IELTS LISTENING TEST 6

SECTION 1 You will hear two colleagues, Marcus and Ella, discussing a work project. Marcus: Okay, Ella. As you know, the deadline for this project is the end of the month, so we'd better plan it well. Ella: Yes, I've already been thinking along those lines, and I've decided we should divide this project into three phases: the Pre-phase (Example), then Phase 1, and then Phase 2, with strict deadlines involved for each one. Marcus: Given that we have to finish this quickly, that sounds good. Tell me more. Ella: The Pre-phrase is the simplest. We just need to allocate a space or a place to do our planning, and this space will need to be quite big. Marcus: Sure, and we have to decide on the equipment (Q1) needed as well. Remember the last project, when we didn't have enough projectors to present our ideas? We lost lots of time there. Ella: Yes, that was a bad start. That's why, after the Pre-phase is finished, I've allocated a mere three days for Phase One. Marcus: That will involve drawing the plans. We'll need Jenna to help us. Ella: And Marco. Marcus: Yes, but not Susan. Susan is just far too busy to participate, as much as I'd like her in the team. Ella: Let's just take Fred (Q2) instead. He'll do. Marcus: Sure. Fred's not as experienced as Greg, but I agree, he'll do fine for this job. Ella: Then it's straight into Phase 2, collecting, collating, analysing, and preparing the final report. Marcus: Can we do that in five days? Ella: I think that's optimistic, which is why I scheduled six (Q3). Marcus: That's almost a week! Do we have that much time? Ella: We do, and with the right people, six days should see the job done. Marcus: Who are the people for this phase? Arthur and Rob, right? Ella: No, Arthur's got other things to do, and Rob's on leave, so Mike (Q4) alone will be the main man on this part. He's done it before, so it should be fine. But he may need some help with the smaller tasks. Someone who is good with detail and procedures. Marcus: Hmmm. Peter's not free at the moment, so I can arrange Leo (Q5) to chip in some time and advice. Leo's very useful, particularly under pressure. And that's everything sorted! Well done Ella. This report should certainly be ready in time. Marcus: Okay, Ella, you've done a good job with the basic timeframe of this project, but what about specifics? Ella: What sort of specifics? Marcus: Well, things like information gathering. Are we going to use questionnaires like we did last time? Ella: I was thinking of using the Internet to ask people to give their views, but you often get such silly responses when you do that. I'm of the view that the best way to find out things is to ask people directly (Q6), so that's what we'll do. Marcus: Okay, but that will take longer. We'll probably even have to do some of the work at home. Ella: No, I don't think so, as long as we stay back at work for some afterhours meetings (Q7). Marcus: Well, that's better than coming in early. No one functions well in the morning. Also, the final report will need at least two appendices. Ella: Not only that, we'll have to attach a small booklet to the end (Q8), containing printouts of the relevant parts from all the foreign websites we accessed. Marcus: That will take even more time. Are you sure we can meet this deadline? Ella: Yep, I've worked it all out, and I'm confident we can do it. Phase 1 should be finished by the 5th, leaving Phase 2 to begin about the 8th or 9th. Now, there's a public holiday on the 10th, meaning that everything should be able to be submitted on the 15th (Q9), and after that, we can relax, and celebrate on the 25th when the Design Division gives us approval to go ahead. Marcus: Hah, you're assuming that the Design Division will approve this, and that's not guaranteed at all. Ella: Oh come on Marcus, be positive. You know this should be approved—in fact, I'm even planning the celebration when this is all over. Marcus: Oh yeah, what's on the agenda, then? Ella: Well, we definitely don't want a party in the office, do we? We'll want to get away from this place, and we're all too busy with our own lives and families to find a mutual time free for a dinner party, so I thought we'd just buy some nice expensive gifts (Q10) for everyone who participated. We can just give these to the people here in the office. Marcus: That sounds fine to me, but make sure they're not too expensive. The Budget Department will never approve the cost. Ella: Don't worry; I know how much I can get away with. Marcus: Alright. I'll leave that with you.

