PET (B1) Listening Practice Test 4

Section 1

Question 1

Girl

I bought a nice coat yesterday.

Boy

That one you tried on the other day? The long one with a nice belt?

Girl

I wasn’t sure about the buttons on that one - they were very big and looked a bit strange. The new one’s got a belt, but it’s not a long coat like the other and the buttons are much smaller. It has a fur collar, too, to keep my neck warm in the winter. Don’t worry! It’s not real fur! That other coat just had a collar like a jacket.

Question 2

Girl

I’m thinking of starting drum lessons.

Boy

Really? I thought you wanted to learn the piano like me.

Girl

I do, but I think it’ll be too difficult.

Boy

It takes time to become good at any musical instrument, but I found it fairly easy. And now I’m pretty good at it, it’s time to have lessons on something else.

Girl

You could come to drum lessons with me.

Boy

My parents wouldn’t be pleased if I practised at home, though. I think the guitar would make a better option, so I’m going for that.

Question 3

Boy

How’s your new apartment?

Girl

Fine. I’ve got no complaints about my new bedroom - the one I had before was tiny. The view’s not so good now, though. We’re not so high up and you can only see it through the windows. It was so nice to be able to sit outside with a drink and look down at what was going on in the street below. There was no big fire in the living room at the old place, though, so where we are now is much warmer.

Question 4

Boy

Phew! I’m real tired.

Girl

I’m not surprised if you’ve had a basketball match today, like you usually do on Saturdays.

Boy

I’ve given that up actually. I joined a table tennis club a few weeks ago, which I love, and couldn’t carry on doing both - I just don’t have time.

Girl

That’s a shame - you were pretty good.

Boy

Maybe, but don’t forget that I’m a member of the school hockey team too, so I have practice and matches with them every week as well, although I missed the last game due to illness.

Question 5

Girl

Richard Ellis has won the school poetry competition.

Boy

Who?

Girl

Richard Ellis … you know, in Mrs Greenwood’s class.

Boy

Oh, is he the one with short, dark hair, who always wears a shirt and tie for school, even though he doesn’t need to?

Girl

I’ve never seen him wear anything else. I don’t know why he doesn’t just wear a sweatshirt and jeans, like us. His hair’s a bit like mine, though - it comes right down to his shoulders.

Boy

I know who you mean, and it’s quite light actually.

Girl

That’s him!

Question 6

Announcer

There’s a great evening’s entertainment to look forward to. A new series of nature documentaries starts tonight, and the first programme is all about a year in the life of a family of giraffes. That’s coming up just after Larry Lane brings us his Chat Show in a minute or two. His guests tonight include the actor Vincent Malibri and explorer, Katarina Lingstromm. Immediately after the news, there’s a concert of classical music to enjoy, brought to you live from the National Theatre.

Question 7

Girl

We need to decide what to buy mum for her birthday.

Boy

I thought you’d got her a necklace.

Girl

I saw a lovely one in the jeweller’s and was going to get that, but then dad said he’d already bought one for her.

Boy

There’s that book she wants, that she was telling us about yesterday - one of us could get that and the other could get her some flowers. She always loves those.

Girl

My dance class is near the bookshop, so it’d be easy for me to call in there.

Boy

OK.

Section 2

Question 8

Boy

Hi, Angela. Waiting for the bus again? It’s just as quick to walk into town from here, you know.

Girl

I know it’s strange, especially as it takes 15 minutes to walk here from home, but I work in a shop in town on Saturdays with a friend. She lives further out of town, so she gets the bus in. It’s a bit more sociable if we go together.

Boy

But how do you know which one she’ll be on?

Girl

The buses come every 10 minutes on weekdays, but only once an hour on Saturdays, so I know exactly which one to get!

Question 9

Boy

Have you seen the video for Lionheart’s new song yet?

Girl

Yes, I watched it last night. It’s really not like their other stuff, but I couldn’t stop listening to it.

Boy

Maybe I’ll start to like it once I’ve heard it a few more times. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an incredible video, though.

Girl

I think they hired a Hollywood director to make it - you can tell because of the quality.

Boy

The dancing looked like something from another planet!

Girl

I thought it was the costumes that created that effect. The routines themselves were quite like other videos I’ve seen.

Question 10

Girl

My parents say I can get a new phone for my birthday.

Boy

Hey, that’s great. So which model are you going to choose? Reading what phone buyers have written about their phones is probably more reliable than listening to a sales assistant telling you which one is best. I’ve heard that some phone companies give stores money for selling more of their phones, especially the newer, more expensive ones, so I’m not sure you could trust what they’d say.

Girl

That’s useful to know. I’ll ask my parents what they think is the best way to choose, too.

Boy

Good idea.

Question 11

Boy

You don’t usually look so happy at the end of a school day.

Girl

That’s because we’ve usually been given a load of maths problems to do for the next day. Not today, though.

Boy

But you’re good at maths - you usually get high marks.

Girl

I know, but it still takes time. Anyway, you know I finished that physics project last week?

Boy

Yeah …

Girl

Well, the teacher was so impressed with it, she gave me a book.

Boy

Wow, that’s great. Next thing you know, they’ll make you captain of the football team.

Girl

That’d be unbelievable, but fairly unlikely as I hardly ever play football.

Question 12

Girl

How was the weekend away?

Boy

Good, thanks. I had a really nice time with my cousins - we get on really well, and I always miss them for a few days after we come home. My aunt and uncle love having us there too, although he got a bit angry when my brother broke one of their vases.

Girl

Oh, dear!

Boy

Fortunately, it wasn’t an old one, but I’ve never heard my uncle shout like that before. Visiting them for only a weekend’s a bit cruel in a way. It feels like you’ve only just arrived and suddenly it’s time to go.

Question 13

Boy

Have you tried the new pool? It’s awesome.

Girl

I went with my family last week. I had a few goes on those tubes with the water in - you know, the ones you can go down really fast and end up in the pool.

Boy

Oh yes, that was amazing.

Girl

I think I’d go back just to play on them. Lots of teenagers used the old pool too, but only because they didn’t have anywhere else to go. The water in this new one is nowhere near as warm, but it’s better in a way because it keeps you moving.

Boy

True.

Section 3

Matilde

Hi everyone. I’m going to tell you about my trip to the new science museum last week. I went with my family and we looked around the whole museum. There are loads of different rooms and each one contains displays about a particular topic. We spent ages looking around the room that was all about ‘space’ and even longer in the one with loads of stuff on ‘energy’, which I thought was the best bit.

Matilde

The museum’s free, but there are also two special exhibitions that you have to pay for. You can’t go into the one on ‘health’ yet because it doesn’t open for another couple of weeks. I’d like to go back and see that. The other exhibition on ‘computers’ was good, though.

Matilde

As well as the displays, there are lots of things you can actually do there too. My brother made this fantastic car that went quite fast, using only power from the sun, while I created a rocket that used gas to fly. It went really high!

Matilde

As well as the interesting things to see and do, there’s a nice shop. My mum and dad let me get something because it was my birthday. There were so many chemistry sets to choose from, it took me ages to decide which one I wanted. They have the usual toys and games, and a few nice books there, too.

Matilde

You can also take a tour of the museum with a guide. When we arrived, they said we’d have to wait for at least sixty minutes for the eighty-minute tour because it was so popular, so we decided against it.

Matilde

If you want to go, the entrance is on Lockhart Road. I’ll spell that for you, it’s L-O-C-K-H-A-R-T Road.

Matilde

Thanks for listening.

Section 4

Woman

Erik, you’ve recently returned from a cycle trip with your dad across the USA. Why did you want to do this ride?

Erik

I suppose the usual reason for doing something as mad as cycling five thousand kilometres in just two months is to make thousands of pounds for various charities. We certainly did that, and spent large amounts of time with each other too, which was wonderful. We decided to go, though, because we fancied doing something really different during the summer holidays.

Woman

What made you choose to go across the USA and not other countries?

Erik

We’d thought about going through Central Asia, but you need lots of different visas, all of which take ages to arrange. With the USA, there was none of that - one country means one visa. It’s a shame that I didn’t get to practise speaking any other languages, though. I’d wondered about how safe some of the cities would be, but they were fine.

Woman

How did you feel as you set off?

Erik

I was expecting to be so keen to set off that I wouldn’t be able to sit still. When the time arrived, though, my Dad and I both felt pretty calm, which I found quite amazing. I don’t think either of us had any worries about not finishing the ride - we were very confident.

Woman

What was a typical day like?

Erik

Every day was different. Some were good and some were quite difficult, but all were good experience. It wasn’t actually how far we rode that made a day good or bad, it was more what happened. Having a long conversation with some of the local people seemed to make us even happier than feeling the sun on our faces.

Woman

And how did you and your dad get along?

Erik

We’ve always got on really well, so although we didn’t agree about everything on the trip, we were always able to deal with any arguments, which didn’t happen often. And although we spoke about a few of the things that are important to us, over the two months we learned it was OK to spend a few hours saying absolutely nothing, too.

Woman

And have you got plans for doing more cycling?

Erik

I’m in my final year at school now, and I need to do well to get to university, so it wouldn’t be the best time for me to go cycling across Australia, or wherever. Rather than just going out on weekend rides, though, I’d much prefer to enter some competitions - over shorter distances of course! I’ve never tried that before.

Woman

Good luck, Erik!

Part 1

Questions 1–7

Part 2

Questions 8–13

Part 3

Questions 14–19

Science museum visit

Part 4

Questions 20–25

Listening test help

Settings