IELTS Listening Test 8 (2026) with Answers

Teacher section. Do not give this to learners before they take the test.

Original IELTS-style practice material. Not produced or endorsed by IELTS, the British Council, IDP or Cambridge University Press & Assessment.

Note: A script alone does not reproduce a timed audio test. In the real test, candidates hear each recording once, at natural speed, with fixed pauses. If you read these scripts aloud, keep to the pause lengths shown and do not repeat anything.

Pause markers: [PAUSE 30s] means 30 seconds of silence. In the actual recording, each pause is silence only.

Answer locations: In this teacher copy, the words that give each answer are marked like this: ⟦Q1⟧. Remove these markers before recording.

PART 1

Speakers: NARRATOR; FRASER (male, volunteer coordinator at a meal-delivery charity, friendly, Scottish accent); LORNA (female, caller, British accent)

NARRATOR: Part 1. You will hear a woman phoning a charity to offer to work as a volunteer driver. First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 5.

[PAUSE 30s]

NARRATOR: Now listen carefully and answer questions 1 to 5.

FRASER: Good afternoon, Brightside Meals. Fraser speaking.

LORNA: Hello. I saw your poster in the post office. It said you're looking for volunteers to deliver hot meals to older people.

FRASER: We certainly are. Thanks for calling. Can I start by taking a few details? What's your name?

LORNA: Lorna Haskett.

FRASER: Is that H-A-S-K-E-T?

LORNA: There are two Ts at the end, actually. ⟦Q1⟧ H-A-S-K-E-T-T.

FRASER: Got it. And your address?

LORNA: It's 14 ⟦Q2⟧ Bramley Close.

FRASER: Could you spell Bramley for me?

LORNA: Yes, B-R-A-M-L-E-Y.

FRASER: Thanks. And can I ask what you do for a living? It just helps us to know when people are likely to be free.

LORNA: Well, I trained as a nurse, and people still assume that's what I do, but I changed careers a long time ago. I've been a ⟦Q3⟧ pharmacist for nearly twenty years. I work part-time now, so I have a couple of days free each week.

FRASER: That's ideal. Now, you'd be using your own car. Is that all right?

LORNA: Yes, I've got a small hatchback. Do I need special insurance?

FRASER: You don't need to buy a new policy, but you must tell your ⟦Q4⟧ insurance company that you're using the car for volunteering. Most of them don't charge anything extra, but they do need to know.

LORNA: I'll ring them tomorrow.

FRASER: Lovely. Now, which days would suit you?

LORNA: I look after my grandson on Tuesdays, so that's out. And I'm at work on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. So it would have to be ⟦Q5⟧ Thursday.

FRASER: Thursday's great. That's one of our busiest days.

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

[PAUSE 30s]

NARRATOR: Now listen and answer questions 6 to 10.

LORNA: So where would I be delivering?

FRASER: Most of our volunteers ask for the town centre, because it's close, and we actually have more drivers there than we need. Where we're really short is the ⟦Q6⟧ north of the town, around the new estates. Would that be all right?

LORNA: That's fine. It's not far from me.

FRASER: Great. You'd pick up the meals from our kitchen. That used to be in the community centre, but it's moved, and the meals are now cooked in the kitchen at the ⟦Q7⟧ school on Station Road. The pupils' lunches are made there in the morning, and ours are made straight afterwards.

LORNA: And how long does a delivery round take?

FRASER: When we started, we told people about an hour, but that was too optimistic. A lot of our clients like a chat, and for some of them you're the only person they'll see all day. So I'd say allow about ⟦Q8⟧ ninety minutes.

LORNA: That's fine. What about petrol?

FRASER: We pay mileage. It used to be forty pence a mile, but we raised it in April, so it's now ⟦Q9⟧ forty-five pence for every mile you drive on a round.

LORNA: That's generous. Is there anything else I need to do before I start?

FRASER: Yes, there are two things. We'll arrange a background check, which is free. And we need you to give us the names of two people who can provide ⟦Q10⟧ references. They can't be relatives, I'm afraid, but a colleague or a neighbour would be fine.

