PET (B1) Listening Practice Test 6

Section 1

Question 1

Girl

What’s for dinner, dad?

Man

Vegetable soup and there’s some really nice bread and cheese I bought at the market.

Girl

Nice! Can I give you a hand? I’ll cut the vegetables up if you want.

Man

I’ve already asked your brother to do that - he’s just finishing his homework before he comes down … I guess we need that doing now, though.

Girl

He could lay the table instead - that’s fairly quick and easy and I’m sure he won’t mind.

Man

True, or there’s always the washing up to do afterwards - he can choose which.

Question 2

Girl

Did you see Nature Around the World on TV last night?

Boy

I did. Last week’s programme on islands was amazing enough, but seeing rainforests in that much detail was even better. I’m sure they’re very difficult places to spend time in, though. I’m not sure I’d want to meet some of the creatures they showed.

Girl

No, but then the same would be true in most of the places they’ve filmed.

Boy

It would, although I like all the animals they filmed in the desert and the atmosphere there would be amazing to experience.

Girl

I suppose so.

Question 3

Boy

How are the badminton lessons going?

Girl

I gave them up a couple of weeks ago, actually. I wasn’t making much progress, so I changed to something that goes with my character better.

Boy

Let me guess! Something to do with IT.

Girl

You know me so well! I thought about trying something practical, like fixing bikes, because mine’s always breaking down. My dad doesn’t mind repairing it when it does, though, so I went for writing computer programs instead.

Boy

I think I’d prefer to learn a new sport but, hey, we’re all different!

Question 4

Woman

Did you get everything?

Boy

I think so. I got two pizzas like you asked - one with cheese and one with chicken.

Woman

I said we’d already got those, don’t you remember? Anyway, it doesn’t matter - I can put these ones in the freezer.

Boy

The salad was reduced today, so I got plenty of that, and you said we had enough ice cream, so that’s everything.

Woman

I said I didn’t think we had any left. Perhaps you got that mixed up with what I said about the pizzas.

Boy

Oh, maybe.

Woman

Never mind.

Question 5

Girl

Hi, I think I left my glasses at your house. I only use them for reading, so I didn’t notice I’d forgotten them till now. I was using them in your bedroom when we were looking at that website together on your laptop on your desk. I remember taking them off, though, when we were watching the film in your living room, so it’s worth checking on the sofa. I remember I left them on the table by your front door once, but I’m pretty sure I haven’t done that again.

Question 6

Woman

You’re late, Kevin. Was the traffic bad?

Boy

No worse than usual, miss. I set my alarm clock for 7.30 which gives me enough time to have some breakfast and get to school. But this morning, I couldn’t find my history essay which I’ve got to hand in today. It took 10 minutes to remember where I’d left it, then I had to run for the bus, but it left just before I got there. Anyway, I had to walk back home and my mum gave me a lift here.

Question 7

Man

Hi, Lisa - it’s dad. Both your mum and I are going to be late home tonight so, there’s something I’d like you to do. Your little brother’s got some reading practice he needs to do for school tomorrow, but we should be back in time to do that with him. He’ll need something to eat, though - there’s plenty of bread, cheese and tomatoes. He’s got enough clean things for school tomorrow, so there’s no need to worry about doing any washing. OK, see you at about seven.

Section 2

Question 8

Boy

That class was fun. I like working in groups like that.

Girl

I guess it means there are five of you to set up the experiment, so you can get it done in half the time. How much I enjoy it, though, depends very much on who I’m asked to work with. I usually don’t get along so well with at least one of the others, which kind of spoils things.

Boy

I suppose it does.

Girl

But at least you can solve problems and work out what’s happening better if there are five minds thinking about it.

Question 9

Boy

That was a great museum.

Girl

If I went again, though, I’d suggest not bothering with that room with those old pots.

Boy

I liked them - they really helped me to imagine what life was like back then. You seemed to enjoy the shop though - you were in there for ages.

Girl

I wish I’d taken more money.

Boy

It gives us a good reason to come back - there was this amazing puzzle of some ancient ruins I really wanted.

Girl

It was a long way to come to see a museum of that size, though.

Boy

Yes, I imagined it’d be much bigger.

Question 10

Boy

I really enjoyed that. I came so close to getting the ball in the net a few times, too.

Girl

If you all play as well as that in every game, you should start actually beating some of the other teams.

Boy

I hope so. We’ve all trained really hard this season, and our new coach has made a big difference. I think I probably played better than usual because Mum and Dad could both get here for once. I’m always really cheerful when they do.

Girl

Well I’m sure they enjoyed it as much as I did.

Boy

I hope so.

Question 11

Girl

What did you think of that poem we read in the literature class?

Boy

It always takes me a while to work out what old poems like that are about, but that’s what I like about them.

Girl

Me too. It’d be a shame if you understood everything after you’d only read it once.

Boy

I can’t help wondering why the poet made it so long, though.

Girl

I’m sure it’d be possible to say the same thing in half as many words.

Boy

It would, and without changing the message of what he wants to say.

Girl

Absolutely!

Question 12

Boy

So what do you think of my essay?

Girl

I think it’s OK. The teacher will definitely be surprised by what you chose to write about, but in a good way - it’s certainly original.

Boy

So you think it’s ready to hand in then?

Girl

If I were you, I’d look at the way it’s written. You’ve included plenty of information about the topic and some good examples to support what you’re saying, but it’s written a bit like a list at the moment. You need to see if you can get it to flow more, so it sounds more natural.

Boy

I’ll try!

Question 13

Boy

You know that video game you lent me?

Girl

Yes, have you got it with you?

Boy

I haven’t actually. I put it in my bag last night to bring to school today, but I think my brother saw it and probably wanted to play it, too. I think he took it out and it’ll be in his bedroom somewhere now.

Girl

Oh dear!

Boy

He didn’t know I said I’d give it back to you today. I’m sure he’d be extremely grateful if we could keep it for a couple of extra days.

Girl

That’s OK, no problem.

Section 3

Teacher

Listen, everyone. I know some of you are interested in learning to play a musical instrument so I have some information about Saturday morning music classes that are starting this week.

Teacher

There are many classes to choose from for a range of different instruments. You can learn anything from the drums to the guitar. The violin teacher the school usually uses can’t make it on Saturdays, but why not have a go at the flute if you prefer classical music.

Teacher

When you arrive at the school, you’ll need to collect your instruments. You probably know that these are normally kept in the large cupboard next to the technology room but we’ll make sure they’re all ready for you in the drama room so go straight there, please.

Teacher

You’ll need to tell your parents about the cost, of course. They can pay in two different ways: if they decide to pay for each individual class, it’ll be £7.75, or they can pay per term, in which case it works out a little cheaper at £72.

Teacher

There’ll be an end of term concert for all students, which will take place on 24th June, and not on 7th July as it says on the school website. You’ll be able to play solo, that’s by yourself, or with others. Last year, there were several students who joined together in a band and they played together at the concert. This year, though, we’d like to include more people and have an orchestra that students can play in. Family and friends are welcome to come and listen.

Teacher

If you or your parents want more information, you’ll need to email Mr Driscoll, the music teacher on driscoll at school dot net. I’ll spell that for you: it’s D-R-I-S-C-O-double-L at school dot net.

Section 4

Man

Lin, you’re what’s called a vlogger - you put videos that you’ve made online for people to watch, in your case about environmental issues. How did you learn to do that?

Lin

One of my old school friends was already a vlogger, but her videos were about travel, so she wasn’t really at home enough to help. I’m still at university and my department was running these sessions for helping people become vloggers, so I went along to those. There’s so much stuff about it online, but I just found it confusing.

Man

Why did you choose to focus on environmental issues?

Lin

It’s just something that I’ve believed is important for ages and think too little is being done, so I wanted to help. It’s not connected to what I’m studying at university, so it wasn’t like I got advice from any of my classmates. There were already plenty of people uploading videos about these issues, which was really helpful.

Man

How did you feel when your video first became successful?

Lin

I was expecting to only have a few people watching regularly for years. I couldn’t believe how wrong I was about this, even though I knew that many people felt strongly about the subject. Making videos for one person or a hundred thousand is the same process, so having such a big following didn’t worry me as much as I thought.

Man

How often should people upload videos if they want to become successful?

Lin

If you’re putting videos online daily, then people will soon become bored. It’ll also be hard for you to keep coming up with new ideas. If you’re uploading them so rarely that people never get interested in the first place, say once a month, that’s not going to work either, so aiming for weekly is probably frequent enough.

Man

What’s your latest video about?

Lin

I’ve just finished a series encouraging more people to use buses and trains rather than their cars, but I’ll be moving on to how and why the world is becoming warmer in the next few videos. The most popular ones so far gave people ideas on how to re-use things they usually throw away, like glass and plastic.

Man

Apart from vlogging, is there anything else you’d like to try?

Lin

I still love what I do, especially finding out more about environmental topics for new videos, but it’s only one way of telling the public about these things. Moving into TV would greatly increase the audience, which of course means more people would then be talking about these important issues.

Man

Thanks, Lin!

Part 1

Questions 1–7

Part 2

Questions 8–13

Part 3

Questions 14–19

Saturday music classes

Part 4

Questions 20–25

Listening test help

Settings