IELTS LISTENING TEST 32

SECTION 1 You will hear a woman phoning to enquire about house rental. First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 6. 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. Hello, thank you for calling Iris Rentals. How can I help you? Yes, hello there. I'm ringing just to make enquiries about renting a new property and I came across a listing on your website that I'm interested in. Oh, yes. I'd like to find out a few more details if I may. Yes, of course. Can I take your name? It's Mary Collins. The name of the woman is Mary Collins. So, Mary Collins has been written in this space. 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 6. Hello, thank you for calling Iris Rentals. How can I help you? Yes, hello there. I'm ringing just to make enquiries about renting a new property and I came across a listing on your website that I'm interested in. Oh, yes. I'd like to find out a few more details if I may. Yes, of course. Can I take your name? It's Mary Collins. OK, Mary. I'm just searching our system for the property details. Is there any information in particular that you were wanting? Does the house have a gym? No, the house doesn't have a gym. However, the house has a large swimming pool which will be great for exercise and really refreshing during the summer. Oh, wow. That sounds lovely. What is the general layout of the house? This house is rather unusual as the living room is located upstairs with the bedrooms and downstairs at the ground floor is the dining room which has a lovely view out over the swimming pool. Does the house come with a car parking space on the street? Oh, there's no need for that. The house comes with a big garage where you can park your cars and there's also a lot of room for storage. It's attached to the house through a door in the kitchen. Oh, that's perfect. It'll make it far easier to carry my food shopping into the house. Oh, yes, absolutely. You actually don't even need to take your car to do the shopping as the local supermarket is just down the street. You can walk the distance easily. Really? How convenient. Is there anywhere near to the house where I can take my children to play? Unfortunately, there aren't any playgrounds nearby but there is a park near the supermarket that would be great for taking your children for a walk. It would also be a great place for you to meet your neighbours. Yes, that's true. I love taking long walks in the park. I'm sure there will be a playground at the local school anyway. Yes, absolutely. The community has its own primary school and there is a secondary school in the neighbouring community so there are plenty of resources nearby for your children's education. Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 7 to 10. Now listen and answer questions 7 to 10. OK, great. What are the rental costs of the property? The monthly rent is $980 which is very reasonable considering the size of the house and the amenities that it has to offer. Does that figure include maintenance fees and bills? The bills are not included in that figure but it does include any maintenance fees for the garden. That sounds like a very reasonable price. We were hoping to move on the 20th of April. Will the house be vacant for that date? The current tenants of the property are due to leave on the 20th but the cleaners will need a few days to make sure that the house is clean and tidy. This would make the house officially available on the 23rd of April. Well, everything about the house sounds perfect. Exactly what I'm looking for. What date would it be possible to view the property? I have arranged for the tenant to leave the property on Friday so I can show the house to prospective renters. Would you be able to make that day? Yes, I'm sure I could come on my lunch break. Would one o'clock be OK? I'm afraid that I have a meeting at 12.30 so I won't be able to make that time. I have available appointments at 10.15 and 3. OK. In that case, can we schedule the appointments at 10.15? No problem. I'll book it into my schedule. If you wouldn't mind arriving five minutes early, that would be great just so we can get started on time. Sure. What is the address? The postcode is GA5 8ER and the house is number 8 on Spring Street. It's the second right off of Bath Street. OK. That's great. Do you have any more questions? No. Thank you for your help. No problem. See you on Friday. Bye. That is the end of Section 1. You now have half a minute to check your answers. Now turn to Section 2.

