IELTS Practice Test Plus 3 Academic Listening Test 1 (Online Test)

The following is the transcription for the provided audio file:

**Narrator:** Test 1, Section 2. You will hear a trainer giving a talk to people who want to learn outdoor survival skills. First you have some time to look at questions 11 to 16.

*(Silence while questions are reviewed)*

**Narrator:** Now listen and answer questions 11 to 16.

**Trainer:** Good morning everyone, and welcome to our outdoor survival program. As you know, this week you'll be learning some of the basic information and skills you need to look after yourself independently in the outdoors. These first two days we'll be based here in the classroom and then we'll be taking a camping trip to put into practice some of the things you've learned.

I'm going to start off with the topic of food. And to start with, I'll describe just two methods which we'll be putting into practice at our camp and which make use of natural resources: the steam pit and the bamboo pot. I've got two posters here to make things clearer and I'll start with the steam pit here.

To make this you'll need some dry sticks, some grass, some loose earth and some stones. And for this week only, some matches.

The first thing you do is to dig a shallow pit in the place you've chosen to do your cooking. Let's say about 25 centimeters deep and 30 centimeters wide. Your sticks have to be a bit wider than the pit because you have to put a line of them along the top from one end of the pit to the other. Before setting light to these you take some large stones and arrange them on top. Then you start the fire and wait till the wooden platform burns through and the stones fall into the pit.

At this point brush away any pieces of hot ash from the stones. You can use a handful of grass and then take another stick and push it down into the center of the pit between the stones. After that you cover the whole pit with a thick layer of grass and then you can put your food on it wrapped in more pieces of grass like parcels. Finally cover the whole thing with earth. You have to pad it firmly to seal the pit. Then all you have to do is take the stick out and pour a bit of water into the opening that it leaves. It should take about four hours for your food to cook as it cooks slowly in the steam that's created inside the pit.

**Narrator:** Now you have some time to look at questions 17 to 20.

*(Silence while questions are reviewed)*

**Narrator:** Now listen and answer questions 17 to 20.

**Trainer:** So, simple but effective. The other method you're going to practice this week is the bamboo oven. Now the steam pit is ideal in certain conditions because the heat is below ground level. For example, if there's a strong wind and you're afraid a fire might spread. But when it's safe to have an open fire, you can use the bamboo oven method.

You get a length of bamboo which as you probably know is hollow and consists of a number of individual sections with a wall in between. You use a sharp stick to make a hole in each of the dividing walls apart from the end one. Then you lean the bamboo over a fire with the top propped up by a forked stick and the bottom sitting on the ground.

You pour enough water in the top to fill the bottom section and then light a fire underneath that section to heat the water. Then you put your food inside the top section and the steam coming up the bamboo through the holes you made cooks it.

I'm going to move on now to food itself and talk about some of the wild plants you might cook. I'm going to begin with fungi. That's mushrooms and toadstools. I'm sure you'll be aware that some of these are edible and they're delicious, but some of them are highly poisonous.

Now whether they're poisonous or not, all fungi that you find in the wild should be cooked before eating because that helps to destroy any compounds in them that might be mildly toxic. But be aware that any amount of cooking won't make poisonous varieties any safer to eat. Unless you can definitely identify a fungus, you should never eat it. It's not worth the risk and you need to be really sure because some fungi that are poisonous are very similar in appearance to certain edible varieties. They can easily be mistaken for each other.

So, having said all that, fungi are delicious when they're freshly picked and although they are only moderately nutritious, they do contain minerals which the body needs. I'll move on now to leafy plants which are generally...

**Narrator:** That is the end of section 2. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

**Narrator:** Test 1, Section 3. You will hear a woman called Phoebe, who is training to be a teacher, talking to her tutor called Tony about research she has done in a school. First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 25.

*(Pause)*

**Narrator:** Now listen and answer questions 21 to 25.

**Tony:** So, how did you get on with your school-based research, Phoebe?

**Phoebe:** Well, it was exhausting, but really valuable.

**Tony:** Good. What was the specific focus you chose?

**Phoebe:** My title is "Attitudes towards study among 11 to 12-year-old pupils."

**Tony:** Right, and what made you choose that focus?

**Phoebe:** Well, that’s a bit difficult. Lots of my classmates decided on their focus really early on, mainly on the basis of what they thought would help in their future career, you know, in their first year’s teaching.

**Tony:** So that’s what helped you decide?

**Phoebe:** Actually, it was that I came across a book written by experienced teachers on student attitudes, and that motivated me to go for the topic.

**Tony:** Okay. So what were your research questions or issues?

**Phoebe:** Well, I wanted to look at the way students responded to different teachers, particularly focusing on whether very strict teachers made teenagers less motivated.

**Tony:** And from your research, did you find that was true?

**Phoebe:** No, not from what I saw, you know, from my five days' observation, talking to people and so forth.

**Tony:** Okay. We’ll talk about the actual research methods in a moment, but before that, can you briefly summarize what your most striking findings are?

**Phoebe:** Well, what really amazed me was the significant gender differences. I didn’t set out to focus on that, but I found that boys were much more positive about being at school. Girls were more impatient; they talked a lot about wanting to grow up and leave school.

**Tony:** Very interesting.

**Phoebe:** Yes, it is. From doing the research, it was clear to me that you might start out to focus on one thing, but you pick up lots of unexpected insights.

**Tony:** Right. Did you get any insights into teaching?

**Phoebe:** Yes, certainly. I was doing a lot of observations of the way kids with very different abilities collaborate on certain tasks—you know, help each other. And I began to realize that the lessons were developing in really unexpected ways.

**Tony:** So what conclusion do you draw from that?

**Phoebe:** Well, I know it’s necessary for teachers to prepare lessons carefully, but it’s great if they also allow lessons to go their own ways.

**Tony:** Good point. Now, I’m really pleased to see you doing this—analyzing and drawing conclusions based on data.

**Phoebe:** But surely this isn’t proper data?

**Tony:** Because it’s derived from such small-scale research? Well, as long as you don’t make grand claims for your findings, this data is entirely valid.

**Phoebe:** Hmm.

**Tony:** I like the way you’re already stepping back from the experience and thinking about what you’ve learned about research. Well done.

**Phoebe:** But I know I could have done it better.

**Tony:** As you become more experienced, you’ll find ways to reduce the risk of difficulties.

**Phoebe:** Okay.

**Narrator:** Now you have some time to look at questions 26 to 30.

*(Pause)*

**Narrator:** Now listen and answer questions 26 to 30.

**Tony:** So, let's look in more detail at how you gathered your data. Let's start with lesson observation.

**Phoebe:** Well, it generally went quite smoothly. I chose my focus and designed my checklist. Then teachers allowed me into their classes without any problems, which surprised me. It was afterwards that the grueling work started.

**Tony:** Yeah, it’s very time-consuming, isn’t it? Making sense of, analyzing your observation notes.

**Phoebe:** Absolutely. Much more so than interview data, for example. That was relatively easy to process. Though I wanted to make sure I used a high-quality recorder to make transcription easier, and I had to wait until one became available.

**Tony:** Right. And did you interview some kids as well?

**Phoebe:** In the end, yes. I talked to ten, and they were great. I’d imagined I’d be bored listening to them, but...

**Tony:** So it was easy to concentrate?

**Phoebe:** Sure. One of the teachers was a bit worried about the ethics, you know, whether it was right to interview young pupils, and it took a while for him to agree to let me talk to three of the kids in his class. But he relented in the end.

**Tony:** Good. What other methods did you use?

**Phoebe:** I experimented with questionnaires, but I really regret that now. I decided to share the work with another student, but we had such different agendas it ended up taking twice as long.

**Tony:** That’s a shame. It might be worth you reflecting on ways you might improve on that for future projects.

**Phoebe:** You’re right, yeah.

**Tony:** Okay.

**Phoebe:** And the other thing I did was still photography. I didn’t take as many pictures as I’d hoped to.

**Tony:** Lack of time?

**Phoebe:** It’s pretty easy just snapping away, but I wanted each snap to have a purpose, you know, that would contribute to my research aims, and I found that difficult.

**Tony:** Well, that’s understandable, but remember...

**Narrator:** That is the end of Section 3. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

**Narrator:** Test 1. Section 4. You will hear an environmental studies student giving a presentation about his project on saving an endangered species of plant. Now you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40.

*(Pause)*

**Narrator:** Now listen and answer questions 31 to 40.

**Environmental Studies Student:** For my presentation, I’m going to summarize what I’ve found out about efforts to save one plant species, the juniper bush. It once flourished in Britain and throughout the world’s temperate zones, but over the last few decades has declined considerably. Before I go on to explain the steps being taken to save it in England, let me start by looking at some background information and why the juniper has been so important in cultural as well as ecological terms, historically and in the present day.

Firstly, I want to emphasize the fact that juniper is a very ancient plant. It has been discovered that it was actually amongst the first species of plants to establish itself in Britain in the period following the most recent ice age. And as I say, it has a much valued place in British culture. It was used widely as a fuel during the middle ages, because when burnt, the smoke given off is all but invisible, and so any illicit activities involving fire could go on without being detected—for example, cooking game hunted illegally.

It also has valuable medicinal properties. Particularly during large epidemics, oils were extracted from the juniper wood and sprayed in the air to try to prevent the spread of infection in hospital wards. And these days, perhaps its most well-known use is in cuisine, cooking, where its berries are a much valued ingredient used to flavor a variety of meat dishes and also drinks.

Turning now to ecological issues, juniper bushes play an important role in supporting other living things. If juniper bushes are wiped out, this would radically affect many different insect and also fungus species. We simply cannot afford to let this species die out.

*(Pause)*

**Environmental Studies Student:** So, why is the juniper plant declining at such a rapid rate? Well, a survey conducted in the north and west of Britain in 2004 to 5 showed that a major problem is the fact that in present day populations, ratios between the sexes are unbalanced, and without a proper mix of male and female, bushes don’t get pollinated. Also, the survey found that in a lot of these populations, the plants are the same age. So this means that bushes grow old and start to die at similar times, leading to swift extinction of whole populations.

Now the charity Plantlife is trying to do something to halt the decline in juniper species. It’s currently trying out two new major salvage techniques, this time focusing on lowland regions of England. The first thing it’s trying is to provide shelters for the seedlings in areas where juniper populations are fairly well established. These, of course, are designed to help protect the plants at their most vulnerable stage.

A further measure is that in areas where colonies have all but died out, numbers are being bolstered by the planting of cuttings which have been taken from healthy bushes elsewhere. Now, I hope I’ve given a clear picture of the problems facing this culturally and ecologically valuable plant, and of the measures being taken by Plantlife to tackle them. If anyone has any questions, I’d be happy to...

**Narrator:** That is the end of section 4. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

*(Pause)*

**Narrator:** That is the end of the listening test. You now have ten minutes to transfer your answers to the separate answer sheet.