IELTS Listening Practice Test | 2026-03-09

*A conversation between a property agent and a prospective tenant about renting an apartment.*
**Agent:** How can I help you, sir?
**Robert:** Hi, I'm interested in renting an apartment in your building. Can you show me around inside?
**Agent:** Sure, my pleasure. Do you know what kind of apartment you're looking for?
**Robert:** I'm thinking of something for my best friend and I. The apartment doesn't have to be too big, just something comfortable for the two of us. I'm looking for a kitchen, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. Just something simple.
**Agent:** Okay. Well, let me show you what we have to offer. We divide our apartments into three categories. There are standard apartments, upgraded standard apartments, and luxury apartments. Please follow me. This apartment just went up for rent yesterday. The old tenants moved into a larger one. This apartment is what I call the standard apartment. It's small but has everything you need. The kitchen comes with a refrigerator, an oven, and a stove. There is one bathroom with a shower, but no bathtub. The rooms are a good size, and both have their own closets. The living room has enough space for a couch. We will provide a television for you. These apartments are very popular with students because they're affordable and practical. Right now, we are renting these out for only $1,000 a month.
**Robert:** I think this is a little bit on the small side. There's no space for a dining table or even for an extra desk. We will both need room to study. If there are guests over, we hope to be able to have a dining table big enough for at least four people. Do you have anything slightly larger? Maybe just an apartment with a bigger living room.
**Agent:** Well, let's take a look. Right now, we also have an opening for a luxury apartment. This apartment is larger. It has three bedrooms and all three are larger than the last one. And there are two bathrooms and all have bathtubs. The kitchen is also larger and comes with an additional dishwasher and freezer. The living space has plenty of space for a dining room.
**Robert:** How much is the rent on these apartments?
**Agent:** These are more expensive, usually in the $2,500 range. Don't forget that there is an additional bedroom, so you could find another roommate to lower the cost.
**Robert:** I think that's a little bit on the expensive side. We don't really have the time to find another roommate, so it's probably better to stick with the two-bedroom places. Is there anything between these two?
**Agent:** Come with me. I can show you this apartment right now. But there are people living in it. There are no more of these kinds of apartments available at this moment. But if you decide that you like it, I can put you on the waiting list. And as soon as we have openings, you will be contacted.
**Robert:** Sure. Let's take a look.
**Agent:** This is the upgraded standard apartment. As you can see, it's larger than the other two-bedroom apartment. There are two bedrooms and two bathrooms, one in each room. The living room comes with a television, but no furniture. The kitchen is around the same size as the other smaller apartment. The basic difference is the additional bathroom and larger living room. These rent for around $1,400.
**Robert:** Seems like a good deal. Do you know when an apartment like this will be available?
**Agent:** That's hard to say. I know these people who live here right now should be graduating soon, so they might be moving out.
**Robert:** Well, I guess I'll put my name on the waiting list. Hopefully, there'll be an opening as soon as possible.
**Agent:** That sounds like a good plan. I will notify you as soon as we have vacancies. You will have to leave us some information and a student identification number.
**Robert:** Sure, no problem. My full name is Robert Jack Browning.
**Agent:** Could I have your age, please?
**Robert:** I'm 38.
**Agent:** Your major?
**Robert:** I'm studying biology.
**Agent:** How about naming some of your hobbies?
**Robert:** Hm. Fishing, golf, watching movies, and spending time with my family.
**Agent:** Sounds like a good life. What is the price range of the apartment you are looking for?
**Robert:** Somewhere between $1,000 to $1,500.
**Agent:** Your student identification number, please.
**Robert:** QS45890.
**Agent:** Could you repeat that?
**Robert:** QS45890.
**Agent:** Lastly, could you leave us a phone number?
**Robert:** Okay, it's area code 236580287.
**Agent:** Thank you very much. I will give you a call as soon as possible.
---

*An introductory talk at Rose's Health Club.*
**Speaker:** Good morning everybody. I'd like to welcome you to Rose's Health Club, which is part of the nationwide Rose Group of Health and Fitness Centers. Today, I hope to tell you everything about the Glenfield Center and the facilities it offers.
First, have a look at the map of the center I have put up here. There's a copy of it in your information packs. As you can see, we have a range of facilities. We are here at the meeting point next to the reception desk. If you get lost, which is unlikely, make your way here.
The main feature of the health club is, of course, the swimming pool. This is a 25-metre pool divided into three or four lanes. Access to the pool is normally through the changing rooms for obvious reasons. To get to these, bear left as you come through reception. And as you follow the corridor, they are the two doors immediately to your right. First, the female changing room, then the men's.
