Carer support advice listening test practice starts here: this page gives you Section 1 of Cambridge IELTS 20 Listening Test 2 in full — the answer key for Questions 1–10, playable audio, an explanation for every question with the exact transcript line that proves it, and the complete recording script. Two former colleagues discuss the support local councils arrange for people caring for elderly relatives at home, and every gap is a note completion worth ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER.

The section rewards paraphrase recognition, because the notes deal with money while the recording says cope, and helping her have a shower is spoken as help her get into the shower, so warm up with the guide to predicting answers before you hear them and fix the word class of each gap before the voices begin. Then record your score on the Cambridge IELTS 20 Listening Test 2 answers page, the complete hub for all four sections of this test.

Listening Audio — Section 1

Play the recording once, without pausing, and answer Questions 1–10 before you check the key. In the real exam you hear each section exactly once.

Questions 1–10

Questions 1–10

Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

Local Councils can Arrange Practical Support to Help those Caring for Elderly people at Home.

This can give the carer:

– time for other responsibilities

This may include discussion of:

What types of tasks are involved, e.g.:

– help with dressing

– shopping

– helping with meals

Any aspects of caring that are especially difficult, e.g.:

– help with housework

• Complete the notes below.
• – a 1 …………
• Assessment of mother’s needs
• – how much 2 ………… the caring involves
• – helping her have a 3 …………
• – dealing with 4 …………
• – loss of 5 …………
• – 6 ………… her
• – preventing a 7 …………
• Types of support that may be offered to carers
• – transport costs, e.g. cost of a 8 …………
• – car-related costs, e.g. fuel and 9 …………
• – help to reduce 10 …………

Carer Support Advice Listening Answers

Questions and Answers

Carer Support Advice Answer Explanations

1. break — the first note completes the list of what council support gives a carer, and the man explains that carers “sometimes need a break” alongside time for their other responsibilities. Time and responsibilities are already printed in the notes, so the second benefit is the only new noun on the line: break.

2. time — the assessment note asks how much of something the caring involves, and the man says the council would want to know “the amount of time you spend looking after your mother”. Day is the trap, because “every day” only says when the caring happens; the quantity the note asks for is time.

3. shower — the gap sits in the list of daily tasks, where the woman reports “I help her get into the shower in the morning”. Morning is the trap: it states when the help happens, not what the help consists of, and the note has already paraphrased get into with have, so the missing word is shower.

4. money — the next task gap is proved by the man’s question about “whether she can cope using money”. Cope with is the recording’s version of the note’s dealing with, and shopping and mealtimes fail because both appear as printed examples rather than gaps.

5. memory — under aspects that are especially difficult, the woman says her mother has “quite bad problems with her memory”. Forgetting to eat and losing track of the day are effects she predicts, so the note names the cause, and the single word that completes it is memory.

6. lifting — the man supplies the physical difficulty himself: “Lifting her, for example?”. Back is the trap, because hurting her back is the carer’s fear, while the note needs the action she performs, and the row ends with the object her, which only the gerund lifting can take.

7. fall — the council also gives advice on “how to avoid the possibility of your mum having a fall”. Avoiding matches the note’s preventing, and the article a calls for a singular countable noun, so fall completes the row while back repeats the previous trap and scores nothing.

8. taxi — under transport costs, the man gives the worked example of a claim to “get a taxi to take your mother for an appointment”. Petrol is the trap because it belongs to the car-related row that follows, and appointment describes the purpose of the trip rather than the cost of the transport.

9. insurance — the car-costs row already prints fuel, which paraphrases the petrol the woman asks about, and the man adds “you can claim for the insurance too”. Write insurance with -ance rather than -ence, and note that petrol earns no mark here because fuel already covers it.

10. stress — the final note pairs reduce with the man’s remark “it seems to me you under quite a bit of stress” and his advice that the council “may be able to give you some advice on how to minimise it”. Minimise is the recording’s word for reduce, so the noun the council helps to shrink is stress; housework is the printed example that distracted candidates chase instead.

Listening Transcript — Section 1

WOMAN It’s really good to see you, Tom. Since I had to give up work, I feel I’m losing touch with my friends and colleagues.

MAN We really miss you in the office. We were all so sorry you had to leave. But you must be relieved to have more time to look after your mother. How is she?

WOMAN Well she is very cheerful, but she needs a lot of help.

MAN Have you tried to get any support from the local council?

WOMAN No, I didn’t know I could.

MAN Yes, they offer different kinds of practical support. They realise that carers sometimes need time for all the other responsibilities they have, apart from the person they’re caring for, and also that they sometimes need a break.

WOMAN Absolutely. OK, so tell me more. How do I go about getting this support?

MAN Well, you’d have to have an assessment of your mother’s needs. That means someone would come round and talk to you about the situation and what you need. So, for a start, they’d want to know the amount of time you spend looking after your mother every day.

WOMAN OK.

MAN Then they’ll probably ask you what sorts of tasks you do for your mother during the day. Things like if she needs help with getting dressed, for example.

WOMAN Right. I help her with that. And also I help her get into the shower in the morning.

MAN Yes, that sort of thing. They’ll probably ask you if you do the shopping for her and help her at mealtimes, and whether she can cope using money.

WOMAN Yes, that’s becoming a bit of a problem. She used to be very good at it, but not anymore.

———————

MAN And be ready to tell them about anything you find particularly difficult about caring for your mother.

WOMAN So, recently I’ve noticed she’s started to have quite bad problems with her memory. If I wasn’t there, I think she’d forget to eat, for example. And often she doesn’t seem quite sure what day it is.

MAN Yes, tell them about that. And are there any physical difficulties you have caring for her? Lifting her, for example?

WOMAN Yes, she’s quite heavy and I’m afraid of hurting my back. I’d be in real trouble if that happened.

MAN They can give you advice about that and also about how to avoid the possibility of your mum having a fall.

WOMAN Great. So once they’ve done this assessment, if I’m eligible, what happens next?

MAN Well, they might support you financially. So they might help you with transport costs, like if you have to get a taxi to take your mother for an appointment, for example.

WOMAN I usually drive her myself, actually. So, could I claim the petrol?

MAN You could. And you can claim for the insurance too.

WOMAN Oh, right.

MAN And if you need help with the housework, they can arrange for someone to come along once or twice a week. And one other thing. I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but it important you

look after yourself And it seems to me you under quite a bit of stress

WOMAN I am yes

MAN Well tell the council because they may be able to give you some advice on how to minimise it

WOMAN Really? Though, actually, I feel so much better having talked to you. I’ll get in touch with the council straight away. Now, shall we go for coffee or something?

Key Vocabulary and Spelling

Study Tips

The money answers arrive in a cluster: taxi for Question 8, then petrol and insurance for Question 9. The printed labels decide the split — transport costs takes taxi, while car-related costs prints fuel and waits for insurance — so keep your eyes on the row, because petrol earns nothing once fuel stands in for it. The Band 8 listening strategy shows how high scorers hold near-synonym pairs apart while the audio moves on.

Every gap in this section sits one paraphrase away from the recording: cope with becomes dealing with, get into becomes have, avoid becomes prevent and minimise becomes reduce. Use the grammar of the note as your anchor — a 1 calls for a singular noun, and 6 her needs a form that can take an object — and the mismatches stop costing marks.

Three questions bait you with consequences: the memory loss explains the forgotten meals, the lifting explains the back fear and the fall is what the advice prevents. Ask whether the word you caught is the cause or the result before you write it, and drill single-word spelling such as insurance and stress with the listening spelling rules guide.

Practice More Listening Tests

Mark the ten answers strictly, reread the explanation for every miss, then log the result on the full test answers page, which holds the keys, audio, explanations and transcripts for all four sections of Cambridge IELTS 20 Listening Test 2. The free IELTS listening practice course from Simply IELTS trains the skills this section grades: tracking paraphrase, respecting the word limit and spelling words such as insurance and stress. Then try this interactive listening test: childcare services for another everyday conversation under exam conditions, and continue to the Town Volunteer Scheme Talk listening test to take Section 2 of the same paper in order.