Part 1 - Swimming course booking. You will hear a woman phoning a leisure centre to book a swimming course for her son.
The recording is read by your device's built-in voices, so it sounds slightly synthetic; the full mocks use the same voices with different speakers.
Questions 1-7
Complete the form below. Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
Riverside Leisure Centre – Course booking
Child's name: Daniel 1
Age: 2
Course: Improvers – 3 afternoons
Start date: 4 October
Cost for the term: £5
Child must bring: swimming cap and 6
Address: 27 7 Street
Questions 8-10
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
8 Why did Daniel stop his previous lessons?
9 What does the receptionist say about the first lesson?
10 How will Mrs Okafor pay?
Your score and band estimate appear here.
Transcript
RECEPTIONIST: Good morning, Riverside Leisure Centre, Mark speaking. How can I help?
MRS OKAFOR: Hi, I'd like to book my son onto one of your swimming courses for the autumn term.
RECEPTIONIST: Of course. Let me open a booking form. What's your son's name?
MRS OKAFOR: Daniel. Daniel Okafor. That's O-K-A-F-O-R.
RECEPTIONIST: Thank you. And how old is Daniel?
MRS OKAFOR: He turns ten in December, so he's nine at the moment.
RECEPTIONIST: Nine, then. We go by the age on the start date. Has he had lessons before?
MRS OKAFOR: Yes, for about two years at the pool in Ashby. He can swim a length without stopping, but his technique isn't great.
RECEPTIONIST: Then the Improvers course sounds right. May I ask why he stopped at Ashby?
MRS OKAFOR: It wasn't that he didn't like the teacher, she was lovely. We moved house in the summer, and Ashby is just too far now.
RECEPTIONIST: I understand. Now, Improvers runs on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, but I'm afraid Tuesday is already full.
MRS OKAFOR: Thursday's fine. He has football on Wednesdays, so that works.
RECEPTIONIST: Lovely. The course starts on the seventh of October... sorry, no, that's the beginners' group. Improvers begins on the fourteenth.
MRS OKAFOR: The fourteenth of October. Great.
RECEPTIONIST: The price for the term is fifty-six pounds, but are you a member of the centre?
MRS OKAFOR: Yes, I have a family membership.
RECEPTIONIST: Then it's forty-eight pounds for the ten weeks.
MRS OKAFOR: That's good. Does he need any special equipment?
RECEPTIONIST: All children must wear a swimming cap, and we ask them to bring goggles. We do sell both at reception, but they're cheaper in the shops. Floats and other equipment are provided.
MRS OKAFOR: OK, cap and goggles. Do you need our address?
RECEPTIONIST: Yes please.
MRS OKAFOR: It's twenty-seven Garnet Street. G-A-R-N-E-T.
RECEPTIONIST: Twenty-seven Garnet Street. And is there anything else we should know about the first lesson?
MRS OKAFOR: Well, I was going to ask whether parents can stay.
RECEPTIONIST: Parents are welcome to watch from the viewing gallery upstairs, but not from the poolside, for safety reasons. The first session is the same length as all the others, forty-five minutes, but the instructor spends the first ten minutes doing a short assessment of each child's level, so they're put in the right group.
MRS OKAFOR: That makes sense. And how do I pay? Can I give you my card details now?
RECEPTIONIST: Normally yes, but our card machine on the phone line is down today. I'll email you a link and you can pay online. It needs to be paid within forty-eight hours to keep the place.
MRS OKAFOR: No problem. I'll do it this evening.
How to approach Listening Part 1
- Predict the answer type before the recording starts: a name, a number, a day, a price.
- Listen for corrections. Speakers often change their mind ("the seventh... sorry, no, the fourteenth"). The final version is the answer.
- Spelling counts. Names spelled letter by letter must be copied exactly.
- Respect the word limit. "ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER" means "48" is right and "48 pounds" is wrong.
Next: try the free Reading practice test.
Frequently asked questions
How many times can I hear the recording in IELTS Listening?
Once. Each part of the real test is played only one time, so practise answering while you listen.
How many questions are in IELTS Listening?
40 questions in four parts, about 30 minutes, plus 2 minutes to check your answers in the computer-delivered test.
Is this a real IELTS recording?
No. It is an original Part 1 conversation written in the IELTS format, with the same question types and traps.
Practise in the real test format
DMATBLAZE has 20 full IELTS Academic mock tests: Listening (4 parts, 40 questions), Reading (3 passages, 40 questions, 60 minutes), Writing Task 1 and 2, and a 3-part Speaking test, with band estimates and analytics that show which question types cost you marks. Full Mock 1 is free.
More guides: IELTS mock test · Band score calculator · Writing Task 2 samples · Speaking cue cards · Speaking Part 1 questions · Listening practice test · Reading practice test · True/False/Not Given · Writing Task 1 samples · IELTS for German universities