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MODEL TEST - ACADEMIC IELTS
(Time: 90 minutes)

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Section 1

Script:

You will hear two students Jacinta and Lewis discussing a holiday they are planning in Queenstown, a tourist center in New Zealand popular with young people.

Jacinta: Hi, Lewis - it's Jacinta here.

Lewis: Oh, hi, Jacinta. I was just going to call you, I was thinking we ought to do something about accommodation for our trip to Queenstown.

Jacinta: Yeah, actually that's just why I rang you, I've been looking on the Internet - there was one place that looked OK called Travellers' Lodge, but when I checked availability for January when we're planning to go I found it was fully booked.

Lewis: Right - well, we’d better do something now I suppose.

Jacinta: I’ve actually got a list up here on the computer there's one place called Bingley's that looks possible. It’s 19.75 dollars a night that's US dollars, they quote all the prices in US dollars.

Lewis: So that's about 26 or 27 New Zealand dollars. That's OK. That'll be in a dormitory, is it?

Jacinta: Yeah they say 8-bed dorms. And the hostel's right in the town centre and they've got a café they have theme nights every weekend whatever that means...

Lewis: Oh, you know, like certain sorts of food and music and people might wear special clothes like that Egyptian evening we went to last year.

Jacinta: Oh, OK What else they've got a sundeck area, and then all the usual things Internet access and so on.

Lewis: Sounds good. Was there anywhere else?

Jacinta: Yeah, a couple more places. There's one called Chalet Lodge which is just 18.00 US dollars that's for a bed in a 12-bed dorm. They do single and family rooms as well. It looks as if it's a bit out of town... says it's got an alpine setting ... a 'quiet' alpine setting. What do you think?

Lewis: Mmm, not sure...

Jacinta: Oh, but actually it’s not far out at all... it says 10 minutes' walk from town, so ... Oh, and it says it’s ’children friendly’.

Lewis: Mmm. I'm not so sure about that. What about the third place?

Jacinta: Aah. That’s called Globetrotters let’s see, they do private rooms or 5-bed dorms for 18.50 - it’s in the centre, just by the lake and that includes breakfast.

Lewis: Didn’t the other two?

Jacinta: I don't think so. They didn't mention it, so probably not. Oh, and it says something about a free skydive... wow!

Lewis: Don’t know if I'm all that keen on lumping out of aeroplanes...

Jacinta: Oh, actually what it says is you can win a chance to do a skydive they give one away every day to one of the guests.

Lewis: Well, if I win it, you can do it. Anyway, do they have room?

Jacinta: Yeah, I checked the availability. Shall I go ahead and book there then?

Lewis: Fine.

Complete the table below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

Budget accommodation in Queenstown, New Zealand

Accommodation	Price (dormitory)	Comments
Travellers’ Lodge		Example fully booked
Bingley’s	US$ (1)............	* in town centre * café with regular (2)............ nights * sundeck
Chalet Lodge	US$ 18.00	* located in a (3)............ alpine setting * 10 mins from town centre * (4)............ are welcome
Globetrotters	US$ 18.50	* in town centre * (5)............ included * chance to win a (6)……….

theme breakfast/breakfast is 19.75 children free skydive/free sky-dive/skydive/sky-dive quiet

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)

Section 2

Script:

TUTOR: ... So, I’ll hand over now to Julie Brooks.

JULIE BROOKS: Thank you. Welcome to the Sports Centre. It’s good to see that there are so many people wanting to find out about our sports facilities. First of all, membership. All students at the college are entitled to become members of the Sports Centre, for an annual fee of £9.50. To register with us and get your membership card, you need to come to reception, between 2 and 6 pm, Monday to Thursday. I’m afraid we can’t register new members on Friday, so it’s Monday to Thursday, 2 to 6, at reception. Now, there are three things that you must remember to bring with you when you come to register; they are: your Union card, a recent passport-sized photograph of yourself, and the fee. It doesn’t matter whether you bring cash or a cheque. We can’t issue your card unless you bring all three; so, don’t forget: your Union card, passport photo and fee.

