Listening skills

Cambridge University Press

978-1-107-62069-8 – The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS

Pauline Cullen Amanda French and Vanessa Jakeman

Excerpt

More information

1 Describing a place

For some questions in the Listening paper, you need to look at a map of

a place, or a plan of a building.

1.1

Look at drawings A–F and decide what the images are.

Listening skills

4 Places and directions

In this unit, you will practise:

• understanding a description of a place

• following directions

• labelling a map

• multiple choice

Test TipForlabelling

amaporplaninIELTS,

youmayneedtofollow

directions,oryoumay

hearadescriptionofa

location.

Test TipYoushould

studythemaporplan

carefullybefore you

listen.Havingaclear

imageinyourmindwill

helpyouunderstand

whatyouhear.

Listening skills

1.2

Study the map in section 3.3 for 30 seconds.

1.3

Try to answer questions 1–4 without looking back at the map.

1 What is it a map of?

2 Name three landmarks on the map.

3 Where is the entrance?

4 What is in the centre of the map?

Features already on the map are often used as landmarks to help you

ﬁ nd your way.

1.4

Listen to extracts from the four sections of the Listening

test. Complete the ﬁ rst column in the table by choosing the

correct letter (A, B or C).

landmark(s) locating words/phrases

1 Whereisthegiftshop?

lifts

• Theentranceis

• Thengo

• Theshopyouwantis

• lifts

2 Wherecanyoubuystamps?

• In

resort,you’llseea

…

• 

courtyard,

you’llnda…

• It’sjust

tree

3 Whatistheproposedlocationofthenewbridge? • Iwasthinkingofputting

it

• Ithinkitwouldbebetter

ifit’s

motorway

4 WhereistheidealhabitatfortheTravistonFrog? • …itisunabletolivein

ofapond

• …itdoesneedtolivein

to

water

• …inatinyburrow

bushes

entrance

toilets

lifts

entrance

pond

B CA

Listening skills

1.5

Listen again and complete the table on the previous page. Write

down the landmarks mentioned and ﬁll in the gaps in the

phrases that help you to locate the correct answer.

2 Following directions

2.1

Listen and decide which diagram (A, B or C) shows

the directions described by the speaker.

2.2

Listen again and make a note of any words or phrases that are

used to give directions.

Test TipYoumay

needtofollow

directionstolocatea

placeonthemapor

plan.Markingtheway

directlyonthemapcan

behelpful.

Test Tip The

distractorsforthistype

oftaskmightbeextra

buildingsmarkedon

themap,ortheymight

beextraoptionsinalist

ofpossibleanswers.

Bridge Street

Hotel

Post

Ofﬁce

Riverside Street

Bank

Queens Road

Bridge Street

Hotel

Post

Ofﬁce

Riverside Street

Bank

Queens Road

Bridge Street

Hotel

Post

Ofﬁce

Riverside Street

Bank

Queens Road

Listening skills

3 Labelling a map

Sometimes, a map completion task asks you to identify an area on a map

then choose an answer from a list. For this type of question, you need to

familiarise yourself with both the list of options and the features on the

map before you start.

3.1

Look at this map completion task. Which landmarks might be

used to help you to ﬁnd your way around?

3.2

Listen and label the map with the correct letter (A–F).

3.3

Check your answers, then listen again.

Questions 1–4

Label the map below.

Choose the correct letter A–F and write the answers next to questions 1–4.

A farm animals

B fresh bread

C ticket booth

D picnic area

E second-hand book stall

F cookery shows

Test TipBeforeyou

listen,readtheoptions

severaltimessothat

youbecomefamiliar

withtheinformation

youneedtolistenfor.

Don’tcrossoutany

optionsunlessyouare

suretheyarewrong.

Ifyoucan’tdecide

betweentwoanswers,

writebothdownand

decidelater.

Entrance

Barbecue Toilets

Information

Brookside Market

Listening skills

59

Reading skills

4 Locating and matching

information

In this unit you will practise:

• identifying types of information

• locating and matching information

• connecting ideas

• matching sentence endings

• matching information

1 Identifying types of information

For matching information tasks, you need to locate an idea or piece of

information in the text and match it to a phrase that accurately describes it.

1.1

Read the extracts from two separate paragraphs of a Reading

passage. What type of information has been underlined?

A a description of an animal’s habitat

B the issues that can cause something to happen

C an argument for a type of action

1.2

Look at this matching information task based on the extracts above.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

1 two situations that force meerkats to change where they live

2 how meerkats generally spend their time

1 For this type of question, do you need to look for individual words

or a whole idea?

2 Question 1 matches the information underlined in the paragraph

above, so the answer is B. Underline the part of paragraph A that

matches the information in Question 2.

