IELTS Listening Practice Test — March 2026 Test 5

==================== IELTS Listening Transcript ==================== PART 1 Speaker 0: You will hear a number of different recordings, and you will have to answer questions on what you hear. There will be time for 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 four parts. Write all your answers in the listening question booklet. At the end of the test, you will be given ten minutes to transfer your answers to an answer sheet. Now turn to part one on page two of your question booklet. Part one. You will hear a telephone conversation between a man who wants to join an amateur dramatic society and the society secretary. First, you have some time to look at questions one to five. Now listen carefully and answer questions one to five. Speaker 1: Hello. How can I help you? Speaker 2: Hi. I've just moved to the area and saw an advertisement for your drama society, so I'm calling to find out some more details. Speaker 1: Sure. I'm the society secretary. My name's Jane Caulfield. Speaker 2: Thanks. Can you tell me exactly where the society is based? Speaker 1: Well, the address for the society is my address, which is 117 Green Road, like the color, and that's in Prestwin. But that's just the mailing address. It's not where we actually rehearse. We do that at the clubhouse in Wynn. It's behind the playing fields. It used to be a cricket club, you see. Speaker 2: Oh, right. Speaker 1: So is this a new interest, or do you have some acting experience? It doesn't matter if you haven't, you know. Experience isn't a requirement. Speaker 2: Well, that's good because I haven't got any. But I am musical, and I've got some experience of song festivals. Speaker 1: Oh, that's great. We're always looking for actors and singers, of course, especially male ones. Oh, by the way, do you have a car? Speaker 2: Yes. Why? Speaker 1: It's a big help if you're able to drive. Not all our members have access to transport, so it's very helpful. Speaker 2: I see. Well, I'm sure I can help out there. So when do you actually meet? Speaker 1: On Tuesday from six till 8 PM. Speaker 2: Sorry. You said Tuesday, not Thursday? Speaker 1: Yes. Speaker 2: Good. Thursdays are a problem for me. I do some private tutoring and can't move that. Speaker 1: Right. Speaker 2: And that's all year. No breaks. Speaker 1: Good point. We do close for a couple of weeks, you know, in August, so we don't get together then. Speaker 0: Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions six to 10. Now listen and answer questions six to 10. Speaker 2: And is there a joining fee? Speaker 1: To be a member costs just £40. Speaker 2: A year? Speaker 1: Yes. And that covers our annual dinner. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 1: But there's a rate for concessions, which are for people 60 and the unemployed. Speaker 2: I've just retired, so that's good news. What's the discount? Speaker 1: It was 10%, but now it's more. You pay just £25, which is a reduction of £15. Speaker 2: Every little helps after all, especially with a teenage son. Actually, I wanted to ask if there's an age limit. Could Jack come along too? He's 15. Speaker 1: Actually, we have a special youth group, and that's open to anyone up to and including 16 years old. So he could join that. Speaker 2: Great. Keep him out of trouble. And what about the shows you put on? You said you were very busy. Do you have plays, etcetera, every year, or how does it work? Speaker 1: Well, we put on at least two productions a year. Occasionally, we might do Shakespeare, but normally, we choose works by modern playwrights. Speaker 2: Sounds quite varied and challenging. And you rehearse for the two productions when you meet up? Speaker 1: Certainly. But that's not all we do. We also write our own family show each winter for the December holidays, which is always a lot of fun and is actually very popular in the local community. We donate the money we make to the children's hospital here. Speaker 2: Well, oh, that sounds very nice. I've been involved in charity work. Speaker 0: That is the end of part one. You now have one minute to check your answers to part one. PART 2 Speaker 3: Section two. You will hear a guide talking to a group of visitors in a garden. First, you'll have some time to look at questions 11 to 14. Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 14. Speaker 4: Hello. Welcome to Pine Garden. My name is Manuel, and I'd like to tell you a few things about our establishment before you all wander off and begin your exploration of the grounds. I know you're keen to begin, so I'll try to keep this short. First of all, I'd like to explain what you can do with your ticket. If you want to be closer to nature, you could visit our planting area. In that area, visitors can plant small flowers and bulbs that will grow and become part of the garden. The planting activity is completely free. However, if you have sensitive hands, you'll need to purchase garden gloves to protect your skin. Here at Pine Garden, we sell a number of wooden goods carved from trees that have been felled in our very own pine forest. If you feel like getting involved and having a go yourself, you can join one of our bush timbering lessons free of charge, where you'll be able to make your own keyring under the supervision of a skilled craftsman. The most popular attraction in the garden is our aviary, where you can observe a whole range of bird species. Entry to this section is free, but you have to pay a small