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B1–C2 · IELTS General Training

IELTS General Training Practice Test 40

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

1. Skip size chosen: ______ skip

2. Weekly cost: ______ dollars

3. Delivery date: Friday the ______

4. Surname: ______

5. Delivery address: ______ Larchfield Grove

6. Collection date: Friday the ______

7. Skip capacity: about ______ cubic yards

Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

8. Which item can the skip NOT take?

9. What happens if the skip is mostly filled with soil?

10. When is payment due?

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. Market runs from seven until: ______

12. Setup can begin from: ______

13. Single stall fee: ______ dollars

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

14. A vendor near the harbour wall who wants power

15. A vendor who pays after Thursday

16. A vendor who cancels after Wednesday evening

17. Any vendor selling cooked food

Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

18. Where should vendors park?

19. What should vendors give customers with each purchase, if possible?

20. Packing away should begin from about

Part 3

Listen and answer questions 21–30.

21. What change do Dr. Adams and Carla agree to make to the hours-online question?

22. How many points should the rating scale have?

23. How will they collect information about respondents' age?

24. How many people should try the pilot version?

25. What problem does Dr. Adams see with distributing the survey only online?

26. What will the students add to reassure respondents?

27. What does Dr. Adams say about the wellbeing section?

What does Dr. Adams recommend for each of these? Choose your answers from the list, A-E: A Use five points; B Include a specific day; C Warn students it is optional; D Hand out paper copies; E Bring a draft next Tuesday.

28. The rating scale

29. Distribution method

30. The pilot deadline

Part 4

Listen and answer questions 31–40.

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

31. One of the earliest famous lighthouses was built in ______ around 280 BCE.

32. The Lighthouse of Alexandria stood well over a hundred ______ tall.

33. Early lighthouses relied on open fires or burning ______.

34. A major breakthrough was the invention of the ______ lens.

35. This lens was developed by the French physicist ______.

36. The lens used a series of stepped ______ rings.

37. The invention dramatically extended how far a lighthouse's ______ could be seen.

38. Remote rock lighthouse keepers might remain stationed for ______ at a stretch.

39. Automation gradually eliminated the need for human ______.

40. Many historic lighthouses are now repurposed as museums or ______ attractions.

Reading

Section 1: Notices

You should spend about 20 minutes on Section 1.

NOTICE A — WorkHub Co-working Space: Membership Tier Changes From next month, WorkHub will introduce three clearer membership tiers to replace the current single flexible rate: Basic (hot-desk access during standard weekday hours, £120 per month), Plus (adds evening and weekend access plus two free meeting room hours, £160 per month), and Premium (adds a dedicated fixed desk and unlimited meeting room access, £220 per month). Existing members will be moved to the tier closest matching their current usage pattern automatically, with a full breakdown of the recommended tier emailed to each member individually before the change. All tiers continue to include high-speed WiFi, unlimited coffee and tea, and access to the printing and scanning facilities on the second floor. Members wishing to downgrade or upgrade their tier can do so at any time with immediate effect, with charges adjusted on a pro-rata basis for the remainder of the current billing month. NOTICE B — Kingsley Court: New Concierge Service Hours The concierge desk at Kingsley Court will now be staffed from 7am to 9pm daily, extended from the previous 8am to 6pm hours, following feedback that many residents found the desk closed when they most needed assistance, particularly for parcel collection after work. Outside these staffed hours, residents can use the new self-service key-code entry system to access the building and their designated parcel locker. The concierge remains the primary point of contact for reporting maintenance issues, arranging visitor access, and handling general enquiries during staffed hours. Residents are reminded that the concierge cannot accept large deliveries requiring a signature outside staffed hours, as no one will be available to receive them; such deliveries should be scheduled for staffed hours where possible.

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

1. How much does the Plus membership tier cost per month?

2. What are the new concierge staffing hours at Kingsley Court?

3. What was particularly cited as a reason residents wanted longer concierge hours?

Questions 4–6. 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. Existing members will be moved automatically to a recommended tier.

5. Only Premium members receive free coffee and tea.

6. All membership tiers include access to printing and scanning facilities on the second floor.

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

7. Members wishing to upgrade or downgrade can do so with __________.

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

8. What does the Premium tier include beyond unlimited meeting rooms?

9. How much does the Basic membership tier cost per month?

Questions 10–11. 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. A self-service key-code entry system is available outside staffed hours.

11. Large deliveries requiring a signature can be accepted at any time.

Questions 12–13. Complete the sentence below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Notice B for each answer.

12. The concierge remains the primary point of contact for reporting __________.

13. Large deliveries requiring a signature should be scheduled for __________ where possible.

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

14. What prompted the extension of concierge staffing hours?

Section 2: Workplace

You should spend about 20 minutes on Section 2.

