This town centre visitor survey listening test brings you Section 1 of Cambridge IELTS 10 Listening Test 2, with the full answer key for Questions 1–10. You can play the audio on this page, complete the note-completion task under exam conditions, and then check every answer against explanations that quote the exact words from the recording. The complete transcript sits below the explanations, so you can trace how the interviewer’s questions signal each answer and where distractors, such as the deliberately wrong postcode, appear. Names, numbers and postcodes make this section a spelling test as much as a listening test, so read the note completion strategy and the guide to predicting answers before you hear them before you start. For the whole paper, the Cambridge IELTS 10 listening test 2 answers page covers 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 1–10

Complete the notes below.

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

Town Centre Visitor Survey Listening Answers

Questions and Answers

Town Centre Visitor Survey Answer Explanations

1. Hardie — the interviewer asks “Can you spell that, please?”, and Luisa dictates “it’s H-A-R-D-I-E”. A capital letter is required for a surname, and the spelling Hardy loses the mark even though it sounds identical. Write only the surname, because Luisa is already printed in the notes.

2. 19 — Luisa gives her address as “It’s 19, White Stone Road”, so the missing house number is 19. White Stone Rd is already printed on the form, and Bradfield is the area, so neither can fill the gap. The task allows one word and/or a number, and 19 alone scores.

3. GT8 2LC — the interviewer sets a trap with “Is the postcode GT7?”, and Luisa corrects it: “It’s actually G-T-8, 2-L-C”. Write the corrected version with no full stops or hyphens, exactly as the key prints it. A correction always overrides the first number you hear.

4. hairdresser — asked whether she is a student, Luisa answers “I’ve actually just finished my training. I’m a hairdresser”. Student is the distractor, because her training is finished, so her occupation is hairdresser. One word is needed, and the job noun needs no capital letter on the form.

5. dentist — Luisa cancels her normal reason first with “it’s not for shopping today”, then gives the real purpose: “to see the dentist”. The notes already print to go to the, and dentist completes the phrase. Never take the first activity mentioned when a negative rules it out.

6. lighting — Luisa says “the lighting should be better” when she walks home after a later shift. The note places better before the gap, so the noun lighting completes the suggestion. Lights would break the collocation, and this first improvement concerns walking at night.

7. trains — her transport complaint is “I don’t think there are enough trains”, which matches the note more frequent. The gap needs a plural noun that can be frequent, and trains is the only service she criticises. The bus carried her today, but buses are never criticised, so bus cannot score.

8. safe — turning to cycling, Luisa reports that “there are no safe places to leave your bikes”. The gap sits directly before parking places for bicycles, so the adjective safe is required. Keep the word class exact, because safely and safety both score zero.

9. shower — cycling uphill would leave her sweaty on a hot day, so she asks for “a shower somewhere at work”. The note needs a singular noun after use a, and the shower is the facility she requests. Sweaty describes the problem rather than the solution, so it fails.

10. training — her final request is help on busy roads, and she asks the council to consider “offering training for that” because it would lift her confidence. The note places cycling directly before the gap, so the noun training follows naturally under the one-word rule. Confident describes her feelings, not the thing offered, so it cannot score.

Listening Transcript — Section 1

INTERVIEWER: Excuse me.

LUISA: Yes?

INTERVIEWER: I wonder if you could spare a few minutes to do a survey on transport. It won’t take long.

LUISA: No, that’s fine.

INTERVIEWER: Lovely. The survey is on behalf of the local council. They’d like to know about what transport you use any suggestions for improvement. Can I start by asking you how you travelled to town today?

LUISA: Sure. I came on the bus.

INTERVIEWER: Great. Now can I get a few details about yourself?

LUISA: OK.

INTERVIEWER: What’s your name?

LUISA: It’s Luisa …

INTERVIEWER: Yes.

LUISA: Hardie.

INTERVIEWER: Can you spell that, please?

LUISA: Yes, it’s H-A-R-D-I-E.

INTERVIEWER: Great. Thanks. And can I have your address?

LUISA: It’s 19, White Stone Road.

INTERVIEWER: Oh, right. I know that area. It’s Bradfield, isn’t it?

LUISA: That’s right.

INTERVIEWER: Is the postcode GT7?

LUISA: It’s actually G-T-8, 2-L-C.

INTERVIEWER: Great. And could I ask what your job is? Are you a student?

LUISA: I’ve actually just finished my training. I’m a hairdresser.

INTERVIEWER: Oh, right. And one more question in this section. What is the reason for you coming into town today?

LUISA: Actually it’s not for shopping today, which would be my normal reason, but to see the dentist.

INTERVIEWER: Right. Thanks.

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INTERVIEWER: Now in this last section I’d like you to give us some ideas about the facilities and arrangements in the city for getting to and from work, er, any suggestions you have for improvements.

LUISA: Well, something I’ve thought about for some time is that when I do walk and I’m doing a later shift, I think the lighting should be better.

INTERVIEWER: Yes, good point.

LUISA: And of course, I think it’s a real shame they’ve been cutting down on the number of footpaths. They should have more of those. Then people would walk more.

INTERVIEWER: Yes, right.

LUISA: And, I don’t think there are enough trains. That’s why I don’t use them – you have to wait so long.

INTERVIEWER: Thanks. And finally I’d like to ask your opinion on cycling. As you may know, there’s a drive in the city to get more people to cycle to work.

LUISA: Right.

INTERVIEWER: But we realise that there are things which the council, but also employers, might do to help encourage workers to cycle to work.

LUISA: Yep. Well, I have thought about it and where I work there are no safe places to leave your bikes.

INTERVIEWER: OK.

LUISA: And also, I’d have to cycle uphill and on a hot day I’d arrive at work pretty sweaty so I think I’d need a shower somewhere at work.

INTERVIEWER: Right.

LUISA: And I suppose the last thing is that I wouldn’t be all that confident about cycling on such busy roads. I think I’d like to see you offering training for that, you know. I’d feel a lot better about starting if that was the case.

INTERVIEWER: Well, that’s very helpful. Thank you very much for your time.

LUISA: No problem. Bye.

Key Vocabulary and Spelling

Study Tips

Use the preview time to predict the word type of every gap: a surname for Question 1, a number for Question 2, letters and a number for Question 3, a job noun for Question 4 and a place for Question 5. The guide to predicting answers before you hear them turns this into a routine that wins marks.

Spell every proper noun correctly, because surnames and postcodes carry easy marks. Luisa dictates her name letter by letter, and the postcode mixes letters with numbers, so the listening spelling rules matter as much as your hearing here. Surnames take a capital letter, and the postcode needs no punctuation.

Expect corrections and negatives throughout this section. The interviewer offers the wrong postcode GT7 before Luisa fixes it to GT8, and she rules out shopping before naming the dentist as her reason. The final version of any corrected detail is the one that scores.

Obey the ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER limit without exception. Question 2 needs only 19 because White Stone Road is already printed in the notes, and writing the full address scores nothing. Check each answer against the word count before you move on.

Practice More Listening Tests

Work through the whole paper on the Cambridge IELTS 10 listening test 2 answers page, where all four sections of this test sit together with one master key. From here, continue with Section 2, the City Centre Developments Talk, then the Thor Heyerdahl Presentation and The Future of Management. For guided training across every question type, join the free IELTS listening practice course built by the Simply IELTS team. Then put your skills under pressure: try this interactive listening test: labyrinths and aim to beat your Section 1 score on the next attempt.