IELTS Listening Practice Test | 2026-02-20

**Narrator:** Now turn to section one. A man wants to find out about a language course. Listen to the conversation between the man and the woman and answer the questions. First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 4. You should answer the questions as you listen because you will not hear the recording a second time. Listen carefully and answer questions 1 to 4.
**Woman:** Good morning, University Language Center. How can I help you?
**Man:** I'm interested in doing a language course. I did Mandarin last year and now I'd like to do Japanese. Can you give me some information about what courses are available at your center and when they start, that sort of thing?
**Woman:** Yes, certainly. Well, we actually offer a number of courses in Japanese at different levels. Are you looking for full-time or part-time?
**Man:** Oh, I couldn't manage full-time as I work every day, but evenings would be fine and certainly preferable to weekends.
**Woman:** Well, we don't offer courses at the weekend anyway, but let me run through your options. We have a 12-week intensive course, 3 hours, three nights a week. That's our crash course. Or an 8-month course, two nights a week.
**Man:** I think the crash course would suit me best as I'll be leaving for Japan in 6 months time.
**Woman:** Are you a beginner?
**Man:** Not a complete beginner. No.
**Woman:** Well, we offer the courses at three levels. Beginners, lower intermediate, and upper intermediate. Though we don't always run them all. It depends very much on demand.
**Man:** I'd probably be at the lower intermediate level as I did some Japanese at school, but that was ages ago.
**Woman:** Right. Well, the next level two course begins on Monday the 12th of September. There are still some places on that one. Otherwise, you'd have to wait until January or March.
**Man:** No, I'd prefer the next course.
**Narrator:** The woman asks the man for some details about himself. Look at questions 5 to 10. Now listen carefully and answer questions 5 to 10.
**Woman:** Right. Can I get some details from you then so I can send you some information?
**Man:** Sure.
**Woman:** What's your name? A family name first.
**Man:** Hagerty Richard. H-A-G-E-R-T-Y.
**Woman:** Oh, okay. And your address, Richard?
**Man:** Well, perhaps you could email it to me.
**Woman:** Right. What's your email address?
**Man:** It's Ricky45. Uh, that's one word. R-I-C-K-Y-4-5 at hotmail.com.
**Woman:** And I just need some other information for our statistics. This helps us offer the best possible courses and draw up a profile of our students.
**Man:** Fine.
**Woman:** What's your date of birth?
**Man:** I was born on the 29th of February, 1980.
**Woman:** 1980. So you're a leap year baby. That's unusual.
**Man:** Yes, it is.
**Woman:** And just one or two other questions for our market research, if you don't mind.
**Man:** No, that's fine.
**Woman:** What are your main reasons for studying Japanese? Business, travel, or general interest?
**Man:** My company is sending me to Japan for 2 years.
**Woman:** All right, I'll put down business. And do you have any specific needs? Will there be an emphasis on written language? For instance, will you need to know how to write business letters? That sort of thing.
**Man:** No, but I will need to be able to communicate with people on a day-to-day basis.
**Woman:** Okay. So, I'll put down conversation.
**Man:** Yes, because I already know something about the writing system at an elementary level, and I don't anticipate having to read too much.
**Woman:** You said you'd studied some Japanese. Where did you study?
**Man:** 3 years at school. Uh then I gave it up so I've forgotten a fair bit. You know how it is with languages if you don't have the chance to use them.
**Woman:** Yes, but I'm sure it will all come back to you once you get going again. Now once we receive your enrollment form, we'll...
**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 will hear a guidance counselor talking to a group of students. First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 14. Listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 14.
**Counselor:** Hello everyone. I'm the counseling administrator here at St Ives College and I've been asked to come and talk to you about our counseling team and the services that we offer. We have three professional counselors here at St Ives. Louise Bagshaw, Tony Denby, and Naomi Flynn. They each hold daily one-on-one sessions with students, but which counselor you see will depend on a number of factors. If you've never used a counselor before, then you should make an appointment with Naomi Flynn. Naomi specializes in seeing new students and offers a preliminary session where she will talk to you about what you can expect from counseling, followed by some simple questions about what you would like to discuss. This can be really helpful for students who are feeling a bit worried about the counseling process. Naomi is also the best option for students who can only see a counselor outside office hours. She is not in on Mondays, but starts early on Wednesday mornings and works late on Thursday evenings, so you can see her before your first class or after your last class on those days. Louise staffs our drop-in center throughout the day. If you need to see someone without a prior appointment, then she is the one to visit. Please note that if you use this service, then Louise will either see you herself or place you with the next available counselor. If you want to be sure to see the same counselor on each visit, then we strongly recommend you make an appointment ahead of time. You can do this at reception during office hours or by using our online booking form. Tony is our newest addition to the counseling team. He is our only male counselor and he has an extensive background in stress management and relaxation techniques. We encourage anyone who is trying to deal with anxiety to see him. Tony will introduce you to a full range of techniques to help you cope with this problem, such as body awareness, time management, and positive reinforcement.
**Narrator:** Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 15 to 20. Now listen and answer questions 15 to 20.
**Counselor:** Each semester the counseling team runs a number of small group workshops. These last for 2 hours and are free to all enrolled students. Our first workshop is called adjusting. We found that tertiary education can come as a big shock for some people. After the structured learning environment of school, it is easy to feel lost. In this workshop, we will introduce you to what is necessary for academic success. As you might expect, we're targeting first-year students with this offering. Getting organized follows on from the first workshop. Here, we're going to help you break the habit of putting things off, get the most out of your time, and discover the right balance between academic and recreational activities. With getting organized, we're catering to a broader crowd, which includes all undergraduates and post-graduates. Next up is a workshop called communicating. The way people interact here may be quite different to what you're used to, especially if you've come from abroad. We'll cover an area that many foreign students struggle with, how to talk with teachers and other staff. We'll cover all aspects of multicultural communication. International students tend to get a lot out of this class, so we particularly encourage you to come along. But I must say that sometimes students from a local background find it helpful, too. So, everyone is welcome. The anxiety workshop is held later on in the year and deals with something you will all be familiar with. The nerves and anxiety that come when exams are approaching. Many students go through their entire academic careers suffering like this. But you don't have to. Come to this workshop and we'll teach you all about relaxation and how to breathe properly as well as meditation and other strategies to remain calm. We've tailored this workshop to anyone who is going to sit exams. Finally, we have the motivation workshop. The big topic here is how to stay on target and motivated during long-term research projects. This workshop is strictly for research students as less advanced students already have several workshops catering to their needs. Well, that's it. Thanks for your time. If you have any questions or want more information about our services, do come and see us at the counseling service.
**Narrator:** That is the end of section two. You now have half a minute to check your answers. Now turn to part three.

**Narrator:** Part three. You are going to hear a conversation between Anne and Marsha. In the first part of this conversation, they are talking about the commands of training dogs. First look at questions 21 to 25. Now listen to the first part of the conversation and answer questions 21 to 25. Complete the table showing different commands for different forms of dog training.
**Marsha:** So that research paper we have to do next, the one about how are different styles of training dogs. How do you think you'll approach writing it?
**Anne:** You know, I've been thinking about it. I feel that the best way to write it is to divide the paper into two main parts. In the first part, we'd be analyzing some examples of each style of training dogs, right? What the styles are. After that, we can talk about how each style can be used that the dogs learn something different from each one.
**Marsha:** Indeed, maybe we could draw a chart and compare examples of each style of training one at a time. So, the different kinds of training would be simple obedience training. There you would have things like teaching them to sit, stay in one place and so on. Right?
**Anne:** Right.
**Marsha:** So, included in here would be simple audio commands like speak.
**Anne:** Yes, basic commands are just spoken words, aren't they? And then there would be the more guard oriented training where the dogs are trained to know a specific place well. Patrolling and barking are probably the best examples because most people have seen them in many places, especially in homes. And this would lead us to the attack dog training, which is physical as well as spoken. Training the dog to knock someone down and even biting if they have to.
**Anne:** Right. So there's another category as well, sniffing dogs, which make up the searching category. I've read that in the UK, every major airport and government building has these dogs to search for all kinds of dangerous items.
**Narrator:** In the second part of the conversation, Anne and Marsha talk about all kinds of training and what kind of dogs they are suitable to. Look at questions 26 to 30. As you listen to the conversation, listen carefully and answer questions 26 to 30.
**Marsha:** I can believe that. Well, we have a good list to build on. We're finally getting started now. So, let's try to figure out when each type of dog training should be used. I guess we can start by trying to figure out the best situation for each type of dog training.
**Anne:** Hmm, what do you mean?
**Marsha:** What I mean is whether each type of training should be used with different kinds of dogs. We could use basic obedience training, for example, and ask whether it's more useful for a small dog, a medium-sized dog, and so on. In this case, I'd say obedience training is best with small dogs because they tend to get excited easily and this will help keep them out of trouble.
**Anne:** Okay, that makes sense.
**Marsha:** Then let's look at physical training. Even though some people think it's ideal for every breed of dog, I think it's better suited to the larger kinds. Small dogs usually just aren't smart enough to understand the physical commands, and they can even get hurt from them. The specialized sniffing training is the same. I think they're better with the more intelligent breeds of dogs, and they are hardly ever useful with really small dogs. Attack training, however, can be useful for every kind of large dog, as long as the dog is treated well and given a lot of care and attention.
**Anne:** All right. And what about guard training?
**Marsha:** Barking is an ideal way for small dogs to guard a home. I know they aren't big enough to stop a person, but making some noise is often all a dog needs to do. Other kinds of guard training, like biting, though, are different. I'd always plan to teach those to a smart dog. Give them a chance to use their brains and defend their homes.
**Anne:** I'd have to agree. Trainers often just teach large dogs to bark at a person when they think something isn't right. But if they know how to use physical skills in a bad situation, they could save their owner's life someday.
**Marsha:** Yes, I suppose that different people would have different needs for their pets, right? And different trainers would recommend different methods for different breeds.
**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 are going to hear a lecturer giving a talk about whale migration. First you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40. Now listen and answer questions 31 to 40.
**Lecturer:** Today we're going to continue our investigation into the use of technology in plotting oceanographic migratory patterns. And I'd like to focus specifically on creatures that we didn't even realize existed until very recently. Pygmy blue whales. In particular, I'd like to talk about a high-tech method of tracking that researchers have used to find out more about these creatures. Pygmy blue whales, which are one of several subspecies of blue whales, spend their lives in the vast expanses of the Indian and southern Pacific oceans. They were first identified as a distinct subspecies in 1966. Before then, they were probably confused with the Antarctic or true blue whale. So, it's only recently that researchers have started to learn about them and their migrations to and from their breeding and feeding grounds. Scientists are interested in pygmy blue whales because although they are a very mobile subspecies, very little is known about their movements and their populations. Large scale movements of whales are particularly hard to study. And what we do know about pygmy blue whales, we've mainly learned from examining whaling records. There are several populations of pygmy blue whales in the southern hemisphere and two main feeding grounds off southern and western Australia. Scientists were interested in testing their hypothesis that the pygmy blue whales feeding off Western Australia migrate to Indonesia to breed. To track the whale's movements, researchers made use of something called satellite telemetry. This refers to the use of a satellite linked tag attached to a whale. When the antenna on the whale breaks the surface of the water, the tag communicates with a satellite system. The location of the whale can be determined when multiple satellites receive the tags transmissions, much like how the navigation system works on a mobile phone. Researchers receive this location data in almost real time via the project website, which allows them to track the movement of the tagged whale from many miles away. The use of these tags has enabled researchers to discover that pygmy blue whales do indeed travel northwards from the west coast of Australia in March and April, reaching the warmer breeding grounds of Indonesia in June. They remain there until September, of which time they then returned to Australian waters. In addition to identifying the migratory pattern of this particular population of pygmy whales, researchers also shone new light on the whales feeding patterns. It's usually assumed that whales go without food outside of the summer when they leave their feeding grounds. But interestingly, the pygmy blue whales studied travel from productive feeding grounds off Western Australia to productive areas in Indonesia and therefore probably still have the opportunity to feed whilst they're in their breeding grounds. It is hoped that mapping the migratory movements of the pygmy whales will help conservation efforts for these endangered animals. And the study has enabled researchers to identify specific conservation issues. For example, the migratory routes of pygmy blue whales correspond closely with shipping routes. Consequently, researchers are keen to monitor whether this has any negative effects on the whale's behavior. BIM whales, these are whales that use filters to feed, not teeth, use sounds to communicate and to gain information about their environment. Clearly, as pygmy blue whale movements correspond to shipping routes, there is potential for the noise generated by ships to affect communication and hence social encounters and feeding. Previously, researchers could only hypothesize that pygmy blue whales occupying Western Australian waters traveled into Indonesian waters. Now that this hypothesis has been borne out by evidence, conservation efforts can be undertaken in a wider area than just Australian waters. However, scientists aren't stopping here. A question mark still remains over the movements of the pygmy blue whales that utilize the feeding grounds further south off the southern coast of Australia. Genetic evidence indicates that there is a mixing taking place between the population of whales in the feeding grounds of Western Australia and the population further south. Researchers are keen to discover whether the pygmy whales from the southern feeding grounds follow a similar migration route to those from the west coast or whether they migrate to the subtropical region to the south of Australia. As a result, there are plans to tag the pygmy blue whales further south in order to find out whether they move through the same areas as the western population and are therefore exposed to the same risks.
**Narrator:** That is the end of section 4. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
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