TEXT A — Human Resources: Staff Exit Interview Process All employees leaving the company voluntarily will now be offered a structured exit interview with a member of the HR team, conducted separately from any conversation with their direct line manager to encourage more candid, honest feedback about their overall experience with the company. Participation remains entirely voluntary, and employees may decline without any consequence to their reference or final pay. Exit interview feedback will be aggregated quarterly and shared with senior leadership in anonymised, thematic form to identify recurring patterns, rather than being attributed to any specific individual departure. Common themes identified through this process, such as concerns about career progression or management style within a specific team, will be used to inform targeted improvement initiatives going forward. The exit interview typically takes around 30 minutes and can be conducted in person, by video call, or, for employees who prefer, through a written questionnaire instead. TEXT B — Finance: New Company Credit Card Policy Staff who regularly incur business expenses will now be issued a company credit card rather than needing to pay for business expenses personally and claim reimbursement afterward, reducing personal financial burden and simplifying the expense process considerably. Cards carry a monthly spending limit set according to role and typical expense patterns, reviewed annually or on request if circumstances change. All transactions must still be logged with a brief description and receipt through the expense system, exactly as under the previous reimbursement model, as the card does not remove the need for proper expense documentation. Personal use of a company credit card, even with the intention to reimburse the company later, is strictly prohibited and may result in disciplinary action. Lost or stolen cards must be reported immediately to the card provider's 24-hour hotline and then separately to the Finance team for record-keeping purposes.

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

15. Who conducts the new structured exit interview?

16. What will staff who regularly incur business expenses now be issued?

17. What determines a card's monthly spending limit?

Questions 18–19. 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. Participation in the exit interview is entirely voluntary.

19. Declining the exit interview affects an employee's final pay.

Questions 20–21. Complete the sentence below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Text A for each answer.

20. Exit interview feedback will be shared with senior leadership in anonymised, __________ form.

21. The exit interview can be conducted in person, by video call, or through a written __________.

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

22. How long does the exit interview typically take?

Questions 23–25. 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. Transactions no longer need to be logged with a receipt under the new card system.

24. Personal use of the card is allowed if the employee later reimburses the company.

25. Lost or stolen cards must also be reported separately to the Finance team.

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

26. Card spending limits are reviewed annually or on request if __________ change.

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

27. Who should be contacted first if a company credit card is lost or stolen?

Section 3: The Economics of Queueing

You should spend about 20 minutes on Section 3.

Waiting in line, an experience so mundane and universally familiar that it rarely receives serious conscious reflection, has nonetheless attracted surprisingly extensive and rigorous academic study from economists, psychologists, and operations researchers, whose combined findings reveal that the subjective experience of waiting is considerably more psychologically manipulable, and less directly tied to objective clock time, than most people intuitively assume in the moment. A foundational insight from queueing psychology research, first systematically articulated by operations researcher David Maister in the 1980s, holds that unoccupied time, waiting with genuinely nothing to do, feels reliably and measurably longer than occupied time, waiting while engaged in some activity, even when both objectively last exactly the same duration as measured by a stopwatch. This straightforward but powerful insight has directly and demonstrably shaped extensive service industry practice: shopping centres deliberately position mirrors near elevators to give waiting visitors something to look at, restaurants provide menus to browse before a table becomes available, and amusement parks project constant, deliberately continuous progress indicators and estimated wait times along winding queue lines specifically to make waiting feel more actively managed and less like uncertain, uncontrolled dead time. Uncertainty about the wait's specific expected duration compounds perceived waiting discomfort considerably beyond the length of the wait alone. Research consistently and repeatedly finds that an accurately and clearly communicated wait time, even when the specific number given is objectively unwelcome or longer than a customer would prefer, produces measurably less subjective frustration than genuine, unexplained uncertainty about when a service will actually begin, since uncertainty itself independently generates additional background anxiety on top of the wait itself, beyond simply the objective time lost. This specific finding has directly driven the widespread contemporary adoption of real-time wait estimates now displayed prominently at call centres, restaurants, and public transport stops. Fairness perceptions represent a further, distinct and often underappreciated psychological dimension entirely separate from wait duration itself. Single-queue systems feeding multiple service points, now standard practice at most banks, airports, and post offices, are consistently preferred by waiting customers over multiple parallel individual queues, even when the underlying mathematical average wait time is demonstrably identical between the two systems, because a single queue reliably guarantees strict service in the exact order of arrival, entirely eliminating the specific anxiety-inducing possibility of being unluckily overtaken by a customer who joined an adjacent, faster-moving queue considerably later. Digital queueing technology, including virtual queue-holding smartphone apps and simple callback systems that eliminate any need to physically stand in a line at all, represents the logical next evolutionary step in this ongoing, decades-long effort to manage perceived waiting discomfort, allowing customers to productively pursue other activities entirely while a virtual place in line is reliably and automatically maintained on their behalf, a genuine technological and psychological advance that nonetheless raises entirely new, still largely unresolved questions about equitable digital access for customers who may lack a suitable smartphone or reliable internet connectivity to participate in such virtual queueing systems.

