Cambridge 15 Listening Test 3 - Answers With Explanation

1. 'Administrative assistant in a company that produces ___ (North London)' needs a noun for what the company manufactures. 'Furniture' fits, identifying the first job's industry.

2. 'Responsibilities — go to ___ and take notes' needs a plural noun for a workplace event. 'Meetings' fits an admin assistant's typical duty of minute-taking.

3. 'Management of ___' needs a noun for an organisational tool. 'Diary' fits — scheduling is a standard admin responsibility.

4. 'Requirements — attention to ___' needs a plural/uncountable noun completing a set phrase. 'Detail(s)' fits the common job-requirement collocation 'attention to detail'.

5. 'Experience — need a minimum of ___ of experience of teleconferencing' needs a duration. '1/one year' fits, with the source showing the digit or word form as equally acceptable.

6. 'Second Job (warehouse assistant, South London) — responsibilities: managing ___' needs a plural noun for warehouse duties. 'Deliveries' fits the logistics nature of a warehouse role.

7. 'Requirements — very organised and ___' needs an adjective paired with 'organised'. 'Tidy' fits as a complementary personal quality for warehouse work.

8. 'Used to working in a ___' needs a noun for a work arrangement. 'Team' fits as a standard requirement phrase for warehouse or group-based roles.

9. 'Able to cope with items that are ___' needs an adjective describing physical demands. 'Heavy' fits the physical nature of warehouse work.

10. 'Need experience of ___ service' needs a noun completing the phrase 'customer service'. 'Customer' fits, closing out the second job's requirements list.

11. This is a number-distractor question with three close options: two, three, or six years ago. The scheme first took place three years ago (B) — expect nearby figures to be mentioned as decoys before the correct one is confirmed.

12. The stem asks how often the road is closed now. Option A ('once a week') is correct, versus B (weekend closures) and C (monthly), both plausible alternative frequencies offered as distractors.

13. The stem asks who closes the road. Option C ('local wardens') is correct, distinguishing the actual responsible party from the more official-sounding distractors of a council official or the police.

14. The stem asks what residents wanting to use their cars must do. Option B ('must drive very slowly') is correct, rather than A (parking elsewhere) or C (needing warden permission) — both plausible restrictions offered as distractors.

15. The stem asks where Alice thinks these schemes are most needed. Option C ('areas with heavy traffic') is correct — logically, traffic-heavy areas benefit most from a road-closure play scheme, versus the distractors of wealthy or quiet suburban areas.

16. The stem asks about non-parent residents' reaction. Option B ('they like seeing children play in the street') is the positive outcome reported, rather than A (initial unhappiness) or C (surprise at quietness) — both plausible but incorrect distractor reactions.

17–18. Questions 17 and 18 ask for TWO benefits for children Alice considers most important, from options A–E. The correct pair is B ('increased sense of independence') and D ('opportunity to be part of a community'); A, C and E name other plausible child-development benefits (activity, new games, friendships) used as distractors.

19–20. Questions 19 and 20 ask for TWO results of the King Street experiment that surprised Alice, from options A–E. The correct pair is A ('more shoppers') and E ('less noise pollution'); B, C and D describe other plausible outcomes (safety, air quality, atmosphere) that serve as distractors — note that 'less noise pollution' is a different, more surprising outcome than the related but incorrect option C ('less air pollution').

21. 'What ___ the item is on' needs a noun for a location within a newspaper. 'Page' fits — page placement is a common measure of an article's prominence.

22. 'The ___ of the item, including the headline' needs a noun for physical dimensions. 'Size' fits — larger space (and headline) typically signals more editorial importance.

23. 'Any ___ accompanying the item' needs a plural/uncountable noun for visual material. 'Graphic(s)' fits, covering images, charts, or illustrations alongside the text.

24. 'The ___ of the item, e.g. what's made prominent' needs a noun for how content is organised. 'Structure' fits — how information is arranged/prioritised within the piece.

25. 'The writer's main ___' needs a noun for intent. 'Purpose' fits — a standard analytical category (to inform, persuade, entertain, etc.).

26. 'The ___ the writer may make about the reader' needs a plural/uncountable noun. 'Assumption(s)' fits — what the writer takes for granted about the audience's knowledge or views, completing the six-part checklist for analysing an article.

27. This matching task assigns one of three plans (A: will definitely look for an article, B: may look for one, C: definitely won't) to each article type. A national news item is matched to A — Hazel is definite about including this type.

28. An editorial is matched to C ('she definitely won't look for an article') — ruled out entirely, unlike the national news item.

29. A human interest piece is matched to C as well — both editorial and human interest are excluded from Hazel's plan, while the remaining two question types (news, arts) get different treatment.

30. An arts article is matched to B ('she may look for a suitable article') — a tentative, middle-ground decision distinct from the definite 'yes' (news) and definite 'no' (editorial, human interest) answers in this set.

31. 'Prehistoric times — water was used to wash off ___' needs a noun for dirt. 'Mud' fits as the earliest, most basic form of washing described in the lecture's chronological opening.

32. 'Ancient Babylon — soap-like material found in ___ cylinders' needs a material noun. 'Clay' fits — clay cylinders/tablets are the kind of archaeological artefact historians reference for early soap evidence.

33. 'Ancient Greece — used a strigil, a scraper made of ___' needs a material noun. 'Metal' fits, describing the material of this specific bathing tool.

34. 'Ancient Germany and Gaul — used soap to colour their ___' needs a body-part noun. 'Hair' fits — an early cosmetic rather than cleaning use of soap, a detail that distinguishes this civilisation's use from the others listed.

35. 'Ancient Rome — from about 312 BC, water carried to Roman ___ by aqueducts' needs a plural noun for a bathing facility. 'Bath(s)' fits, referencing famous Roman public bathhouses supplied by aqueduct engineering.

36. 'Europe in the Middle Ages — decline in bathing contributed to occurrence of ___' needs a plural/uncountable noun for illness. 'Disease(s)' fits, marking the historical downturn in hygiene practices during this period.

37. 'Europe in the Middle Ages — ___ began to be added to soap' needs an uncountable noun for a scent additive. 'Perfume' fits as a refinement to soap-making during this era.

38. 'Europe from the 17th century — 1791: Leblanc invented a way of making soda ash from ___' needs a material noun. 'Salt' fits — this is a specific, checkable historical/chemical fact (the Leblanc process) that the note is testing recall of.

39. 'Early 1800s: Chevreul turned soapmaking into a ___' needs a noun for a field of study. 'Science' fits, describing the shift from craft to systematic chemistry.

40. 'From the 1800s, there was no longer a ___ on soap' needs a noun for a government charge. 'Tax' fits, closing the lecture's timeline with a policy/economic development rather than a scientific one.