IELTS Listening Practice Test 48
4 parts · 40 questions · about 33 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 with an astronaut about her early life and career.
Questions 1–6
Complete the form below.
Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
Astronaut Profile
Early life and interests
- Sports she took part in: running, swimming and
- Age at first science conference:
- Conference topic:
Scientific training and research
- University subject: biology
- Virus endemic in Congo:
- Research aim: treatments and
Questions 7–10
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
Part 2: Questions 11–20
You will hear a radio report about an agricultural storage project and an award ceremony.
Questions 11–14
Answer the questions below.
Write NO MORE THAN 4 WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
Questions 15–20
Complete the notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
Svalbard Global Seed Vault and the 2024 prize
Svalbard Global Seed Vault
- Year the vault became operational:
- Seed samples currently stored:
- Number of agriculturally important plant types protected: over
2024 World Food Prize
- Fowler’s diplomatic brief: global food
- Hawtin’s profession:
Crop risks
- Risks cited range from insects and illness to soil decline and
Part 3: Questions 21–30
You will hear an interview about research on muscle tissue carried out on the International Space Station.
Questions 21–22
Choose TWO letters, A–E.
Questions 23–24
Choose TWO letters, A–E.
Questions 25–30
Choose SIX answers from the box and write the correct letter, A–H, next to Questions 25–30.
- A Research there is simpler than on Earth.
- B Progress is too slow to observe easily on Earth.
- C It may yield remedies for widespread illnesses.
- D Its health consequences require clarification.
- E It brings substantial gains in capability.
- F It will be replaced by several new facilities.
- G It offers a setting found nowhere else.
- H It relies on commercial investment.
Part 4: Questions 31–40
You will hear an engineer talking about the design and testing of batteries used in space exploration.
Questions 31–35
Complete the table below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
Notes on the battery redesign
| Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
Cell arrangement | cells packed closely, with a metal inserted between them |
Activation point | the wax changes state at °C |
Wax composition | a particular type of combined with hairspray so that it stays bendy |
Electrode form | coiled into a before the trigger is put in place |
Device thickness | roughly microns |
Questions 36–40
Complete the summary using the list of words, A–I, below.
Summary of the testing problem
Deliberately provoking a fault in a normal cell produces needless Drop or choose answer because the cells next to the faulty one are affected as well. A greater obstacle is that the technique depends on the goodwill of the Drop or choose answer, since the flaws deliberately built in will make their own products fail; winning them over took about Drop or choose answer years. In the packs eventually used for testing, chosen cells are swapped for so-called Drop or choose answer cells, which allows engineers to confirm that Drop or choose answer cells are shielded from the hazard.
- A adjacent
- B trigger
- C four
- D the manufacturer
- E over-testing
- F cooling
- G wax
- H a heater
- I aluminium
About this listening test
| Part | Recording | Questions | Question types |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Astronaut Kate Rubins interview | 1–10 | Form completion, Multiple choice |
| 2 | Seed Vault and World Food Prize | 11–20 | Short-answer questions, Note completion |
| 3 | Muscle-on-chip research in space | 21–30 | Multiple choice (choose more than one), Matching features |
| 4 | Safer Batteries for Spacesuits | 31–40 | Table completion, Summary completion (word list) |
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: Astronaut and Microbiologist (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: Two Win World Food Prize for Securing Agricultural Seeds. VOA Learning English (learningenglish.voanews.com), public domain
- Part 3: Muscles on Chips in Space (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 4: Better Batteries (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)