This self-drive tours in the USA listening test page gives you Section 1 of Cambridge IELTS 10 Listening Test 1 in full: the complete answer key for Questions 1–10, playable audio, an explanation for every question with the exact transcript line that proves it, and the whole recording script. The recording is a phone call in which Andrea Brown asks the World Tours agent Jamie about two California driving holidays, tested through note completion and table completion items.

Numbers decide several marks, so read the word limits first: Questions 1–6 take ONE WORD and Questions 7–10 allow ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER. Predict the word class of each gap with the note completion strategy, spell the dictated address exactly as the agent confirms it, and check every answer on the complete Cambridge IELTS 10 Listening Test 1 answers page covering all four sections.

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 1–6

Complete the notes below.

Write ONE WORD for each answer.

Questions 7–10

Complete the table below.

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

Self-Drive Tours in the USA Listening Answers

Questions and Answers

Self-Drive Tours in the USA Answer Explanations

1. Ardleigh — Andrea supplies her address as “24, Ardleigh Road” and then spells the street letter by letter: “A-R-D-L-E-I-G-H Road”. The ONE WORD limit means the road name alone scores, written exactly as dictated, with -eigh at the end.

2. newspaper — asked whether a friend or an advert brought her to World Tours, Andrea rejects both with “I read about you in the newspaper”. Friend and advert are the traps the question offers, but the recording settles on the newspaper.

3. theme — the note asks what Los Angeles offers the children, and the agent promises “plenty of time to visit some of the theme parks”. Andrea approves the stop with “That’s something on my children’s list”, and the ONE WORD limit takes theme alone before parks.

4. tent — the agent offers a choice of lodge or campsite at Yosemite, and Andrea rejects the second: “I don’t like the idea of staying in a tent”. Lodge and campsite are the printed distractors; the accommodation she refuses is the tent.

5. castle — Andrea asks about the attraction near Cambria, “a really nice castle near Cambria”, and the agent confirms that “Hearst Castle is on that road”. Hearst is the name and castle the category, so the ONE WORD answer is castle.

6. beach — Andrea proposes San Diego with “That’s good for beaches isn’t it”, and the agent agrees it is a good place to relax. The zoo is offered for the children and then declined, so the attraction that survives is the beach, printed in the singular by the key.

7. 2020 — the table asks for the total distance of tour one, and the agent says it “covers 2,020 kilometres”. “The shortest journey is 206 km” and the longest is 632 kilometres, both partial distances; the total is 2020, safest written as digits under ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER.

8. flight — tour one costs £525 and “includes accommodation, car rental and a flight but no meals”. Meals are excluded outright, and on tour two flights meet the same fate — “They aren’t included” — so the item only the first price covers is the flight.

9. 429 — the cheaper tour is priced when Andrea asks, and the agent answers “£429 per person”. £525 belongs to tour one and “almost a hundred pounds cheaper” is only the difference between them, so the figure the table needs is 429.

10. dinner — tour two does not include flights, but the hotels make up for it: “these hotels offer dinner in the price”. Flights are the item missing, so the meal included at the hotels is dinner.

Listening Transcript — Section 1

TRAVEL AGENT: Good morning. World Tours. My name is Jamie. How can I help you?

ANDREA: Good morning. I want some information on self-drive tours in the USA. Could you send me a brochure?

TRAVEL AGENT: Of course. Could you I have your name please?

ANDREA: Andrea Brown.

TRAVEL AGENT: Thank you. And your address?

ANDREA: 24, Ardleigh Road.

TRAVEL AGENT: Can you spell that?

ANDREA: A-R-D-L-E-I-G-H Road.

TRAVEL AGENT: Postcode?

ANDREA: BH5 2OP

TRAVEL AGENT: Thanks. And can I have your phone number?

ANDREA: Is a mobile alright?

TRAVEL AGENT: Fine.

ANDREA: It’s 07786643091.

TRAVEL AGENT: Thank you. And can I ask you where you heard about World Tours? From a friend? Or did you see an advert somewhere?

ANDREA: No, I read about you in the newspaper.

