IELTS Listening Practice Test | 2026-03-08

*A man, Martin Hill, phones an estate agent to find accommodation.*
**Narrator:** Now turn to section one. Section one. You will hear a man, Martin Hill, phoning an estate agent in order to find some accommodation. First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 3. Now we shall begin. 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 3.
**Estate Agent:** Hello, Brindle's estate agents here. How may I help you?
**Martin:** Oh, good morning. I'm ringing to see what flats you have for rent at the moment.
**Estate Agent:** Right. Can I start by just taking your name, Mr...?
**Martin:** Hill. Martin Hill.
**Estate Agent:** Right. And are you looking for a flat for yourself or, um, a family perhaps?
**Martin:** Well, it's for three of us. Myself and two friends. We're going to share together.
**Estate Agent:** I see. Um, what about employment? Are you all students?
**Martin:** Oh, no. We've all got full-time jobs. Two of us work in the central bank. That's Chris and me. And Phil, that's the other one, is working for Hallum Cars, you know, at the factory about 2 miles out of town.
**Estate Agent:** I'll put you down as young professionals then. And I suppose you'll be looking for somewhere with three bedrooms.
**Martin:** Yeah, at least three. But actually, we'd rather have a fourth room as well if we can afford it, for friends staying over and stuff.
**Estate Agent:** Is that with a living room to share, plus kitchen and bathroom?
**Martin:** Yeah, that sounds good. But we must have a bathroom with a shower. We don't mind about having a bath, but the shower's crucial.
**Estate Agent:** Okay, I'll just key that in. And are you interested in any particular area?
**Martin:** Well, the city centre would be good for me and Chris. So that's our first preference, but we'd consider anything in the west suburbs as well. Really, actually, for Phil that would be better, but he knows he's outnumbered. But we aren't interested in the north or the east of the city.
**Estate Agent:** Okay, I'm just getting up all the flats on our books.
**Narrator:** Now you have some time to look at questions 4 to 10. Now listen and answer questions 4 to 10.
**Estate Agent:** Just looking at this list here, I'm afraid there are only two that might interest you. Do you want the details?
**Martin:** Okay, let me just grab a pen and some paper... far away.
**Estate Agent:** This first one I'm looking at is in Bridge Street and very close to the bus station. It's not often that flats in that area come up for rent. This one's got three bedrooms, a bathroom and kitchen, of course, and a very big living room. That sounds a good size for you.
**Martin:** Mm. So, what about the rent? How much is this a month?
**Estate Agent:** The good news is that it's only 450 pounds a month. Rents in that area usually reach up to 650 pounds a month, but the landlord obviously wants to get a tenant quickly.
**Martin:** Yeah, it sounds like a bit of a bargain. What about transport for Phil?
**Estate Agent:** Well, there'll be plenty of buses, so no problem for him to use public transport. Uh, but unfortunately there isn't a shower in the flat and that location is likely to be noisy, of course.
**Martin:** Oh, okay. What about the other place?
**Estate Agent:** Let's see. Oh, yes. Well, this one is in a really nice location on Hills Avenue. I'm sure you know it. This looks like something a bit special. It's got four big bedrooms and, um, there's a big living room and -- oh, this will be good for you -- a dining room. It sounds enormous, doesn't it?
**Martin:** Yeah, it sounds great.
**Estate Agent:** That whole area is being developed. And the flat's very modern, which I'm sure you'll like. It's got good facilities, including your shower. And of course, it's going to be quiet, especially compared with the other place.
**Martin:** Better and better. But I'll bet it's expensive, especially if it's in that trendy area beside the park.
**Estate Agent:** I'm afraid so. They're asking 800 pounds a month for it.
**Martin:** Whoa! It sounds a lot more than we can afford.
**Estate Agent:** Well, maybe you could get somebody else to move in, too. I'll tell you what. Give me your address and I can send you all the details and photos and you can see whether these two are worth a visit.
**Martin:** Thanks. That would be really helpful. My address is flat 5...
**Narrator:** That is the end of section one. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
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*A talk at a small business club meeting by Amy Lynn about running her catering business.*
**Narrator:** Now it turns to part two. Part two. She's going to talk to us today about the pleasures of running her own business. First look at questions 11 to 14. Listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 14.
**Host:** Good morning and welcome to this month's small business club meeting. I'm very pleased to welcome Amy Lynn who owns and runs a catering business in the local area. She's going to talk to us today about the pleasures of running her own business. Amy,
**Amy:** Thank you very much. Now, I started my business two years ago selling very high quality ready-made meals using all organic ingredients sourced from the local area. And I have to say it has been the happiest time of my life with sales doing extremely well. I've had to work very hard and this has meant a rather limited social life, but I really value the fact that I'm my own boss and I can decide what I do. You know, when I think I'm ready to try something new and creative and when to continue with what I'm doing and so forth.