supplement in order to enter the hummingbird section. Also, the insect hut not far from it may arouse your interest. There you can find some interesting insects such as butterflies, pocket ladybugs, dragonflies, and so on, and there's no extra charge for that. Unfortunately, there are some areas that are temporarily off limits to visitors today, for example, the gift shop that closed earlier this year and won't be open for another month or so. As I mentioned before, however, you're free to visit our restaurant for food and snacks. And if you're looking to purchase a gift, why not buy that special someone a potted bush or orchid from our plant care center? And our new Treetop Cafe is under construction, which will be very impressive when it's finished. In fact, the Moral Town's already opened ahead of schedule, and it's attracting a lot of people. Now, our tourist office is normally available to provide tourists with a variety of help. However, the officer is sick at home today. Please do not let this discourage you from visiting these as they provide quite an experience. Speaker 3: Before you hear the rest of the talk, you'll have some time to look at questions 15 to 20. Now listen and answer questions 15 to 20. Speaker 4: I also would like to introduce you to our plant specialists who are responsible for the wonderful plant displays here at Pine Garden. And Missus Mary is one of our experts, and she is personally responsible for our beautiful display of plants that are all found growing naturally in the local area. Mr Burson has the difficult task of growing varieties of plants that are suited to much drier and hotter climates than ours, which means we do not have to store water on-site. If you visit the glass house, you'll be able to see many plants that he has managed to cultivate without the need for rain or irrigation. Mister Smith is responsible for the produce that you can eat in our restaurant, which ranges from varieties that grow under the ground to those that grow on trees and bushes. Now, Mister Nooni here is our expert on the most commonly growing plant in the world, grass. You may have noticed how beautifully green and lush our grounds are, thanks to his specialist knowledge. Mr Scanlon ensures that our soil is full of nutrients, so that the natural habitat is supported and encouraged. He does this by fertilizing the earth with a special formula of his own creation. Finally, I would like to introduce you all to Doctor Mandelson. He is the manager of our landscaping team and works closely with our other experts to ensure that everyone works together to create a landscape that is both beautiful and sustainable. Well, that just about rounds it up. Now if anyone has any questions... Speaker 3: That is the end of section two. You now have half a minute to check your answers. PART 3 Speaker 0: Part three. You will hear two teachers called Andrew and Sarah discussing how to prepare students for a geology field trip. First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 25. Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 25. Speaker 6: Hi, Sarah. It's great that we've got some free time this afternoon to decide what advice to give when we talk to the students on the geology field trip to Iceland. Speaker 5: Hi, Andrew. Yes. I've already jotted down a few ideas about the issues that come up on these trips. Speaker 6: We should include something about existing rules and laws that apply, like the country code. Or the mountain code? Speaker 5: Yes. The country code's mainly just common sense. So let's include the mountain one. That's what they need to know about for geology. Speaker 6: Then there are similar guidelines for caving, but they won't need those in the part of Iceland we're going to. Speaker 5: Okay. Speaker 6: Right. Let's think about when they're on-site and looking after the environment. I don't mean not dropping litter, that's obvious, or like closing gates. But what about not scaring birds or damaging rare plant life? Actually, what I think happens is that they all become so focused on what they're doing that they forget about other things around them. It's not intentional damage. Speaker 5: And we have to include something about collecting samples. Speaker 6: That's vital for geology students. Speaker 5: Yeah. There's quite a list of rules about that. For example, only take minute samples and only if necessary. Speaker 6: Yes. That's the golden rule. That has to come first, and then, I guess, never take a fossil away from the area. And when you do disturb an area to take a sample, make sure you leave it as you found it. Speaker 5: Okay. Speaker 6: And there's something we still have to find out about. Isn't there something about how you can never take a sample from a wall? Speaker 5: You mean a man-made wall or something like a natural rock face? Speaker 6: A wall, like of a building. Speaker 5: Don't you just have to get permission from the owner? But I'm not sure, to be honest, so we need to check that. Another really important thing is advice on safety, especially as a lot of our trips are along the coast. Speaker 6: Yes. Well, you can usually hear if any large boulders start to tumble down a cliff. And you realize you're on soft sand when you start sinking. But when people are working on the seashore, they often fail to notice that the tides come in, and they're cut off by water. That's what we should make a point about. Speaker 5: Okay. Speaker 0: Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at questions 26 to 30. Now