IELTS Listening Practice Test 130
4 parts · 40 questions · about 31 minutes of audio. Below are all the questions. Take the test in your free dashboard to play the recordings, answer as you listen, and get your band score with the transcript of every answer.
Part 1: Questions 1–10
You will hear an interview about the history of a major international engineering project.
Questions 1–7
Complete the form below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
Engineering Project Profile
Initial programme name: Space Station
Expenditure before reorganisation: almost $ billion
Body angered by absence of hardware:
Shuttle's construction role: assembling large structures in
Shuttle tasks besides crew transport: conducting
Frequency of Russian shuttle flights:
Landing method: resembling a
Questions 8–10
Answer the questions below.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
Part 2: Questions 11–20
You will hear a radio program about the idea of a personal guiding principle.
Questions 11–14
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
Questions 15–20
Complete the notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
Related Concepts
Related Concepts
- A comparable concept to North Star is one's compass.
- Originally, a lodestar was a star used to .
- In modern usage, a lodestar can denote a person who offers .
- The literal sense of lodestar became rare by the .
- During a difficult divorce, a woman's served as her lodestar.
- After relocating, a man discovered that became his North Star.
Part 3: Questions 21–30
You will hear a talk about the causes of low-oxygen areas in coastal waters.
Questions 21–25
Complete the summary below.
Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.
How Nutrient Pollution Creates Dead Zones
An overabundance of nutrients can trigger excessive algal development, producing dense . When these organisms die and descend, micro-organisms the algae, a process that depletes the water of . Because layers of differing temperature and salinity resist mixing—a phenomenon known as —freshwater remains above the denser, layer, preventing surface water from reaching the bottom.
Questions 26–30
Choose five answers from the box and write the correct letter, A–G, next to Questions 26–30.
- A One crop absorbs nutrients inefficiently.
- B Loss of dissolved gas is accelerating.
- C Fertiliser is applied most heavily then.
- D More frequent storms raise nutrient runoff.
- E Hypoxic conditions reach their yearly maximum.
- F Warming impacts are forecast rather than yet widely measured.
- G Nutrient supply falls and mixing improves.
Part 4: Questions 31–40
You will hear a podcast about a new approach to measuring land height.
Questions 31–40
Complete the notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.
Modern Height Measurement
Traditional versus modern measurement
- Early surveyors travelled to the coast carrying to record height changes.
- The energy obtained by raising an object within a gravitational field is termed .
- With a full of the continent, experts can estimate the position of sea level beneath the land.
Applications
- An updated map for Southern Texas, an area susceptible to , will improve water-flow predictions.
- For ditch construction, instead of extensive surveying, workers can install to establish height differences.
- The system supports numerous projects that demand accurate positioning.
Data collection
- Gravity meters are placed in aircraft that fly in a lawn-mowing pattern over a 10-kilometre .
- After analysis, the data will be combined into a .
Public impact
- In Colorado, peaks may exceed 14,000 feet at the .
- Residents will notice that in towns will decrease by two feet.
About this listening test
| Part | Recording | Questions | Question types |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lessons from a Complex Engineering Project | 1–10 | Form completion, Short-answer questions |
| 2 | Guiding Principles in Life | 11–20 | Multiple choice, Note completion |
| 3 | Dead Zones in Coastal Waters | 21–30 | Summary completion, Matching features |
| 4 | Improving Land Height Accuracy | 31–40 | Note completion |
How to use it
- Open the test in your dashboard. Each part has its own track with the spoken instructions and the time to read the questions, as in the real exam.
- For exam practice, play each part once at 1× speed. To train your ear, slow it down or replay sections.
- Select words in a question to highlight the keywords you are listening for.
- After submitting, use “Show in transcript” to see exactly where each answer was said.
Audio sources
The recordings are real, copyright-free audio. The questions are written by Sprechify, and the spoken instructions use a synthetic voice.
- Part 1: Expedition 1 (NASA Houston We Have a Podcast). NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston We Have a Podcast (NASA audio is generally not subject to copyright in the US)
- Part 2: What Is Your 'North Star'?. VOA Learning English (learningenglish.voanews.com), public domain
- Part 3: Dealing with Dead Zones: Hypoxia in the Ocean (NOAA Ocean Podcast). NOAA National Ocean Service, NOAA Ocean Podcast (work of the US federal government, public domain)
- Part 4: Understanding Gravity (NOAA Ocean Podcast). NOAA National Ocean Service, NOAA Ocean Podcast (work of the US federal government, public domain)