Meerkats devote a signi cant part

of their day to foraging for food with

their sensitive noses. When they  nd

it, they eat on the spot. Primarily,

meerkats are insectivores, which

means their diet is mainly made up

of insects.

These animals are transient by

nature and move if their food is in

short supply or if they’re forced out

by a stronger gang. The group’s

dominant male, the alpha male, marks

the group’s territory to protect the

boundary from rivals and predators.

Reading skills

These questions describe the information you need to ﬁnd.

1.3

Look at extracts A–H from different Reading passages and match

them to the type of information that best describes them.

A Water is forced

at pressure

through a narrow

pipe. The water

hits the top of

the water wheel,

causing it to turn.

B The water is

warm thanks

to a natural hot

spring beneath

the riverbed.

C Our study looked

at the surrounding

environment

while previous

researchers have

concentrated on

diet.

D We achieved this

by weighing the

animals both

before and after

periods of exercise.

E Theyliveindark,

humidareas

andsotendto

befoundinand

aroundtropical

rainforests.

F A month later, we

were able to test

it again and the

results showed a

signicant change in

temperature when the

insulation was used.

G After ten years,

they gave up. The

experiment had

failed and, as a result,

the public grew

angry at the waste

of public funds.

H It takes 35 days for

the chick to leave

the nest and ﬂy.

Types of information

1 thendingsofastudy

2 themethodusedinaresearchstudy

3 thereactiontosomething

4 adescriptionofahabitat

5 thedifferencebetweencurrentandpaststudies

6 adescriptionofhowsomethingworks

7 thecauseofsomething

8 theamountoftimeneededforsomething

2 Locating and matching information

Just like matching headings, matching information questions are

not in the same order as the passage.

Study TipSomeexamplesofthetypeofinformationyoumaybe

askedtondare:

• anumber • acause • anding

• adate • aneffect • anaccount

• ameasurement • aconclusion • areaction

• areason • theproblems • adescription.

Whenyouarereadingdifferentpassagesinthisbook,thinkabout

whethertheinformationmatchesanyofthesetypes.

Reading skills 

61

2.1

Spend two minutes skim reading the passage below, so that you are

familiar with the type of information it contains.

What is the main purpose of the passage?

A to describe the habitat and eating habits of one speciﬁ c animal

B to explain the background to a proposed study into tropical animals

C to argue that scientists can learn a great deal from studying nature

D to give the ﬁ ndings of new research into an animal’s behaviour

How geckos cope with wet feet

A Geckos are remarkable little lizards, clinging to almost

any dry surface, and Alyssa Stark, from the University

of Akron, US, explains that they appear to be equally

happy scampering through tropical rainforest canopies

as they are in urban settings. ‘A lot of gecko studies

look at the very small adhesive structures on their

toes to understand how the system works at the most

basic level’, says Stark. She adds that the animals grip

surfaces with microscopic hairs on the soles of their

feet, which make close enough contact to be attracted

to the surface by the minute forces between atoms.

B However, she and her colleagues Timothy Sullivan

and Peter Niewiarowski were curious about how

the lizards cope on surfaces in their natural habitat.

Explaining that previous studies had focused on

the reptiles clinging to arti cial dry surfaces, Stark

says ‘We know they are in tropical environments

that probably have a lot of rain and geckos don’t

suddenly fall out of the trees when it’s wet’. Yet, the

animals do seem to have trouble getting a grip on

smooth, wet, arti cial surfaces, sliding down wet

vertical glass after several steps. The team decided

to  nd out how geckos with wet feet cope on both

wet and dry surfaces.

C First, they had to  nd out how well their geckos

clung onto glass with dry feet. Fitting a tiny harness

around the lizard’s pelvis and gently lowering

the animal onto a plate of smooth glass, Stark

and Sullivan allowed the animal to become well

attached before connecting the harness to a tiny

motor and gently pulling the lizard until it came

unstuck. The geckos hung on tenaciously, and only

came unstuck at forces of around 20N – about 20

times their own body weight. ‘In my view, the gecko

attachment system is over-designed,’ says Stark.

D Next, the trio sprayed the glass plate with a mist of

water and re-tested the lizards, but this time the

animals had problems holding tight. The droplets

were interfering with the lizards’ attachment

mechanism, but it wasn’t clear how. And when

the team immersed the geckos in a bath of room-

temperature water with a smooth glass bottom,

the animals were completely unable to anchor

themselves to the smooth surface. ‘The toes are

super-hydrophobic,’ (i.e. water repellent) explains

Stark, who could see a silvery bubble of air around

their toes. But, they were unable to displace the

water around their feet to make the tight contact

that usually keeps the geckos in place.

