IELTS Listening Practice Test | 2026-03-07

*A conversation about purchasing a cellular phone.*
**Customer:** Excuse me, can you give me some information about purchasing a cellular phone?
**Sales Assistant:** Of course, my pleasure. We carry all sorts of phones from the most basic phones to very sophisticated web-enabled phones. I will do my best to help you find a phone that suits your needs.
**Customer:** Thanks. I'm looking for two cellular phones, one for me and one for my son. I think I won't need anything too sophisticated. Just your basic phone functions. But maybe my son will like something with more functions.
**Sales Assistant:** Sure. Well, let's take a look. So, you have no preferences at all. What about the size or color? How about the brand?
**Customer:** Well, I don't really care what brand the cell phone is, but I guess I don't want anything that's too big or too small. I want a phone that can fit nicely in my hand and in my pocket. If it's too big, it might be too heavy. And if it's too small, I might lose it. Color I don't really care about either. Well, I don't want a pink phone.
**Sales Assistant:** Ah, okay. So, let's look for something suitable for a working person. How about this one? This one is the R55. It is black, not too big, not too small, all the usual functions. The best feature of the R55 is that it can be used worldwide, even in Europe or Asia.
**Customer:** It looks good. How much does it cost?
**Sales Assistant:** It is only $100. If you sign up for a calling plan, then we will give you a $50 discount on the phone.
**Customer:** How old is this model, though? I don't want anything that's too old.
**Sales Assistant:** This model was introduced into the market about 3 years ago, so it is a bit older, but be assured it will still work fine.
**Customer:** Well, I think I still want something not as old. How about from last year? Any good phones from around that time?
**Sales Assistant:** Yes, there are some. How about this one? It's the new model of the phone you just looked at called the W55. Most of the features are the same. There are some new features on the W55, though. The battery will last up to 2 days longer and the overall weight of the phone is lighter.
**Customer:** How much is this one?
**Sales Assistant:** This is selling for $150. If you purchase it along with a phone plan, then it will be only $100.
**Customer:** Okay, I think I'll take this one. Now, I need to pick up a phone for my son. I think he'll want something more trendy. So, how about a new model for him? Nothing too extravagant or expensive, though.
**Sales Assistant:** This right here is the newest offering from the leading company in the cellular phone business. The phone is called the Rocket. It is well suited for teenage users. Among the teen-friendly features are 10 songs to choose from, a free messaging system that allows friends to send texts to each other, and voice recognition dialing. The thing most younger users like about the Rocket is that it has a screen that changes colors. All this for only $100 with a purchase of a one-year phone plan.
**Customer:** Sounds like something my son will like. Can I sign us both up at once?
**Sales Assistant:** Yes, of course. Both of you can share one plan. You will pay only $50 a month for both of you to share a plan.
**Customer:** That's it. Only $50 a month?
**Sales Assistant:** Yes, that's all.
---
*(Questions 7-10)*
**Sales Assistant:** Okay. I will need your information. Name and address, please.
**Customer:** Richard Derek Jones.
**Sales Assistant:** What's your profession?
**Customer:** I'm an engineer.
**Sales Assistant:** Address, please.
**Customer:** 1st Street, San Francisco, California.
**Sales Assistant:** And phone number, please.
**Customer:** 621-360-7601. Oh, sorry, that's the wrong number. 621-360-7610.
**Sales Assistant:** How many phones do you want activated onto your plan?
**Customer:** Two for now.
**Sales Assistant:** Thank you very much. Your phones will be ready in a minute.
---

*A conversation at a bank about making an international money transfer.*
**Bank Clerk:** Good afternoon. Hello. How can I help you?
**Alice:** I'd like to make a transfer, please.
**Bank Clerk:** You want to transfer some money? That's fine. Let me just bring up some details. Right, here we are. Can you tell me your name, please?
**Alice:** It's Alice Delour.
**Bank Clerk:** Okay. And your date of birth?
**Alice:** 20th of February, 1982.
**Bank Clerk:** Right. And for security, can I have the first letter of your password?
**Alice:** It's B.
**Bank Clerk:** And the fifth letter?
**Alice:** That's F.
**Bank Clerk:** Fine. Now, where do you want to make the transfer to and from?
**Alice:** I'd like to send money from my current account abroad.
**Bank Clerk:** Which country are you sending it to?
**Alice:** To China. My boyfriend is on holiday though and he's run out of money.
**Bank Clerk:** Oh dear. China. Okay. Now, there are several ways to do this. We can do it by credit card, by electronic transfer, by check, or by banker's draft.
**Alice:** Um, I'm not sure. What's the best way?
**Bank Clerk:** Well, that all depends. The simplest way is by check, really. I just write the check and send it.
**Alice:** Yes, but it can be very slow and take a long time for the money to clear.
**Bank Clerk:** Between 3 to 4 weeks. How soon do you need the money to get there?
**Alice:** I'd like it to get there in the next couple of weeks. So, really, sending a check is going to be too slow.
**Bank Clerk:** Yes, I think so. Let's look at electronic transfer, then. This usually takes between 2 and 5 working days. That's 2 to 5 days, working or business days. If you send it on Friday, it will get there the following Friday at the latest.
**Alice:** I see. That's much better.
**Bank Clerk:** Yes, but we do charge a fee for this. We charge a flat fee of £21 and on top of that, the receiving bank may charge a fee and an agent may also charge you for transferring the money between banks.
**Alice:** So, how much is it altogether?
**Bank Clerk:** We can't give you an exact amount. You need to check it with the receiving bank and any agents that they use.
**Alice:** I see.
**Bank Clerk:** Also, you can send it in sterling or dollars from here, but there will be an additional fee depending on the exchange rate when you convert it into renminbi. I'm afraid so. Does it make any difference if I send it in dollars or sterling?
**Alice:** It could make a difference according to which currency has the best exchange rate.
**Bank Clerk:** The other difference is this. If you send dollars, the amount goes through the US clearing system. We send the money to our branch in London. They then send it to our branch in New York and the New York branch sends it to the bank in China.
**Alice:** It goes all around the world.
---
*(Questions 17-20)*
**Alice:** What about if I send sterling?
**Bank Clerk:** In that case, we send it to our branch in London. From there it may go directly to China unless the bank in China has an agent in London, in which case we transfer it to the London agent and they send the money on to China.
**Alice:** So how do I proceed with the transfer?
**Bank Clerk:** Okay, first we'll need some details about the beneficiary from you.
**Alice:** The who?
**Bank Clerk:** The beneficiary, the person receiving the money.
**Alice:** Okay, what do you need to know?
**Bank Clerk:** We'll need the full name of the beneficiary and their account number. Okay. You need to tell us the name of the bank in China and the address of the branch. We also need the bank's sort code and the SWIFT number.
**Alice:** What's a SWIFT number?
**Bank Clerk:** Basically, it's an interbank code. It helps banks identify each other through a unique code number.
**Alice:** Okay. And that's spelled S-W-I-F-T. SWIFT. And the final thing we need is the reason for sending the money.
**Alice:** Do you need a reason from me? I just told you my boyfriend's run out of money.
**Bank Clerk:** Well, we don't need a reason. The receiving government needs to know why the money is entering the country, and we have to be able to tell them.
**Alice:** Okay. So, from me, you need the bank's name, the address of the branch, the sort code, and SWIFT number, the beneficiary's name and account number, and a reason for sending the payment.
**Bank Clerk:** Yes, that's correct.
**Alice:** Okay. So, I'll check these out and come back to you with them so we can go ahead with the transfer.
---

*A conversation between two university students, Matt and Jessica, discussing their field study project on plant species.*
**Matt:** Hey Jess, glad you could make it. We've got a lot to discuss.
**Jess:** Hi Matt. Yes, sorry I'm a bit late. I did bring all my notes with me.
**Matt:** Yes, me too. Where should we start?
**Jess:** Well, I think it would be a good idea to clarify our objectives just one more time.
**Matt:** Yes, good idea. Okay, here we are. We need to record, photograph, and identify the plant species in 10 one-square-meter plots.
**Jess:** Does it say anything about where these plots should be and how they should be laid out?
**Matt:** Ah, here it is. It says that all the plots need to be no more than 10 meters apart.
**Jess:** And how do we choose them?
**Matt:** Ah, this is the fun part. I remember this. Here we are. Make a 1-meter-square frame using bamboo sticks available from the department stores.
**Jess:** Yes, we've already done that.
**Matt:** I know. I'm just reading the whole section. Okay. One person stands roughly in the middle of the chosen area and throws the frame. The other person uses a tape to mark out the square where the frame landed and returns the frame to the thrower. The thrower then turns a few degrees on the spot and throws again. The thrower must turn slightly after each throw and vary the force of the throw until after the 10th throw they are pointing in almost the same direction as the first.
**Jess:** That sounds a bit complicated.
**Matt:** That's only because it's all in writing. It's just a simple throw, turn, throw, turn, throw, turn until we have 10 squares.
**Jess:** And I guess you want to do the throwing.
**Matt:** Well, if you don't mind, I'm sure you'll be more accurate at marking the squares.
**Jess:** Yes, I am sure I am. And I'm sure you've got a stronger throwing arm.
---
*(Questions 28-30)*
**Jess:** Okay, good. We've got that sorted. Now, we need to decide where to go.
**Matt:** Yes, I've been thinking about that and I've brought the map.
**Jess:** Ah, well done. I forgot mine. Now, I've identified three possible locations, but they've all got some disadvantages.
**Matt:** Okay, fire away.
**Jess:** Well, the area around this lowland marsh could be interesting. There'll be a lot of interesting water plants here.
**Matt:** Looks good, but what's the problem?
**Jess:** Mainly that it's already a designated nature reserve, and I think there's already been a lot of research done here.
**Matt:** Ah, I see. Well, I'd rather do something that's new and can be useful.
**Jess:** I agree. That's why I identified this area further west. See here behind the beach.
**Matt:** Oh, yes. I see that area there where it's flat but quite high.
**Jess:** Exactly. If you look a bit further inland, you'll see that there are hills which will protect that area from strong north winds.
**Matt:** I see. Excellent. But what's the problem?
**Jess:** Just that it may not be very interesting. We know that the geology there is not conducive to a wide variety of plants.
**Matt:** Mm, I agree. So, what's your last idea?
**Jess:** Well, I think this one is a bit of a winner. Although, I did want to show you the other two. Look up here on the north coast.
**Matt:** Where?
**Jess:** See this bay? Well, I know that there's been quite a lot of studies done here, but a bit further to the east behind this headland. No one has ever looked at that. Well, I certainly couldn't see any studies.
**Matt:** That is interesting. And the plant life could be a bit different because of the shelter from the wind the headland provides.
**Jess:** Exactly.
**Matt:** Brilliant, Jessica. That's a great idea. We'll go there.
**Jess:** Thanks. Now, all we have to decide is when is a good time.
---

*A lecture on cities of the future.*
**Lecturer:** Okay, we've been looking at how societies will develop in the future and at the increase in the size of cities. So I want to talk to you today about the key considerations in these cities of the future. There are three key elements I want to look at and these are: the new features they will have, issues of size, and the main problems to be considered.
First of all, individual transportation will be a big factor in these new mega cities as public transport becomes unmanageable. There'll be a huge rise in the use of Segways, which are personal transporters like motorized scooters. As a result, and partly also to reduce pollution, roads will be altered so that they are narrower and will take up less of a city's space than they do currently. Naturally, this is a major change to the infrastructure. And something that may hinder it is the huge amount of investment it will require.
The next thing is what is going to happen to the commercial areas. We do not want these to become even larger concrete jungles than they are at present. So we have to look at design. And current designs for city development include building gardens on the roofs of these buildings to make a more pleasant environment for workers. And you may think that these areas will expand to cope with increased commercial activity. In fact, the prediction is that they will cover a tenth of the area that they do at present as we build upwards. The exception to this is shopping centers, which we predict will expand with more and more temperature-controlled malls. What may cause difficulties is that the superstores will be confined to the outer edges of the city as they will be too big to fit into the new malls.
Then of course there are the residential areas and these will undergo their own changes. One particular development will be houses which are built from glass as innovations in this material allow it to provide light without causing problems with temperature inside a building. The residential areas will not be allowed to expand without limit as happens in some areas at present and their size will be restricted to a population of 15,000. One issue which has yet to be resolved -- and I'm not sure it ever will be -- is how we manage to house older residents. They will be increasing in numbers as time goes on.
Finally, how will these cities live? We know we have limited energy sources. So, what will we do? Well, something currently in development which will be a feature is that waste is going to become an energy source. For example, to provide gas in homes. Also, as new technology and systems are developed, we will find that energy plants will become smaller. Another energy source we could use, but one which raises issues of having enough space and too much noise, is wind farms. Because of the problems, I'm not convinced these will be the grand solution to our energy problems that we thought they were going to be.
---
*(Questions 38-40)*
Now moving on to looking at the social aspect of cities. We need to look at housing and how people will live. Cities currently have flats in the center populated by single people and wealthier residents, and families tend to move to the outskirts. In the future, the center of cities will see a dramatic change. We will see many more examples of cooperative buildings. This is where people join together to form a company that owns the building they live in. And despite continuing shortages, there will also be a rise in the provision of retirement homes in city centers so that the elderly can have easy access to hospitals and shops. Recently, we have seen a leveling off in the growth of private housing and I think that will not change. But we are likely to see more social housing as far fewer people will be able to afford to own their own homes.
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*End of Test*