Buckingham Palace listening IELTS

You will hear a number o f different recordings and you will have to answer questions on what you hear. There will be time fo r you to read the instructions and questions and you will have a chance to check your work. All the recordings will be played once only.

The test is in 4 sections. At the end of the test you will be given 10 minutes to transfer your answers to an answer sheet.

Now turn to section 1.

SECTION1

You will hear a conversation between Thomas and Nadia who are waiting at the airport. First you have some time to look at questions 1 to 5.

You will see that there is an example that has been done for you. On this occasion only the conversation relating to this will be played first.

THOMAS: Where have you been, Nadia?

NADIA: Browsing in the bookshop.

THOMAS: What took you so long? You said you were only going to be away 5 minutes.

NADIA: I was only gone for a quarter of an hour.

Nadia said she was away fo r a quarter o f an hour so the correct answer is B, fifteen minutes. Now we shall begin. You should answer the questions as you listen because you will not hear the recording a second time. Listen carefully and answer questions 1 to 5.

THOMAS: Where have you been, Nadia?

NADIA: Browsing in the bookshop.

THOMAS: What took you so long? You said you were only going to be away 5 minutes.

NADIA: I was only gone for a quarter of an hour.

THOMAS: Well, it seemed much longer than that. Did you buy anything?

NADIA: I was tempted to get the latest novel by Dan Brown but its quite heavy and Id have to carry it around with me. If I could have found a crossword puzzle book, Id have bought it; but in the end I was attracted to a front-page article in todays issue of the New York Times.

THOMAS: Is that all you bought then?

NADIA: Yes. Look, why dont you read the business section while I catch up on the news and then we can swap.

THOMAS: Id rather have the entertainment section.

NADIA: Are you looking for anything in particular?

THOMAS: I just thought they might have a review in there of that new play that opened on Broadway yesterday.

NADIA: The drama about that awfully cruel pừate?

THOMAS: Oh, Id forgotten about that, mmm, I wonder how good it is...actually I was thinking of the new comedy...the one about..the physician.

NADIA: Doctor Hunter.

THOMAS: Thats the one.

NADIA: Well, when I was in the bookshop I overheard a couple talking about it and they said it was fantastic not in the least bit boring. They especially liked the actor who played the main partvery smooth, apparently.

THOMAS: Lots of fun, then?

NADIA: Well, according to those two they thought it was hilarious.

THOMAS: Ooh, well have to make a point of seeing it when we get back.

NADIA: Definitely.

THOMAS: We didnt have time for breakfast and Im hungry. Do you fancy a coffee and a muffin?

NADIA: Sounds like a good idea.

THOMAS: And how will you have your coffee today? Long and black as usual?

NADIA: I think I might have something different this morning.

THOMAS: What? You dont mean a flat white or some other milky one?

NADIA: Oh, I dont know, I want something to perk me up.

THOMAS: An espresso? Short and black with sugar?

NADIA: Perfect!

THOMAS: Will that be with a chocolate muffin or a berry muffin?

NADIA: TH try to stay off chocolatedie berry sounds healthier.

THOMAS: And Ill have a plain one with butter. Wont be long...

Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 6 to 10.

Now listen and answer questions 6 to 10.

THOMAS: Here you are. Mind the coffee, its really hot.

NADIA: Thank you. Im really ready for this.

THOMAS: Have you thought about what we should see when we get to London?

NADIA: The Tower, of course. Ive always wanted to get a look at the Crown Jewels. That is where they keep the jewels, isnt it?

THOMAS: I think so. And, what about the Wheel? I hear its quite extraordinary.

NADIA: Im not that keen on the wheel. Do you want to ride on it?

THOMAS: No way.

NADIA: Well, lets leave it out of the itinerary then.

THOMAS: Okay. So, do we do the Tower first?

NADIA: Yes, thats the idea. And then we absolutely have to go to Westminster.

THOMAS: Really?

NADIA: Yes. Look, its not going to cost US anything and I promised my sister Id take photos there.

THOMAS:

NADIA:

Well, if you insist.

I do. Oh, did you know the British Museum is free to the public? Not just residents but tourists as well?

THOMAS: Well, I did know that but I was hoping we wouldnt have to spend time in any museumsweve only got three days in all and itll take at least one whole day to go through the museum.

NADIA: Well, lets say we leave it till day three and see how you feel then?

THOMAS: Okay, I cant argue with that.

NADIA: And Buckingham Palace?

THOMAS: I suppose youve promised lots of photos of that as well, have you?

NADIA: Well, no, not really, but we cant say weve been to London and havent seen the Queens palace!

THOMAS:

NADIA:

I guess not and theres the added benefit that it wont cost anything as well.

Oh, Thomas. Its not that Im afraid of spending money; its just that I want to see all the traditional sights first.