Complete the table below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS OR A NUMBER for each answer.

MEMBERSHIP OF SPORTS CENTRE
Cost	£(1)............. per (2)...............
Where	(3)...............
When	2 to 6 pm, Monday to Thursday
Bring:	Union card Photo Fee

year / annum 9.50 reception

(1)
(2)
(3)

Script:

JULIE BROOKS: Then once you have got your sports card, you will need to bring it with you whenever you come to book or use any Sports Centre facilities. Booking over the phone is not allowed, so you have to come here in person, with your card, when you want to book. Our opening hours seem

to get longer every year. We are now open from 9am to 10pm on weekdays and from 10am to 6pm on Saturdays. For those of you who are up and about early in the morning, we are introducing a 50 per cent ‘morning discount’ this year. This is because the facilities tended to be under-used in the mornings last year. It means that all the sessions will be half-price between 9am and 12 noon on weekdays.

Complete the table below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

Always bring sports (1). ..... when you come to (2)......... or use the Centre’s facilities.
Opening hours	9 am to 10 pm on (3).......... 10 am to 6 pm on Saturdays
50% ‘morning discount’	9 am to 12 noon on weekdays

weekdays card book

(1)
(2)
(3)

Section 3

Script:

Student: I’m interested in entering your Business Administration program, and I’d like some information on how to apply. I’m a little concerned because I’ve been out of school for a number of years.

Advisor: That could actually work to your advantage. It’s possible to get academic credit for work experience, if that experience is related to courses in our program.

Student: I’ve been working in business for several years. How would I get academic credit for that?

Advisor: First, you’ll need to read the university catalog to see if any of the course descriptions match your specific job experience. For example, if you’ve worked in accounting, you may be able to get credit for an accounting course.

Student: So then what would I do?

Advisor: You would write a summary of your work experience, relating it to specific courses we offer. Submit that to the Admissions Office with a letter from your work supervisor confirming your experience.

Complete the information below. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.

How to get academic credit for work experience

First, read the (1)......... Find courses that match your work experience. Then write (2)......... of your work experience. Submit that together with a letter from your (3)......... to the university admissions office.

a summary work supervisor university catalog

(1)
(2)
(3)

Section 4

Script:

Lecturer: Good afternoon, everybody. Today I'll be talking about the issue of waste, which has become an immense problem in today's society. We face huge challenges in terms of reducing its creation in the first place and then in dealing with it when it has been created. Now, the model of nature would be our idea! - a completely cyclical system in which no excess waste is generated that can't be processed by itself. However, we humans have proved, despite our apparent intelligence and ingenuity, quite incapable of achieving this. Where did it all go wrong? We have evidence that in ancient Greece and Rome governments operated municipal waste collection, and a huge Stone Age mound was identified some years ago in Norway as waste disposal, so we can see that people have been generating waste for a very long time indeed. However, during the Dark Ages, sophisticated municipal waste processing disappeared. The medieval answer to waste was to throw it out of the window. But this waste, apart from broken pottery and a few metal objects, was largely organic. This meant, of course, that it was quickly absorbed into the environment by the natural processes of decay. However, many concerned people, such as doctors, claimed that this created health problems, although it wasn't until science produced convincing evidence of the connection between rubbish and disease that governments began to see the importance of dealing with the problem effectively. Unfortunately, their response has remained slower than the generation of waste. It is very hard to deal with waste that won't melt into the environment, as so many of our modern consumer goods won't, and that's why the invention of plastic has caused the worst headache for the environment - it's more than nature can deal with.

Answer the questions below. Write NO MORE THAN ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

organic disease plastic Norway

Where was a Stone Age rubbish dump found?
In Medieval times, what type of waste was most common?
What did science link with waste?
Which invention is the biggest problem for the environment?

Script:

In order to address the root of the problem of waste, we need to think about what has made the quantity of waste accelerate in growth. I'd identify three main reasons. As many countries became industrialised, we saw the advent of mass manufacturing. This has been enormously damaging, as it has greatly increased the amount of things on the planet's surface which don't go away by themselves. Closely related to this is packaging - necessary for transporting things around the world, but then extremely difficult to get rid of properly. And a third aspect to the problem has been disposable goods. We have become accustomed to so many things being to use and then discard that we find it hard to imagine life without them. And yet we spare little thought for where they go when we do discard them.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.

disposable goods mass manufacturing packaging

List THREE factors which led to the increase in waste (as mentioned order).
(1)
(2)
(3)

Passage 1

BAKELITE

The birth of modern plastics

In 1907, Leo Hendrick Baekeland, a Belgian scientist working in New York, discovered and patented a revolutionary new synthetic material. His invention, which he named 'Bakelite', was of enormous technological importance, and effectively launched the modern plastics industry.

The term 'plastic' comes from the Greek plassein, meaning ‘to mould’. Some plastics are derived from natural sources, some are semi-synthetic (the result of chemical action on a natural substance), and some are entirely synthetic, that is, chemically engineered from the constituents of coal or oil. Some are 'thermoplastic', which means that, like candlewax, they melt when heated and can then be reshaped. Others are 'thermosetting': like eggs, they cannot revert to their original viscous state, and their shape is thus fixed for ever. Bakelite had the distinction of being the first totally synthetic thermosetting plastic.

The history of today's plastics begins with the discovery of a series of semi-synthetic thermoplastic materials in the mid-nineteenth century. The impetus behind the development of these early plastics was generated by a number of factors - immense technological progress in the domain of chemistry, coupled with wider cultural changes, and the pragmatic need to find acceptable substitutes for dwindling supplies of ‘luxury’ materials such as tortoiseshell and ivory.

Baekeland's interest in plastics began in 1885 when, as a young chemistry student in Belgium, he embarked on research into phenolic resins, the group of sticky substances produced when phenol (carbolic acid) combines with an aldehyde (a volatile fluid similar to alcohol). He soon abandoned the subject, however, only returning to it some years later. By 1905 he was a wealthy New Yorker, having recently made his fortune with the invention of a new photographic paper. While Baekeland had been busily amassing dollars, some advances had been made in the development of plastics. The years 1899 and 1900 had seen the patenting of the first semi-synthetic thermosetting material that could be manufactured on an industrial scale. In purely scientific terms, Baekeland's major contribution to the field is not so much the actual discovery of the material to which he gave his name, but rather the method by which a reaction between phenol and formaldehyde could be controlled, thus making possible its preparation on a commercial basis. On 13 July 1907, Baekeland took out his famous patent describing this preparation, the essential features of which are still in use today.

The original patent outlined a three-stage process, in which phenol and formaldehyde (from wood or coal) were initially combined under vacuum inside a large egg-shaped kettle. The result was a resin known as Novalak, which became soluble and malleable when heated. The resin was allowed to cool in shallow trays until it hardened, and then broken up and ground into powder. Other substances were then introduced: including fillers, such as wood flour, asbestos or cotton, which increase strength and moisture resistance, catalysts (substances to speed up the reaction between two chemicals without joining to either) and hexa, a compound of ammonia and formaldehyde which supplied the additional formaldehyde necessary to form a thermosetting resin. This resin was then left to cool and harden, and ground up a second time. The resulting granular powder was raw Bakelite, ready to be made into a vast range of manufactured objects. In the last stage, the heated Bakelite was poured into a hollow mould of the required shape and subjected to extreme heat and pressure, thereby 'setting' its form for life.

The design of Bakelite objects, everything from earrings to television sets, was governed to a large extent by the technical requirements of the moulding process. The object could not be designed so that it was locked into the mould and therefore difficult to extract. A common general rule was that objects should taper towards the deepest part of the mould, and if necessary the product was moulded in separate pieces. Moulds had to be carefully designed so that the molten Bakelite would flow evenly and completely into the mould. Sharp corners proved impractical and were thus avoided, giving rise to the smooth, 'streamlined' style popular in the 1930s. The thickness of the walls of the mould was also crucial- thick walls took longer to cool and harden, a factor which had to be considered by the designer in order to make the most efficient use of machines.

Baekeland's invention, although treated with disdain m its early years, went on to enjoy an unparalleled popularity which lasted throughout the first half of the twentieth century. It became the wonder product of the new world of industrial expansion - 'the material of a thousand uses'. Being both non-porous and heat-resistant, Bakelite kitchen goods were promoted as being germ-free and sterilisable. Electrical manufacturers seized on its insulating properties, and consumers everywhere relished its dazzling array of shades, delighted that they were now, at last, no longer restricted to the wood tones and drab browns of the pre-plastic era. It then fell from favour again during the 1950s, and was despised and destroyed in vast quantities. Recently, however, it has been experiencing something of a renaissance, with renewed demand for original Bakelite objects in the collectors' marketplace, and museums, societies and dedicated individuals once again appreciating the style and originality of this innovative material.

Complete the summary. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

synthetic chemistry candlewax

Some plastics behave in a similar way to in that they melt under heat and can be moulded into new forms. Bakelite was unique because it was the first material to be both entirely in origin, and thermosetting.

There were several reasons for the research into plastics in the nineteenth century, among them the great advances that had been made in the field of and the search for alternatives to natural resources like ivory.

Complete the flow-chart. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

Novalak raw fillers pressure hexa

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)

Passage 2

WHALE STRANDINGS

Why do whales leave the ocean and become stuck on beaches?

When the last stranded whale of a group eventually dies, the story does not end there. A team of researchers begins to investigate, collecting skin samples for instance, recording anything that could help them answer the crucial question: why? Theories abound, some more convincing than others. In recent years, navy sonar has been accused of causing certain whales to strand. It is known that noise pollution from offshore industry, shipping and sonar can impair underwater communication, but can it really drive whales onto our beaches?

In 1998, researchers at the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute, a Greek non-profit scientific group, linked whale strandings with low- frequency sonar tests being carried out by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). They recorded the stranding of 12 Cuvier’s beaked whales over 38.2 kilometres of coastline. NATO later admitted it had been testing new sonar technology in the same area at the time as the strandings had occurred. ‘Mass’ whale strandings involve four or more animals. Typically they all wash ashore together, but in mass atypical strandings (such as the one in Greece), the whales don't strand as a group; they are scattered over a larger area.

For humans, hearing a sudden loud noise might prove frightening, but it does not induce mass fatality. For whales, on the other hand, there is a theory on how sonar can kill. The noise can surprise the animal, causing it to swim too quickly to the surface. The result is decompression sickness, a hazard human divers know all too well. If a diver ascends too quickly from a high-pressure underwater environment to a lower-pressure one, gases dissolved in blood and tissue expand and form bubbles. The bubbles block the flow of blood to vital organs, and can ultimately lead to death.

Plausible as this seems, it is still a theory and based on our more comprehensive knowledge of land-based animals. For this reason, some scientists are wary. Whale expert Karen Evans is one such scientist. Another is Rosemary Gales, a leading expert on whale strandings. She says sonar technology cannot always be blamed for mass strandings. "It’s a case-by-case situation. Whales have been stranding for a very long time - pre-sonar.” And when 80% of all Australian whale strandings occur around Tasmania, Gales and her team must continue in the search for answers.

When animals beach next to each other at the same time, the most common cause has nothing to do with humans at all. "They're highly social creatures,” says Gales. "When they mass strand - it’s complete panic and chaos. If one of the group strands and sounds the alarm, others will try to swim to its aid, and become stuck themselves.”

Activities such as sonar testing can hint at when a stranding may occur, but if conservationists are to reduce the number of strandings, or improve rescue operations, they need information on where strandings are likely to occur as well. With this in mind, Ralph James, physicist at the University of Western Australia in Perth, thinks he may have discovered why whales turn up only on some beaches. In 1986 he went to Augusta, Western Australia, where more than 100 false killer whales had beached. “I found out from chatting to the locals that whales had been stranding there for decades. So I asked myself, what is it about this beach?” From this question that James pondered over 20 years ago, grew the university's Whale Stranding Analysis Project. Data has since revealed that all mass strandings around Australia occur on gently sloping sandy beaches, some with inclines of less than 0.5%. For whale species that depend on an echolocation system to navigate, this kind of beach spells disaster. Usually, as they swim, they make clicking noises, and the resulting sound waves are reflected in an echo and travel back to them. Flowever, these just fade out on shallow beaches, so the whale doesn’t hear an echo and it crashes onto the shore.

But that is not all. Physics, it appears, can help with the when as well as the where. The ocean is full of bubbles. Larger ones rise quickly to the surface and disappear, whilst smaller ones - called microbubbles - can last for days. It is these that absorb whale 'clicks! "Rough weather generates more bubbles than usual,” James adds. So, during and after a storm, echolocating whales are essentially swimming blind.

Last year was a bad one for strandings in Australia. Can we predict if this - or any other year - will be any better? Some scientists believe we can. They have found trends which could be used to forecast ‘bad years’ for strandings in the future. In 2005, a survey by Klaus Vanselow and Klaus Ricklefs of sperm whale strandings in the North Sea even found a correlation between these and the sunspot cycle, and suggested that changes in the Earth’s magnetic field might be involved. But others are sceptical. “Their study was interesting ... but the analyses they used were flawed on a number of levels,” says Evans. In the same year, she co-authored a study on. Australian strandings that uncovered a completely different trend. “We analysed data from 1920 to 2002 ... and observed a clear periodicity in the number of whales stranded each year that coincides with a major climatic cycle.” To put it more simply, she says, in the years when strong westerly and southerly winds bring cool water rich in nutrients closer to the Australia coast, there is an increase in the number of fish. The whales follow.

So what causes mass strandings? “It's probably many different components,” says James. And he is probably right. But the point is we now know what many of those components are.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

skin/ skin samples noise/ noise pollution around Tasmania/ Tasmania sperm/ sperm wales/ sperm whale

What do researchers often take from the bodies of whales?

What do some industries and shipping create that is harmful to whales?

In which geographical region do most whale strandings in Australia happen?

Which kind of whale was the subject of a study in the North Sea?

Label the diagram below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

sound waves nutrients blood microbubbles

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

Passage 3

THE BIRTH OF SCIENTIFIC ENGLISH

World science is dominated today by a small number of languages, including Japanese, German and French, but it is English which is probably the most popular global language of science. This is not just because of the importance of English-speaking countries such as the USA in scientific research; the scientists of many non-English-speaking countries find that they need to write their research papers in English to reach a wide international audience. Given the prominence of scientific English today, it may seem surprising that no one really knew how to write science in English before the 17th century. Before that, Latin was regarded as the lingua franca for European intellectuals.

The European Renaissance (c. 14th-16th century) is sometimes called the 'revival of learning', a time of renewed interest in the 'lost knowledge' of classical times. At the same time, however, scholars also began to test and extend this knowledge. The emergent nation states of Europe developed competitive interests in world exploration and the development of trade. Such expansion, which was to take the English language west to America and east to India, was supported by scientific developments such as the discovery of magnetism (and hence the invention of the compass), improvements in cartography and - perhaps the most important scientific revolution of them all - the new theories of astronomy and the movement of the Earth in relation to the planets and stars, developed by Copernicus (1473-1543).

England was one of the first countries where scientists adopted and publicised Copernican ideas with enthusiasm. Some of these scholars, including two with interests in language - John Wallis and John Wilkins - helped found the Royal Society in 1660 in order to promote empirical scientific research.

Across Europe similar academies and societies arose, creating new national traditions of science. In the initial stages of the scientific revolution, most publications in the national languages were popular works, encyclopaedias, educational textbooks and translations. Original science was not done in English until the second half of the 17th century. For example, Newton published his mathematical treatise, known as the Principia, in Latin, but published his later work on the properties of light - Opticks - in English.

There were several reasons why original science continued to be written in Latin. The first was simply a matter of audience. Latin was suitable for an international audience of scholars, whereas English reached a socially wider, but more local, audience. Hence, popular science was written in English.

A second reason for writing in Latin may, perversely, have been a concern for secrecy. Open publication had dangers in putting into the public domain preliminary ideas which had not yet been fully exploited by their 'author'. This growing concern about intellectual property rights was a feature of the period - it reflected both the humanist notion of the individual, rational scientist who invents and discovers through private intellectual labour, and the growing connection between original science and commercial exploitation. There was something of a social distinction between 'scholars and gentlemen' who understood Latin, and men of trade who lacked a classical education. And in the mid-17th century it was common practice for mathematicians to keep their discoveries and proofs secret, by writing them in cipher, in obscure languages, or in private messages deposited in a sealed ox with the Royal Society. Some scientists might have felt more comfortable with Latin precisely because its audience, though international, was socially restricted. Doctors clung the most keenly to Latin as an 'insider language'.

A third reason why the writing of original science in English was delayed may have been to do with the linguistic inadequacy of English in the early modern period. English was not well equipped to deal with scientific argument. First, it lacked the necessary technical vocabulary. Second, it lacked the grammatical resources required to represent the world in an objective and impersonal way, and to discuss the relations, such as cause and effect, that might hold between complex and hypothetical entities.

Fortunately, several members of the Royal Society possessed an interest in language and became engaged in various linguistic projects. Although a proposal in 1664 to establish a committee for improving the English language came to little, the society's members did a great deal to foster the publication of science in English and to encourage the development of a suitable writing style. Many members of the Royal Society also published monographs in English. One of the first was by Robert Hooke, the society's first curator of experiments, who described his experiments with microscopes in Micrographia (1665). This work is largely narrative in style, based on a transcript of oral demonstrations and lectures.

In 1665 a new scientific journal, Philosophical Transactions, was inaugurated. Perhaps the first international English-language scientific journal, it encouraged a new genre of scientific writing, that of short, focused accounts of particular experiments.

The 17th century was thus a formative period in the establishment of scientific English. In the following century much of this momentum was lost as German established itself as the leading European language of science. If is estimated that by the end of the 18th century 401 German scientific journals had been established as opposed to 96 in France and 50 in England. However, in the 19th century scientific English again enjoyed substantial lexical growth as the industrial revolution created the need for new technical vocabulary, and new, specialised, professional societies were instituted to promote and publish in the new disciplines.

Complete the summary. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

In Europe, modern science emerged at the same time as the nation state. At first, the scientific language of choice remained (1)………. It allowed scientists to communicate with other socially privileged thinkers while protecting their work from unwanted exploitation. Sometimes the desire to protect ideas seems to have been stronger than the desire to communicate them, particularly in the case of mathematicians and (2)……….

In Britain, moreover, scientists worried that English had neither the (3)............ nor the grammatical resources to express their ideas. This situation only changed after 1660 when scientists associated with the (4)………… set about developing English. An early scientific journal fostered a new kind of writing based on short descriptions of specific experiments. Although English was then overtaken by (5) ……………,it developed again in the 19th century as a direct result of the (6)……………

German industrial revolution doctors Latin Royal Society technical vocabulary

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)

Complete the table. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Science written in the first half of the 17th century
Language used	Latin	English
Type of science	Original	(1)………
Examples	(2)………	Encyclopaedias
Target audience	International scholars	(3)………, but socially wider

Principia / the Principia / Newton's Principia / mathematical treatise local / more local / local audience popular

(1)
(2)
(3)

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage?

YES if the statement agrees with the writers claims

NO if the statement contradicts the writer's claims

NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

1. There was strong competition between scientists in Renaissance Europe.

True

False

Not given

Explain:

2. The most important scientific development of the Renaissance period was the discovery of magnetism.

True

False

Not given

Explain:

3. In 17th-century Britain, leading thinkers combined their interest in science with an interest in how to express ideas.

True

False

Not given

Explain:

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