I think I'm lost. I can't see a signpost.
**Jack:** Jack, so where are you now?
**Margaret:** Well, I'm a bit confused about the directions, but I'm at a T junction.
**Jack:** What can you see around you?
**Margaret:** I can see a pub on the corner.
**Jack:** Can you see the name of the pub?
**Margaret:** Wait a minute. Let me see. It's hard to see in the dark. Yes, I can read it now. It's called the lion's head.
**Jack:** Oh, the lion's head. Okay. Well, then you're not too far away. Go straight ahead through the traffic lights to the next T junction.
**Margaret:** Sorry, I didn't hear you. What did you say?
**Jack:** I said just go through to the next T junction.
**Margaret:** Okay. Now, what?
**Jack:** Well, there's a park in front of you and a large two-story building on the corner.
**Margaret:** Uh, yes, I can see them.
**Jack:** Okay. So, now turn left. Hang on. You're coming up the street, so you'll have to turn right.
**Margaret:** Okay, got it. What's the name of your street?
**Jack:** It's Wesley Street. W E S L E Y. Number 70. We're the fifth house on the left. You should see a red letter box and some bushes in front of the house.
**Margaret:** Okay, fifth house number 70. I should be there soon. Am I late for the party? It sounds like things are happening there.
**Jack:** No, it's only just started.
**Margaret:** That's good. I should be there in the next 10 minutes. See you soon.
**Narrator:** Jack hangs up and walks on. 7 minutes later, he calls Margaret again as he still can't find the house. You now have some time to look at questions 6 to 10. As you listen, answer questions 6 to 10.
**Jack:** Who's speaking?
**Margaret:** Hi Margaret, it's Jack again. Sorry to bother you. Listen, would you mind doing me a favor?
**Jack:** Of course. What?
**Margaret:** Could you tell Mark I have got his camera? I've tried to send him a text message, but it's not going through.
**Jack:** Oh, he's not here yet.
**Margaret:** Oh, dear. He said he'd be there early. He might be lost, too.
**Jack:** Okay, I'll call him. What's his number?
**Margaret:** 0482563379.
**Jack:** Oh, so that's 0485?
**Margaret:** No, no. 0482 563379.
**Jack:** Okay, I'll call him right away. But where are you now?
**Margaret:** Well, I'm in your street, but I still can't find your house. I can't see the numbers very clearly or a red letter box. It's pretty dark. I thought you said it was easy to find.
**Jack:** Oh, okay. Wait there. I'll come outside and get you.
**Margaret:** All right, then. And don't worry about calling Mike. I'll try to call him now. Hang on. There's someone coming down the street. It looks like Mike. Oh, and I can see the letter box now. It was hidden behind a bush. See you soon.
**Narrator:** That is the end of part one. You now have half a minute to check your answers. Now turn to section two.

**Narrator:** Section two, you are going to listen to two students talking about a presentation on time management. First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 15. Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 15.
**Lucy:** Hi Mark, what are you doing?
**Mark:** Hi Lucy. Well, I I'm preparing this seminar on time management. I'm supposed to do a presentation on the topic next week. Ironic, isn't it? I'm probably the worst student when it comes to time management.
**Lucy:** I don't think you're that bad compared to some other people I know. Do you need some help with it?
**Mark:** Yeah, I just don't know where to start to be honest.
**Lucy:** When are you doing the presentation?
**Mark:** I'm supposed to hand in the draft on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. The presentation is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. this Friday.
**Lucy:** That's not too bad. This gives you the whole weekend to prepare. Let's brainstorm some ideas, shall we? Do you want to get a pen and paper to jot down some thoughts? I think you should start with a broad general statement. For example, I read somewhere that organizing time is a skill like learning to drive or tying your shoelaces. Then you could move on to discussing the common problems people have with managing time.
**Mark:** That's not a bad idea. One of the common problems is putting things off.
**Lucy:** Yeah, you could also mention some common signs of this symptom such as last minute holiday shopping, pulling off visits to the doctors or the dentists. Another problem is relying too much on your memory and not writing things down.
**Mark:** Do you mean not keeping a diary or a planner to plan the tasks?
**Lucy:** That's right. For example, writing down what I need to do in a diary or planner helps me remember what I need to do and makes me more focused on the tasks for the day.
**Mark:** Good idea.
**Narrator:** Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 16 to 20. Now listen and answer questions 16 to 20.
**Mark:** That reminds me of something I've been meaning to do for a while now. Anyway, I should also include some advice on how to deal with the problem, shouldn't I?
**Lucy:** Sure, you can talk about some ways of stopping procrastination.
**Mark:** I guess making a to-do list can help one focus on what needs to be done.
**Lucy:** Definitely, another way to deal with the problem is to prioritize and do the hardest job first, the one which requires the most effort and concentration. Also, my tutor recommended that I should break big projects into small parts with a specific goal. Having an action plan has worked for me. I usually make a list of small tasks I need to do to achieve a goal. Sometimes I just don't feel like getting down to work because a task seems too overwhelming for me to even think about. This technique helps me reduce psychological pressure. If I think of a project as a set of easily achievable tasks, don't you think?
**Mark:** I know what you mean. I often feel like that myself with a statistics project I've been doing this term. I'm well behind and the deadline is next week.
**Lucy:** I think setting deadlines and sticking to them can help one to achieve goals. You can discuss this aspect in your presentation too.
**Mark:** A good point. Setting deadlines can also help one become more realistic about the time it takes to do tasks.
**Lucy:** Another point you could include is how to deal with interruptions.
**Mark:** Okay, I guess blocking in time to handle unpredictable interruptions can help one stay focused.
**Lucy:** Not just that, some interruptions such as phone calls can be easily avoided by using answering machines. For example, saying no, which is one of the most useful words in English, is also very effective. It can be tough sometimes, but you've got to learn to say it nicely, but firmly.
**Mark:** I think you've got enough ideas here to start with.
**Lucy:** Definitely. Thanks a lot for your help. I just need to type the ideas up and I think I'm all set. Do you think you can lend me your laptop for a couple of hours?
**Mark:** M I'm afraid I can't. I've got to finish my own project.
**Lucy:** Never mind. I'll use one at the library. You certainly know how to say no.
**Mark:** Learned it the hard way. Got to go now. Good luck with the presentation.
**Lucy:** Cheers. See you later.
**Narrator:** That is the end of section two. You now have half a minute to check your answers. Now turn to section three.

**Narrator:** You will hear a lecture about the history of the tomato. First you have some time to look at questions 21 to 25. Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 25.
**Lecturer:** The tomato is a popular vegetable which figures in the cuisine of many countries around the world. It is particularly prominent in Italian cooking, but it was unknown in Europe until Spanish explorers brought it back from the Americas. The tomato originated in the highlands of Peru. From there, it eventually found its way to Mexico, where it was cultivated by the Aztecs. The Aztec tomato wasn't the large red vegetable we know today. Rather, it was small and yellow. When this small round fruit arrived in Italy, it was named golden apple for its bright yellow color. You'll notice I just called it a fruit. That's because a tomato is botanically a fruit, even though most everyone calls it a vegetable. The actual word tomato comes from the Aztec name for the vegetable meaning plump thing. The tomato arrived in Europe in the 1500s and quickly became a popular food in Spain and Italy. In the late 1600s, the Italians began publishing recipes that used tomatoes. The British, however, had a different attitude toward the vegetable. It was grown as an ornamental plant in Britain in the 1600s, but it wasn't eaten because it was thought to be poisonous. It wasn't until the 1700s that tomatoes became part of the daily diet in Britain.
**Narrator:** Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 26 to 30. Now listen and answer questions 26 to 30.
**Lecturer:** In the United States, tomatoes were also used as ornamental plants rather than as food for a long time. This attitude began to change in the 1800s. In 1806, a gardener's calendar mentioned that tomatoes could be used to improve the flavor of soups and other foods. Thomas Jefferson did much to enhance the tomato's reputation as a food. He first served tomatoes to visitors at his home in Virginia in 1809. Then in 1820, a man named Robert Gibbon Johnson decided it was time to discard once and for all the idea that tomatoes were poisonous. To prove his point, he ate one kilo of ripe red tomatoes in public. 2,000 people gathered to watch this feat, which took place on the steps of the courthouse in Salem, Massachusetts. Amazingly enough, Johnson survived this stunt. The popularity of the tomato as a food began growing rapidly. Soon people all around the country were eating tomatoes. By the 1830s, American newspapers and magazines were publishing thousands of tomato recipes. However, all those recipes involved using tomatoes in some cooked form. Tomato salads and sandwiches were still unknown. It wasn't until a century later in the 1930s that it became popular for people to eat raw tomatoes.
**Narrator:** That is the end of part three. You now have half a minute to check your answers. Now turn to section four.

**Narrator:** Section four, you will hear a speaker giving a talk about some recent research about unusual life forms. First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40. Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40.
**Speaker:** Hello everybody and welcome to the sixth of our ecology evening classes. Nice to see you all again. As you know from the program, today I want to talk to you about some research that is pushing back the frontiers of the whole field of ecology. And this research is being carried out in the remoter regions of our planet, places where the environment is harsh and until recently it was thought that the conditions couldn't sustain life of any kind. But life forms are being found. And these have been grouped into what is now known as extreophiles, that is organisms that can survive in the most extreme environments. And these discoveries may be setting a huge challenge for the scientists of the future, as you'll see in a minute. Now, the particular research I want to tell you about was carried out in Antarctica, one of the coldest and driest places on Earth. But a multinational team of researchers from the US, Canada, and New Zealand recently discovered colonies of microbes in the soil there where no one thought it was possible. Interestingly enough, some of the colonies were identified as a type of fungus called Beauveria bassiana, a fungus that lives on insects. But where are the insects in these utterly empty regions of Antarctica? The researchers concluded that this was clear evidence that these colonies were certainly not new arrivals. They might have been there for centuries or even millennia, possibly even since the last ice age. Can you imagine their excitement? Now, some types of microbes had previously been found living just a few millimeters under the surface of rocks, porous Antarctic rocks, but this was the first time that living colonies had been found surviving relatively deeply in the soil itself, several centimeters down in fact. So, the big question is how can these colonies survive there? Well, we know that the organisms living very near the rock's surface can still be warmed by the sun, so they can survive in their own microclimate, and this keeps them from freezing during the day. But this isn't the case for the colonies that are hidden under the soil. In their research paper, this team suggested that the very high amounts of salt in the soil might be the clue because this is what is preventing essential water from freezing. The team found that the salt concentration increased the deeper down they went in the soil. But while they had expected the number of organisms to be fewer down there, they actually found the opposite. In soil that had as much as 3,000 parts of salt per million, relatively high numbers of microbes were present, which seems incredible. But the point is that at those levels of salt, the temperature could drop to -56° before frost would cause any damage to the organisms. This relationship between microbes and salt at temperatures way below the normal freezing point of water is a really significant breakthrough. As you all know, life is dependent on the availability of water in liquid form and the role of salt at very low temperatures could be the key to survival in these kinds of conditions. Now the process at work here is called super cooling and that's usually written as one word but it isn't really understood as yet. So there's a lot more for researchers to work on. However, the fact that this process occurs naturally in Antarctica may suggest that it might occur in other places with similar conditions, including on our neighboring planet Mars. So you can start to see the wider implications of this kind of research. In short, it appears to support the growing belief that extraterrestrial life might be able to survive the dry cold conditions on other planets after all. Not only does this research produce evidence that life is possible there, it's also informing scientists of the locations where it might be found. So all of this might have great significance for future unmanned space missions.
**Narrator:** That is the end of section four. You now have half a minute to check your answers. Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Give me [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music]
**Narrator:** That is the end of the listening test.