SECTION 2 Good morning, everyone. I'm John Smith, the General Practitioner of London Fields Medical Centre and I'm very glad to give you a brief introduction about our practice and some suggestions about how to see a doctor here. Our receptionists are usually the first point of contact and are here to help you. They have a lot of information to hand and in most cases will be able to help you with your inquiry, ensuring you see the most appropriate clinician. OK. Right. Well, the first thing to do is to register. We can only accept new patients who live in our practice catchment area. To register with us, you will need two proofs of address, such as bank statements or tenancy agreements, plus one form of ID, such as passport or driver's licence. If you are foreign nationals, then you'll have to register as a temporary visitor. Then fill in this form. It's a medical history form. You have to give details of any illnesses you have had. Then you also need to write down if you've got any allergies. OK? This as well as that. We need to know if you've had any operations. And last of all, you have to give full details of current medication you may be on. This as well as that. You need to fill in this registration card. This is for your personal details. That's your full name, address and telephone numbers. OK? And we also need to make an appointment for you to see the doctor for a new patient health check. It'll just take about 15 minutes, that's all. It's just a basic check-up, really. Before the speaker goes on with his introduction, look at questions 15 to 20. Now listen to the continued talk and answer questions 15 to 20 by choosing the appropriate letters. OK, then. Let me tell you something about the health centre. We have five GPs here, general practitioners. We also have a practice nurse who looks after minor injuries. She can also administer some treatments. We also have a chiropodist. That's a foot specialist. She's private, which means you have to pay for the service unless you're over 65. If you want to see a doctor, you have to make an appointment first. Please call our main switchboard number on 0207 923 8100 to book an appointment at either our main practice or one of our branch surgeries. You can also email for an appointment on londonfieldsmedical at nhs.net. Urgent cases are seen on the day. If your condition is non-urgent, you can expect to see a GP within two working days, though you may have to wait longer if you want to see a particular GP. If it's an emergency, you'd better come straight here to the centre. One of the doctors can usually see you. Or you can go to the emergency department at the hospital in town. If you are very sick, you can ask for a home visit as well. On Friday afternoons, we have an open surgery, which means you can come along and just wait to see a doctor. But you may have to wait for several hours, so it's much better to make an appointment and come at the specified time. Usually, when you see a doctor, you'll be given a prescription for medicine, which you need to take. Or you can choose to go to a pharmacist in a chemist's shop. If the doctor decides that you will need the medication for a long time, you'll be given a repeat prescription form. This allows you to get a further supply without seeing the doctor again. You simply leave the repeat form here a few days before you need it. Then you pick up the medication at the chemist's. Oh, you may wonder how much this all costs. Well, there is no charge for seeing a doctor. You can make an appointment any time to see one of our doctors, and it will not cost you anything for the consultation. However, you need to pay for the prescription, and the cost varies with the medicine, but it's usually just a few pounds. Nevertheless, in some situations, such as pregnancy, the prescription is then free. All right, do you have any other questions? That is the end of Section 2. You will have half a minute to check your answers. Now turn to Section 3.

SECTION 3 In a moment, you are going to hear a conversation between a professor and his student, Alicia. As you listen, answer questions 21 to 30. First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 30. Now, listen carefully to the conversation and answer questions 21 to 30. Section 3. You will hear a student called Julie talking to her classmate named Ricky about a new essay that Professor Johnson assigned. First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 24. Now, listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 24. Hi, Julie. It's Ricky. Hi, Ricky. How are you? I noticed you weren't in psychology today. I'm feeling sick, so I didn't go to school today. Would you mind telling me what I missed in class? Sure thing. I'm sorry you're not feeling well. Anyway, we spent most of the class talking about a new essay that Professor Johnson assigned. You need to choose one of the bold headings from the note system and research it. Wow. I picked the wrong day to miss class, huh? You sure did. Could you tell me the specific requirement of this paper? Sure. You need to find scientific research that supports your claim as one of your references. It can be from some of the case studies we discussed in class, or you can find your own. Or even better, you can conduct your own research. I'm sure that would get you an A. Have you decided what you're going to do yet? Also, where are you getting your references? Yeah, I'm going to research facial recognition by infants. I've already found a few experiments in scientific journals. That would probably be a good start for you. There are tons of journals in the library. Great idea. Thanks. I'm considering writing my essay on the effects of one of the psychotropic drugs we talked about in class. I'm sure there is lots of stuff about it on the Internet. Are we allowed to use information from the Internet? Sure. You can use that as long as it's not your main source for information. You'll probably want to cite some of the experiments we went over. Good idea. Thanks. I'm going to try to find some information from a bunch of different sources. Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 25 to 30. Now listen and answer questions 25 to 30. Are there any specifications on how the essay should be written? Yeah, Professor Johnson wants it double-spaced. It should be between 6 to 10 pages long. 6 to 10 pages! That's so much! It's going to take forever. I know. The whole class groaned when he said that. Anyway, you also need to put the title in italics and... Wait. Each section heading or just the main heading? Only the main heading should be in italics. I think section titles are supposed to be in the same format but may be in bold. You'll have to check that in class next time. Oh, OK. So I take it the report has to be typed since there are so many requirements. What are the other formatting requirements? Yep, it's got to be typed. Aside from that, there are still a few more specifications. You should number each page. Make sure it goes up in the top right corner. OK. I'll make sure to write that down. I always forget to number the pages. Do we need to title and date each page too? You need the shortened title on every page but no need to include the date. That should just be on the cover page. OK. Thanks. No problem. Also, make sure the margins are 3.25 pixels wide. What? I'm not even sure how to do that. It's OK. I can show you. It's really easy. I think that's all the directions he gave us. A lot of formatting requirements but we have the freedom to research many things that we like, so that's good. Oh, I almost forgot. Remember to put down your ID number on your report. Thanks so much for your help. I'll see you in class Monday. No problem. Glad I could help. See you later. That is the end of Section 3. You now have half a minute to check your answers. Now turn to Section 4.

