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    IELTS Listening · Practice test

    Wexford: IELTS Listening practice test

    Booking a cookery course, a cookery school's programme, a chemistry poster and a lecture on colour.

    • 4 parts
    • 40 questions
    • About 35 minutes
    Sit this test with the recording

    Part 1 · Questions 1–10

    Booking a cookery course

    You will hear a conversation between a woman and an administrator at a cookery school.

    Questions 1–5

    Complete the form below.

    Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

    Course Booking

    Booked by
    Sian 1
    Attending
    Gareth (same surname)
    Course length
    2 day, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
    Subject
    3
    Date
    4 October
    Price
    £5

    Questions 6–10

    Complete the notes below.

    Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

    Things to tell Gareth

    Bring a large 6 to carry about six loaves home
    Report any dietary needs a 7 in advance
    An apron is provided; he must wear closed 8
    A gift 9 is issued, but the date should be fixed now
    A second course within three months is 10% cheaper

    Part 2 · Questions 11–20

    A cookery school's programme

    You will hear the principal of a cookery school describing its courses to a group of visitors.

    Questions 11–16

    Complete the notes below.

    Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

    Wexford Cookery School

    Every dish can be cooked at home: no equipment costing over £11
    Everyone cooks; the maximum class size is 12
    The school does the 13, which students value most
    Open 14 to Saturday
    A concession of a third off is available, but is not shown on the 15
    Bookings can be moved once, free, with more than 16 days' notice

    Questions 17–20

    What does the speaker say about each of the following courses? Choose the correct letter, A–F, next to questions 17–20.

    Comments

    • AIt is undervalued by students.
    • BAttendance on both days is essential.
    • CApplicants are interviewed first.
    • DPlaces are taken very quickly.
    • EIt is taught by visiting chefs.
    • FIt is only offered in the summer.
    1. 17the Knife Skills day
    2. 18the Bread and Fermentation weekend
    3. 19the five-day intensive
    4. 20the children's holiday courses

    Part 3 · Questions 21–30

    A conference poster

    You will hear two chemistry students, Amira and Theo, discussing a conference poster with their supervisor.

    Questions 21–25

    Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

    1. 21What is the supervisor's main criticism of the draft poster?
      • AIt contains far too much text.
      • BThe results are not clearly explained.
      • CThe layout is hard to follow.
    2. 22What does he say the title should do?
      • Astate the finding
      • Bname the technique used
      • Cpose a question
    3. 23What does he advise about the figures?
      • Aprint one much larger and keep the rest to hand
      • Barrange them in a single row
      • Creplace them with a table
    4. 24What must they add to the yield figure?
      • Athe range of the three runs
      • Bthe reaction temperature
      • Ca comparison with the literature
    5. 25Why must the claim about industrial use be removed?
      • ANothing in the work supports it.
      • BIt has already been published elsewhere.
      • CIt is outside the conference's subject.

    Questions 26–29

    What does the supervisor say about each of the following? Choose the correct letter, A–F, next to questions 26–29.

    Advice

    • AUse a different method from the usual one.
    • BIt is cheap and shortens the poster.
    • CThe students may decide for themselves.
    • DIt is a waste of money.
    • EIt must be approved by the department.
    • FDo it only if there is time.
    1. 26printing the poster
    2. 27adding a QR code
    3. 28entering the poster prize
    4. 29handing out printed copies

    Question 30

    Answer the question below.

    Write ONE WORD ONLY.

    1. 30What does the supervisor ask them to send him tomorrow?

    Part 4 · Questions 31–40

    Colour in nature

    You will hear part of a lecture about colour in the natural world.

    Questions 31–40

    Complete the summary below.

    Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

    Colour in nature

    There are two ways of producing a colour. A 31 is a molecule that absorbs some wavelengths and reflects the rest, and it keeps its colour when ground to a powder. Structural colour instead comes from physical structures a few hundred 32 across, and it disappears if the structure is destroyed.

    Three mechanisms are described. Thin-film 33, seen in a soap bubble, occurs when light reflects from both surfaces of a very thin layer. A diffraction 34 is a surface of fine parallel ridges, found on the wing cases of some beetles. And a 35 crystal is a regular three-dimensional structure that cannot transmit certain wavelengths at all.

    In the morpho butterfly there is no blue 36 at all: the scales carry stacked plates whose shape in cross-section is compared to a 37. In the peacock, an ordered lattice of 38 rods produces different colours as its spacing varies slightly.

    Structural colours are chosen by evolution because they are brighter, because they do not 39, because they vary with angle and because they may be cheaper to produce. They account for the colour of every blue bird.

    Applications include displays with no backlight, fibres coloured without 40, and sensors that change colour as the spacing of the structure alters, which is also how a chameleon works.

    Question types in this test

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