IELTS Listening Practice Test 5
4 parts · 40 questions · about 27 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 a conversation at an outdoor seafood market in Washington, D.C.
Questions 1–10
Complete the notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
Seafood Market Notes
Seafood Market
- Near the Potomac
- Oldest outdoor seafood market in the
Anna's Shopping
- Budget: $
- Shrimp: one
- Crabs come from the nearby Chesapeake
- Crabs: a
- Size: crabs
- Friend brings: salad and corn-on-the-
- Total cost: $
- Payment:
Part 2: Questions 11–20
You will hear a woman explaining how a simple solar water heater works at a community science fair.
Questions 11–15
Label the diagram below.
Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.
A solar water heater (side view)
Questions 16–20
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
Part 3: Questions 21–30
You will hear a conversation between a host and Mike McGlone about NASA programmes for school and college students.
Questions 21–25
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
Questions 26–30
Complete the notes below.
Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.
Student programmes
Micro-g NExT
- Students watch the test of their tool on
- They get feedback from the on how easy the tool is to use
- A student design may later become part of a tool
HUNCH
- High school students design space
- One group worked with the lab to create a new recipe
Part 4: Questions 31–40
You will hear a radio report about an AI tool that aims to predict virus variants before they appear.
Questions 31–35
Complete the summary using the list of words, A–H, below.
EVEscape
The AI tool EVEscape estimates how likely a variant is to escape the body's own Drop or choose answer defences. It uses data on the Drop or choose answer of a virus over time, together with biological and structural information. Viruses mutate to stay alive and strong, and some mutations make a virus resistant to treatments or Drop or choose answer. The tool grew out of an earlier tool, EVE, which studied the gene mutations behind human Drop or choose answer. Tested from January 2020, it correctly predicted which mutations would appear and which would become Drop or choose answer.
- A immunity
- B evolution
- C vaccines
- D disease
- E dominant
- F structure
- G antibodies
- H weaker
Questions 36–40
Complete the notes below.
Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.
Results of the EVEscape study
- Predicted that some antibody-based treatments would lose their
- Faster than lab methods: no need to wait for to appear in the population
- Can examine tens of thousands of new variants every
- Also predicted mutations in HIV and the
- Future goal: help to design vaccines and
About this listening test
| Part | Recording | Questions | Question types |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seafood Market Notes | 1–10 | Note completion |
| 2 | A solar water heater | 11–20 | Diagram label completion, Multiple choice |
| 3 | NASA student programmes | 21–30 | Multiple choice, Note completion |
| 4 | An AI tool that predicts virus variants | 31–40 | Summary completion (word list), 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: Let's Learn English, Lesson 30: Rolling on the River. VOA Learning English (learningenglish.voanews.com), public domain
- Part 2: A solar water heater
- Part 3: Microgravity University (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: AI Tool Aims to Predict Virus Variants before They Appear. VOA Learning English (learningenglish.voanews.com), public domain