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Estimated with the standard Listening conversion. Every question below now shows the correct answer and what confirmed it — and the full transcript is open at the bottom so you can trace anything you missed.
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Section 1
A new resident registers at a dental practice and books an appointment · Receptionist, Patient
Questions 1-7
Complete the form below. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
1Surname: ______
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
2Mobile number: 0781 402 ______
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
3Name of insurer: ______
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
4Reason for appointment: ______
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
5Day of appointment: ______
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
6Time of appointment: ______
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
7Patient must bring photo ID and a list of current ______.
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
Questions 8-10
Answer the questions below. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
8Which extra service does the patient decide not to book?
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
9Where should patients park?
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
10How much notice is needed to cancel without paying a charge?
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
Section 2
A council officer explains the town's new cycle-hire scheme · Council Officer
Questions 11-13
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
11What did last year's trial reveal?
12What will happen when the scheme launches next month?
13What does the speaker say about the cost of using the bikes?
Questions 14-17
Where will the following docking stations be? Choose the correct letter, A–F, from the plan description below.
Plan of the town centre — the railway station is on the southern edge; Station Approach leads north into High Street, which ends at the fountain. The market square is halfway up on the east side; the park is on the west side.
A = outside the railway station entrance B = at the northern end of High Street, beside the fountain C = behind the library, on the eastern side of the market square D = by the boathouse, at the far western edge of the park E = at the hospital entrance on the ring road F = by the main gate of the university
- A outside the railway station entrance
- B at the northern end of High Street, beside the fountain
- C behind the library, on the eastern side of the market square
- D by the boathouse, at the far western edge of the park
- E at the hospital entrance on the ring road
- F by the main gate of the university
14Southgate dock
15Priory dock
16Millers dock
17Westfield dock
Questions 18-20
Complete the sentences below. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
18Riders who want one should bring their own ______, as the scheme does not supply them.
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
19To unlock a bike, users must first download the free ______.
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
20Faulty bikes should be reported by pressing the ______ on the docking point.
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
Section 3
Two students discuss their soil-sample lab report with their tutor · Dr Okafor, Martin, Lena
Questions 21-24
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
21What is Dr Okafor's main criticism of the method section?
22Why is the pie-chart format rejected?
23What do the students finally agree to do with the site 9 measurement?
24What does the tutor say the discussion section should do?
Questions 25-27
Who makes each suggestion? Choose A, B or C. NB You may use any letter more than once.
- A Martin
- B Lena
- C Dr Okafor
25replacing the pie charts with a grouped bar chart
26moving the full data tables into an appendix
27taking an extra sample from the woodland
Questions 28-30
Complete the sentences below. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
28Samples were taken from a total of ______ sites.
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
29In the discussion, the high zinc level will be connected to the nearby ______.
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
30The new date for resubmitting the report is ______ May.
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
Section 4
A lecture on how sign languages arise and what they reveal about the brain · Lecturer
Questions 31-40
Complete the notes below. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.
31It is a misconception that sign language is ______; over 140 distinct sign languages exist.
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS
32A gesture system created by a deaf child within one family is called ______.
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS
33In Nicaragua, a new language emerged after deaf children were brought together in ______.
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS
34Each new group of young children made the grammar more ______.
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS
35Village sign languages develop where there is a high rate of inherited ______.
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS
36Signers assign the people they discuss to fixed ______ in the signing space.
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS
37Raised eyebrows are commonly used to mark a ______.
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS
38Imaging shows signing is processed mainly in the brain's left ______.
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS
39After a stroke, signers with sign aphasia can no longer sign grammatically although their hands still ______.
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS
40Deaf babies of signing parents ______ with their hands at the usual babbling age.
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS
Audio script / transcript
Trace every answer back to the exact words. Distractors — changes of mind, corrections, rejected options — are part of the recording, so read the whole exchange, not just one line.
Section 1 — A new resident registers at a dental practice and books an appointment
Receptionist:Good afternoon, Milldale Dental Practice, Grace speaking. How can I help you?
Patient:Oh, hello. We've just moved to the area, and I'd like to register as a new patient — and book a check-up, if that's possible.
Receptionist:Of course. Let me set up your record first. Could I take your full name?
Patient:It's Anita Kowalski.
Receptionist:Kowalski... let me guess the spelling: K-O-V-A-L-S-K-I?
Patient:Almost — it's with a W in the middle, not a V. So K-O-W-A-L-S-K-I.
Receptionist:K-O-W-A-L-S-K-I, thank you. And the best contact number?
Patient:My mobile. It's oh-seven-eight-one, four-oh-two, five-nine-four. Hang on — sorry, that's out of date, we switched providers last month. The last three digits are five-nine-eight now. So oh-seven-eight-one, four-oh-two, five-nine-eight.
Receptionist:Zero seven eight one, four zero two, five nine eight. Lovely. And your address?
Patient:Fourteen Weaver Close — that's here in Milldale, so only five minutes from you.
Receptionist:Very handy. Now, do you have dental insurance, or will you be paying as you go?
Patient:I'm covered through work. The insurer is called Orchid Health.
Receptionist:Orchid Health — we deal with them regularly, so the paperwork's simple. And what's brought you in? Any problems at the moment?
Patient:Nothing urgent. I chipped a front tooth years ago, but it's never actually bothered me. Really it's just a routine check-up — it's been about eighteen months since my last one.
Receptionist:I'll record it as a check-up, then, and Dr Fielding can have a look at the chipped one while you're in the chair. When would suit you?
Patient:Tuesday morning would be ideal — I don't start work until eleven that day.
Receptionist:Ah — Tuesday's no good this week, I'm afraid. Dr Fielding is away at a training course all day, and she's back on Wednesday. On the Wednesday I could offer you two fifteen in the afternoon, or first thing at nine forty-five.
Patient:Two fifteen clashes with the school run, so... let's say nine forty-five.
Receptionist:Wednesday at nine forty-five, booked. Now, as a new patient there are a couple of things to bring. Some photo ID, and — this is the one everybody forgets — a list of any medication you take regularly. That includes vitamins and supplements.
Patient:A medication list, fine. Oh, while I think of it — do you do whitening? My sister had hers done recently and it looks great.
Receptionist:We do, but you'd need an assessment first, so I'd honestly wait until after the check-up. What I can do is add a hygienist appointment on the same morning — that's an extra fifty-five pounds.
Patient:Mm... I'll skip the hygienist for now and see what the dentist recommends.
Receptionist:No problem at all. One practical thing — parking. Please don't use the two bays directly outside the practice; they're reserved for wheelchair users. The library car park behind us is free for two hours, and we can stamp your ticket at the desk.
Patient:The library car park — perfect.
Receptionist:And finally, if you ever need to cancel, we ask for twenty-four hours' notice. Anything less than that and there's a fifteen-pound charge, I'm afraid.
Patient:Twenty-four hours, understood. Thanks so much for your help.
Receptionist:Thank you, Anita. We'll see you on Wednesday.
Section 2 — A council officer explains the town's new cycle-hire scheme
Council Officer:Good evening, everyone. I'm Raj Patel from the council's transport team, and tonight I'll run through Wheelaway, the cycle-hire scheme we're launching across the town centre next month.
Council Officer:First, why are we doing this? When we ran the six-month trial last year, we expected the bikes to be used mainly by tourists pottering along the river. That's not what happened. Nearly two-thirds of all journeys were made by commuters — people riding between the railway station and their workplaces — and that discovery is what convinced the council to fund a full scheme.
Council Officer:Now, let me show you where the docking stations will be, using the map on the screen. You arrive at the railway station, on the southern edge of the town centre. Station Approach leads north from there into High Street, and High Street runs all the way up to the fountain at its northern end. The market square is about halfway along, on the eastern side, and the park lies over on the western side of High Street.
Council Officer:The biggest docking station is Southgate dock — it's right outside the railway station entrance, so you can step off a train and be on a bike in under a minute.
Council Officer:Next, Priory dock. From the station, walk the full length of High Street to its northern end, and you'll find the dock right beside the fountain.
Council Officer:Millers dock is the one that's changed since the consultation. We had planned to put it in the middle of the market square, but traders pointed out that stalls fill the square three days a week, so it's been relocated to the eastern side of the square, behind the library.
Council Officer:And the fourth of the launch sites is Westfield dock. Cross into the park and keep going west to the far edge — the dock sits by the boathouse. In phase two, next year, we'll add stations at the hospital entrance on the ring road and by the main gate of the university, but neither of those exists yet, so don't go looking for them.
Council Officer:A quick word about the bikes themselves. We had hoped to launch with a mixed fleet, including a hundred electric bikes. Unfortunately the e-bikes are stuck in battery safety certification, so they won't arrive until March. At launch, the scheme will run entirely with standard pedal bicycles — the e-bikes will join the fleet in the spring.
Council Officer:Costs, then. The first twenty minutes of every journey are completely free. After that it's one pound per half hour, and if you're a regular there's an annual pass at forty pounds, which waives the half-hour charges entirely.
Council Officer:Three practical points before I finish. We don't supply helmets — hygiene rules make shared helmets impractical — so please bring your own helmet if you want one. To unlock a bike, you'll first need to download the free Wheelaway app and register a payment card; there's no key or smartcard option, I'm afraid. And if you ever find a bike with a problem — brakes, a flat tyre, anything — press the red button on the docking point. That locks the bike out of service and alerts our repair team, usually the same day.
Council Officer:Right — I'm happy to take questions, and there are leaflets with the map by the door.
Section 3 — Two students discuss their soil-sample lab report with their tutor
Dr Okafor:Right, Martin, Lena — I've read the draft of your soil report. There's good work in here, but we need to talk about the method section first. Remind me how many sites you sampled.
Martin:Fifteen, along the transect from the riverbank up to the ridge. Oh — sorry, fourteen. Site eleven was completely waterlogged when we got there, so we never actually took a sample from it.
Dr Okafor:Fourteen, then — put that in the report. My bigger concern is this: as written, nobody could repeat your procedure. You say you took samples 'at depth', but you never state what depth, or whether it was the same at every site.
Lena:It was ten centimetres everywhere — we did follow the protocol, we just... didn't write it down.
Dr Okafor:Then write it down. A method section isn't a diary, it's a set of instructions. Now, the results. Martin, you've presented the mineral composition as pie charts — one per site.
Martin:I thought they looked clear. Each circle shows the proportions at a glance.
Lena:But that's fourteen separate circles. I actually tried to compare the clay fraction across sites and I couldn't do it — your eye can't measure angles. I think a grouped bar chart would let readers compare site by site along one axis.
Dr Okafor:I agree with Lena. Pie charts fail the moment you need comparison, and comparison is the whole point of a transect. Now — site nine. Your zinc reading there is enormous.
Martin:It's right beside the main road, so there'll be contamination from traffic. But I'd keep it in all the calculations — it's a real measurement, we can't just throw away data we don't like.
Lena:I'm not saying delete it. But if it stays in the averages, it drags the mean zinc level up for the whole transect, and the summary table becomes misleading. One site shouldn't be allowed to do that.
Martin:Hmm... when you put it that way — yes, okay. So we report it, but keep it out of the averages.
Dr Okafor:That's the right compromise: exclude site nine from the summary statistics, flag it clearly, and then discuss it. In fact it's the most interesting thing you found — in the discussion, link that zinc spike to the nearby main road rather than just calling it an anomaly. And while we're on the discussion: don't restate the tables in words. Explain the patterns.
Lena:Should the full measurements go in the report itself? It's getting long.
Martin:I'd move the complete data tables into an appendix, and keep only the summary figures in the main text.
Dr Okafor:Good idea, do that. One more thing I'd like before you resubmit: a control. All fourteen sites are on farmed land. Take one extra sample from the woodland above the ridge — untouched ground — so you've got a baseline to compare against.
Lena:Can we get that done in time? The resubmission date is the twelfth of May, and the lab's booked solid next week.
Dr Okafor:I know — the lab delay is why I've already spoken to the office. The deadline has been moved to the nineteenth of May for the whole group. You dried the samples at forty degrees, yes? Keep that identical for the control.
Martin:Forty degrees for twenty-four hours, same as before. That deadline news is a relief.
Dr Okafor:Use the extra week well. Same time next Thursday, and bring the redrawn chart.
Section 4 — A lecture on how sign languages arise and what they reveal about the brain
Lecturer:This week we turn to sign languages — how they come into being, how they work, and what they tell us about the human capacity for language.
Lecturer:Let me clear away the biggest misconception first. Many people assume that sign language is universal — one shared gesture system used by deaf people everywhere. It isn't. There are well over a hundred and forty distinct sign languages, mutually unintelligible just as spoken languages are. British and American signers, despite sharing written English, cannot understand one another's signing. Sign languages were not invented by educators and handed down; each one grew up naturally within a community — which is why they differ.
Lecturer:How does one begin? A deaf child born into a hearing family will typically develop a set of gestures for daily needs — eat, sleep, mother, more. Linguists call this home sign: a system created within a single family. Home sign works, but it stays limited, because a language needs a community to grow in.
Lecturer:Give it that community, and something remarkable happens. The classic case is Nicaragua. Before the nineteen-eighties, deaf Nicaraguan children were scattered, isolated, each with only home sign. Then the government opened new schools for the deaf, and for the first time hundreds of these children were brought together. Within a generation, their pooled gestures had fused into a genuine language — and crucially, it was the youngest children who did the heavy lifting. Each incoming cohort made the grammar more regular: more consistent word order, more systematic verb marking. No adult designed any of it.
Lecturer:Schools are not the only birthplace. In a number of villages — in Bali, in Israel's Negev desert, in Ghana — a high rate of inherited deafness has persisted for generations. In these places a village sign language emerges, and, strikingly, the hearing majority signs too — deafness there is simply not a barrier.
Lecturer:Now, how do these languages actually work? Not by pictures. A signer discussing two absent people will assign each of them a fixed point — the sister on the left, the landlord on the right — and from then on, those locations in the signing space function grammatically: moving the verb 'pay' from one point to the other tells you exactly who paid whom. The grammar is built in space. Facial expression, likewise, is doing grammar, not decoration — people assume the face merely shows emotion, but in most sign languages raised eyebrows systematically mark a question, the way rising pitch does in spoken English.
Lecturer:And this brings us to the brain. Brain imaging shows that fluent signing is handled overwhelmingly by the left hemisphere — the same side that processes speech — even though sign is visual and spatial, which you might expect to favour the right. More telling still: deaf signers who suffer a left-hemisphere stroke can develop sign aphasia. Their hands still move perfectly well, but they can no longer produce grammatical signing. Language has been damaged; the hands have not.
Lecturer:One final observation. Deaf babies raised by signing parents babble with their hands — rhythmic, repeated, meaningless hand shapes, at exactly the age hearing babies babble aloud. The conclusion most linguists draw is that the human brain is built for language itself, and is largely indifferent to whether that language arrives by ear or by eye. Next week: whistled languages.