IELTS Listening Practice Test | 2026-02-13

**Narrator:** Now turn to section one. You will hear a telephone conversation between an employee of an airline company and a customer. You have 30 seconds to look at questions 1 to 6. Now listen carefully and answer questions 1 to 6.
**Kyle:** GB Airlines. Uh this is Kyle speaking. How can I help?
**Matt Walsh:** Hi, my name is Matt Walsh. I'm calling on behalf of Mr. John Sparrow to claim expenses for a delay in his flight last week.
**Kyle:** Good morning, Mr. Walsh. Thank you for calling. Could you please tell me the flight number and the date of departure?
**Matt Walsh:** The date of departure was the 24th of January, 2016. I'm afraid I don't have the flight number in front of me at the moment.
**Kyle:** Okay, that's all right. One moment. Uh, could you tell me where was Mr. Sparrow departing from?
**Matt Walsh:** He was departing from Athens.
**Kyle:** Uh, is that Athens, Greece, or Athens, Georgia?
**Matt Walsh:** Athens, Greece.
**Kyle:** Right. And what was the destination?
**Matt Walsh:** It was Heathrow, London.
**Kyle:** Right. We've got two flights from Athens to London Heathrow on the 24th of January, 2016. Was it the 3:25 p.m. flight or the 9:45 p.m.?
**Matt Walsh:** It was the later one, 9:45.
**Kyle:** Okay. So, the flight number is GB1011, right? Okay.
**Matt Walsh:** Okay. Yes.
**Kyle:** Yes. I can see that Mr. Sparrow's flight was cancelled and he was booked on the next flight on the 25th of January at 3:25 p.m. Is that correct?
**Matt Walsh:** Yes, that is correct.
**Kyle:** According to our system, one of my colleagues spoke with Mr. Sparrow on the phone on the 24th to inform him of the cancellation and offered to book a hotel for him for the night, but Mr. Sparrow preferred to book one himself.
**Matt Walsh:** Yes, because he didn't want to stay near the airport as the next flight was in the afternoon.
**Kyle:** Yes, of course. Uh, could you tell me which hotel he stayed at?
**Matt Walsh:** Yes, he stayed at the Hypnos Hotel.
**Kyle:** Oh. Uh, could you spell that for me?
**Matt Walsh:** Of course. That's H Y P N O S.
**Kyle:** Right? Uh, thank you for that. And could you please tell me how much the total cost was for the night?
**Matt Walsh:** Sure. It was €73.
**Kyle:** Right? Uh, do you have a copy of the receipt for that?
**Matt Walsh:** Yes, of course. Would you like me to send it to you?
**Kyle:** Yes, please.
**Matt Walsh:** Can I email a picture of it to you?
**Kyle:** Absolutely. Uh, the email address is [email protected].
**Matt Walsh:** Great. Thank you.
**Kyle:** No problem. Uh, was there any other expenses you wish to claim?
**Matt Walsh:** Actually, yes. There was also the taxi ride to the airport and the taxi ride back the next day.
**Kyle:** Right. And what was the total cost?
**Matt Walsh:** Um, the first taxi ride was €53 and the second one was 42. So 63... Yeah. So the total was €95. I'll send you the receipt for those as well.
**Kyle:** Thank you. Uh, are there any other expenses?
**Matt Walsh:** No, I think that's it.
**Narrator:** You now have 30 seconds to look at questions 7 to 10. Now listen carefully and answer questions 7 to 10.
**Kyle:** Excellent. So if you could please send us the receipts for the hotel and the taxi rides. And after we receive them, it should take about 48 hours for the funds to reach Mr. Sparrow's account.
**Matt Walsh:** Perfect. Thank you so much.
**Kyle:** My pleasure. Is there anything else I can help you with?
**Matt Walsh:** Actually, yes. There's one more thing. Um, Mr. Sparrow complained about the meal during the flight. He said that it was a bit bland. Right. So, he asked me if it was possible to switch to a different meal option for his upcoming flight to Kiev next week.
**Kyle:** Right. Of course. Uh, just give me a minute, please. Right. I see that Mr. Sparrow had the light meal option for his flight to London and you would like to change that. Uh what would you like to change it to?
**Matt Walsh:** What are the other options?
**Kyle:** We've got 12 different meal options. Uh would you like me to list all of them for you?
**Matt Walsh:** Well, Mr. Sparrow has told me that he would prefer something without meat. How many of these do not contain meat?
**Kyle:** We've got three meal options without meat. Uh we've got the vegetarian option, the vegan option, and the Asian vegetarian.
**Matt Walsh:** What's the difference?
**Kyle:** There's a variety of different dishes served with each option. Uh, for example, next week the vegetarian option will be a small spinach and feta cheese pie, a bread roll, a salad, and tropical fruit.
**Matt Walsh:** And the vegan option?
**Kyle:** The vegan option doesn't include any dairy products, and it also doesn't include fowl, eggs, or honey. Uh, I'm afraid I don't have the specific menu for this week, but I can email it to you as soon as it becomes available.
**Matt Walsh:** Oh, could you do that? That would be great.
**Kyle:** Yes, of course. Uh, I can email you a detailed description of all the meal options if you like.
**Matt Walsh:** Yes, please.
**Kyle:** No problem. Uh, please do not forget to call us back to change the meal option. Uh, you need to do that 48 hours before the departure time for international flights and 24 hours for domestic flights.
**Matt Walsh:** So, 48 hours for this one then.
**Kyle:** Yes, exactly.
**Matt Walsh:** Perfect.
**Kyle:** Oh, no. I'm sorry. Um, transatlantic flights require 48 hours. All flights within Europe require 24 hours. So, in this case, you will need to call us 24 hours in advance. Um, I apologize for that.
**Matt Walsh:** Okay, great.
**Kyle:** So, could I please have your email address so I can send you the menus?
**Matt Walsh:** Certainly. It's [email protected].
**Narrator:** That is the end of part one. You now have half a minute to check your answers. Now turn to part two.

**Narrator:** Part two. You will hear a reporter talking on the radio about old racing cars. First look at questions 11 to 16. As you listen to the first part of the talk, answer questions 11 to 16.
**Vincent:** The Goodwood Museum is currently celebrating some of the most extravagant types of car design in its Festival of Speed. Here's our reporter, Vincent Frerieded, who's on site to tell us about some of the cars on display.
**Reporter:** Well, here I am standing in front of one of the most prestigious cars ever built, the Duesenberg. A fantastically expensive, luxurious car built in the early part of the 20th century and bearing all the glamorous qualities of the Jazz Age. How many were there? Well, only 473 Duesenberg Jypes were ever built, and the model here is one of the rarest. Each had a short 125in chassis or framework, and the body was always in the form of an open two-seater. The technology behind the car's 6.9 L engine was extraordinary. It featured capsules of mercury in the engines to absorb vibration and provide an incredibly smooth ride. In fact, these cars offered unparalleled performance. In an age when 160 km/h was considered very fast, the Duesenberg promised a top speed of 180 kmh and could do 140 kmh in second gear. Duesenberg, who designed the car, sold it as a frame and engine. This was typical of the age again, and many prestige manufacturers such as Rolls-Royce did exactly the same. Owners able to afford the hefty $9,000 price tag for the basic car would then commission a coach work company to build a body tailored to their own individual requirements. The Duesenberg's great attraction for the driver was its instrument panel which offered all the usual features but also several others including a stopwatch. It was the Duesenberg's technology that laid behind its success as a racing car and they dominated the American racing scene in the 1920s, winning the Indianapolis Grand Prix in 1924, 25 and 27.