THOMAS: Good. Im glad thats sorted. Listen, I think they just called our flight.

That is the end of section 1. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

Now turn to section 2.

SECTION2

You will hear a tour guide talking to a group of visitors at a museum. First you have some time to look at questions 11 to 15.

Listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 15.

Welcome to the museum. Before we go inside, Id like to remind you of one or two things. Firstly, you'll be pleased to know that admission is free to all visitors so explore at your leisure and, if you cant take it all in today, you can come back again and again without any charge at all. Opening hours are from 10 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. most days but the museum

closes a little later on Thursday and Friday evenings. There are new multimedia guides available in 10 languagesthey can be picked up from the desk in the covered courtyard for four pounds fifty and you can have it with you all dayfrom opening time in the morning until half an hour before closingbut you will need to produce IDa passport, drivers licence or national identity card are all acceptable. These multimedia guides have audio commentary as well as images and an interactive map for easy navigation. Theyre simple to operate and you will get a more detailed insight into many of the objects in the various galleries.

As a security measure, apart from your camera and a purse, wallet or small handbag, your other belongings such as large bags, coats and umbrellas will have to be left at the cloakroom. Please note that the museum has recently revised the regulations for the size of bags and parcels that it will accept in its cloakrooms. I think the maximum size is 40 by 40 by 50 centimetres with a maximum weight of 8 kilograms. The only exception to this is prams and pushchaừs. There is a charge of one pound per item. The main cloakroom is to the left of the main entrance and there is another one at the north entrance.

It may seem obvious but may I remind you also that you should set your mobile phone to silent or turn it off altogether while you are in the museum and not carry or consume any food or drink in the exhibition halls. If you are hungry, there is an excellent restaurant where you can purchase a light lunch or a full meal. If its just a hot beverage you want, then I can recommend taking a break at the Gallery Café.

Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 16 to 20.

Now listen and answer questions 16 to 20.

As we enter the museum from the south by going through the main entrance, as I said before, youll find the cloakroom immediately on your left and on your right is the museum shop. They have an outstanding range of postcards and souvenirs in there and its well worth a visit but perhaps best left till youre on your way out. Then youll know exactly what you want. The big room to the right of the entrance behind the shop is the reference library.

Straight ahead of you, yes, the huge cừcular room, is the main reading room. If you decide to go in there, please keep noise to a minimum out of respect for the writers and scholars who use it for theứ research. The reading room is surrounded by what is known as the Great Courtindeed, it used to be an open courtyardbut you will see that it is now completely covered by a magnificent glass and steel structure.

If you walk around the Great Court in a clockwise dừection, on the west side, youll see the entrance to the long hall of Ancient Egypt which has an amazing collection of Egyptian antiquities. The gallery behind the reading room [dữectly opposite the entrance] is devoted to China and Southeast Asia. Here youll see Chinese civilization explored chronologically from the Neolithic period through to the twenty-first century. The restrooms for both men and women are located in the northeast comer of this floor but dont worry; there are others available on the floors above. Another huge gallery extends along the eastern side of the courtyard and this is given over to Greece and Romethe sculptures in this section are absolutely spellbinding.

Take your time looking at all the exhibits and when youre ready to view whats on the next floor, take the magnificent marble staircase by the entrance.

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

Now turn to section 3.

SECTION3

You will hear a conversation between a lecturer and a psychology student asking fo r advice about research methods. First you have some time to look at questions 21 to 25.

Listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 25.

LECTURER: Good morning. Now, what is it you want to discuss today?

STUDENT: Good morning, Dr Reed. This assignment youve given US is the first psychology experiment Ive had to do and Im not sure where to begin or which steps to take.

LECTURER: Well, conducting your first psychology experiment can be quite a complicated and confusing process but just remember that like other sciences, psychology uses the scientific method and bases its conclusions upon empirical evidence.

STUDENT: What do you mean by empirical evidence?

LECTURER: Ah, well, empirical evidence is established by observation rather than theory.

STUDENT: And the scientific method?

LECTURER: Oh, yes, when conducting an experiment you need to follow a few basic steps.

STUDENT: I know the first step is to come up with a research question or problem.

LECTURER: Yes, a question that can be tested.

STUDENT: How do I find an appropriate question?

LECTURER: I would suggest one of three methods. Firstly, you can investigate a commonly held belief or what we call folk psychology.

STUDENT: I see. So, I could examine the belief that staying up all night to study for an important exam can adversely affect test performance?

LECTURER: Thats right. In that case you would compare the scores of students who stayed up all night with those of students who got a good nights sleep.

STUDENT: I think I could do that.

LECTURER: Well, alternatively, you might want to consider reviewing the literature on psychology. You know, published studies can be a good source of unanswered research questions. Im sure youve read papers where the authors note the need for further research.

STUDENT: So I would come up with some questions that remain unanswered?

LECTURER: Correct. But there is a third source of ideas: just think about everyday problems and then consider how you could investigate potential solutions.

STUDENT: Okay...perhaps I could study various memorisation strategies to find out which are the most effective.

LECTURER: Thats the idea. Next, you need to define the variablesyou know, anything that might have an effect on the outcome of your research.

STUDENT: Yes, I remember we learnt about that last week.

LECTURER: Yes. Thats right. Then you have to develop a testable hypothesis that predicts how the variables are related.

STUDENT: For example: Students who are sleep deprived will perform worse in an exam than students who are not sleep deprived?

LECTURER: Exactly. Once you have developed a hypothesis you must carry out background research.

STUDENT: I can use books, journals, online databases and websites?

LECTURER: Yes, all of those. I covered the reasons for background research in last Fridays lecture, didnt I? What you have to remember at this stage is to take careful notes and generate a bibliography of your sources.

Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 26 to 30.

Now listen and answer questions 26 to 30.

STUDENT: Okay, Ive got that...then, Im ready to develop an experimental design?

LECTURER: Well, again you have a choice. There are three basic designs and each has its own strengths and weaknesses. The pre-experimental design does not include a control group so there is no comparison.

What we call a quasi-experimental design does incorporate a control group but there is no randomisation whereas a true experimental design has both control groups and random assignment to groups.

STUDENT: Youve also told US about standardisation of proceduresis this where that comes in?being sure to compare apples to apples...

LECTURER: Absolutely. Going back to your sleep deprivation example...the same exam would have to be given to each participant in the same way at the same time, etcetera.

STUDENT: Got it.

LECTURER: When selecting subjects, you need to consider different techniques. If you were to go through with your sleep deprivation experiment, you would need to ensure that your experimental and control groups were standardised, that is, all third year accounting students, for instance. A simple random sample involves choosing a number of participants from a group of similar people. On the other hand, a different kind of study might involve a stratified random sample where participants are randomly chosen from different subsets of the population.

STUDENT: You mean...subsets with distinctive characteristics...like age, gender, race, socioeconomic status and so on.

LECTURER: Precisely. Then the next step is to actually conduct the experiment and collect the data.

STUDENT: Then I have to analyse the data.

LECTURER: Ill be dealing with the statistical methods for analysing data in next weeks lecture.

STUDENT; Oh good. I guess all thats left then is to write up the data?

LECTURER: Yes, communicating your results is important and in the next couple of lectures Ill be covering the format and structure of a psychology paper and tips for writing each section.

STUDENT: Thank you, Dr Reed. I feel much more confident in getting started now. Thank you for taking the time to see me.

That is the end of section 3. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

Now turn to section 4.

SECTION4

You will hear a lecture on the production and trade of rice. First you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40.

Listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40.

Good morning and welcome to our inaugural lecture on Agricultural Economics. Todays topic is the worlds production and trade of rice.

As you are all well aware rice is the staple ingredient in the diet of much of the worlds population. Its importance as a food cereal in the human diet cannot be underestimated. In fact, its a close second to wheatabout 560 million metric tons of rice is grown each year compared with about 600 million metric tons of wheat. Coarse grains, such as com, sorghum, barley, oats, rye, and millet mostly go into animal feed which, by the way, is seen by many as a wasteful and inefficient use of fertile land because around 4 kilos of grain is needed to produce about half a kilo of beef. Some 900 million metric tons of coarse grains are grown annually worldwide and a further 300 million metric tons of grain is produced for the oil in its seeds...Now, Ill return to the subject of rice production...

What do we know about rice production? Well, firstly, rice produces more food energy per hectare than any other cereal grain and almost as much protein per hectare as wheat. Secondly, the production of rice has more than doubled in the last 40 years. How has this increase in production come about? Mainly as a result of improved field yieldsthe actual land area planted in rice has only risen by about 30 %. As you know, rice is primarily grown in flooded fields and therefore cultivation area is restricted by the sort of soil and the availability of water.

Although rice can be grown on dry landit is essentially after all a type of grassthe yields and quality in this case are much lower and other grasses and weeds can easily overtake the rice. As yet there are no herbicides that can selectively kill other grass types without killing the rice. Much of the worlds rice is still grown and cultivated by hand because for mechanized farming the land must be able to be drained and hold heavy equipment.

Of the total rice production, it's no surprise to learn that the greatest proportion by far is grown and consumed in Asia.

You will see from the chart that the leading producers of rice are China at around 39% followed by India with a quarter of the total. Indonesia produces almost one tenth and other countries, like Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and Brazil, grow another 25almost 26percent of the total.

As I said before, most rice is consumed in the countries where it is grown. That means that very little rice is actually traded and for this reason the market price is very volatile.

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

That is the end of the listening test. You now have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the listening answer sheet.