If you follow the corridor right to the back of the building, you'll find one of our most popular features, three state-of-the-art squash courts. We keep them in very good condition. So, if you're keen on that sport, I'm sure you'll appreciate the quality.
Right. Then, I'm sure what many of you are thinking of joining for is access to the gym facilities and activities like yoga. We've got lots of space for this and these are all situated on the left-hand side of the main corridor opposite the changing rooms and squash courts. At the far end, you'll find the fixed and free weights room. There are lots of fixed weights machines, and you'll also find exercise bikes and rowing machines. Next to that, directly opposite the changing rooms, there's access to our sports hall. This is where yoga classes, martial arts, circuit training, and other classes take place. We even have badminton and table tennis sometimes.
Okay, moving on from the sports, there are two other things to point out. One is a small door next to reception to the left as you come in. This takes you into the staff training room. This is important because you'll know where to find us in an emergency and it doubles as a first aid room in those circumstances.
Finally, last but not least, there is another corridor to the right as you come in, and that leads you to the cafe lounge on one side and the viewing area for the swimming pool on the other.
Now we will go for a little tour in a moment, but first I'd like to tell you a little about the different kinds of club membership we have, so that you can be thinking about what you want as we go round.
We first of all have the anytime membership. Anytime is the complete go-as-you-please membership. This entitles you to full use of all the facilities during all opening hours and we're open every day from 5:00 a.m. till midnight. This costs 850 pounds per year, though there are some discounts which I will tell you about in a moment. Don't forget that the Rose Group is a nationwide group and this membership also entitles you to the full use of the group's other 250 clubs around the country.
The free time membership is an off-peak membership. This entitles you to use of the facilities between 10:00 a.m. in the morning and 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon. Also, you can use the facilities at any time at weekends. This costs 500 pounds. Note that you will still have access to a personal trainer under this membership scheme.
Finally, a standard membership costs 400 pounds and is a weekday membership. Really, especially suitable for retired people who can come during the week.
There is also a children's membership scheme. Children can join this scheme if they are between 15 and 18 years old. Please note that children of less than 15 can't come to the club without an adult and they can't take sessions on the sunbed. Not that young people usually want to use a sunbed anyway. The children's schemes are all half price. That is 50% for each child or young person in the scheme.
People who live outside the area can have a discount of up to 50%. But this has to be arranged specially with the general manager. If that is of interest to any of you, let me know and I will fix up an appointment for you.
Now, let's go on our tour.
---

*Two students, Joey and Olivia, discuss a literature course project.*
**Olivia:** Hi Joey. How are you doing? I heard you were sick.
**Joey:** Oh, hi Olivia. Yeah, I had a virus last week and I missed a whole pile of lectures like the first one on the great books in literature where Dr. Castle gave us all the information about the semester project.
**Olivia:** I can give you copies of the handouts. I've got them right here.
**Joey:** That's okay. I already collected the handouts, but I'm not very clear about all the details. I know we each have to choose an individual author. I think I'm going to do Carlos Castaneda. I'm really interested in South American literature.
**Olivia:** Have you checked? He's on the list that Dr. Castle gave us. We can't just choose anyone.
**Joey:** Yeah, I checked. It's okay. Who did you choose?
**Olivia:** Well, I was thinking of choosing Ernest Hemingway, but then I thought, "No, I'll do a British author, not an American one." So, I chose Emily Bronte.
**Joey:** Okay. And first of all, it says we have to read a biography of our author. I guess it's okay if we just look up information about him on the internet.
**Olivia:** No, it's got to be a full-length book. I think the minimum length's 250 pages. There's a list of biographies. Didn't you get that?
**Joey:** Oh, right. I didn't realize we had to stick with that. So, what do we have to do when we've read the biography?
**Olivia:** Well, then we have to choose one work by the writer. Again, it's got to be something quite long. We can't just read a short story.
**Joey:** But I guess a collection of short stories would be okay.
**Olivia:** Yes. Or even a collection of poems, they said. But I think most people are doing novels. I'm going to do Wuthering Heights. I've read it before, but I really want to read it again now that I've found out more about the writer.
**Joey:** And then the video. We have to make a short video about our author and about the book. How long has it got to be?
**Olivia:** A minute.
**Joey:** What? Like 60 seconds? And we've got to give all the important information about their life and the book we choose.
**Olivia:** Well, you can't do everything. I wrote it down somewhere. Yes. Dr. Castle said we had to find or write a short passage that helps to explain the author's passion for writing, why they're a writer. So, we can back this up with reference to important events in the writer's life, if they're relevant, but it's up to us really. The video is meant to portray the essence of the writer's life and the piece of writing we choose. So when we read the biography, we have to think about what kind of person our writer is.
**Joey:** Yes. And the historical context and so on.
**Olivia:** So for my writer, Emily Bronte, the biography gave a really strong impression of the place where she lived and the countryside around.
**Joey:** Right. I'm beginning to get the idea.
**Joey:** Uh, can I check the other requirements with you?
**Olivia:** Sure.
**Joey:** The handout said after we'd read the biography, we had to read the work we'd chosen by our author and choose a passage that's typical in some way that typifies the author's interests and style.
**Olivia:** Yes, but at the same time, it has to relate to the biographical extract you choose. There's got to be some sort of theme linking them.
**Joey:** Okay, I'm with you.
**Olivia:** And then you have to think about the video.
**Joey:** So, are we meant to dramatize the scene we choose?
**Olivia:** I guess we could, but there's not a lot of time for that. I think it's more how we can use things like sound effects to create the atmosphere, the feeling we want.
**Joey:** And presumably visuals as well.
**Olivia:** Yeah, of course. I mean, I suppose that's the whole point of making a video, but whatever we use has to be historically in keeping with the author. We can use things like digital image processing to do it all.
**Joey:** So, we can use any computer software we want.
**Olivia:** Sure. And it's important that we use a range, not just one software program. That's actually one of the things we're assessed on.
**Joey:** Okay.
**Olivia:** Oh, and something else that's apparently really important is to keep track of the materials we use and to acknowledge them.
**Joey:** Including stuff we download off the internet presumably.
**Olivia:** Yeah. So, our video has to list all the material used with details of the source in a bibliography at the end.
**Joey:** Okay. And you were talking about assessment of the project. Did they give us the criteria? I couldn't find anything on the handout.
**Olivia:** Sure. He gave us them in the lecture. Let's see. You get 25% just for getting all the components done. That's both sets of reading and the video. Then the second part is actually how successful we are at getting the essence of the work. They call that content and that counts for 50%. Then the last 25% is on the video itself, the artistic and technical side.
**Joey:** Great. Well, that sounds a lot of work, but a whole lot better than just handing in a paper. Thanks a lot, Olivia.
**Olivia:** You're welcome.
---

*A student presentation on gender differences in sports performance.*
**Speaker:** Good morning. Today I'm going to talk about my end-of-year project. I wanted to find out why men and women tend to perform at different levels in particular sports.
Let me start by explaining why I chose this subject. Now, as some of you may know, I'm an enthusiastic long-distance runner myself, but I have never felt particularly worried about the fact that I usually finish several minutes behind my male counterparts.
How it all started was when a first-year student approached me because he'd read an article about why women's swimmers never compete successfully with men and wondered if I could look into the issue in regard to running.
My tutor confirmed that a lot of interesting research had been done on this issue and also I knew that whatever I found out was likely to be useful in training programs I run at a local girls' school.
So I started doing some preliminary reading and what I found out was a mixture of the expected and the unexpected. It didn't come as all that much of a surprise to learn that male runners have more muscle and women more fat. And this accounts for most of the difference in sports performance between men and women.
This is normally caused by differences in hormones. A male hormone, testosterone, builds muscle, whereas a female hormone, estrogen, causes fat to accumulate. Of course, this was something that we learned about very early on in sports science.
But then I began reading about the nature of muscle, and this is where I found something that did surprise me. Men and women have exactly the same type of muscle fibers, which means that they are capable of fuel burning at the same rate.
I was also reading some very interesting research on differences between the average height of men and women. We all know of course that men are much taller on average than women. But what this means is that women actually work much harder because they have to take a lot more strides to cover the same distance. I hadn't understood that before I read this research.
So I set up my own small-scale research project to investigate some of these points and a few others. I asked for men and women volunteers from the university running club and I timed their speed in a race. Then I worked out proportions by dividing a person's running time by their height. And what I found was that by this measure, men were only slightly ahead of the women.
For my second experiment, I put weights on the men's shoulders so that the men and women would have the same height-to-weight ratio. I found that under these conditions, the women actually ran faster than the men.
In my last experiment, I decided to look at what is called elasticity by measuring how high the men and women could jump. And I found that my male and female participants had equal levels of jump power.
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*End of IELTS Listening Test*