SECTION 2 Thank you all for coming to our community meeting. As you know, we are excited to unveil our improvement plan as we look forward to the influx of tourists in the summer months. I'll start with a quick overview of the main points of interest in the area for anyone who may not quite know his or her way around yet, and then I'll get into the improvements made. First off is my favorite, the Science Museum, which is on the corner of Saint George Road (Q11). If you have not visited it yet, I encourage you to go before the busy season. It is absolutely spectacular – there is even a flight simulator you can try out! Just west of the Science Museum is the National History Museum (Q12). It's a site not to be missed as well, with each floor devoted to a different era in our nation's history. There are special exhibits for children with interactive games and fun history lessons, too. If you're looking for parking, it is available on the intersection of Queen Street and South King Street in the Car Park (Q13). Standard hourly and daily rates do apply. The best place for souvenirs is the Shopping Mall, though it gets extremely busy during peak times. You can get there from the tube, or the entrance on Timber Road, just south of Cornwell Road (Q14). This area has students everywhere, usually from the Primary School across the street from the Shopping Mall (Q15). Classes often take field trips and engage in guided tours through the area. So that's the overview of the main sites and hopefully by now I've given you a general idea of the area. Now I'm going to outline the improvements we have made in our efforts to make the experience even better for each and every one of our visitors. You probably noticed when you first drove into the Car Park this morning, that there is now additional signage to help avoid confusion. The directions were not entirely clear at first, so we have increased the number of one-way signs indicating the correct direction of traffic flow (Q16). Not far from there, in line with our mission of giving back to the community, we constructed a brand new playground for the Primary School (Q17). It is really something to be excited for – the equipment is state-of-the-art and includes swings, a small climbing wall, and even an obstacle course. Now we'll head north and take a look at the Science Museum. In response to our feedback from past visitors to the museum, there is now free information available (Q18) outlining not only upcoming IMAX showings, but also natural wonders like meteor showers, eclipses, and other cool natural events. The Science Museum isn't the only Museum improving the experience of its visitors. The National History Museum has added an entire new wing to its facility to accommodate the large crowds (Q19) of people gathering to see the Civil War exhibit, inventions timeline exhibit, and other wonderful sections of the museum. The increase in space will definitely give a more calm, comfortable experience for visitors (Q19). And finally, remember when there was actually a line at the mall entrance from the Tube Station? It was terrible trying to get anywhere from the Tube because foot traffic got so backed up sometimes. We have addressed that by adding another entry point into the mall from the other end of the platform to disperse the crowd (Q20). So those are the major improvements we have made. Clearly having too many people that want to visit and enjoy what our community has to offer the public is a good problem to have, and I am confident that we have made the changes necessary to accommodate the growing interest in the area. As always, we welcome any questions, comments, or concerns about the new improvement plan. In a few minutes I will open up the floor for questions but you can also contact me or any other board member by email or through the city website. Thank you for coming, and I now encourage you to stay for the Questions and Answers panel occurring between now and 10.30…

SECTION 3 Dylan: Hi, Emily. What did you think of that lecture? Emily: A bit hard to follow, but I have some good lecture-listening note-taking strategies which really help, so I can review the lecturer's message later. Dylan: Lecture-listening note-taking strategies? Review it later? That sounds interesting. I must admit, I struggle a bit to take down the gist of what I hear. Look at my notes. Emily: Well, I can see a basic problem immediately. You're writing full words, such as 'century' when all you need is a 'C', And don't write 'increase'; just draw an 'up' arrow. And why write 'thousand' when a 'th' will do? Dylan: I see. Just use symbols (Q21). That's not a bad idea at all. Emily: It's the most basic strategy, allowing you to record information at a faster pace. These lecturers can talk faster than others, too, so you don't want to waste any time. But you need to be very familiar with your set of symbols. Dylan: Why? Emily: Because you'll have to look at these notes days, weeks, or even months afterwards, when you begin writing your essay, so you'll need to be able to interpret (Q22) them at a later stage. Dylan: I think I can do this, even by looking at your notes. 'Immed' must mean immediately. Emily: But regarding the lecture as a whole, I knew the professor would be giving a set of specific recommendations, and comparing two alternative approaches, so I formatted my page in advance, adding the features consistent with the nature (Q23) of what I was going to hear. Dylan: Ah … I think I need an example of what you mean. Emily: Well, look at my page. Before the lecture, I drew large headings (Q24) saying 'recommendations'. You should always draw these, and I drew a table saying, 'Approach 1' and 'Approach 2'. At the end I drew a flowchart, as obviously the final recommendation would be a step-by-step approach. Then I was prepared in advance to simply fill in the spaces. Dylan: Wow! Now that's clever. Dylan: Your advice about note taking sounds great, but I still have one question, Emily. How are you able to design your page in advance? I mean, how can you predict the