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

28. According to David Maister's foundational insight, how does unoccupied waiting time feel compared with occupied time of the same length?

29. What anxiety-inducing possibility does a single-queue system eliminate?

30. Why do amusement parks project continuous progress indicators along queue lines?

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. Shopping centres position mirrors near elevators partly to give waiting visitors something to look at.

32. An accurately communicated but long wait time produces more frustration than genuine uncertainty.

33. Digital queueing technology allows customers to pursue other activities while holding a virtual place in line.

34. The subjective experience of waiting is closely and directly tied to objective clock time, according to the passage.

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

35. Uncertainty about a wait's duration generates additional background __________ on top of the wait itself.

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

36. What system is now standard practice at most banks, airports, and post offices?

37. What new question does digital queueing technology raise, according to the passage?

38. In what decade did David Maister first systematically articulate his queueing insight?

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. Customers prefer single-queue systems even when the average wait time is identical to multiple queues.

40. The writer believes digital queueing systems have already fully resolved all issues of fair access.

Speaking

Part 1: Introduction and interview

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

Part 1 (Sport / Walking) — the examiner asks about two familiar topics. Topic 1: Sport Q1. Do you play any sports? Q2. Which sports are most popular in your country? Topic 2: Walking Q3. Do you like walking? Q4. Do you think people walk enough nowadays?
Recorded on your device only — play it back and compare with the model answer.
Show sample answer
Model answer: 1. I play badminton once a week with some colleagues after work. We're not very serious about it, but it's a good way to relax and keep fit. 2. Football is by far the most popular, and almost every boy dreams of being a professional player. Volleyball and basketball are also quite common in schools. 3. Yes, I really do. There's a path along the river near my house, and I go for a walk there most evenings. It helps me to clear my head. 4. No, I don't think so. People drive or take the lift everywhere, and many jobs involve sitting down all day. Even a twenty-minute walk daily would make a real difference.

Part 2: Individual long turn

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

Describe a festival or celebration in your country. You should say: - what the festival is - when it takes place - what people do during it and explain why it is important to you. You will have one minute to prepare before speaking for one to two minutes.
Recorded on your device only — play it back and compare with the model answer.
Show sample answer
Model answer: The festival I'd like to talk about is the Harvest Festival, which is held in my home region every year in late September. It's a celebration of the end of the farming season, and it goes back several hundred years. Over the weekend, the main street of our town is closed to traffic and filled with stalls selling fresh bread, honey, cheese and fruit. There's a parade, too, with farmers driving decorated tractors and children dressed in traditional costumes, and in the evening there's live folk music in the square, where people dance in big circles. Everyone wears something red, which is supposed to bring good luck for the next year. When I was little, my grandparents always took me, and I'd get to taste every kind of sweet at the stalls. It's important to me because it reminds me of my roots and brings the whole family together, including cousins who now live abroad and don't return at any other time. It also makes me realise how much we depend on farmers, which is easy to forget when you're busy in the city.

Part 3: Two-way discussion

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

Part 3 (fashion and clothing) — the examiner asks four related questions. Q1. Why do you think fashion trends change so quickly? Q2. Do you think people spend too much money on clothes? Q3. Should schools require students to wear a uniform? Q4. How might the fashion industry change in the future, given growing environmental concerns?
Recorded on your device only — play it back and compare with the model answer.
Show sample answer
Model answer: 1. Companies benefit financially from constant new trends, since people buy more when they feel their current clothes look outdated, and social media speeds up how quickly new styles spread and then fade. 2. Many people do, often buying cheap items they wear only a few times, which isn't just wasteful financially but also environmentally, given how much fabric ends up discarded within a year or two. 3. I think uniforms make sense, since they reduce pressure around appearance and cost, letting students focus more on schoolwork rather than worrying about fitting in through expensive clothing choices. 4. I expect more brands adopting recycled materials and slower production cycles, partly due to genuine environmental concern and partly because consumers are increasingly demanding more sustainable, longer-lasting options.

Writing Task 1

You have decided to resign from a voluntary committee role at a local club due to personal circumstances. Write a letter to the club chairperson. In your letter: explain your decision, thank them for the opportunity, and suggest how the handover of your responsibilities could be managed. Write at least 150 words. You do NOT need to write your own address. Begin your letter 'Dear ...,'

Writing Task 2

Some people believe that voting in national elections should be made compulsory for all adult citizens, while others think voting should remain voluntary. 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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