LORNA: That won't be a problem.

FRASER: Wonderful. I'll email you the forms this afternoon, Ms Haskett.

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

[PAUSE 30s]

PART 2

Speakers: NARRATOR; BRIDGET (female, manager of a public library, warm, British accent)

NARRATOR: Part 2. You will hear the manager of a public library talking to a group of visitors on the day the library reopens after building work. First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 14.

[PAUSE 30s]

NARRATOR: Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 14.

BRIDGET: Good morning, everyone, and welcome back to Wrenfield Central Library. My name's Bridget, and I'm the library manager. It's wonderful to see so many familiar faces after eighteen months away.

Many of you have asked me why we had to close for so long. There were rumours that the roof was leaking, and it's true that we had some minor repairs done while the building was empty. Others heard that we were building an extension, but the building is exactly the same size as before. The real reason for the closure was the floor. The old wooden floor wasn't strong enough to carry the weight of the new shelving, so it had to be ⟦Q11⟧ taken up and replaced with a concrete one. That took much longer than anybody expected.

Some things have changed in the way the library works. Joining is still free for everyone who lives, works or studies in Wrenfield, and you can still join at the desk. You still can't join online, I'm afraid, because we need to see proof of your address. What's new is that you no longer need a plastic card. ⟦Q12⟧ Your membership is now on the library app, so you can borrow books with your phone. If you don't have a smartphone, don't worry: the staff can print a card for you.

The opening hours have changed slightly as well. We're still closed on Sundays, I'm afraid. We've had to stop opening at eight on Saturday mornings, because very few people came in before ten. But on weekdays, we'll now be ⟦Q13⟧ open until eight in the evening instead of six, so you'll be able to come in after work.

And what about the books? Some people have been worried that we'd have fewer books after the work. In fact, we have slightly more than before. The real change is that we've ⟦Q14⟧ arranged the non-fiction books by subject, rather than in one long row of numbers, so it's much easier to find what you're looking for. Don't worry: the numbers are still on the spines.

NARRATOR: Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 15 to 20.

[PAUSE 30s]

NARRATOR: Now listen and answer questions 15 to 20.

BRIDGET: Now, on the plan of the ground floor, our position is marked: we're at the information desk, just inside the main entrance. Ahead of you, at the far end of the room, are the stairs and the lift.

The room on your left as you come in, beside the entrance, is the staff office, so I'm afraid that's not open to the public. Families will want to know about the ⟦Q15⟧ children's library. It used to be upstairs, which was difficult for people with pushchairs, so we've moved it down here. Turn left at the information desk and walk all the way to the far corner, and you'll find it there, on the left of the stairs.

Many of you have told me how much you value peace and quiet, so we've created a new study room for people who need to concentrate. Walk towards the stairs, and just before you reach them, ⟦Q16⟧ turn right. The study room is the one in the corner there, and it should be nice and quiet.

The local history room has also moved downstairs. It's halfway along the left-hand wall, ⟦Q17⟧ between the staff office and the children's library. You'll find old maps and photographs there, and a volunteer is on duty every afternoon to help with family history research.

One of the most exciting additions is our digital workshop, where you can use a 3D printer and learn to edit video. It's on the right-hand side of the building, ⟦Q18⟧ directly opposite the local history room. Booking is essential, because we only have six computers.

And of course, many of you have been asking about the café. When you came in, you might have noticed a sign for it, pointing upstairs. That's an old sign that should have been taken down. The café is now ⟦Q19⟧ on your right as you come in through the main entrance, so you can stop for a coffee before you even reach the information desk.

Finally, the large open space ⟦Q20⟧ in the middle of the room, between here and the stairs, is our new exhibition area. At the moment, it's showing work by students from Wrenfield College, and the exhibition changes every month.

Right, if anyone would like a tour of the first floor, please follow me.

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

[PAUSE 30s]

PART 3

Speakers: NARRATOR; ANWEN (female, education student, Welsh accent); RAVI (male, education student, British accent)

NARRATOR: Part 3. You will hear two education students, Anwen and Ravi, discussing a research project about outdoor lessons at a primary school. First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 25.

