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IELTS Listening — Practice Test 5

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Section 1 A caller books a room at Fenwick House for a birthday party · Venue Coordinator, Caller

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

2Phone number: 0794 227 ______

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER

3Date of party: ______ November

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER

4Room booked: ______ Room

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER

5Number of guests: ______

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER

6Catering chosen: ______

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER

7Deposit: £ ______

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.

8From what time can the room be decorated?

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER

9What is completely banned inside the building?

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER

10By what time must the music finish?

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER

Section 2 A festival director announces the programme for the Brackenfield Music Festival · Festival Director

Questions 11-13

Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

11What has happened to Saturday's headline act?

A They will now perform on Sunday instead. B They have been replaced by a different act. C Their performance has been cancelled without replacement.

12Who can enter the festival free of charge?

A children under twelve accompanied by a paying adult B all visitors under sixteen C teenagers with a concession card

13What does the speaker say about leaving the site?

A Re-entry is not allowed at any time. B Visitors may leave and return until six pm. C Re-entry is only possible with photo ID.

Questions 14-17

Where are the following located this year? Choose the correct letter, A–F, from the plan description below.

Plan of the festival site — you enter through the main gate on the western side; a broad avenue runs east through the middle of the grounds to the lake at the far end.

A = immediately inside the main gate, on the left B = in the walled garden, north of the avenue C = at the far eastern end of the avenue, on the lakeside D = south of the avenue, directly behind the food court E = in the orchard, in the north-east corner F = beside the camping field, along the southern fence

A immediately inside the main gate, on the left
B in the walled garden, north of the avenue
C at the far eastern end of the avenue, on the lakeside
D south of the avenue, directly behind the food court
E in the orchard, in the north-east corner
F beside the camping field, along the southern fence

14Main Stage

15Acoustic Stage

16Dance Tent

17Kids' Zone

Questions 18-20

Complete the sentences below. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

18At the box office, phone tickets are exchanged for a ______.

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER

19Shuttle buses leave the railway station every ______ minutes.

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER

20Because the site is glass-free, visitors are advised to bring a refillable ______.

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER

Section 4 A lecture on what amber and obsidian reveal about ancient trade routes · Lecturer

Questions 31-40

Complete the notes below. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.

31Obsidian is a natural ______ produced when lava cools very quickly.

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS

32Each volcanic source has a distinctive chemical ______ based on trace elements.

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS

33Identifying where an artefact's raw material came from is called ______.

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS

34Blades from one Anatolian volcano have been found ______ kilometres away.

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS

35Baltic amber is identified by its high level of succinic ______.

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS

36The amount of obsidian found declines steadily with ______ from its source.

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS

37This pattern shows goods were passed between neighbouring ______, not carried by single traders.

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS

38In Mycenaean Greece, Baltic amber occurs almost only in the richest ______.

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS

39Long-distance exchange could not have operated without ______ between communities.

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS

40The movement of objects does not prove the movement of ______.

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 caller books a room at Fenwick House for a birthday party

Venue Coordinator:Fenwick House events, Stephen speaking. What can I do for you?

Caller:Hello — I'm organising my father's sixtieth birthday party, and someone recommended your rooms. Could I check availability and prices?

Venue Coordinator:Of course. Let me open a booking form first. Your name, please?

Caller:Fiona Ogilvie.

Venue Coordinator:Ogilvie... would that be O-G-I-L-V-Y, like the advertising man?

Caller:No, ours ends I-E. So it's O-G-I-L-V-I-E.

Venue Coordinator:O-G-I-L-V-I-E, lovely. And a daytime phone number?

Caller:It's oh-seven-nine-four, two-two-seven, six-eight-one — oh no, wait, I've swapped the ending round, sorry. It finishes six-one-eight. Oh-seven-nine-four, two-two-seven, six-one-eight.

Venue Coordinator:Zero seven nine four, double two seven, six one eight. Right. Now, when's the big day?

Caller:We were hoping for Saturday the eighteenth of November — that's his actual birthday.

Venue Coordinator:Ah. The eighteenth is a problem, I'm afraid — both of our larger rooms are taken by a wedding that whole weekend... the following Saturday, the twenty-fifth, is wide open, though.

Caller:Hmm, a week late... you know what, he'd rather have the party than the date. Let's say the twenty-fifth.

Venue Coordinator:The twenty-fifth of November, provisionally yours. How many guests are we talking about?

Caller:Forty-five, more or less — I'm still waiting on a few cousins.

Venue Coordinator:That number matters for the room. The Garden Room is our prettiest — French windows, view of the lake — but it only holds thirty, so it's out. For forty-five I'd suggest the Terrace Room: it takes up to sixty, and it has its own bar and a small stage.

Caller:Shame about the Garden Room, but yes, the Terrace Room sounds right.

Venue Coordinator:Terrace Room it is. Now, food. We offer a three-course seated dinner at twenty-eight pounds a head, or a hot-and-cold buffet at fourteen.

Caller:Dad would hate anything formal — people should be able to wander about and chat. The buffet, definitely.

Venue Coordinator:Buffet for around forty-five, noted. You can confirm the final numbers up to one week before. To hold the date I'll need a deposit — that's sixty pounds... oh, forgive me, I'm reading last season's sheet. The deposits went up in April; it's eighty pounds now. It comes off your final bill, of course.

Caller:Eighty pounds, fine. Can I pay that now, by card?

Venue Coordinator:You can indeed — we'll do that in a moment. A few practicalities first. The party can start any time from six; your decorating team — which I assume is you and a stepladder — can get in from four pm, so you'll have two clear hours.

Caller:From four, perfect. Can we pin things to the walls?

Venue Coordinator:Use the picture rails and you can hang whatever you like. Two house rules: nothing stuck to the plasterwork, and — the big one — no confetti anywhere in the building. It gets into the ventilation and we're still finding last year's.

Caller:No confetti, understood. And how late can the music go?

Venue Coordinator:The band or DJ has to finish by eleven thirty — we're surrounded by houses, so the council's firm on that. Carriages by midnight, as they say.

Caller:Eleven thirty is fine, they're not exactly night owls. Shall we do that card payment?

Venue Coordinator:Let's. And happy birthday to your father in advance.

Section 2 — A festival director announces the programme for the Brackenfield Music Festival

Festival Director:Hello, Brackenfield! I'm Miriam Cole, festival director, with the programme update you've all been waiting for — plus one big change you'll want to hear about before Saturday.

Festival Director:Let's deal with that change straight away. As you may have read, Saturday's headliners, The Harbour Lights, have had to pull out — their singer is under doctor's orders to rest her voice completely for a month. We did look hard at shifting them to the Sunday, but the medical advice ruled that out too. So instead, we're delighted that Marlowe — yes, that Marlowe — has agreed to step in and close Saturday night. Same stage, same time, and honestly, having heard the rehearsal plans, I don't think anyone will be asking for a refund.

Festival Director:Now, your way around the site. You'll all come in through the main gate, which is on the western side, and from there a broad avenue runs east right through the middle of the grounds, down to the lake at the far end.

Festival Director:The Main Stage is exactly where tradition puts it — at the far eastern end of the avenue, on the lakeside, so the water is behind the stage and the sunset does half the lighting for us.

Festival Director:The Acoustic Stage is the one that's moved this year, so regulars, please listen. It's normally out in the orchard in the north-east corner, but February's storms brought down three of the old apple trees and the ground there still isn't safe. So the Acoustic Stage has been relocated to the walled garden — that's north of the avenue, about halfway along. Honestly, the acoustics in there may even be better. The orchard itself stays open as a quiet picnic area, but there's no music in it this year.

Festival Director:The Dance Tent is south of the avenue, tucked directly behind the food court — follow the smell of noodles and then the bass. And for families, the Kids' Zone is immediately inside the main gate, just to your left as you enter, so you can drop in the moment you arrive. One more landmark: lost property and the first-aid post share the cabin beside the camping field, along the southern fence.

Festival Director:Tickets and rules, quickly. Everything is digital this year: your phone ticket gets exchanged for a wristband at the box office, and after that the wristband is your ticket — if it comes off, come straight to the office with photo ID. Children under twelve come in free, as long as they're with a paying adult; teenagers pay the concession rate, not full price. And a change from last year on re-entry: you can leave and come back as often as you like up to six pm, but after six there's no re-entry at all — so plan your trips to the car accordingly.

Festival Director:Getting here: please don't drive if you can avoid it. Shuttle buses run from the railway station every fifteen minutes from nine in the morning, and the last one back leaves the festival at half past midnight.

Festival Director:Finally — Brackenfield is a glass-free site, and the weekend looks warm, so do bring a refillable water bottle. There are free refill stations at every stage. See you Saturday!

Section 3 — A student discusses her economics essay draft with her tutor

Dr Lindqvist:Come in, Rosa. So — your draft on congestion charging. There's a lot to like: it's clearly written, and your London material is strong. But I want to start with the conclusion, because that's where the problem is.

Rosa:I had a feeling you'd say that. Is it too strong?

Dr Lindqvist:It's broader than your evidence. You conclude that congestion charges reduce traffic in the long term wherever they're introduced — but your essay only examines London and Stockholm. Two wealthy European capitals with excellent public transport. Nothing in your draft entitles you to that 'wherever'.

Rosa:So the argument has a gap... I either need more cases, or a more modest claim.

Dr Lindqvist:Exactly — and given the word limit, I'd narrow the claim. Now, your sources. Most are fine, but you lean heavily on that report from the Drivers' Alliance website.

Rosa:I wondered about that one. The numbers looked so precise.

Dr Lindqvist:Precise, yes — but the Alliance is a motoring lobby group. The report was never peer-reviewed, and it quietly compares the charge zone's worst year with the surrounding area's best. You can't build an academic argument on a source with that kind of vested interest. Drop it.