nature of the talk, and know which design is likely to work best? Emily: It's rather obvious when you think about it. What's your next lecture about? Dylan: Legal Studies (Q25). Emily: Well, that suggests to me that you'll need a flowchart, since the judicial system has a very logical 'do this first, do that second' approach, which must be followed in that order—y'know, all the processes that happen in the courtroom, and the procedures (Q26) that must take place to ensure complete legality. Dylan: Sure. That's the way law is, very linear and orderly, but what about Culture Studies? That's just a mass of comparisons of different cultures. Emily: Which tells you that you will need a table, where, in tabular form, you can efficiently write down information. Dylan: But often the lecture's not that simple. The professor throws in a really complex mix of ideas. Emily: Then use a spider graph—like the web a spider makes, where there's a central idea around which you attach all the associated (Q27) thoughts, and ideas, and impressions. Dylan: I see. I think I understand. And that would be very quick, too; very efficient. I like that. But what about Management Theory? How would you approach that? Emily: The same as with Culture Studies. I'd use a network, which is basically the same as a spider graph, linking thoughts, although this time there are directions (Q28) involved. It is this element that makes it different—the fact that the thoughts go one way and not the other. Dylan: Okay … has directions. It sounds logical. And what about the other subjects, such as Political Science? There's no predictable order to that. Emily: Well, for that I'd just put my notes (Q29) in a line, that is, in linear, or straight-line fashion, and these notes would use symbols, of course, to save time. Dylan: Okay, that just leaves Mass Media. Emily: For that, I wouldn't have any special design at all. As you say, sometimes it's impossible to predict in what way lecturers will present their information, in which case the best you can do is pre-write headings (Q30), but not specific, just general, as in Main One, Main Two, Sub One, Two, and Three, and so on. Dylan: Okay. Emily: But always be prepared to adapt to the nature of the talk, using any one of the other methods if it becomes appropriate at the time.

SECTION 4 Good morning. Today I am going to cover the daunting task of giving a quality speech – a thought that makes most of us cringe. In fact, 90% of all people feel nervous about public speaking, about 10% of whom are described as genuinely terrified. Hopefully when we are finished here today, you all will be in the 10% of the population who do not feel nervous at all. Did you know that lecturers tend to get more nervous (Q31) if the speech they are giving is an important one? It makes sense, right? You probably wouldn't be nearly as nervous to address your residence hall about the proper use of the recycle and compost bins as you might be if you were asked to give the graduation speech to your entire 5,000-student class. So what is it that makes some people completely comfortable in front of crowds? Some people think that the ability to give a good speech is a gift (Q32) that others are simply born with. This is almost never the case. Public speaking can be learned with practice. The first, most important thing you can do to improve your confidence in delivering a speech is to prepare a quality speech. Honestly, while the content of your speech is relatively important, the audience will really only remember the last (Q33) sentence you say. It is a good idea to structure the rest of your speech to lead up to this last point to really drive your message home. This is a good way to ensure that your speech is well-organised (Q34). Once you are confident in the quality of the speech you have written, the rest is just about your stage presence. Let's go through some do's and don'ts of public speaking. First, you want to command the attention of the room. Do not – I repeat, do not proceed with your speech until the audience is paying attention (Q35). Even Martin Luther King, Junior's I Have a Dream speech wouldn't have made any difference in the world without the undivided attention of his audience. To continue with the I Have a Dream example, one of the reasons that MLK was such an effective orator was his ability to speak with passion and engage with his audience. That sort of charisma does not come from reading straight from paper. Don't get me wrong – it is a good idea to write your main ideas down on a note card, sheet of paper (Q36), or something. But one factor that will consistently lead to a boring, forgettable speech is writing down your entire speech. Do not write your full (Q37) speech down. If you are constantly reading your paper, you are not making eye contact with your audience, and thus failing to really express the feeling that goes with your ideas. I advise you write one or two (Q38) ideas, so I f you suddenly draw a blank you have something to jog your memory. If you've written a good speech that you believe in, those ideas should be sufficient to keep you on track. Once you have those ideas written down, give your speech a few practice runs in front of the mirror, into your sound recorder on your phone, or with a friend before it comes time to address a crowd. That way you can hear how the ideas come across, make sure there are no abrupt transitions, and find out whether you're talking too fast or too slow. Timing is important – make sure you time (Q39) yourself beforehand to see how long your speech is. That is pretty much it! With practice you'll be able to deliver an expert speech that engages and even maybe inspires your audience. Just remember – speak with emotion. No one wants to listen to someone reading from a script (Q40). As I come to a close in my speech, I'll point out that I have employed all of these tips that I have covered. I practiced my speech ahead of time and timed it, and I can even show you my one small index card with just three simple bullets on it. It's as easy as that!