E Then the team tested the lizard’s adhesive forces on

the dry surface when their feet had been soaking

for 90 minutes, and found that the lizards could

barely hold on, detaching when they were pulled

with a force roughly equalling their own weight.

‘That might be the sliding behaviour that we see

when the geckos climb vertically up misted glass’,

says Stark. So, geckos climbing on wet surfaces with

damp feet are constantly on the verge of slipping

and Stark adds that when the soggy lizards were

faced with the misted and immersed horizontal

surfaces, they slipped as soon as the rig started

pulling. Therefore geckos can walk on wet surfaces,

as long as their feet are reasonably dry. However,

as soon as their feet get wet, they are barely able to

hang on, and the team is keen to understand how

long it takes geckos to recover from a drenching.

Reading skills

2.2

Look at this task based on the Reading passage. For each

question, underline the type of information you need to scan for.

The ﬁrst two have been done for you.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

N.B. You may use any letter more than once

Write the correct letter, A–E, next to questions 1–7 below.

1 visual evidence of the gecko’s ability to resist water

2 a question that is yet to be answered by the researchers

3 the method used to calculate the gripping power of geckos

4 the researcher’s opinion of the gecko’s gripping ability

5 a mention of the different environments where geckos can be found

6 the contrast between Stark’s research and the work of other researchers

7 the denition of a scientic term

2.3

It is important to fully understand what you are looking for in

the passage. Answer these questions, based on Question 1 in the

task above.

1 Which of the following do you think is ‘visual evidence’?

A something the researchers believe

B something the researchers have seen

C something the researchers have read about

2 Which of the following means the same as ‘ability to resist

water’?

A soaks up water

B sinks in water

C stops water getting in

3 Scan the passage to ﬁnd ‘visual evidence’ of an ability to resist

water. Which paragraph contains this information?

2.4

Study Questions 2–7 in 2.2 carefully and match them to

paragraphs A–E. Remember, the questions are not in the same

order as the passage. This is because your task is to ﬁnd out

where the information is.

2.5

Look again at Questions 2–7 and underline the parts of the

passage that gave you your answer.

Test TipMakesure

tonoteanyplurals

inthequestions(e.g.

two examples of / the

different environments,

etc).Theremaybeparts

ofthepassagethat

refertoonlyoneofthe

thingsmentioned,so

youneedtondthe

paragraphthathas

morethanone..

63

3 How ideas are connected

Another type of question that requires you to match information is matching

sentence endings. For this type of task, you need to understand how ideas are

connected within the Reading passage.

3.1

Complete each sentence below with the correct ending, A–F.

1 When I pressed the switch,

2 If you heat ice,

3 The respondents to the survey

4 Children who attend small schools

5 Parents with overactive children

A all came from similar economic backgrounds.

B tend to need more sleep at night.

C the light came on.

D reported that she has been successful.

E generally get more individual attention.

F it melts.

You were able to complete this task using only logic and your knowledge of grammar.

In the IELTS Reading paper, you can do this to conﬁrm or check your answers, but

you will not be able to answer the questions without reading the passage.

3.2

Look at these matching sentence endings questions based on the passage in 2.1.

Try using these techniques to answer the questions.

1 Scan the passage in 2.1 to locate the information in the sentence beginnings

(1–4).

2 Read the relevant part of the passage carefully, then choose the best sentence

ending (A–F).

1 Other researchers have aimed to discover how

2 The work of Stark and her team is different because they wanted

to nd out how

3 Stark’s experiments revealed that

4 The researchers would still like to know when

A geckosstruggletogripontodryglassaswellaswetglass.

B thegrippingmechanismofgeckosactuallyworks.

C geckoshaveaweakergrippingmechanismthanpreviouslythought.

D geckosareabletogripinrainforestsettings.

E geckosareabletorecovertheirgrippingabilitiesaftergettingwet.

F geckoscangripmoreeasilyiftheirfeetarenotdamp.

106

Writing skills

3 Academic Writing Task 1 –

Describing diagrams

In this unit you will practise:

• understanding a diagram • understanding Lexical Resource

• describing a process • being accurate

• improving coherence and cohesion

1 Understanding a diagram

Another form of visual information is a diagram. Again, you need to

spend a little time studying and understanding the diagram before you

begin to write. Remember, you need to include all of the most relevant

information.

1.1

Look at the diagram below for one minute.

Test Tip Try drawing

your own diagram of

an everyday machine

in your home (e.g. a

washing machine).

Divide the process up

into different stages

and describe it.

How to make recycled paper from old newspapers.

Writing skills

107

1.2

Match the verbs to parts 1–9 in the diagram. You may use more

than one verb for each image.

lift pour leave drain add put tear

mix press soak dry place slide beat

There may be some labels included in the diagram. These are usually

the names of different objects that you are not expected to know. You

should use these in your description.

1.3

Study the diagram again and complete these sentences.

1 You need old newspapers, a

to hold the mixture and

containing 250 ml of water.

2 An

is used to form the mixture into a pulp.

3 The pulp is poured into a

4 Some

is used to lift the pulp out of the water.

5 A

is used to ﬂ atten the pulp and press the water out.

2 Describing a process – coherence and cohesion

Test Tip Remember,

you have only 20

minutes to complete

Writing Task 1, so

you need to identify

the most important

information in only one

or two minutes. To help

plan your answer, write

the different verbs you

will use to describe each

stage on the diagram

itself. This will help to

make sure you don’t

miss out any important

steps in your description.

Your Writing Task answer will be assessed based on its coherence (is it easy to understand?)

and its cohesion (are the ideas connected well?). For every Writing Task answer, your ideas

must be organised in a logical way and be connected together. Your answer must not be a list

of individual sentences.

2.1

Complete sentences 1–9 with endings A–I.

1 The diagram explains how to

2 First,

3 Then, add 250 ml of water and

4 Next, using an electric mixer,

5 When it is ready,

6 Then, use a piece of mesh, to carefully

7 Next, open up an old newspaper and

8 Then, use a rolling pin to

9 Finally,

A place the pulp mixture inside.

B beat the mixture for about 45 seconds until it forms a pulp.

C leave your new paper to dry in a warm place for at least 24 hours.

D make recycled paper from old newspapers.

E tear some newspaper into small pieces and put them in a bowl.

F lift the pulp mixture out of the tray, allowing the water to drain.

G press the paper down and force out any excess water.

H leave the paper to soak for up to an hour.

I pour the pulp into a shallow tray and add a further 100 ml of

water. Mix it together by hand.

Writing skills

108

To describe a process, we usually use the passive voice.

Active voice

First, tear some newspaper into small pieces.

Passive voice

First, some newspaper is torn into small pieces.

2.2

Now complete the description below by changing the sentences

in 2.1 to the passive voice.

The diagram explains how recycled paper is made from old

newspapers. First, some newspaper is torn into small pieces and

put into a bowl. Then,

2.3

Look at the complete description in the Answer Key. The

beginning of each sentence helps to organise the information

and link it together. Complete the list of words/phrases below

that help do this.

First, … Then, …

3 Lexical Resource – being accurate

Common spelling mistakes

3.1

Accuracy in vocabulary includes using the correct spelling.

The sentences below each contain one spelling mistake. Find the

mistakes and correct them.

1 The goverment increased spending in 1988 and again in 1998.

2 The chart shows the persentage of students who have access to

the internet in their home.

3 From the pie charts, we can see the diffrent sports enjoyed by

each age group.

4 These ﬁ gures remained steady untill 1990, when they rose

steeply.

5 The charts show the energy use of four different contries over a

50-year period.

6 The highest rise occurred betwen 1970 and 1990.

7 This ﬁ gure had dicreased by 50% by the end of this decade.

8 While the amount of money spent on education remained the

same, the budget for transport incresed considerably over

this time.

Test Tip Remember,

your answer for

Writing Task 1 will be

marked against speciﬁ c

criteria. One of these

is Lexical Resource. To

get a good score, you

need to use a wide

range of vocabulary

(not repeating the

same common words)

and use vocabulary

accurately (without

mistakes).

Writing skills

109

Using the wrong noun

3.2

Accuracy in vocabulary also involves using the most

appropriate words. Improve the accuracy of the sentences below

by replacing the underlined words with one of the nouns from

the box.

percentage number means method

amount factors ﬁ gures

1 The number of trafﬁ c on the road continues to increase.

2 The diagram shows the way for making canned food.

3 The amount of children who do not have access to a computer

at home is higher in Newtown than in Westbridge.

4 The chart shows ﬁ gures for four different ways of transport in

The Netherlands.

5 Another signiﬁ cant ﬁ gure is the percent of the budget that the

school spent on recruiting staff.

6 The chart clearly shows the reasons that led to the current

energy problems.

Using the wrong form

3.3

Another accuracy problem occurs when you choose

the right word but use it in the wrong form. Complete these

sentences with the correct form of the words in brackets.

1 The

between the two is only 9%. (different)

2 This involved a great deal of hard

. (work)

3 The chart shows several of the areas we tend to take for

granted in our

. (live)

4 In the older group, there was a dramatic

in 2000.

(increase)

5 The graph shows that the

rate of women increased far

more than that of men. (attend)

6 There was a

decrease from 2005 to 2010, but overall it

remained the same. (slight)

7 The ﬁ gures show how many people in the area make use of the

local

centre. (sport)

8 We often go on

trips to museums and art galleries.

(education)