Vivien, a student teacher, presents a hat-making project she ran with a class during her teaching practice in London. She demonstrates the two basic hat shapes, explains the design stage and its rules, and shows three hats her pupils made.
Questions 31-40 · 10 marks · 4 question blocks
In order. 31-32 come in Vivien's opening sentences about the school. 33-34 come during the demonstration of the two hats. The dashed break and 'the design phase' start 35-37, and 38-40 come at the end as she holds up three pupils' hats.
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.
| Q | Your answer | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| Questions 31-32 · Note completion (NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER) | ||
| 31 | secondaryAlso accepted: secondary school | |
| 32 | 14Also accepted: fourteen / 14 year olds / 14 years old / fourteen year olds | |
| Questions 33-34 · Diagram labelling (NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS) | ||
| 33 | overlapAlso accepted: overlapping / over-lap / over lap | |
| 34 | undersideAlso accepted: underneath / bottom / the underside / the bottom | |
| Questions 35-37 · Note completion (NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS) | ||
| 35 | on paperAlso accepted: in two dimensions / in 2 dimensions | |
| 36 | 3-dimensionalAlso accepted: three-dimensional / 3 dimensional / three dimensional / 3-D / 3D | |
| 37 | white, grey, brownAlso accepted: white, grey and brown / white grey brown / white, gray, brown / white, gray and brown | |
| Questions 38-40 · Matching (A-E) | ||
| 38 | C | |
| 39 | D | |
| 40 | A | |
How to attack this block: Both answers come in the first few sentences, so be ready from the start. Several numbers are said close together: be clear which one is the pupils' age.
Also accepted: secondary school
What type of school did Vivien teach at?
the project I did as a student teacher at a secondary school in London
Question says → You hear
Why: The type of school is secondary. 'School' is in the note's heading, so secondary alone is enough.
The trap: London is in the same phrase, but it's the place, not the type of school.
Also accepted: fourteen / 14 year olds / 14 years old / fourteen year olds
How old were the pupils?
I was at this school for six weeks and I taught a variety of subjects to a class of fourteen-year-old pupils.
Question says → You hear
Why: The pupils were fourteen. Write 14 in digits: it's quicker and safe.
The trap: Six is said first, but it's six weeks at the school. She also says the project could suit any age, which isn't an age.
How to attack this block: Vivien demonstrates as she talks, so the language is full of pauses and 'like this'. Listen for the action words: one gap needs a verb (what you do to the cut), the other a place on the circle.
Also accepted: overlapping / over-lap / over lap
What do you do to the cut to make the conical hat?
cutting out a circle and then making one cut up to the centre and then ... er ... overlapping the cut like this this
Question says → You hear
Why: After cutting into the centre, you overlap the edges of the cut to make a cone. The gap sits between 'and' and 'the cut', so it needs a verb: overlap.
The trap: 'Cutting' and 'cut' are said several times, but the cut is already made. The new action is overlapping it.
Also accepted: underneath / bottom / the underside / the bottom
Where do you stick the flaps on the pillbox hat?
you bend the flaps over and stick them . .. with glue or prittstick . . . to the underside of the circle
Question says → You hear
Why: The flaps go on the underside of the circle. The note has 'of circle' after the gap, so write underside.
The trap: Glue and prittstick come between 'stick them' and the answer. They're what you stick with, not where.
How to attack this block: The design phase has two stages and a list of rules. Notice the contrast between a design on paper (flat, two-dimensional) and a small model (three-dimensional). The colour answer is a list of three, which still fits the word limit.
Also accepted: in two dimensions / in 2 dimensions
How do pupils first design their hat in Stage A?
using their pages of research to draw a design of their hat on paper. That's the easy part.
Question says → You hear
Why: Stage A means using the research to draw the hat on paper, a flat drawing. On paper completes 'design a hat ...'.
The trap: Writing 'paper' alone breaks the grammar. And the key accepts 'in two dimensions' because she then calls it a 'two-dimensional design'.
Also accepted: three-dimensional / 3 dimensional / three dimensional / 3-D / 3D
What sort of small-scale hat do they make in Stage B?
I encouraged them to make a small-scale, three-dimensional hat first
Question says → You hear
Why: The note copies 'small-scale', and the next word is three-dimensional. 3-D or 3-dimensional are accepted.
The trap: Two-dimensional is said just before, for the drawing on paper. Stage B is the opposite: a real 3D model.
Also accepted: white, grey and brown / white grey brown / white, gray, brown / white, gray and brown
Which colours were pupils allowed to use?
They also had to limit their colours to white, grey or brown shades of paper
Question says → You hear
Why: The three allowed colours are white, grey and brown. That's three words, which fits the limit.
The trap: Card is mentioned just before, but it's the material they couldn't use, and the material row is already filled in.
How to attack this block: Vivien describes each hat first and only then says who made it, so hold the description in your head until you hear the name. Link each description to the shapes from the demonstration: pillbox, conical, crown. Two pictures are never used.
Which picture shows Theresa's hat?
This one here is based on a circular stairway in an old building in London. It uses three pillbox hats one on top of the other. This was designed by Theresa.
Question says → You hear
Why: Look for the hat made of three pillbox shapes stacked up, like a round staircase. That's picture C.
The trap: Fabrice's hat also uses a pillbox, but only one, with a cone on top. Theresa's has three pillboxes and no cone.
Which picture shows Muriel's hat?
a simple strip going round the base of the hat but has then gone on to add strips of paper that come out from the base and that meet at the top of the hat -rather like a crown
Question says → You hear
Why: A band round the bottom with strips rising from it and meeting at the top, like a tall crown. That's picture D.
The trap: 'Round the base' sounds like the pillbox shape again. The difference is the strips joining at the top.
Which picture shows Fabrice's hat?
there's a combination of the pillbox or single strip around the base and then the conical hat shape on top to form a castle turret. This was made by Fabrice
Question says → You hear
Why: A round base with a cone on top looks like a castle turret. That's picture A.
The trap: The pillbox base can pull you towards Theresa's stacked hat. Fabrice's is the only one with a pointed cone on top.
The answer is hidden in hesitation: 'and then ... er ... overlapping the cut'. The gap needs a verb before 'the cut', so overlap. Overlapping is accepted too.
Stage A is 'design a hat ...'. Vivien says they drew a design 'on paper', and then talks about a 'two-dimensional design'. Either on paper or in two dimensions works, but 'paper' alone doesn't fit after 'design a hat'.
The name comes after the description. If you write down the first name you hear for the first hat you described, you'll be one hat out. Theresa's is the three pillboxes stacked up.
The full Cambridge 3 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 3, Test 2, Listening Part 4. 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.