SECTION 4 You will hear a talk on a survey on improving the local hospital service. First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40. Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40. Good morning. Today I'd like to discuss the results of our patient survey. We have reviewed the data collected in order to measure the strengths and weaknesses of our hospital and to determine potential future plans for improvement. The first question on the survey attempted to determine the main reason that patients choose to come to our hospital for treatment rather than others in the vicinity. The data showed that even though our hospital is not as centrally located as others, we offer a very good transportation service that enables patients to travel here by bus or train free of charge. Despite there being other hospitals that are larger with more facilities than ours, we still have higher patient numbers. The second question on the survey asked what quality patients hoped for most when visiting the hospital. There were five choice options, including short waiting times and friendly service from nurses. However, the data collected showed that most patients hoped that the hospital is clean when they visited. It seemed that patients were not concerned with the clarity of signs and notices in the hospital, as this option got the smallest number of votes. They were, however, very keen to be given prior information by the staff about hospital treatments. Using the data collected from our survey, we have developed a list of actions that will be adopted within the next year. A main focus of these improvements is our website, which is currently very outdated. We will not only update our in-hospital service for the use of the medical staff, but also our main service so that local residents can also benefit from it. We hope that this new service will attract a large number of new patients. It is clear from the feedback that many members of staff are unhelpful towards patients and inefficient when carrying out their tasks. We feel that some incentive is needed to boost motivation to perform better, and so we are implementing a system whereby staff will be awarded an extra bonus for their success. The member of staff who has received the most bonuses at the end of the year will be announced as staff member of the year. We will continue to monitor progress on this issue through patient feedback forms so that the opinions of our visitors will constantly be taken into consideration. Another issue that the survey has brought to light is the long delays experienced by visitors awaiting treatment, with some visitors reporting waiting times of up to five hours. This is unacceptable. We need to improve the effectiveness of communication between patients, doctors and staff, so we have decided to implement a ticketing system. This means that patients are seen on a first-come, first-served basis and will never have to wait more than two hours to be seen by a doctor. The final topic that I want to cover in the lecture is the recommendations that we have put forward for future improvements to the hospital. Firstly, we intend to be the first hospital in the country to build a new unit for those suffering from sleep disturbance, which is a relatively common illness affecting up to 6% of the population. Whilst we are a hospital primarily treating patients with illnesses and injuries, we cannot ignore the significant income that those in need of plastic surgery could bring to the hospital. We will, therefore, also be proposing a new ward to give patients access to this increasingly popular treatment. After much discussion about the quality and suitability of our equipment, we have decided that it is advanced enough to cope with the treatments that we offer and that our spending should be directed to other areas where it will have a more significant impact. We feel that more effective planning is needed to improve the efficiency of the forms of communication that patients have with us. Therefore, patients who have received treatment will receive an email link to a survey that they can fill out online. This will eradicate meaningless paperwork and will also enable us to digitally monitor the data collected. Now, if anyone has any questions... 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. In the IELTS test, you will now have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet.