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B1–C2 · IELTS General Training

IELTS General Training Practice Test 18

AI-generated practice paper in the style of IELTS General Training — original material, not a reproduction of any real exam paper, following the official four-module structure (Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking). Listening audio is read aloud by your browser's voice, Writing tasks can be scored by AI, and for Speaking you can record yourself and compare with a model answer.

Listening

Part 1

Listen and answer questions 1–10.

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

1. Surname: ______

2. Date of party: Saturday the ______ of May

3. Deposit per person: ______ dollars

4. Total deposit due: ______ dollars

5. Set menu (three courses) price: ______ dollars a head

6. Deposit due by the ______ of May

7. Car park located on: ______ Street

Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

8. How many guests can the private room seat?

9. What should David do if guests have allergies?

10. Parking near the restaurant is

Part 2

Listen and answer questions 11–20.

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

11. Opening hours: ______ until eight

12. New stock arrives every: ______

13. Book club meets on the first: ______ of the month

What does the speaker say about each of the following areas? Choose the correct letter, A-F, for questions 4 to 7.

14. New Releases

15. The Local Authors Shelf

16. The Reading Nook

17. The Children's Corner

Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

18. The Café Corner is located

19. Author events are planned to happen

20. The loyalty offer is

Part 3

Listen and answer questions 21–30.

21. What does the project brief require?

22. Which site will be the town site?

23. When will the harbour car park reopen?

24. What has the lab technician agreed to lend them?

25. Why do they need wellingtons?

26. How long will they hold the net still?

27. When will they go to the river?

What is each piece of equipment used for? Choose your answers from the list, A-E: A Recording site conditions; B Catching plastic pieces; C Protecting feet; D Measuring temperature; E Sorting sand.

28. Fine mesh net

29. Camera

30. Wellingtons

Part 4

Listen and answer questions 31–40.

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

31. Chinese cooks were creating a frozen, milk-based dessert several centuries before the ______.

32. Combining ice with ______ lowers the freezing point of the mixture.

33. This technique is believed to have developed in ______ around the sixteenth or seventeenth century.

34. The technique then spread to ______ and across the rest of Europe.

35. Ice cream became available to ordinary people after the hand-cranked ______ was invented.

36. The hand-cranked freezer was patented in ______.

37. It was patented by an American woman named ______.

38. The ice cream cone is often linked to the 1904 World's Fair in ______.

39. According to legend, a vendor rolled ______ into a cone shape.

40. Industrial mass production expanded rapidly through the ______ century.

Reading

Section 1: Notices

You should spend about 20 minutes on Section 1.

NOTICE A — Bridgewater Dental Practice: Appointment Reminder Changes From next month, appointment reminders will be sent by text message and email rather than by phone call, as many patients reported missed calls leading to unnecessary missed appointments. Patients will receive a reminder seven days before their appointment and a second reminder 48 hours beforehand, with a link to confirm, reschedule, or cancel online. Patients who do not have a mobile number or email address on file will continue to receive a reminder by post, sent ten days in advance to allow for postal delays. Missed appointments without at least 24 hours' notice will incur a £20 charge, applied from the start of next month, to help reduce the number of wasted appointment slots. Patients wishing to update their contact details should do so at reception or by calling during opening hours. NOTICE B — Parkview Sports Club: Membership Renewal Notice Annual memberships at Parkview Sports Club are due for renewal at the end of this month. Members who renew before the deadline will retain their current membership rate; renewals processed after the deadline will be charged at the new rate, which is approximately 8% higher across all membership categories. Members wishing to change their membership category, for example from individual to family, should contact the membership office directly rather than renewing online, as category changes cannot currently be processed through the website. The club's annual general meeting will take place on the same evening as the renewal deadline, and all members are welcome to attend and vote on proposed changes to the club's facilities. A reminder email with a direct renewal link has been sent to all members whose email address is on file.

Questions 1–3. Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

1. How will appointment reminders now mainly be sent?

2. What happens to members who renew after the deadline?

3. What can members do at the AGM?

Questions 4–5. Do the following statements agree with the information in Notice A? Write TRUE if the statement agrees, FALSE if it contradicts, or NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this.

4. Patients without a mobile number or email will no longer receive reminders at all.

5. A missed appointment charge will apply from the start of next month.

Questions 6–7. Complete the sentence below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Notice A for each answer.

6. Patients receive a second reminder __________ before their appointment.

7. Patients receive a first reminder __________ before their appointment.

Questions 8–9. Answer the question below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Notice A.

8. How much is the charge for a missed appointment without sufficient notice?

9. How many days in advance is a postal reminder sent?

Questions 10–12. Do the following statements agree with the information in Notice B? Write TRUE if the statement agrees, FALSE if it contradicts, or NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this.

10. Membership category changes can be made through the website.

11. The AGM takes place on the same evening as the renewal deadline.

12. A reminder email has been sent to all members whose email address is on file.

Question 13. Complete the sentence below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Notice B for each answer.

13. The new membership rate is approximately __________ higher across all categories.

Question 14. Answer the question below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Notice B.

14. Who should members contact to change their membership category?

Section 2: Workplace

You should spend about 20 minutes on Section 2.

TEXT A — Compliance Team: Data Protection Training Requirement All staff, including temporary and contract workers, must complete the updated data protection training module by the end of next month, following recent changes to data handling regulations. The training takes approximately 45 minutes and includes a short quiz at the end, which must be passed with a score of at least 80% to count as complete; staff who do not pass on the first attempt may retake the quiz as many times as needed. Managers will receive a monthly report showing which of their team members have not yet completed the training, and persistent non-completion may be raised as a formal performance matter. Staff handling particularly sensitive customer data, such as those in the claims department, must additionally complete a supplementary module specific to their role. TEXT B — Procurement: Office Supplies Ordering Process Change From next month, office supplies such as stationery, printer paper, and cleaning products must be ordered through the new online catalogue rather than requested informally from Facilities. Each department has been allocated a monthly budget for supplies, visible within the ordering system, and orders exceeding this budget will require sign-off from a department head. Standard orders placed before 2pm will be delivered the next working day; orders placed after this time will be delivered within two working days. Staff are asked to consolidate requests within their team into a single weekly order where possible, rather than placing multiple small individual orders, to reduce delivery costs and packaging waste.

Questions 15–17. Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

15. Who must complete the updated data protection training?

16. How must office supplies now be ordered?

17. When will standard orders placed before 2pm be delivered?

Questions 18–20. Do the following statements agree with the information in Text A? Write TRUE if the statement agrees, FALSE if it contradicts, or NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this.

18. Staff must score at least 80% on the quiz for it to count as complete.

19. Staff are only allowed one attempt at the quiz.

20. Persistent non-completion of the training may be raised as a formal performance matter.

Question 21. Complete the sentence below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Text A for each answer.

21. Managers will receive a monthly report showing which team members have not yet __________.

Question 22. Answer the question below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Text A.

22. Which department is mentioned as handling particularly sensitive customer data?

Questions 23–24. Do the following statements agree with the information in Text B? Write TRUE if the statement agrees, FALSE if it contradicts, or NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this.

23. Orders exceeding the monthly budget require sign-off from a department head.

24. Orders placed after 2pm are always delivered the same day.

Questions 25–26. Complete the sentence below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Text B for each answer.

25. Staff are asked to consolidate requests into a single __________ where possible.

26. Each department has been allocated a monthly __________ for supplies.

Question 27. Answer the question below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Text B.

27. What cost does consolidating orders into a single weekly order help to reduce, besides packaging waste?

Section 3: The History of the Umbrella

You should spend about 20 minutes on Section 3.

The umbrella, an object so mundane today that it rarely earns a second thought, carries a surprisingly rich history spanning several thousand years and multiple continents, during which its primary function shifted more than once between protection from sun and protection from rain. Ancient Egyptian, Assyrian, and Chinese artefacts all depict parasols, devices for shading, being carried above rulers and nobility as a symbol of status rather than a practical tool for ordinary use, since manual labourers had neither the leisure nor the social standing to be shielded from the sun by an attendant. The umbrella's adaptation for rain protection, rather than sun shading, is generally credited to eighteenth-century innovations, though earlier waterproofed versions existed in China centuries before reaching Europe. In Britain, the rain umbrella faced an unlikely obstacle: entrenched social ridicule. Men who carried umbrellas in eighteenth-century London were frequently mocked as effeminate or as lacking the toughness expected of a gentleman who should simply tolerate rain, or travel by carriage or sedan chair. The philanthropist Jonas Hanway is widely, if perhaps apocryphally, credited with popularising the umbrella among British men through sheer persistence, reportedly carrying one publicly for decades despite considerable derision, until social attitudes gradually shifted and the umbrella became an accepted, even fashionable, accessory by the following century. The umbrella's basic mechanical design, a fabric canopy stretched over a folding frame of ribs radiating from a central pole, remained remarkably stable for roughly two centuries after Hanway's era, with innovation largely confined to materials: whalebone ribs gave way to steel, and oiled silk or cotton canopies gave way to synthetic waterproof fabrics. The most significant structural innovation, the collapsible telescopic frame allowing an umbrella to shrink to a fraction of its open size for storage in a bag or pocket, did not arrive until the twentieth century, patented by the German engineer Hans Haupt in 1928. Despite this long history of incremental refinement, the umbrella remains a notoriously unreliable object in practice, prone to inverting in moderate wind and rarely surviving more than a handful of years of regular use, a durability problem that recent design efforts, including aerodynamically vented canopies that allow wind to pass through rather than catching it, have only partially solved. Some industrial designers have suggested that the umbrella's fundamental form factor, essentially unchanged for two centuries, may simply be approaching the practical limits of what a lightweight, portable, hand-held object can achieve against genuinely strong wind and rain.

Questions 28–30. Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

28. What did ancient parasols primarily symbolise, according to the passage?

29. What materials replaced whalebone ribs in umbrella frames?

30. How does the passage describe the umbrella's reliability in practice?

Questions 31–34. Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? Write TRUE if the statement agrees, FALSE if it contradicts, or NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this.

31. Waterproofed umbrellas existed in China before reaching Europe.

32. Men who carried umbrellas in eighteenth-century London were widely admired for their practicality.

33. The umbrella's basic mechanical design remained stable for roughly two centuries after Hanway's era.

34. Umbrellas typically survive many decades of regular use without any problems.

Question 35. Complete the sentence below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

35. Jonas Hanway is widely credited with popularising the umbrella among British men through sheer __________.

Questions 36–38. Answer the question below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage.

36. Who patented the collapsible telescopic umbrella frame in 1928?

37. What recent design feature allows wind to pass through an umbrella canopy?

38. Which two ancient civilisations are mentioned as depicting parasols in their artefacts, besides Egyptian?

Questions 39–40. Do the following statements agree with the writer's claims? Write YES if the statement agrees with the writer's claims, NO if it contradicts, or NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks.

39. The story of Jonas Hanway popularising the umbrella is presented as certainly and entirely factual.

40. Some designers believe the umbrella's basic form factor may be near the practical limits of what it can achieve.

Speaking

Part 1: Introduction and interview

The examiner asks you questions about yourself and familiar topics (4–5 minutes).

Part 1 (Evenings / Relaxing) — the examiner asks about two familiar topics. Topic 1: Evenings Q1. What do you usually do in the evening? Q2. Do you prefer going out or staying in? Topic 2: Relaxing Q3. How do you relax after a hard day? Q4. Is there a place where you like to go to relax?
Recorded on your device only — play it back and compare with the model answer.
Show sample answer
Model answer: 1. I cook dinner, eat with my flatmate and then normally do a bit of studying or watch an episode of something. I like to keep the evenings quiet. 2. It varies. On a Friday I love meeting friends for a meal, but during the week I'd much rather stay in, put on comfortable clothes and not have to speak to anyone. 3. I have a long bath and listen to a podcast, usually about history or science. It puts my mind on something completely different from work. 4. There's a small lakeside cafe not far from my home. I sometimes go there on Sunday afternoons with a book, and the noise of the water makes me feel very calm.

Part 2: Individual long turn

You have one minute to prepare, then speak for one to two minutes.

Describe a neighbour that you know well. You should say: - who this person is - how long you have known him or her - what he or she is like and explain how you get on with this neighbour. You will be given one minute to prepare, then speak about it for one to two minutes.
Recorded on your device only — play it back and compare with the model answer.
Show sample answer
Model answer: I'd like to talk about Mr Robertson, who lives in the flat directly above mine. He's a retired engineer in his late seventies, and I've known him for about six years, since the day I moved into the building. He's a tall man with white hair and glasses, and he always wears a tie, even at home, which I find rather charming. He lives alone, because his wife passed away some years ago, but he's certainly not lonely. He plays the violin every afternoon between three and four, and he grows tomatoes on his balcony, which he shares generously with everyone on the staircase. He's also a wonderful storyteller, and he can talk for hours about the bridges and dams that he helped to design in different countries. We get on very well. I help him with his computer when it gets confusing, and in return he lends me tools or fixes things around my flat, because he's very practical. Last winter, when I was ill with flu, he left a pot of homemade soup outside my door every day for a week. I feel very lucky to have a neighbour like that, because so many people in cities don't even know the names of the people who live next to them.

Part 3: Two-way discussion

The examiner asks more abstract questions linked to the Part 2 topic.

Part 3 (higher education) — the examiner asks four related questions. Q1. Do you think a university degree is still as valuable as it used to be? Q2. Should university education be free, or is it reasonable for students to pay fees? Q3. Are vocational courses becoming more respected compared with traditional academic degrees? Q4. How might higher education change in the future?
Recorded on your device only — play it back and compare with the model answer.
Show sample answer
Model answer: 1. It's still valuable, but perhaps less of a guaranteed advantage than before, since so many more people now hold degrees, which reduces how much a qualification alone stands out. 2. I lean towards affordable, subsidised fees rather than completely free education, since some financial contribution can encourage students to take their studies seriously, provided support exists for those who genuinely can't afford it. 3. Yes, I think attitudes are shifting, as practical, skills-based training is increasingly recognised as valuable, especially in fields facing shortages of workers with hands-on technical experience. 4. I expect more flexible, modular courses that combine online and in-person learning, allowing people to study around work rather than committing to years away from employment entirely.

Writing Task 1

A parcel delivery company damaged a valuable item you had ordered, and it arrived broken. Write a letter to the delivery company. In your letter: explain what happened, describe the damage, and say what action you would like them to take. Write at least 150 words. You do NOT need to write your own address. Begin your letter 'Dear Sir or Madam,'

Writing Task 2

Some people believe that schools should give students a significant amount of homework every day, while others think students should have little or no homework. Discuss both views and give your own opinion. Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.
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