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B1–C2 · IELTS General Training

IELTS General Training Practice Test 47

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. Course day: ______ evenings

2. Start date: the ______ of September

3. Course length: ______ weeks

4. Course fee: ______ dollars

5. Surname: ______

6. Workshop identified by a: ______ door

7. Minimum sessions for certificate: at least ______

Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

8. What is provided in weeks one and two?

9. What is the main project of the course?

10. What safety equipment is provided by the college?

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. Tonight's session starts at: ______

12. Adult entry price: ______ dollars

13. Family ticket price: ______ dollars

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

14. The Planetarium

15. The Main Dome

16. The Solar Terrace

17. The Meteor Hut

Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

18. Tonight the Main Dome telescope will likely be pointed at

19. Letting your eyes adjust to the dark at the Cafe Deck takes about

20. If it's too cloudy for telescopes, the observatory

Part 3

Listen and answer questions 21–30.

21. What do Grace and Henry decide about the hinge?

22. How will the frame's weight be reduced?

23. Why won't they switch to carbon fibre?

24. What fix does Dr. Lee suggest for the jamming lock?

25. Where should the rack be tested?

26. How many bikes should the rack hold?

27. What colour should the rack be?

What does Dr. Lee decide about each of these? Choose your answers from the list, A-E: A Bring it if small enough; B Spend it on the hinge and spring; C Test it in rain and cold; D Keep it simple with one hinge; E Reduce the wall thickness.

28. The remaining budget

29. Outdoor testing

30. The design review

Part 4

Listen and answer questions 31–40.

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

31. Ancient pin-like fasteners are sometimes called ______.

32. The modern safety pin was patented in the United States in ______.

33. It was patented by an inventor named ______.

34. Hunt reportedly designed it to pay off a personal ______.

35. The design used a single continuous piece of ______.

36. The wire was coiled at one end to create spring ______.

37. Hunt sold the full patent rights for a relatively modest ______.

38. The pin was originally used for fastening cloth ______ on babies.

39. Punk fashion in the ______ adopted the safety pin as a provocative accessory.

40. Today the pin can symbolise being a supportive ______ to marginalised groups.

Reading

Section 1: Notices

You should spend about 20 minutes on Section 1.

NOTICE A — Clayworks Pottery Studio: Studio Relocation Our pottery classes will move to a larger studio space on Foundry Lane from next month, following the current landlord's decision not to renew our lease at the existing premises. The new space offers double the number of wheels, allowing us to increase class sizes slightly and reduce the current waiting list for popular evening sessions. All existing course credits and remaining class sessions purchased at the old studio will transfer automatically and remain valid at the new location. Firing of finished pieces will take slightly longer than before during the transition month, as the new kiln needs a settling-in period before it can be used at full capacity. Students are asked to collect any finished or unfinished pieces currently stored at the old studio before the final closing date, as items not collected cannot be guaranteed safe transport to the new premises. Parking at the new studio is more limited than before, and students are encouraged to use the nearby public car park where possible. NOTICE B — Bramwell Court: Balcony Garden Rules Residents wishing to grow plants on their balconies are welcome to do so, subject to a few basic rules introduced to protect both residents and the building's exterior appearance. Pots and planters must be secured against wind, particularly for upper-floor flats, and should not be placed where they could potentially fall onto a lower balcony or the ground below. Climbing plants must not be permitted to grow onto the building's external walls or attach to neighbouring balconies without the neighbour's explicit agreement. Watering should be done carefully to avoid excess water dripping onto balconies below, and residents are advised to use drip trays under all pots as a sensible precaution. Residents wishing to install a larger planter box or raised bed exceeding 50cm in height should first check with the building manager regarding weight limits for their specific balcony.

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

1. Why is the pottery studio relocating?

2. What must climbing plants not be permitted to do, according to Notice B?

3. What should students do with pieces currently stored at the old pottery studio?

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 course credits will transfer automatically to the new location.

5. Firing of pieces will be faster during the transition month.

6. The new studio will allow the academy to increase class sizes slightly.

Questions 7–8. Complete the sentence below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Notice A for each answer.

7. The new studio offers double the number of __________.

8. Items not collected before the closing date cannot be guaranteed safe __________.

Question 9. Answer the question below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Notice A.

9. What are students encouraged to use given limited parking at the new studio?

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. Pots and planters must be secured against wind, particularly on upper floors.

11. Balcony gardening is completely prohibited at Bramwell Court.

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

12. Residents are advised to use __________ under all pots as a precaution.

Questions 13–14. Answer the question below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Notice B.

13. What height threshold requires checking with the building manager about weight limits?

14. What should watering avoid causing onto balconies below?

Section 2: Workplace

You should spend about 20 minutes on Section 2.

TEXT A — Reward and Benefits: New Flexible Benefits Scheme A new flexible benefits scheme will launch next month, allowing staff to allocate a fixed annual benefits budget across a range of options according to their own individual personal circumstances and preferences, rather than receiving the same standardised fixed package as every other employee regardless of individual need. Options include additional annual leave purchase, up to five extra days, enhanced dental and optical cover, a cycle-to-work scheme, and increased life insurance cover for those with dependants. Staff will make their selections annually during a dedicated two-week enrolment window, with selections then fixed for the following twelve months except in the case of a qualifying life event such as marriage or the birth of a child. An online benefits calculator will help staff understand the cost and relative value of different combinations before finalising their choices. Staff who do not actively make a selection during the enrolment window will automatically default to a standard balanced package similar to the scheme's previous fixed arrangement. TEXT B — IT Helpdesk: Response Time Update Following investment in additional support staff, the IT helpdesk's target response time for non-urgent tickets has been reduced from one working day to four working hours, while urgent, business-critical tickets, such as a complete system outage affecting multiple staff, continue to receive an immediate response target of within 30 minutes. Tickets should be logged through the helpdesk portal rather than by emailing individual IT staff members directly, as direct emails cannot be properly tracked or prioritised within the ticketing system. Staff are asked to select the correct urgency category honestly when logging a ticket, as mislabelling a routine request as urgent slows down the response to genuinely critical issues affecting other colleagues. A satisfaction survey will be sent automatically after each resolved ticket, with feedback used to continuously monitor and improve overall helpdesk performance over time.

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

15. What does the new flexible benefits scheme allow staff to do?

16. What is the new target response time for non-urgent IT tickets?

17. What made the reduced response time possible?

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. Staff can purchase up to five extra days of annual leave.

19. Selections can be changed at any time during the year for any reason.

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

20. Staff will make their selections annually during a dedicated __________.

21. An online benefits __________ will help staff understand the cost and value of different combinations.

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

22. What happens to staff who do not actively make a selection?

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. Tickets should be logged by emailing IT staff members directly.

24. Urgent, business-critical tickets have an immediate response target of within 30 minutes.

25. Staff are asked to select the correct urgency category honestly when logging a ticket.

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

26. A satisfaction survey will be sent automatically after each __________.

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

27. What can happen if a routine request is mislabelled as urgent?

Section 3: The Science of Why We Get Goosebumps

You should spend about 20 minutes on Section 3.

Goosebumps, the small, temporary bumps that appear on human skin in direct response to cold temperatures or strong emotional experiences such as fear, awe, or particularly moving music, represent a genuinely fascinating evolutionary vestige, a physiological reflex that clearly served a functional purpose in our evolutionary ancestors but has become almost entirely non-functional and vestigial in modern humans, who have comparatively little body hair remaining relative to our closest primate relatives and most other mammals. The underlying physiological mechanism, technically termed piloerection, involves tiny muscles called arrector pili, attached to the base of each individual hair follicle, contracting sharply in response to a signal from the sympathetic nervous system, the body's involuntary 'fight or flight' response system, pulling each hair follicle upright and creating the characteristic small, visible bumps around its base that most people recognise as goosebumps. In cold conditions, this reflex evolved to increase the effective insulating properties of body hair by trapping a thicker layer of warming air close to the skin, a mechanism that remains genuinely and measurably effective in densely furred mammals but provides essentially negligible practical warming benefit in comparatively hairless modern humans, representing a clear vestigial trait retained from a considerably hairier evolutionary ancestor. The fear-related function of goosebumps served a different, though related, evolutionary purpose: piloerection in a genuinely threatened or frightened animal makes the animal's fur stand more fully on end, making the animal appear measurably larger and potentially more physically intimidating to a perceived predator or direct physical rival, a genuinely widespread defensive display strategy still clearly observable today in numerous species, including cats visibly arching their backs and fluffing their fur dramatically when startled or confronted by a potential threat. In humans, this same specific physiological reflex persists even though our comparatively minimal remaining body hair renders the size-related intimidation effect essentially and entirely useless in any modern practical context. More intriguingly and considerably more recently studied by researchers, goosebumps also occur reliably in response to powerful aesthetic and emotional experiences entirely unrelated to either cold or fear, including listening to particularly moving or emotionally powerful music, watching an especially poignant or moving scene in a film, or experiencing a profound and genuinely awe-inspiring moment, such as encountering a vast natural landscape unexpectedly. Researchers studying this specific aesthetic phenomenon, sometimes informally termed 'skin orgasm' or more formally 'frisson' in the relevant academic research literature, have found it correlates measurably with the release of dopamine in brain regions closely associated with reward and genuine pleasure processing, suggesting the same ancient physiological reflex mechanism has been evolutionarily repurposed, at least in modern humans, to also physically accompany powerful positive emotional and aesthetic experiences having essentially nothing whatsoever to do with the reflex's original evolutionary thermoregulatory or defensive functions. Not everyone experiences frisson with equal or even comparable frequency or intensity; research suggests measurable individual variation correlates with certain specific personality traits, particularly a psychological trait researchers term 'openness to experience,' with individuals who score more highly on measures of this specific trait reporting frisson experiences considerably more frequently than individuals who score lower on the same standardised psychological measure.

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

28. What is the technical term for the goosebumps mechanism, according to the passage?

29. What is the more formal academic term for goosebumps triggered by moving music or awe?

30. What nervous system signal triggers the arrector pili muscles to contract?

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. Arrector pili muscles are attached to the base of each hair follicle.

32. Goosebumps provide significant practical warming benefit in modern humans.

33. Frisson correlates with the release of dopamine in reward-related brain regions.

34. Goosebumps are described as a vestigial trait retained from a hairier evolutionary ancestor.

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

35. In cold conditions, piloerection increases insulation by trapping a thicker layer of __________ close to the skin.

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

36. What animal is given as an example of visible piloerection when startled?

37. What personality trait correlates with more frequent frisson experiences, according to the passage?

38. What does goosebumps' fear-related function make a threatened animal appear, according to the passage?

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 size-related intimidation effect of goosebumps is essentially useless in modern humans due to minimal body hair.

40. Everyone experiences frisson with exactly equal frequency and intensity.

Speaking

Part 1: Introduction and interview

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

Part 1 (Volunteering / Helping others) — the examiner asks about two familiar topics. Topic 1: Volunteering Q1. Have you ever done any voluntary work? Q2. Do many young people in your country volunteer? Topic 2: Helping others Q3. Do you often help people around you? Q4. Who helps you most in your daily life?
Recorded on your device only — play it back and compare with the model answer.
Show sample answer
Model answer: 1. Yes, for a few months I helped at an animal shelter on Saturdays, cleaning cages and walking the dogs. It was tiring, but very rewarding. 2. Quite a few do, particularly students, because it looks good on a CV and they're able to get some experience. Others just want to give something back to their community. 3. I try to. I'll carry shopping for my elderly neighbour, or give a lift to a colleague if we're going the same way. It doesn't cost me much, and it means a lot to them. 4. Probably my older sister. She's always ready to listen when I have a problem, and she often gives me practical advice, whether it's about work or money.

Part 2: Individual long turn

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

Describe an old object that you keep at home. You should say: - what it is - how old it is and how you got it - what condition it is in and explain why you have kept it. You will be given one minute to prepare and then speak for one to two minutes on it.
Recorded on your device only — play it back and compare with the model answer.
Show sample answer
Model answer: One of my favourite possessions is an old brass alarm clock that used to belong to my great-grandfather. It's about the size of a large apple, with a round white face, black Roman numbers and two little bells on the top, and it must be at least ninety years old. I inherited it from my grandfather, who gave it to me when I left home for university, saying that a student needed something reliable to get him out of bed. The clock is still in reasonable condition, although the brass has lost its shine, there are a few small scratches on the back, and one of the hands was replaced many years ago, so it doesn't quite match. Amazingly, it still works, provided I wind it up every night, and it loses only about a minute a week. The alarm isn't exactly pleasant, because it's incredibly loud, but it certainly does the job. I've kept it because it links me to my family history. Every time I wind it up, I think of the three generations who did exactly the same thing before me, and that makes me feel part of something bigger. I'd never dream of replacing it with a phone alarm.

Part 3: Two-way discussion

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

Part 3 (family life) — the examiner asks four related questions. Q1. How has the typical family structure changed in recent decades? Q2. Do you think extended families are less involved in daily life than they used to be? Q3. What challenges do modern families face that previous generations did not? Q4. How do you think family life might change further in the future?
Recorded on your device only — play it back and compare with the model answer.
Show sample answer
Model answer: 1. Families have generally become smaller, with more people living in nuclear households rather than several generations under one roof, and marriage and having children now often happen later in life. 2. In many places, yes, particularly in cities, where relatives often live far apart due to work, so grandparents and extended family are involved less in day-to-day routines than in previous generations. 3. Financial pressure is a big one, since housing and childcare costs have risen sharply, and both parents often need to work, which can make balancing family time genuinely difficult. 4. I expect more flexible family arrangements to become normal, along with more shared parenting responsibilities between partners, as attitudes towards traditional gender roles at home continue to shift.

Writing Task 1

You need a letter from your employer confirming your employment for a visa application. Write a letter to your employer's HR department. In your letter: explain why you need the letter, specify what information should be included, and say when you need it by. 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 students should take a gap year between school and university, while others think it is better to continue straight into higher education. 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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