Now, I got the idea to produce these dishes when I was visiting a local supermarket. And I looked at what was on offer in the ready meals section. Lots of low-quality, unhealthy packs, and I thought, I could do so much better. I discussed it with friends. Some of them thought it was a great idea, and others thought there wouldn't be a big enough market for such expensive products. But I went ahead with my idea anyway. And as I say, it's been very successful.
At the moment, I employ two people. One to help me with the actual preparation and cooking, and the other to work on the financial side, doing invoices and accounts and marketing. My business is expanding, but I'm not ready to employ anybody new just yet.
At the moment, I'm negotiating with a local organic farmer who would like to sell my meals at his farm shop. We've already agreed that I will sell in his shop in the new year, but I just don't know how much. It probably won't be enormous. My sales in total at the moment are only about 7,000 pounds a month, and at least for the next few months, I don't plan on increasing that. I think the thing which will make me take on new staff is if I just feel too exhausted and stop enjoying what I'm doing.
And plans for the long-term future are a little vague at the moment. I've been thinking that in a couple of years' time I'll start to sell on the internet. My sales will increase quite a bit. Um, I won't advertise because that might mean I would expand so fast that I couldn't continue to use all organic ingredients. And I'm very anxious to go on doing that. But I think I'll need a bigger kitchen and packing area, otherwise we'll get very cramped.
**Narrator:** Before the broadcast continues, look at questions 15 to 20. You will now listen to the second part of the talk. Listen carefully and answer questions 15 to 20.
**Amy:** Now, I've emphasized how much pleasure I get out of running my own business. But of course, one of the quickest ways to lose heart is to try operating without sufficient capital. So in the second part of my talk, I want to share with you how I got enough money to finance my business.
The most significant part of my capital came from a grant from the Small Business Agency, or SBA as everyone calls it. And this is how you go about getting it.
The first thing you have to do is to draw up a business plan. Now, don't make this too long and complicated. I would say it should just be up to two pages in length. I've seen some people's efforts go up to 10 pages. Well, frankly, I don't think anyone will read it if it's that long.
The next thing is it's worthwhile getting it checked. Now, don't rely on an accountant for this. Your best bet is to go to your bank and get them to look through it. Only if they're happy should you go ahead with your application. If all is well, then you should finalize your submission.
Then your next step is to send it to the SBA. Now, they advise you not to do this by email, but by post. However, they say this situation might change in the near future.
So, when the SBA receive your grant application, they'll judge whether your business idea is interesting, that is, likely to benefit from their grant. If they think it's good, they'll invite you to interview. And then the successful candidates can get a maximum of 20,000 pounds. I got 18,000 pounds, which wasn't quite the top amount, but still enormously useful, as you can imagine.
Now, if there are any questions, I'll be happy to answer them.
**Narrator:** That is the end of part two. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
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*Two students discuss a class assignment about wild bird rescue and rehabilitation.*
**Narrator:** Now it turns to part three. Part three. You will hear two students talking about a class assignment about wild bird rescue and rehabilitation. First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 25. As you listen to the first part of the conversation, answer questions 21 to 25.
**Student A:** Okay, let's go over the requirements and see what we have left to do. Let's see. We have to give the professor a written summary of the information we've gathered on our topic, wild bird rescue and rehabilitation. The other written thing we have to turn in is a case study of the rehabilitation of one bird. We have the information on that already,
**Student B:** Right? All we have to do is write it up. What about charts and graphs? Do we need to include something like that?
**Student A:** I don't think so. They aren't really relevant, but we do have to turn in a list of the resources we used.
**Student B:** Naturally. What about videos? I heard some of the other students were doing that.
**Student A:** Well, I guess that must be optional because I don't see it on the requirements list.
Okay, we should start planning our class presentation since that counts for half the grade. We've looked at lots of sources of information, but I think our best source was the interviews we did with the wildlife rehabilitators.
**Student B:** Agreed. That and the journal articles. I think we have enough information from those two sources for the presentation. Anyhow, the books we looked at weren't all that helpful. I wonder if we should try to bring in some live birds for the presentation.
**Student A:** That would be too difficult, don't you think? But we have lots of photos of rehabilitated birds. We can show those.
**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.
**Student A:** Right. Okay. I think we should start by talking about how to rescue a bird. Probably first we should help people understand which birds need rescuing.
**Student B:** Yeah, that's really important because a lot of times people see a baby bird that's all alone or they find a bird sitting on the ground and they think it needs to be rescued. And usually those are just baby birds learning to fly. So we should emphasize that people should only attempt to rescue a bird that's clearly injured.
For certain kinds of birds, the rescuer needs to wear protective gloves because some of those birds have sharp claws and can tear your shirt or worse, injure your face or some other part of your body.
**Student A:** Yes, that's an important point. Okay. Next, let's tell people to put the injured bird in a box. A box with good air circulation. We should let them know that a cage isn't necessary, and a bag, especially a plastic one, could hurt the bird more.
Another thing we need to say is that the best way to help the bird stay calm is not by petting it or talking to it, but by leaving it completely alone.
Then people should take the bird to the bird rescue centre as soon as possible.
**Student B:** Right? And we should also point out that when they're driving the bird to the rescue centre, it's better not to play music on the radio or talk loudly because those things just stress the bird.
**Student A:** Yes, it's better just to speak quietly while you have the bird in the car. Okay, we've got that part covered. Next, we should talk about what happens at the rescue centre.
**Narrator:** That is the end of part three. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
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*A lecture about learning and bilingualism.*
**Narrator:** Now turn to section four. Section 4, you will hear a part of a lecture about learning and bilingualism. Now look at the questions 31 to 35. Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 35.
**Lecturer:** When we look at theories of education and learning, we see a constant shifting of views as established theories are questioned and refined or even replaced. And we can see this very clearly in the way that attitudes towards bilingualism have changed.
Let's start with a definition of bilingualism. And for our purposes today, we can say it's the ability to communicate with the same degree of proficiency in at least two languages. Now, in practical terms, this might seem like a good thing, something we'd all like to be able to do.
However, early research done with children in the USA in fact suggested that being bilingual interfered in some way with learning and with the development of their mental processes. And so in those days, bilingualism was regarded as something to be avoided and parents were encouraged to bring their children up as monolingual -- just speaking one language.
But this research, which took place in the early part of the 20th century, is now regarded as unsound for various reasons, mainly because it didn't take into account other factors such as the children's social and economic backgrounds.
Now, in our last lecture we were looking at some of the research that's been done into the way children learn, into their cognitive development. And in fact, we believe now that the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive development is actually a positive one. It turns out that cognitive skills such as problem solving, which don't seem at first glance to have anything to do with how many languages you speak, are better among bilingual children than monolingual ones.
And quite recently there's been some very interesting work done by Ellen Bialystok at York University in Canada. She's been doing various studies on the effects of bilingualism and her findings provide some evidence that they might apply to adults as well. They're not just restricted to children.
**Narrator:** Now you have some time to look at questions 36 to 40. Now listen carefully and answer questions 36 to 40.
**Lecturer:** So how do you go about investigating something like this? Well, Dr. Bialystok used groups of monolingual and bilingual subjects aged from 30 right up to 88.
For one experiment, she used a computer program which displayed either a red or a blue square on the screen. The coloured square could come up on either the left-hand or the right-hand side of the screen. If the square was blue, the subject had to press the left shift key on the keyboard. And if the square was red, they had to press the right shift key.
So they didn't have to react at all to the actual position of the square on the screen, just to the colour they saw. And she measured the subjects' reaction times by recording how long it took them to press the shift key and how often they got it right.
What she was particularly interested in was whether it took the subject longer to react when a square lit up on one side of the screen, say the left, and the subject had to press the shift key on the right-hand side. She'd expected that it would take more processing time than if a square lit up on the left and the candidate had to press a left key.
This was because of a phenomenon known as the Simon effect, where basically the brain gets a bit confused because of conflicting demands being made on it. In this case, seeing something on the right and having to react on the left. And this causes a person's reaction times to slow down.
The results of the experiment showed that the bilingual subjects responded more quickly than the monolingual ones. That was true both when the squares were on the correct side of the screen, so to speak, and even more so when they were not. So, bilingual people were better able to deal with the Simon effect than the monolingual ones.
So, what's the explanation for this? Well, the results of the experiment suggest that bilingual people are better at ignoring information which is irrelevant to the task in hand and just concentrating on what's important. One suggestion given by Dr. Bialystok was that it might be because someone who speaks two languages can suppress the activity of parts of the brain when it isn't needed. In particular, the part that processes whichever language isn't being used at that particular time.
Well, she then went on to investigate that with a second experiment. But again, the bilingual group performed better. And what was particularly interesting, and this is, I think, why the experiments have received so much publicity, is that in all cases, the performance gap between monolingual and bilingual actually increased with age, which suggests that bilingualism protects the mind against decline. So in some way the lifelong experience of managing two languages may prevent some of the negative effects of aging.
So that's a very different story from the early research. So what are the implications of this for education?
**Narrator:** That is the end of section 4. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
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*End of Listening Test*