TRAVEL AGENT: OK, I’ll get the brochures in the post to you but can I give you some information over the phone. What kinds of things do you want to do on your holiday?

ANDREA: I’m interested in going to California with my family. I’ve got two children and we want to hire a car.

TRAVEL AGENT: OK. We have a couple of self-drive tours there visiting different places of interest in California. The first one begins in Los Angeles and there’s plenty of time to visit some of the theme parks there.

ANDREA: That’s something on my children’s list so I’d want to include that.

TRAVEL AGENT: Good. Then you drive to San Francisco. From San Francisco you can drive to Yosemite Park where you spend a couple of nights. You can choose to stay in a lodge or on the campsite.

ANDREA: I don’t like the idea of staying in a tent. It’d be too hot.

TRAVEL AGENT: Right. And the tour ends in Las Vegas.

ANDREA: OK.

TRAVEL AGENT: The other trip we can arrange is slightly different. It starts in San Francisco. Then you drive south to Cambria.

ANDREA: Someone told me there’s a really nice castle near Cambria. Will we go near that?

TRAVEL AGENT: Hearst Castle is on that road so you could stop there.

ANDREA: Good. I’d like to do that. Does this trip also go into the desert?

TRAVEL AGENT: No, it continues to Santa Monica where most people like to stop and do some shopping.

ANDREA: We have enough of that at home so that doesn’t interest us.

TRAVEL AGENT: OK. Well you could go straight on to San Diego.

ANDREA: That’s good for beaches isn’t it?

TRAVEL AGENT: That’s right, that’s a good place to relax and your children might like to visit the zoo before flying home.

ANDREA: I don’t think so. We want some time for sunbathing and swimming.

—————————

ANDREA: So how many days are the trips and how much do they cost?

TRAVEL AGENT: The first one I told you about is a self-drive tour through California which lasts twelve days and covers 2,020 kilometres. The shortest journey is 206 km and the longest is 632 kilometres. The cost is £525 per person. That includes accommodation, car rental and a flight but no meals.

ANDREA: OK. And the other trip?

TRAVEL AGENT: That lasts nine days but you spend only three days on the road. You cover about 980 kilometres altogether.

ANDREA: So is that cheaper then?

TRAVEL AGENT: Yes, it’s almost a hundred pounds cheaper. It’s £429 per person, which is a good deal.

ANDREA: So that covers accommodation and car hire. What about flights?

TRAVEL AGENT: They aren’t included. But these hotels offer dinner in the price.

ANDREA: OK. Well, thank you very much. I’ll be in touch when I’ve had a chance to look at the brochure.

TRAVEL AGENT: I’m pleased to help. Goodbye.

ANDREA: Goodbye.

Key Vocabulary and Spelling

Study Tips

Read the word limit printed under each task before the audio starts. Questions 1–6 allow ONE WORD, so Question 1 scores Ardleigh alone without the house number, and Questions 7–10 allow ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER, so Question 7 is 2020 and Question 9 is 429, digits that cannot be misspelled. The table completion strategy shows how to move across the rows as the agent switches from tour one to tour two.

The section opens with dictated personal details: the street arrives as “A-R-D-L-E-I-G-H Road” and the postcode as BH5 2OP. Write letters and digits as you hear them, then check doubled letters against the listening spelling rules guide, because a correct answer with a spelling slip scores nothing.

Track what Andrea rejects, because her replies cancel one idea before settling the mark: the tent is too hot, the desert is not on the second route, Santa Monica shopping does not interest her and the zoo is declined in favour of sunbathing and swimming. Keep your pencil on the question until the speakers confirm the final choice.

Practice More Listening Tests

Mark the ten answers strictly, read the explanation for every miss, and log the score on the full Cambridge IELTS 10 Listening Test 1 answers page, which holds the keys, explanations and transcripts for all four sections. The free IELTS listening practice course from Simply IELTS drills exactly what this section rewards: dictated spelling, corrected numbers and strict word limits. Then try this interactive listening test: boat trip around tasmania listening answers for another travel-booking script under exam conditions, and continue the same paper with the Leisure Club listening test in Section 2.