Rosa:Okay, it goes. I'll replace it with articles from the transport journals — there was a special issue on road pricing last year.

Dr Lindqvist:Good. And Stockholm brings me to a factual slip. You write that the charge was made permanent in two thousand and six.

Rosa:That's right, isn't it? The trial was... oh. No, hang on — I've collapsed two dates. The trial and the referendum were in two thousand and six; it actually became permanent in two thousand and seven. I'll fix that.

Dr Lindqvist:Please do — small errors like that make examiners distrust the big claims. Now, structure. At the moment you give all the theory, then a London chapter, then a Stockholm chapter. What if you organised the second half by theme instead — traffic volumes, public opinion, revenue use — comparing both cities under each heading?

Rosa:Honestly? My first reaction is that it means rewriting practically everything.

Dr Lindqvist:Think about what your question asks. It says 'compare'. With the city-by-city layout, the actual comparing only happens in your head — the reader has to flip back six pages to compare anything.

Rosa:Hmm... that's true — I do keep writing 'as noted above'. All right, you've convinced me. Theme by theme it is. Actually, could I also add Singapore as a third case? It had the first scheme of all, back in 1975.

Dr Lindqvist:I admire the instinct, but no — with your word limit a third city would leave every case shallow. Mention Singapore in one sentence as the pioneer, and keep the depth for your two. What you should add is time: your London data stops five years after the charge began. There are figures for years five to fifteen now — that's what a 'long term' conclusion actually needs.

Rosa:The fifteen-year data, right. That's a fair amount of rework altogether... the deadline's this Friday. Is there any flexibility?

Dr Lindqvist:There is, as it happens. I'm away at an examiners' meeting for the deadline week anyway, so I've extended the whole seminar group to the following Wednesday.

Rosa:Wednesday week — that changes everything, thank you. I'll send the new outline by Monday so you can see the themed structure before I commit.

Dr Lindqvist:Perfect. Outline Monday, essay Wednesday. Off you go.

Section 4 — A lecture on what amber and obsidian reveal about ancient trade routes

Lecturer:Long before writing, before coinage, before roads worth the name, objects were already travelling astonishing distances. Today I want to look at how archaeologists reconstruct those journeys, using our two best tracer materials: obsidian and amber.

Lecturer:Why these two? Because both can be traced to their birthplace. Obsidian is a natural glass, formed when volcanic lava cools too quickly for crystals to grow — and a fresh obsidian blade is sharper than a modern steel scalpel. Crucially for us, it only occurs at a limited number of volcanic sources, and each source has its own chemical fingerprint — a distinctive ratio of trace elements laid down in the rock. Measure that fingerprint in a blade from a dig site, and you know which volcano it came from. Establishing where an artefact's raw material originated is what archaeologists call provenance.

Lecturer:And the results were startling. Blades quarried at a single Anatolian volcano turn up at farming villages nine hundred kilometres away — this, ten thousand years ago, without wheels or pack animals.

Lecturer:Amber tells the same story in the north. Amber is fossilised tree resin, prized everywhere for its colour and its strange warmth to the touch. Baltic amber contains an unusually high level of succinic acid, up to eight per cent, and that signature lets us identify it precisely. So when beads of Baltic amber appear in Mycenaean Greece, two thousand kilometres from the Baltic shore, we know the material made that whole journey.

Lecturer:Now — here is where people leap to the wrong picture. The popular image is a heroic merchant: one trader walking from the Baltic to Greece with a sack of amber. Almost certainly, no such person existed. The evidence points the other way. When you map obsidian finds, the quantity falls off steadily and predictably with distance from the volcano — near the source, obsidian is everywhere; far away, it's a treasured sliver. That smooth decline is exactly what you get when goods pass from hand to hand between neighbouring villages, each keeping some and trading the rest onward. Archaeologists call this down-the-line exchange. The amber moved; the people, mostly, did not.

Lecturer:So what did these networks mean to the societies inside them? First, status. In Mycenaean Greece, Baltic amber is found almost exclusively in the richest graves — the shaft graves of Mycenae itself held hundreds of beads. An object that has crossed a continent carries a story, and elites wore that story as power.

Lecturer:Second — and I think more profoundly — exchange on this scale is impossible without trust. Every handover along the line is a relationship: gifts that oblige a return, marriages that link villages, hospitality owed and repaid. A trade route, in this sense, is not a road; it is a chain of agreements.

Lecturer:And the goods never travelled alone. The same connections that moved amber south and obsidian west also carried ideas — new crops, metalworking techniques, burial customs. Materials are simply the part of the flow that survives for us to dig up.

Lecturer:One caution to close. Provenance tells us where a material began and where it ended; it does not tell us who carried it. The movement of objects is not proof of the movement of people — that is the single most common error in the older literature. Next week: the Uluburun shipwreck.