Online Exchange Business - IELTS Listening Answers & Explanations
From IELTS Recent Actual Test 3 Academic Listening Test 1 · Part 2 · Questions 11–20
Audio
Questions
Questions 11–14 Multiple Choice (One Answer)
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
Questions 15–16 Multiple Choice (Two Answers)
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Which TWO things are most popular among users?
Questions 17–20 Note Completion
Complete the sentences below.
Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.
The website will sort out 17 items to help those who can't decide what to exchange.
Do not bother because everyone's 18 is different.
Users will give 19 on the completion of exchanges.
Criteria
- the quality of the item
- the ease of communication
- the 20 of delivering
Answers & Explanations Summary
| # | Answer | Evidence | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q11 | B | The website has been founded by a group of four friends in the north of England | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript clearly states that four friends are the people who began the website business. Answer Explanation: The answer identifies that a group of friends started and manages the website. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is B because the transcript says that the website was started by a group of four friends. Although they began by trading items with family members in the past, the actual creation and organization of the business were done by the friends. Words like 'founded' and 'founders' in the text refer to this group of friends. |
| Q12 | C | BarterOnlineUK is a start-up online business, which took 3 months to set up and has now been running for around half a year | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that the business took 3 months of work to prepare, but it has been open and working for about 6 months. Answer Explanation: The answer is about 6 months. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is C because the text says the website has been 'running' (which means operating or working) for half a year. Since there are 12 months in a full year, half of that is 6 months. Do not confuse this with the 3 months it took to build or 'set up' the site. |
| Q13 | B | Despite only being founded a short time ago, the website has already garnered about 1,500 registered users, with 500 more than expected, a huge achievement for the founders | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript says that although the website is new, it has already gotten 1,500 people to sign up. This was a big success because it was 500 more people than they had planned for. Answer Explanation: The answer is 1,500. This is the total number of people who have signed up to use the website. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is B because the text explicitly states the number of registered users is about 1,500. It also mentions that this total is 500 more than the owners originally expected, which means they expected 1,000, but the current count is 1,500. Key terms to look for are 'garnered' (meaning collected or gained) and 'registered users'. |
| Q14 | A | Some of the users are registered in the United Kingdom and Canada, with the majority from the Republic of Ireland | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that while there are people from the UK and Canada using the site, most of the members come from the Republic of Ireland. Answer Explanation: The answer is Ireland, which is the country where most of the people who use the website live. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is Ireland because the transcript mentions three specific locations where users are from: the United Kingdom, Canada, and the Republic of Ireland. It uses the word 'majority' to describe the users from the Republic of Ireland. In English, 'majority' means the largest part or the highest number of something. Therefore, Ireland has more users than the other two countries. |
| Q15 | — | — | |
| Q16 | A / C | A multitude of items are sold on the website, such as textbooks, soft toys, and tools, however books for children and computer games are by far selected most | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript mentions that while many items like textbooks and tools are available, the items chosen most often by users are children's books and computer games. Answer Explanation: The answer identifies children's books and computer games as the two items that people choose to trade the most on the website. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is A and C because the speaker lists several types of items found on the site, like textbooks and tools, but specifically says that books for children and computer games are 'selected most.' In this context, being 'selected most' means they are the most popular items among the users. |
| Q17 | popular | It often helps to order items by popularity using the 'filter' button provided, this will tell the website to find out popular items for users' convenience | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that users can use a 'filter' button to see items based on their 'popularity'. This helps the website find 'popular' items to make things easier for the users. Answer Explanation: The answer 'popular' refers to items that many people like or want. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is correct because the text mentions that users who are unsure about what to trade can use a 'filter' button. This button instructs the website to find which items are 'popular' among users to help them make a decision. Using this feature makes it easy to see what is currently in high demand. |