[PAUSE 30s]

NARRATOR: Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 25.

RAVI: So, Anwen, we need to plan the rest of our project on outdoor learning. Shall we start with why we chose Fernside? We'll need to explain that in the introduction.

ANWEN: Well, our tutor suggested a school in the city, but they'd only just started outdoor lessons. And there are two primary schools much closer to the university, but neither of them does any outdoor work at all.

RAVI: Whereas ⟦Q21⟧ Fernside has been running outdoor lessons for over ten years, so we could see what happens in the long term. That was the deciding factor, wasn't it?

ANWEN: It was. And the head teacher was really helpful. What did you make of the reasons she gave for starting the lessons?

RAVI: She said a lot about health and fresh air, so I put that down as the main reason in my notes.

ANWEN: I did too, at first. But when I listened to the recording again, I changed my mind. The real reason was something she mentioned almost in passing. ⟦Q22⟧ Some of the staff had noticed that children were finding it harder and harder to focus in lessons, and they hoped that time outside would help with that.

RAVI: You're right, actually. And the parents had nothing to do with it?

ANWEN: Not at first. Some of them were actually against it, because they thought the children would just be playing.

RAVI: Right. What surprised me most was the weather. I'd assumed lessons would be cancelled when it rained, or in the middle of winter.

ANWEN: So did I. But they go out even when there's frost on the ground, and rain doesn't stop them at all. ⟦Q23⟧ The only time they stay inside is when there's a strong wind, because of the danger from falling branches.

RAVI: The children obviously loved it. But I got the impression that some of the teachers were less enthusiastic. Was it the children's behaviour, do you think?

ANWEN: No, that was generally better outside. I thought it might be the extra training they'd had to do.

RAVI: They didn't complain about that, though. ⟦Q24⟧ What really bothered them was how long it took to get thirty children into waterproofs and boots. One teacher said it took a quarter of the lesson.

ANWEN: Oh yes, I remember. Now, our results. The children's scores in the concentration tests went up slightly. Can we say that the outdoor lessons caused that?

RAVI: I'd like to. The improvement isn't huge, but it's bigger than I expected.

ANWEN: The size isn't really the issue, and the tests were designed for that age group, so they're fine too. The trouble is that we only tested one class, and ⟦Q25⟧ we had no other class to compare it with, so we can't rule out other explanations. They might have improved anyway, just because they were getting older.

RAVI: That's a fair point. We'll have to put that in the section on limitations.

NARRATOR: Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 26 to 30.

[PAUSE 30s]

NARRATOR: Now listen and answer questions 26 to 30.

RAVI: Okay, let's plan what happens next. I've drawn a rough flow chart. I'd thought we'd start by talking to the children, while the lessons are still fresh in their minds.

ANWEN: I'd rather deal with what we've already got first. ⟦Q26⟧ Let's get our handwritten observation notes onto the computer before anything else, while we can still read our own writing.

RAVI: Fair enough. Then the children. We were going to give them a questionnaire, but I'm not sure they're old enough to fill one in properly.

ANWEN: No, they'd find that hard. ⟦Q27⟧ It would be better to sit down and talk to them in threes and fours. That will feel more natural for them.

RAVI: Good. But we can't do that without permission from the parents, so we'll need to send a letter home first.

ANWEN: The school's already done that, actually. The head teacher told me last week that every family had agreed.

RAVI: Oh, great, so we can skip that step. After that, there's the question of the test scores. I was planning to run some statistical tests on them.

ANWEN: I spoke to our statistics tutor about that. She said it's not worth doing anything complicated with a single class. ⟦Q28⟧ We should just see how the class compares with the averages for that age group across the country, to show where it stands.

RAVI: Okay. And then the report. I thought we could divide it up and each write half.

ANWEN: Hmm. When people do that, it usually reads like two different reports.

RAVI: True. All right, ⟦Q29⟧ we'll do the whole first draft side by side, then, over a couple of afternoons.

ANWEN: Good. And the last thing, before we hand it in?

