Collins Practice Tests For IELTS 1 Academic Listening Test 1 (Online Test)

Hi, you're listening to Marc Ambrose and I'll be with you through to midday on Talk Back, the show where you tell us what you think about Radio Western. I'm sure you've all heard we have a new boss here at Radio Western and she's very keen to get your feedback. Well, you've certainly taken her invitation seriously. We'll be dipping into the postbag for your feedback in just a moment and speaking to a surprise guest or two later in the show.

I must start by saying a big 'thank you' to Tony Marsons - judging by your letters, he did a great job of covering the show last week whilst I was away. Thanks Tony, if you're listening. And thanks for all the emails asking about my holiday. I had a long, rather boring flight home late last night but I must say I had a wonderful time. The food was absolutely delicious and the locals we spoke to were really friendly. Shame about the weather, which was an absolute washout, but you can't have everything I suppose. And the kids loved it, so everyone was happy.

Anyway, on to the first of your letters ... Sally from Liverpool is very concerned about the consequences of the cutbacks we've been experiencing here at Radio Western, in particular whether some of our late-night music shows could be facing the axe. 'We're force-fed a great deal of pop music throughout the day,' writes Sally, 'and some of your listeners look forward to the more niche musical genres you cover in the evening. Are these in danger when you rearrange the schedule?' Not at all Sally. In fact look out for one or two exciting new shows over the coming weeks. We've got a brand new classical music show coming soon and the return of the ever-popular Chris Greene with his show on international folk music. And of course there's Carol Whittaker's History of Jazz every Friday night. Hopefully this will put your mind at rest, Sally.

John from Leicester writes in to point out that many of our guests on Talk Back and other shows seem to run out of time before they have the chance to finish the interview. 'It happens again and again,' writes John. 'As the programmes draw to a close guests get rushed and many questions go unanswered. Why don't you offer some kind of after-show online channel where the guest can continue answering listeners' questions?' I think that's a great idea John. And as you go on to say, if it were recorded, people who don't get the chance to hear the live show could catch up later. We'll certainly pass this one up to management, I'm sure a service like this would go down really well on our website.

Now Clive has a question that will be of interest to all us over-50s fans of Radio Western. Clive wants to know why we don't feature more issues related to this age group and cater more to this group's taste in music. As Clive explains, 'As a regular listener I'm concerned about your age profiling. Presenters seem intent on covering topics that appeal very much to the 30-somethings, which is great for them, but what about people of other ages?' Clive would like to see music shows aimed at the older generation and more on problems facing the over-50s in our consumer affairs shows. Well Clive, we'd certainly hate to think you're feeling excluded from our schedule. What about other listeners? Do you think we're getting it about right or is there room for improvement?

Simon: Hi Kelly. How are you?

Kelly: Fine thanks. Do you still have time to talk about our presentation?

Simon: Yeah, for sure. We need to get going on this, don't we?

Kelly: Well, it's next Wednesday, so yes.

Simon: I thought it was Thursday.

Kelly: No that's the other group. We're doing ours the day before. I've just seen Fiona. She's going to be a bit late so shall we just get started?

Simon: Yes, fine. We're definitely doing it on women in education, aren't we? I know we talked about women in politics but are we going for education?

Kelly: Yes, that's right. Now it's not too long is it, the presentation? They said to keep it to about half an hour. Maybe we can sort out who's doing what today.

Simon: Yes, good idea. One thing we do need to sort out is a projector and laptop. We're going to use PowerPoint or something like that for the talk, aren't we?

Kelly: Yes. They said we could book a projector and laptop from technical services if we needed them. Because it's not in the lecture theatre, is it? I know there's already one set up in there but ...

Simon: No, the lecture theatre was booked. We're in the seminar room.

Kelly: Okay. So what's the next step? We need to work out who's doing what, don't we?

Simon: Well, we all know the subject, seeing as our last essay was on this topic.

Kelly: Yes, but we can't just stand up and ramble on; it'll need to be structured. I've got an idea. Fiona's essay was brilliant, wasn't it? Why don't we base the talk on that? We can always add bits here and there if we think it needs padding out anywhere.

Simon: That's a good idea. Shall we ask her to get a copy of it for both of us?

Kelly: Yes, I'm sure she won't mind. We can always let everyone know at the start of the presentation that it's Fiona's work. But we don't want to just read it out. That'll be really boring. It's probably best to make notes from it so that we can improvise a bit on the day.

Simon: Why don't we break the essay down into sections and the three of us can each take on one section. We can all make notes on our own part and add to it where we think it needs it. That way we can try to make it our own.

Kelly: Yes, I like it. So let's ask Fiona to start the talk off and bring it to a close. She can take on the introduction and conclusion. I know she divided the essay into the situation for woman in the past and then compared it to how things are now. So why don't I take the bit on the past and you talk about the situation for women as it is now?

Simon: Okay. If we give ourselves till the weekend to work on it we can get together on Saturday to see how it's looking. Now what about the presentation itself? Someone will need to build that and find images. We don't just want to fill each slide with a load of text, do we?

Kelly: No we don't. Before I forget, I can sort out the laptop and projector. I've got to go down to technical services to get them to have a look at my laptop. They reckon they can get it to run a bit faster. But the presentation ... who's good with computers? Do you fancy having a go?

Simon: I don't mind. But I'll wait until we've met up on Saturday just to make sure we've all got our notes.

Kelly: We'll need images, won't we? Shall we all search for our own to fit our section of the talk?

Simon: Yes, and then if you and Fiona email them to me I'll add them to the presentation.

Kelly: Right, that was easy wasn't it? And look, here comes Fiona. Let's ask her about her essay.

Tanya: Hi everyone. Today Mark has come in to talk to you about time management strategies. If you remember, in the introductory session I told you the difference it can make to your studies so this is an incredibly important session. Thanks Mark.

Mark: Hello. Yes, I'm Mark. I lecture over in the Business School but I have a bit of a reputation for being rather evangelical about time management and I'm often invited in to other courses to talk about it. So here I am!

You've now come to the end of your first week at university and you've probably noticed how different it is from school or college. For some people this step up comes very naturally but, in our experience, many students find this new regime a challenge. People aren't watching over you anywhere near as much and you're expected to be far more responsible for your own learning. Research I've carried out shows that 65% of male students have poor time management skills. It's not quite so high for females but still a majority of 55% would benefit from developing these skills. Students who don't will see their grades and general progress suffer as deadlines are missed or work gets rushed, with a decline in the quality of work as a result.

In a nutshell, you need to be aware of the big picture, to know what's coming down the line at any given time and what needs prioritising. Start by creating that big picture, using our yearly academic planner. And don't hide it away in a drawer somewhere. Give it pride of place somewhere like on the bedroom wall so you'll have daily reminders of what's approaching. During this first week you'll have been given seminar and lecture times, essay deadlines, exams dates and so on. Add these dates to your planner and add any new deadlines such as seminar presentations or tutorial dates as you get them. Those important non-academic occasions shouldn't be ignored either. Trips back home for family celebrations need to be factored in.

Looking at your planner, the first thing that will strike you is how much time you have on your hands. Just a few seminars here and there, a couple of lectures on Tuesday and Thursday. Easy, you think. But this is very misleading indeed. Your planner only looks empty because it doesn't show all that essential self-study you'll need to do. And as there's no-one else structuring this time for you you'll need to manage this yourself. You don't want to waste those hours between lectures or seminars in the café. Use this time to read through your lecture notes, prepare for the next seminar or do some research for that next assignment. Essentially, structure your days on a 9–5 basis as if you were a full-time employee and start to calculate how you're going to fill those gaps efficiently.

Start by considering how you're going to meet all these deadlines. If there are any cooks amongst you you'll know that putting a nice meal on the table requires more than just ... well, cooking. You need to research the ingredients, buy them, chop, slice, mix and so on. Cooking itself is a long way into the process. It's the same with that essay you have to write or that presentation you might have to make. They need careful planning beforehand and that time needs to be built into your preparation. Start prioritising what needs doing and when. Download our monthly and weekly planners to help you map it all out.

And here's an important point: when you're planning what to do, be task-orientated rather than time-orientated and set achievable goals. 'Finding images for a presentation' for example, is measurable. Simply writing 'research 10 a.m.–11 a.m.' isn't. This task-orientated approach will be immensely helpful, forcing you to break your preparation down into individual, achievable steps.

Try to assess when busy periods are likely to occur such as the week leading up to an assignment deadline. Are there any evenings during the week you could put aside for extra work? And, just as importantly, make a note of any times you won't want to be working. You'll need time for you, sessions in the gym, evenings when your favourite programmes are on TV. Don't forget to schedule in time for non-academic activities like going shopping or doing the laundry. It's best to have a fixed time each week for jobs like these so they don't interfere with your academic work.

Finally, decide where you're going to do your self-study. Will you be distracted by the TV, the Internet or friends if you stay in your room? Perhaps the library will be a better place. Anywhere that encourages you to prevaricate should be avoided at all costs.

Starting with the big picture and then working towards individual goals will leave you feeling in control rather than being pulled here and there, firefighting as the next deadline looms ...