| Q18 | taste | To this, the founding members say just put everything you don't want on there, different people have different tastes, and you never know what they might be looking for | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that users shouldn't worry about what they trade because people have different preferences (tastes), so any item might be wanted by someone else. Answer Explanation: The answer 'taste' refers to what a person likes or their individual preferences. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is found where the founders of the website give advice to people who are not sure which items they should offer for trade. They suggest that users should list all of their unwanted items because every person likes different things. The transcript uses the word 'tastes' to describe these different preferences. Therefore, even if you think an item is not valuable, someone else might like it because their 'taste' is different from yours. |
| Q19 | feedback | In order to aid registered users in their exchanges, and to provide them with assurance, the founders recently added a new feature whereby on completion of an exchange, users will be encouraged to provide each other with feedback | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript states that once a trade is finished, users are asked to give each other feedback to make the process more reliable. Answer Explanation: The answer 'feedback' refers to the information or opinions that users share with each other about their swapping experience. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 'feedback' because the text explains that the website added a feature to help people feel safe. After two people finish trading items, they are asked to tell others how it went. This is called giving feedback. Key phrases in the transcript like 'completion of an exchange' and 'provide each other with' directly link to this word. |
| Q20 | speed | the speed at which the item was delivered, and so on | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that when buyers give feedback, they will talk about how quickly the item was sent to them. Answer Explanation: The answer refers to how fast an item arrives at its destination after it is sent. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is found in the final paragraph, which describes the feedback system. Users rate their experience based on several factors, including quality and communication. One specific factor mentioned is the 'speed' of delivery, which matches the sentence completion task requiring a word for 'delivering'. |
Transcript
BarterOnlineUK is a young, up and coming website in the United Kingdom where users can 'buy' new and used goods; however, instead of paying with money, registered users instead exchange their purchase for an item of similar value. This part is perhaps the most complicated, as the registered users themselves must mutually decide on an appropriate value, with value either being the recommended retail price (RRP), or simply how much they believe the item to be worth. The website has been founded by a group of four friends in the north of England. Originally they exchanged their belongings among family members. They frequently found themselves swapping their belongings when they no longer had any use for them. They live by the motto 'one person's trash is another person's treasure', and hate to throw things away. As more and more people caught wind of the idea and wanted to participate in the exchanges, the group decided that the idea had the potential to become a successful business venture, and so it did.
BarterOnlineUK is a start-up online business, which took 3 months to set up and has now been running for around half a year. Despite only being founded a short time ago, the website has already garnered about 1,500 registered users, with 500 more than expected, a huge achievement for the founders. Some of the users are registered in the United Kingdom and Canada, with the majority from the Republic of Ireland. In order to become a registered member, users must first fill in their personal details followed by their credit or debit card details, which will be used to take payment of a monthly fee of £5. As long as this fee is paid, users will be able to perform an unlimited number of online exchanges.
A multitude of items are sold on the website, such as textbooks, soft toys, and tools, however books for children and computer games are by far selected most. The exchange process itself is not as complicated as it might seem, users can enter their preferences for what they would like to receive, and also explicitly state what they would like to give away, and the website will automatically pair up suitable users. If, however, a user doesn't want to give anything away, but would simply like to buy something, BarterOnlineUK does support a secure online payment system where users can perform a normal monetary transaction. Despite this, the founding group strongly discourages the use of the online payment system, clearly stating that this goes against the intended ethos of the company.
Although bartering is an age-old process, many of the website's users are unsure how to decide which of their own items to exchange. It often helps to order items by popularity using the 'filter' button provided, this will tell the website to find out popular items for users' convenience. To this, the founding members say just put everything you don't want on there, different people have different tastes, and you never know what they might be looking for! In order to aid registered users in their exchanges, and to provide them with assurance, the founders recently added a new feature whereby on completion of an exchange, users will be encouraged to provide each other with feedback. This feedback will include criteria such as the quality of the item as compared with how it was advertised, the ease of communication with the seller, the speed at which the item was delivered, and so on. The friends believe that using this method, users will have a more transparent and trustworthy bartering experience. [fade out]