RAVI: ⟦Q30⟧ The head teacher asked if she could read it first, and that's a good idea. She'll be able to tell us if we've got any facts about the school wrong.

ANWEN: Great. Shall we meet again on Thursday to start on the notes?

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

[PAUSE 30s]

PART 4

Speakers: NARRATOR; LECTURER (female, clear academic delivery, British accent)

NARRATOR: Part 4. You will hear a lecture about how the railways changed the way time was measured. First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40.

[PAUSE 45s]

NARRATOR: Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40.

LECTURER: Good afternoon. Today, we take it for granted that the clocks in a country show the same time, or that they differ by exact hours. But this is a surprisingly recent idea, and it was the railways that made it necessary.

Until the nineteenth century, every town kept its own local time. Noon was simply the moment when the sun was at its highest point in the sky, and in many towns it was checked against a ⟦Q31⟧ sundial in the market place. Since that happens a little later the further west you go, clocks in Bristol were about ten minutes behind clocks in London. For most people this made no difference at all. A journey between the two cities took most of a day by coach, so a few minutes here or there hardly mattered.

There was one group who did need accurate time, and that was sailors. At sea, knowing the exact time at Greenwich was the key to working out a ship's position. So in eighteen thirty-three, a time ball was put up on top of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. Every day, it dropped at exactly one o'clock, so that the crews of ⟦Q32⟧ ships on the River Thames could check their clocks.

Then came the railways. Suddenly, people could travel between cities in a few hours, and local time became a real problem. Passengers arriving in a new town often had to change their ⟦Q33⟧ watches, and missed connections were common. In November eighteen forty, the Great Western Railway became the first company to use London time throughout its ⟦Q34⟧ timetables, and other companies gradually followed. By the end of the eighteen-forties, most British railways were using London time, which in practice meant Greenwich time.

But how could a station hundreds of miles from London know what time it was in Greenwich? At first, some companies sent a guard on the early train from London with a watch that had been set at the station. But even good watches gained or lost a minute or two on a long journey, so this was never very accurate. The real answer was the ⟦Q35⟧ telegraph. From eighteen fifty-two, a clock at the Royal Observatory sent electrical signals along telegraph wires to stations across the country every hour, so that railway clocks could be kept accurate. The same master clock also controlled a large clock on the wall beside the observatory gate, which was one of the first public clocks in the world to show Greenwich time. If you visit Greenwich today, you can still see it there, with its unusual twenty-four-hour face.

Not everybody was happy with these changes. Many towns continued to use local time for everyday life, while the station clock showed railway time. In Exeter, the Dean at first refused to change the clock on the ⟦Q36⟧ cathedral, which went on showing local time until the city finally gave in at the end of eighteen fifty-two. In Bristol, a well-known public clock in the city centre was given two minute ⟦Q37⟧ hands, one showing local time and the other London time. You can still see it today.

This confusing situation lasted for decades. It was not until eighteen eighty that an Act of Parliament finally made Greenwich Mean Time the legal time throughout Great Britain. Ireland, which was then part of the United Kingdom, was given a different legal time: ⟦Q38⟧ Dublin time, which was about twenty-five minutes behind Greenwich.

In North America, the problem was even worse, because of the enormous distances involved. Each railway company had its own time, and dozens of different times were in use. On the eighteenth of November eighteen eighty-three, the railways of the United States and Canada introduced five standard time ⟦Q39⟧ zones. Newspapers called it "the day of two noons", because in many places clocks had to be put back, so that midday came twice.

One of the people who argued for a worldwide system was Sandford Fleming, a Scottish-born engineer working in Canada. According to the story he later told, he became interested in the subject after he missed a ⟦Q40⟧ train in Ireland, because the timetable said p.m. when it should have said a.m. In eighteen eighty-four, delegates from twenty-five countries met in Washington and chose Greenwich as the starting point for measuring longitude around the world. Not every country accepted the decision immediately. France, for example, continued to use Paris time until nineteen eleven.

In our next session, we'll be looking at the telegraph itself, and at its effect on how news was reported.

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

[PAUSE 30s]

NARRATOR: That is the end of the Listening test. You now have ten minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet.