SAMPLE AUDIO TEST A

SECTION 1

Section 1. You will hear a phone conversation between a man from a travel agency and a
woman who wants to make travel and accommodation arrangements for a trip. First you will have
some time to look at questions 1 to 5.

(20 seconds)

You will see that an example has been done for you. On this occasion only, the conversation
relating to this will be played first.

Man: Good afternoon. Maverick Travel. Gavin speaking. How can I help you today?

Woman: Oh, hello, Gavin. I have a week or so left over from a business trip to Melbourne and a
colleague recommended that I spend a few days in the northern river region. He suggested that I
contact your travel agency to arrange a trip there.

Man: We would certainly be happy to do that for you, madam. Can I ask what kind of
accommodation you have in mind?

Woman: My colleague said he stayed at a lodge there, near the state park.

Man: Ah, yes. That would be Red River Lodge.

Woman: Yes, that’s it. I’d like to stay there if possible.

Narrator: The woman wants to stay at Red River Lodge, so Red River Lodge has been written in
the 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 5.

Man: Good afternoon. Maverick Travel. Gavin speaking. How can I help you today?

Woman: Oh, hello, Gavin. I have a week or so left over from a business trip to Melbourne and a
colleague recommended that I spend a few days in the northern river region. He suggested that I
contact your travel agency to arrange a trip there.

Man: We would certainly be happy to do that for you, madam. Can I ask what kind of
accommodation you have in mind?

Woman: My colleague said he stayed at a lodge there, near the state park.

Man: Ah, yes. That would be Red River Lodge.

Woman: Yes, that’s it. I’d like to stay there if possible.

Man: And on what dates would you like to stay there?

Woman: I’d like to go there on Saturday, on September 26th and stay there for three nights.

1
Man: Just give me a moment, please, while I check if they have any vacancies …..Yes, they do.
Would you like to stay in a standard room in the main building or would you like a cabin by the
river?

Woman: Is there much of a difference in price?

Man: A standard room is 150 dollars a night, and the cabins are 230 dollars a night, but they
come with a fully equipped kitchen. The view of the river and the forest you get from there is well
worth it. Meals are available at the lodge, but are not included in the price.

Woman: And it’s probably a bit quieter there, too. Okay, I’ll take that option, then. Can I get a
train there?

Man: You can take a train to Rivertown, and someone from the resort will pick you up from there.
The train takes around two hours from Melbourne to Rivertown, and then it’s about a thirty
minute drive to the lodge. When would you like to travel? In the morning or afternoon?

Woman: I’ve arranged to have lunch with a friend, so in the afternoon.

Man: Okay. There’s a train at 2.09 and another one at 4.29. Which would you prefer?

Woman: I think I’ll take the earlier one thanks. How much is the ticket?

Man: A one-way ticket to Rivertown is 57 dollars. And would you like me to get a return ticket for
you?

Woman: No. I’ll take care of that when I get there. I might decide to stay an extra couple of days
to do some work from there. And where do I take the train from? Central Station?

Man: No, trains out of Melbourne to the country leave from City West Station. You can pick your
ticket up there at the ticket collection counter.

Narrator: Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions
6 to 10.

(20 seconds)

Now listen and answer questions 6 to 10.

Woman: Do they have internet there?

Man: Yes, there is indeed. I will need you to pay for the ticket now. How would you like to pay for
it? Credit card?

Woman: Yes, I’ll use my Visa card.

Man: Fine. Would you like to pay for your lodge stay now as well, or when you get there?

Woman: I’ll take care of that when I get there.

Man: Fine. Can you give me the name as it appears on your card?

2
Woman: Sure: Barbara G. Swanston

Man: ….Barbara … G …

Woman: Swanston: S-W-A-N-S-T-O-N

Man: Got it. Thank you, Ms Swanston. And the number?

Woman: 3869 1930 5741 2796

Man: …. Got that. And the expiry date?

Woman: March, 2025. It’s a Platinum card. What time does the train arrive?

Man: The train gets in to at Rivertown at 4.15. You should arrive at the lodge before 5; in time to
catch the sunset. Unless you want to ask a driver to stop at a supermarket on the way so you
can stock up on food supplies.

Woman: I might do that. I’ve heard there are a lot of trails through the forest. Is that right?

Man: Yes, there are a lot of well marked trails throughout the forest. The area has a variety of
wildlife.

Woman: None of it dangerous, I hope.

Man: No, none of it dangerous. If you fancy a bit of fishing, the lodge provides fishing equipment
to its guests. They also provide free mountain bikes, which is a great way to see the forest.

Woman: Oh, that sounds nice.

Man: It is. The lodge can arrange a boat tour of the lakes that form at this time of year. The area
is renowned for its birdlife, especially the water birds which come to breed there at this time of
year. A half-day tour with an expert on the local area will cost you 90 dollars.

Woman: Oh, I might do that. I’m sure I would get some great photos.

Man: I’m sure you would. Now, if I can just get some more details from you, Ms Swanston, to
finalize the booking ……

Narrator: That is the end of Section 1. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

(30 seconds)

Now turn to Section 2.

3
SECTION 2

Section 2. You will hear a a speech by a historian to a group of foreign students. First you have
some time to look at questions 11 to 15.

(20 seconds)

Listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 15.

Narrator:

Hello, everyone, and thanks so much for attending this month's history presentation. My name’s
Kathy Smith and I’m the Executive Director of the Lee's Summit Historical Society. Now, many of
you probably haven't even heard of Lee's Summit, but, by the end of our time together today,
you’ll hopefully understand a whole lot more about this city and its historical significance. O.K.,
Lemme' start by saying that Lee's Summit is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri and is located in
the Midwest region of the. It has a population of about 90,000 people. One of the things that
makes Lee's Summit so unique is its sense of itself...what I mean by that is that its unlike so
many other cities that’ve survived many periods of change and upheaval. It maintains a
connection with and remains true to its historical roots. People from this city are proud of its
history, for better or worse, and the city itself serves as a model for similar communities across
the U.S., both in terms of its community mentality and its efforts to preserve historical landmarks
and artifacts.

Recently, Lee's Summit celebrated its 150th anniversary, although it wasn't always known by the
name it has today. Well, let's skip back to October 28th, 1865 when a man named William B.
Howard registered an eleven-block area in an area called Big Cedar. He called this new
development Struthers and today, that area makes up the central downtown portion of Lee's
Summit. Upon its founding, Strother only had 100 residents. About three years later, the town's
name was changed to "Town of Lee's Summit". Now, as you know, "summit” refers to the top of
a hill or mountain. Changing the name made sense in a way ‘cause the town's elevation
represents the highest point on the rail line that links two other cities in Missouri - Kansas City,
famous for barbecue and jazz music, and St. Louis, which has one of America's most famous
landmarks...the St. Louis arch.

Well, there are two other theories about why the town's name was changed. Many people moved
to Lee's Summit from the Southern states, where General Robert E. Lee commanded the
Confederates during the Civil War. Some folks believe that the town was named after him. Also,
there was a locally famous resident named Dr. Pleasant Lea and, though the town's name is
spelled differently, perhaps the town was named in his honor instead, with the spelling mistake
being blamed on railroad sign painters. To this day, no one’s completely sure which reason is the
truth....

Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 16 to 20.

(20 seconds)

Now listen and answer questions 16 to 20.

4
Narrator:

The town now known as Lee's Summit has been home to some famous…or shall I say
infamous…figures in American history. The most infamous, of course, was Cole Younger, who
earned the title "The Last Great Outlaw". When you think of Wild West shootouts between
sheriffs and bandits in cowboy hats, you're thinking of people like Mr. Younger and his brothers.
Though he lived most of his life outside the law, he helped to protect historical homes in Lee's
Summit from Union troops who were ordered to burn every structure in a three county area. He
eventually renounced his life of crime and lived his final years as a model citizen. He died in
Lee's Summit and his gravesite receives many visitors each year. Who else? Well, American
businessmen, like R.A. Long and J.J. Pryor, moved to the area to begin their ventures in the
lumber and construction industries. Pryor was also an associate of Tom Pendergast who
controlled a vast political operation that was ultimately responsible for launching the career of
one Harry S. Truman, the 33rd American President. Nowadays, Lee's Summit may be more
closely associated with the Metheny family, who have lived there for several generations. Jazz
legend Pat Metheny has three gold albums and 20 Grammy awards and is the only person ever
to have earned Grammies in ten different categories. Some of his instruments and other
memorabilia can be found in our local museum.

Well, as you can see, for such a small town, Lee's Summit has been a focal point for important
historical events and the birthplace of some noteworthy people. Perhaps that's why we take
historical preservation so seriously, since it serves as a thread that ties the local residents
together. Now, if you have any questions...

That is the end of section 2. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

(30 seconds)

Now turn to section 3.

5
SECTION 3

You will hear a marketing professor (Dr. Ross) having a conversation with two of her students
about social media marketing. First you have some time to look at questions 21 to 24.

(20 seconds)

Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 24.

Dr. Ross: Please have a seat, ladies. Holly, you e-mailed me last Friday about wanting to come
by my office to discuss the final assignment. How can I be of assistance?

Holly: Thanks for seeing us, Dr. Ross. I’m here to get the updated information about the
assignment. Well, that and I had questions about the social media unit coming up in class…I’m
still confused about how it relates to marketing.

Dr. Ross: Right, now I remember. You’re gonna' miss the upcoming lecture because you’ll be
out of class for the next two weeks, right? Away for a sports competition?

Holly: Yes. Two weeks, but I’ll have access to e-mails and shared files, so finishing up the
project should be easy enough while I’m on the road. My problem really is that, besides what we
read in the textbook, I really have no clue what to write for the social media part.

Dr. Ross: I see…and Jessica? How’s your assignment coming along? You seemed stressed last
week in class during the group discussion.

Jessica: Honestly, Dr. Ross, I’m a little lost. Our textbook is a bit outdated, so the chapter about
internet-based marketing methods doesn’t really cover social media marketing very well. Any
background information you could give us would be great.

Dr. Ross: Ok, we’d better get started, then. First of call, remember that we changed the due date
on the assignment, so you have one extra week to do it and deadline extensions will be granted
on a case-by-case basis. Friday, March 10th by 5pm is the deadline and, as far as social media
marketing goes, why don’t you start by telling me what you both have learned so far. Who wants
to go first?

Holly: Well, obviously, we all know by now what social media is. It means sites like Facebook
and apps like Twitter. What I’m having trouble with is finding a good, general definition for it.

Jessica: If I may…I started thinking about it like this…social media is the way, or medium, we
use to interact now.....

Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 25 to 30.

(20 seconds)

Now listen and answer questions 25 to 30.

6
Dr. Ross: That’s the essence of it, Jessica. Basically anything online which allows us to conduct
a social function would certainly qualify. Social functions, then, would include what, Holly?

Holly: Photos, for sure. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t post their pics on a regular basis. Um,
let’s see, what else…updates, relationship status…stuff like that.

Dr. Ross: Yep. Conducting social functions is just like saying “reaching out to
people”…communication, basically. Business and organizations use social media to conduct
functions like commerce, promotion and charity. How does all that tie in to search engine results,
though? Jessica?

Jessica: This is the part that frustrates me. I just think of them as having no effect on each other.
When I want to search something, I use Google. If I want to private message someone, I use
something else.

Dr. Ross: Think about it, though…references to products and recommendations come up all the
time when people communicate online. People talk about everything from movies to toothpaste
and someone might make a buying decision based on what a friend, colleague or family member
said, right?

Jessica: Yah, I guess……

Dr. Ross: Companies know this, so they have shifted their marketing strategies away from paid
search and onto social media because it let’s them find customers more easily. They can get
very specific information about the people who might be interested in their products. Why is that
important, Holly?

Holly: It certainly beats paying vast sums of money for things paid search results and pay per
click. While they work for things like creating awareness of a company’s brand, they aren’t useful
for getting the right message to the right person at the right time.

Dr. Ross: Very good. Nearly everything about social media marketing is superior to traditional
search methods because the research obtained can be used to target consumers more reliably
with less expense. Do either of you want to guess what percent of business are involved in social
media marketing of some type?

Jessica: I would say 70%

Dr. Ross: Keep going…

Jessica: 80%?

Dr. Ross: Close enough. A study conducted in 2015, it was 85% and it’s sure to be higher now.
Advertising revenue is already in the billions, so it’s safe to say that it’s the future or marketing,
for better or worse.

That is the end of section 3. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

(30 seconds)

Now turn to section 4.

7
SECTION 4

Section 4. You will hear a man giving a talk on digital publishing. First you have some time to
look at questions 31 to 35.

(20 seconds)

Listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 35.

Speaker:

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is James Selby, and I’ve been asked here today to talk to
you about digital publishing. I am both a traditionally published and digitally self-published author,
but a little more about myself and self-publishing later. First, I’d like to begin by giving you a little
historical overview on digital publishing that has led to the self-publishing phenomenon that we
have today.

The first digital document - a digitized version of the American Declaration of Independence --
was produced by Project Guttenberg in 1971, and this is regarded as the birth of digital
publishing. But the internet, as people knew it then, existed mostly in computer labs in Californian
and European universities. So unlike Guttenberg and his printing press, this event went by
largely unnoticed.

The next major stage in digital publishing came about in the 1980s, following the development of
the CD-ROM. Some newspaper and magazine companies experimented with them, but found
only a small audience. Publishing companies, however, realized that, compared to storing
magazines and newspapers, they could save a lot of space and used them mainly for the storage
of archival material and past editions.

Electronic books, or e-books, began to appear in the early 1990s, coinciding with the
exponentially growing number of internet users. But their formats made them commercially
unattractive to most book readers. Towards the end of the 90s there was the appearance of the
first e-book stores. There was also the introduction of the the world’s first tablet device, but this
turned out to be more of a business tool and, like online e-book stores, a little complicated for
most people to use.

A large Japanese company probably thought it had a winner when it released its electronic book
reader, or e-reader, in 2006. It was the first device to have an innovative paper-like screen,
providing an experience that was the closest yet to reading a paper book. But the device itself
and their online store were not very user-friendly. The real boost the e-book industry needed
would come the following year, when a major American online book retailer brought out its own
e-book reader, a device that reproduced the functions of its Japanese predecessor, yet was easy
to use and appealed to ordinary readers.

Though other electronics and internet companies have released their own e-readers, this large
American online book retailer is still responsible for over two thirds of all e-book sales. With
publishing books becoming cheaper and easier, aspiring authors the world over soon found
themselves attracted to this alternative route to getting published. And I was one of them.

8
Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 36 to 40.

(20 seconds)

Now listen and answer questions 36 to 40.

Speaker:

Getting a book published is not easy for a first-time author. I had to suffer many rejections from
various traditional publishers and their editors, and then do major revisions, before getting my
first book published. And even then, as an author, you only receive ten or twenty percent of the
sales of your book. Which is not a lot when the print run is only a thousand and your book sells
for ten dollars a copy. This is what got me into self-publishing. If I get a book self-published, the
publisher gets twenty percent of the sales, not the other way round like it is with the traditional
publishing houses. And I really enjoy the feedback from my readers. Writing can be a pretty
solitary pursuit. But when I upload a novel one chapter at a time, I get immediate responses from
them, which I always reply to. They are, in effect, like my editors: spotting things I may have
missed; suggesting plot alternatives. Taking the the alternative route to traditional publishing,
though,can come at a price.

While plagiarism is almost unheard of in mainstream publishing, the incidence of people copying
others’ work and passing it off as their own has been happening with disconcerting regularity in
the e-publishing industry. Frequently driven more by a desire for recognition and respect than for
money, this can range from stealing the plots and ideas of others to virtually copying entire texts.
Often, the so-called authors of these stolen works hide behind fake online identities, and even
then they may reside in a country different to the author, making any legal action difficult to both
pursue and enforce. About the only remedial course of action available is for the publisher to
withdraw the title from the market. Many digital publishing companies, though, fearing getting
caught up in protracted legal proceedings, are reluctant to ban these writers who steal and copy
from others for good.

Many writers who take the traditional publishing path are sceptical of self-publishing, believing
that the majority of self-published first novels are not good enough to be published in the first
place. Good novels, they claim, require good editors, enticing cover designs and people
experienced in marketing and publicity. Further eroding their claims to be serious authors is the
fact that many e-book authors seem to spend more time promoting and marketing their books
than they do writing just to survive in the e-publishing business. A self-published e-book is
unlikely to ever be reviewed in the mainstream press nor are they eligible for prestigious prizes.
For a writer aspiring to gain and build a reputation and major following, or any form of credible
literary acclaim, I would advise them to first try getting picked up by a major publisher. But if, like
me, you enjoy writing as a hobby rather then a profession, then self-publishing is something you
should look further into.

That is the end of Section 4. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

(30 seconds)

That is the end of the listening test. You now have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the
listening answer sheet.

9
ANSWER KEY - ACADEMIC

LISTENING PART 1
LISTENING PART 3

1) 26/26th 21) Social function

2) cabin 22) Commerce, promotion and charity
3) 2.09 23) Paid search
4) 57 24) Nearly everything/almost everything
5) City West Station 25) Advertising
6) Swanston 26) A
7) 3869 1930 5741 2796 27) A
8) 4.15 28) A
9) Mountain bikes/bikes/mountain 29) A
bicycles/bicycles 30) A
10) 90
LISTENING PART 4

LISTENING PART 2
31) Computer labs/computer
11) Midwest/midwest/mid-west/mid west
laboratories
12) History
32) Experiment with /experimented with
13) Big Cedar
33) Formats
14) Highest elevation/ highest point
34) Tablet device/tablet
15) South/ south/ southern states/
35) Reproduced
Southern states
36) A
16) B
37) B
17) D
38) B
18) B
39) A
19) A
40) A
20) B

10
READING PASSAGE 1

1) FALSE 21) A

2) FALSE 22) B

3) TRUE 23) C

4) FALSE 24) Practical/Viable

5) NOT GIVEN 25) Theft/vandalism

6) TRUE 26) Popularity

7) FALSE

8) Famous READING PASSAGE 3

9) Map 27) G

10) Postal 28) A

11) Pass 29) C

12) Congestion / Overcrowding 30) D

13) Investment 31) I

32) F

READING PASSAGE 2 33) B

14) E 34) H

15) H 35) E

16) B 36) FALSE

17) A 37) NOT GIVEN

18) E 38) TRUE

19) G 39) FALSE

20) E 40) TRUE

11