listen and answer questions 26 to 30. Speaker 5: Before we do anything else, could we just talk about the reading packs we put together for the students to read before they go on the field trip to Iceland? Speaker 6: Absolutely. They'll need to do most of the reading beforehand because there won't be time while we're away, and there's a lot of technical data. That's certainly the case in the pack called Geothermal Fields. Does that cover industrial uses of geothermal energy? Speaker 5: No. It deals with harnessing the heat generated from the earth in geothermal areas to grow vegetables for local consumption. They'll need to understand the geological characteristics that make this possible. Speaker 6: Right. Speaker 5: The reading pack called The Hot Spot will help them understand how Iceland differs from other islands formed at the same time, like Bermuda and the Canary Islands. It's the existence of the hot spot that explains the rock formations of this island, and makes it unlike any of the others. Speaker 6: Now I definitely think they should read the pack about glaciers. They need to be aware that although the ice in glaciers up in the mountains can stay frozen for thousands of years, if anything happens to make the glaciers melt suddenly, the water produced pours down the valleys, and it can mean that whole villages suddenly have to be evacuated. Speaker 5: Right. Then the Basalt Rock pack shows how Iceland's landscape, like many other islands, has been moulded over millions of years by lava flows from volcanic eruptions, especially the area in the Northwest of the island. Speaker 6: And lastly, reading about Geothermal Power Plants will inform them of Iceland's plan to stop using energy derived from carbon in the future. Heating and electricity will come from sustainable sources, which won't cause any pollution. Speaker 5: I think that'll be all the reading they'll have time for. Speaker 0: That is the end of part three. You now have thirty seconds to check your answers to part three. PART 4 Speaker 7: Section four. You will hear part of a presentation on recent crocodile research in Australia. First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40. Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40. Speaker 8: Hello, everybody. I've just arrived back from my field trip, and Professor Martin has asked me to tell you about it today in our research forum. As many of you know already, my dissertation relates to crocodile behavior. My specialty is the saltwater crocodile, which is much larger than the freshwater crocodile. I've just come back from the Northern Territory where I've been part of a groundbreaking study observing crocodile movements. It's not the only time crocodile movements have been followed, but this study is unique because we tracked crocodiles using a satellite. Up until now, studies like this one have only been able to track crocodile movements using radio. Not only was this method more stressful for the animal, which had to be caught several times, but it was also not very reliable as the signal was often lost. So you might be wondering why we chose to track crocodiles. Well, crocodile attacks on people and livestock are rare. But when they do happen, the government believes that the problem crocodile should be relocated rather than killed. But can we be sure that the crocodile won't simply return to the place where it came from? So, we designed a study to try to answer these questions. We wanted to establish, firstly, how far crocodiles can travel over a period of time. The second thing that we wanted to know was how easy is it for crocodiles to navigate. Could they find their own way home again if they were moved to another location? Of course, the biggest challenge when observing crocodiles is that they are very secretive animals. They stay well away from people if they can, which makes them really difficult to follow. I'll give you some information about the design of the study now. There were three crocodiles in our study, all from the Northern Territory and measuring between three and four and a half meters in length. The crocodiles were captured, measured and tagged, and then taken by helicopter to new locations up to 400 kilometers away from where they were found. We were then able to use the tracking data to monitor their movements. We used a specially designed transmitter which we attached to each animal's head. The transmitter collected the data and relayed it back to us. The results of our study were quite astounding. After they were released, each crocodile remained in the release site for some weeks, making random movements around the site each day. But then, they each swam home, traveling by the most direct route. These crocodiles showed remarkable navigational skills and stamina to swim such long voyages. So what conclusions did we draw from this? Well, we proved that crocodiles are clearly capable of making marathon swims to find their way home. This meant that the current policy should be reconsidered. You might be wondering how the crocodiles managed to get home. We concluded that they used factors such as sight and smell, as well as their position to the sun to point their way. It's a little known fact that crocodiles are more closely related to birds than they are to any other reptile, so we believe it's possible that they use the same system to negotiate long journeys. Now that the study has been completed... Speaker 7: That is the end of section four. You now have half a minute to check your answers.