**Narrator:** Now look at questions 17 to 20. As the talk continues, answer questions 17 to 20.
**Reporter:** Onto another celebrity, the 1922 Leyat Helica. Only 30 of these French propeller cars were built, and the model here at Goodwood, which was the fourth to be made, is thought to be the only surviving example still capable of running. The brains behind this car was Marcel Leyat who was an aviation pioneer first and foremost and the influence of flying is quite apparent in the car. The Leyat very strongly resembles a light aircraft with its front propeller. But in this case, it's minus any wings. Of course, it's quite odd to think that this car was worrying through France just as the Duesenberg was blasting down roads at 160 kmh across the Atlantic. The Leyats were used regularly in France in the 1920s and were even produced in saloon and van form as well as two-seater. The Leyat matched its propeller drive with its equally bizarre steering which used the rear rather than the front wheels. But despite looking rather frail, it was a tough machine. In fact, when troops tried to steal it during the Second World War, the car's baffling design was clearly beyond the would-be thieves, and it ended up being driven into a tree, breaking the propeller. And now for the Firebird. This extraordinary car was first...
**Narrator:** That is the end of part two. You now have half a minute to check your answers. Now turn to part three.

**Narrator:** Part three. You will hear a tutor and two students discussing the crop rice. First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 24. Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 24.
**Tutor:** Good morning everyone. So, following on from our tutorial on European agriculture last week, Daisy and Eric are going to talk about the most commonly grown crop in Asia, which is of course rice. Eric, can you tell us what you've been working on?
**Eric:** Yes, sure. We've been looking at the role of rice in a number of countries, how it's grown, ways of increasing production. As I'm sure you know, rice is the staple diet throughout Asia. And in fact, 90% of the world's rice is grown and eaten there. Daisy's got some background on that.
**Daisy:** Um, well, rice was originally a wild plant which started out in the tropical regions of Asia, but there are literally hundreds of varieties today and each with different qualities. Uh, for instance, one will survive floods while another will grow in relatively dry conditions. A third has a really lovely smell. But wherever it grows, rice needs a lot of water.
**Tutor:** What do you mean by a lot?
**Daisy:** Well, it takes about 5,000 L to get a kilogram of rice. This can be supplied either naturally or by irrigation. And as most rice growing countries suffer from unpredictable weather, including drought, water management really is the key. Research has become so important now that each rice growing country in Asia has its own research institute. Whether we're talking about Japan, China, or Bangladesh and they're all coordinated by a group in the Philippines called the International Rice Research Institute.
**Tutor:** Interesting. Bangladesh, for instance, has been successfully using different rice varieties and fertilizers for 30 years. But because it's such a flat delta country, it's very difficult for the water to drain away after the monsoon season. So, they need to find special rice crops that can survive the floods. And with global warming, the situation is more urgent than ever.
**Narrator:** Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at questions 25 to 30. Now listen and answer questions 25 to 30.
**Tutor:** Now I'd like to move on to our comparative study.
**Eric:** As you can imagine, China is the world's biggest rice producing country. Collectively, the Chinese people probably eat more than three billion bowls of rice every day.
**Daisy:** Quite a statistic.
**Eric:** And of course, rice plays an important cultural role, too. We then compared China to Thailand. You know, even though Thailand only has about 64 million people, it's the world's number one exporter of rice, not China, as you might imagine.
**Tutor:** Is that so?
**Eric:** Yes. They send their rice everywhere, in particular to Europe as well as Africa and the Middle East. Apparently, the fact that jasmine rice is growing in popularity is one reason why Thailand's rice export industry is doing so well. People want something a bit different.
**Daisy:** And of course, Thailand is well suited to rice growing. Good climatic conditions and lots of fresh water. Going back to China for a minute, we should mention that at the rice research institute in Hangzhou, they're working on ways of improving rice yields using less water.
**Tutor:** By yields, you mean the amount they can grow?
**Daisy:** Yes. They're trying to find ways to get more rice from less land, improve the taste, but also have other things in it besides carbohydrates so that it's healthier, better for you.
**Tutor:** Good idea, considering it's the staple food. And then you've got Japan, which is totally self-sufficient when it comes to rice. This is basically because they have a high tariff on imported rice. So, everyone buys the homegrown product and they don't export much.
**Eric:** Yes. But, you know, even though rice is a kind of sacred crop there, consumption is only half what it was in the 1960s, this trend isn't evident in Thailand or China.
**Tutor:** Interesting that you mentioned how rice is almost sacred in Japan because I believe in Thailand it also plays an important cultural role.
**Eric:** Absolutely. They have the royal plowing ceremony every year which the king always attends and he actually scatters a new stock of seed to the farmers who pour into Bangkok for the event.
**Tutor:** What about the global interest in organic farming? Is there such a thing as organically grown rice?
**Daisy:** Yes, indeed. And the Japanese are getting quite a taste for it. Apparently, there's an experimental farm near the city of Akita in the Japanese rice belt, famous for its sake, by the way, which has pioneered organic rice production, and now it's sold all across the country. It's a bit like the recent popularity of jasmine rice in Thailand, but that's for the export market, of course.
**Tutor:** Interesting how attitudes change, isn't it?
**Narrator:** That is the end of part three. You now have half a minute to check your answers. Now turn to part four.

**Narrator:** Part four. You will hear an extract from an introductory talk given to a group of students who have just entered a university residential college. The speaker is the principal of the college. Listen to what the speaker says and answer questions. First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40. Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40.
**Principal:** Good morning and welcome to Scholastic House. I'm delighted to see you here. It is my duty to explain to you some of the history of our college and some of the traditions which I hope you will uphold. The idea for Scholastic House was expounded by Samuel Wells in 1898. Wells was a visionary whose ideas were well ahead of his time. He wanted a college which would encourage friendship between people of different races and nationalities. Wells died in 1900 before he could see the college in action. Scholastic House finally began operating in 1903 with 10 students. Those students came from Asia, Europe, and the Americas. At that time, Scholastic House accepted only male students, although it has been co-educational since 1963. Nine of these foundation students went on to lead illustrious lives. The only exception died tragically on his way home from Scholastic House to Sowak. He had only recently graduated with an honors degree in law and he was robbed of a brilliant future. The other nine students, as I said, led very fulfilling lives. Three became political leaders. Three became doctors. Perhaps the most famous graduate became a university teacher and was responsible for the introduction of modern teaching training methods in his country. Two of the original group became senior engineers and went on to deeply influence the way the water systems of their country were exploited. The college ran into hard times during the period of the Great War 1914 to 1918 when the charter of the college was interpreted to mean that neither students nor staff could take part in the war effort. Many people felt that this indicated a lack of national spirit and the walls of the college were frequently marked with graffiti. Meanwhile, outside the college, tens of thousands of young men went away to fight in Europe, never to return. The college was building a reputation for learning and for tolerance of opposing views. Scholastic House debate and discussion nights were open to the public in 1927 and have been available to anyone who wishes to attend ever since. It is a proud tradition of the college that any view may be expressed provided that it can be defended intellectually. Over the years, topics which were controversial at the time have been discussed and debated. Why should we do this? The publicity we receive is often sensational and there is no joy in encouraging argument for its own sake. In fact, that sort of discussion just increases tension. The only legitimate reason for our behavior is that it casts light upon the topic in question and informs the debate. And controversial topics are the ones which most need informed attention. As the world forges ahead, we often find our scientists have outstripped our philosophers. We frequently develop scientific marvels without realizing their full implications. Nowhere is this more obvious than in medicine. We are now able to keep people alive far longer than before. But this medical ability must be measured in relation to the quality of those lives. I urge you to spend your time at Scholastic House wisely. You are the heirs of an excellent academic tradition of which we can all be justly proud. It is your responsibility to continue this tradition of querying where our world is going. Progress is not always upwards. I wish you every joy in your time here and I hope that I will hear much well-informed debate from you.
**Narrator:** That is the end of part four. You now have half a minute to check your answers. That is the end of the listening test.