Sleep and dreams: listening answers and explanations
Two psychology students, Susie and Luke, start work on an assignment about sleep and dreams. They swap what they've read about forgetting dreams, prediction and napping, look back at their last assignment, then plan their study step by step.
Questions 21-24 come from the general chat about dreams and their last assignment. Susie's 'So shall we plan what we have to do' moves you into the flow chart, and gaps 25-30 follow the planning stages in order: sample, procedure, ethics, analysis and evaluation.
Answer key and self-check
Type what you wrote and hit mark. Hide the key first if you haven't done the part yet. Every question number jumps to its explanation.
How to attack this block: Both students give opinions, and the wrong options are often their own earlier beliefs or something only one of them did. For 22 and 24, the stem says 'agree' and 'both', so you need what the two of them share.
Question 21
Answer: BLuke's first long turn, about the article he has just read
According to Luke's article, why do we forget dreams?
if we remembered everything, we might get mixed up about what actually happened and what we dreamed. So it's a sort of protection.
Question says → You hear
confused about what is realget mixed up about what actually happened and what we dreamed
Why: 'Mixed up' means confused, and 'what actually happened' is what is real. That's the reason the article gave.
The trap: A is Luke's old assumption, 'we didn't have room in our memories', which he contrasts with the new idea. C echoes 'most of my dreams aren't that interesting', which is his opinion, not the article.
Question 22
Answer: AWhen Susie asks Luke about dreams predicting the future
What do both students conclude about dreams that seem to predict the future?
for each dream that comes true, we have thousands that don't … So it's just a coincidence really.
Question says → You hear
due to chancejust a coincidence
Why: Susie explains that we only notice the few dreams that happen to match reality, and Luke sums it up: 'just a coincidence'. Coincidence means chance, A.
The trap: C: 'lots of people have a story of it happening to them' sounds like it happens often, but Susie's point is the opposite. B: a view or an action can trigger a memory, but that's not a type of event the dream is about.
Question 23
Answer: CAfter Luke gives up segmented sleeping, when Susie mentions pre-school children
What does Susie say about the study on young children's naps?
But they didn't really find an answer. … the results didn't seem to show any obvious patterns.
Question says → You hear
failed to reach any clear conclusionsdidn't really find an answer / didn't seem to show any obvious patterns
Why: No answer and no obvious patterns means the study didn't reach clear conclusions, C.
The trap: B: methodology is mentioned, but they spent a long time getting it right, not using a faulty one. A: nothing suggests the results caused argument.
Question 24
Answer: CWhen Luke says 'let's think about our assignment'
Which part of the last assignment caused problems for both students?
Last time I had problems with the final stage, where we had to describe and justify how successful we thought we'd been. … I got marked down for the self-assessment as well.
Question says → You hear
self-assessmentdescribe and justify how successful we thought we'd been / marked down for the self-assessment as well
Why: Luke describes the self-assessment without naming it: justifying how successful they had been. Susie names it and says 'as well', so they both struggled, C.
The trap: A was only Susie's problem ('that's where I really lost marks'). B was only Luke's: Susie says 'I was OK with the planning'.
Flow-chart completion (ONE WORD ONLY)
Questions 25-30
How to attack this block: The flow chart follows their plan in order, and each stage starts with a 'Decide on' or 'Check' that matches what they say. Watch for options they reject, like literature students and answering online. One word only, so nouns like graph and stress, and a verb, evaluate, for the last box.
Question 25
Answer: historyWhen Susie asks about using other psychology students
Which department will the twelve students come from?
Let's use people from a different department. What about history? … Yes, they might have interesting dreams! Or literature students? … I don't really know any. … OK, forget that idea.
Question says → You hear
from the ... departmentpeople from a different department. What about history
Why: Luke suggests history and Susie agrees. Her alternative, literature, is dropped because Luke doesn't know any literature students.
The trap: Literature is the last department said, and psychology is the first. Only history survives the discussion.
Question 26
Answer: paperAfter they agree on self-reporting as the method
How will participants give their answers?
we could ask them to answer questions online. … But in this case, paper might be better, as they'll be doing it straight after they wake up
Question says → You hear
Answers onpaper might be better
Why: Susie argues for paper because people will be half-asleep when they answer, and Luke agrees with 'Right'. The flow chart's 'Answers on ...' takes paper.
The trap: Online is Luke's first idea and fits 'Answers on' just as well grammatically, but Susie's 'But' replaces it.
Question 27
Answer: humansWhen Luke mentions checking the ethical guidelines
Also accepted: people
Who are the ethical guidelines about working with?
because our experiment involves humans, so there are special regulations
Question says → You hear
ethical guidelines for working withour experiment involves humans, so there are special regulations
Why: The special regulations apply because the experiment involves humans. People is also accepted.
The trap: Students or participants fit the meaning but aren't in this sentence. Write the word you hear: humans.
Question 28
Answer: stressWhen Luke describes the guidelines he read for another assignment
What must be kept low, as well as assessing risk?
There's a whole section on risk assessment, and another section on making sure they aren't put under any unnecessary stress.
Question says → You hear
kept to a minimummaking sure they aren't put under any unnecessary stress
Why: Risk assessment is the first section and stress the second. 'Not put under any unnecessary stress' becomes 'stress is kept to a minimum'.
The trap: Risk is already in the flow chart. Susie's joke about bad dreams comes next, but it isn't part of the guidelines.
Question 29
Answer: graphWhen Susie says 'when we've collected all our data'
What will they make after calculating the correlation?
calculate the correlation between our two variables, that's time sleeping and number of dreams, and then present our results visually in a graph
Question says → You hear
make apresent our results visually in a graph
Why: After the correlation, the results go into a graph. 'Make a' needs a singular noun.
The trap: Variables and data are nouns you hear in the same breath, but you don't 'make a variable'. The thing they produce is a graph.
Question 30
Answer: evaluateLuke's last point, 'And the final thing'
What is the final step of the research plan?
And the final thing is to think about our research and evaluate it.
Question says → You hear
the researchthink about our research and evaluate it
Why: The last box is '... the research', so it needs a verb at the start of the instruction. Luke says 'evaluate it'.
The trap: Think is also a verb in the same sentence, but 'think the research' isn't English. The noun evaluation doesn't fit the gap's position either.
Susie lost most marks on statistics, but that was only her. Luke struggled with the action plan, but Susie was fine with it. 'I got marked down for the self-assessment as well' is the shared problem.
Luke suggests answering online, and that's the word people write. Susie says paper might be better because people will be half-asleep, and Luke agrees.
Option A is what Luke had always assumed, so you hear it clearly. The article's new idea is that remembering everything would confuse dreams with reality, B.
Words from this recording worth keeping
assumed(Forgetting dreams)
believed something without checking it
trigger(Predicting the future)
cause something to start or happen
coincidence(Predicting the future)
something that happens by chance
methodology(Study on naps)
the methods used in a piece of research
justify(Last assignment)
give good reasons for something
ethical guidelines(Assignment plan)
rules about what is morally acceptable in research
correlation(Assignment plan)
a connection between two things that change together
variables(Assignment plan)
the factors measured or changed in a study
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The full Cambridge 16 Test 2 listening paper with the real audio: all four parts, played once, marked the moment you finish. Already done it? Take it again and listen for the traps this page showed you.
Cambridge IELTS 16, Test 2, Listening Part 3. The recording, transcript and questions belong to Cambridge University Press and are not reproduced here. We quote short extracts of the transcript only as evidence for our own commentary, and the answers are published for self-marking. Get the book for the full material, or sit the test on Langujet.
