A Conversation Between 2 Students Talking About A Business Study Course - IELTS Listening Sample Answer

IELTS Listening section consists of four parts comprising different audios. Candidates need to listen to the IELTS listening audio, understand, and answer different questions. The total duration of IELTS listening is 30 minutes. This topic – A conversation between two students talking about a business study course is IELTS listening part 3. It contains a conversation between two students. The following question types can be found in this section:

Multiple-choice questions
Identifying information

Audio Transcript

You will hear two people called Chloe and Ivan talking about a business studies course. First you have some time to look at questions 21 to 25 .

Pause the recording for 30 seconds.

Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 25.

Chloe: Oh! Hi, Ivan!

Ivan: Hi, Chloe!

Chloe: I’m glad I bumped into you because I’ve been looking at this prospectus about courses at the university. I’m thinking of doing a business studies degree. Isn’t that what you’re doing?

Ivan: Yes, I’m about to start my third year. I think you’d enjoy it. Is there something on the course that you’re not sure about?

Chloe: Well, you know, I’ve been working for a publisher for the last four years as a production assistant.

Ivan: That will be really valuable experience because a lot of people go to university straight from school and don’t have that kind of background.

Chloe: Yeah, I know and I’m used to dealing with figures and percentages and things but it’s been a while since I’ve sat down and put my ideas into an essay. I was never that good at it. And I’m not sure I can do it now.

Ivan: But you did okay in school. So I’m sure you’ll soon get into it again. I was worried about different things when I started, like if I’d be able to use all the computer programs, but you only really need the basics. You have to do a lot of presentations and I thought that would be hard but we’d actually had such a lot of practice at school. It was fine.

Chloe: Did you find writing essays easy?

Ivan: It was okay but I was hopeless in getting them in by the deadline and I was always like Fletcher’s, so I had to work hard at that and I tend to be early now,

Chloe: It’s good that you’ve sorted yourself out before you go and get a job or you might not have it very long. I think the course looks really interesting.

Ivan: It is and it also gave me the chance to spend six months working in a local business last year.

Chloe: That’s not so important for me unless I can go abroad to use my language but that doesn’t seem to be on offer which is a shame. What really appeals to me though is the idea of being assessed throughout the year. I think that’s a much more productive way of learning, instead of everything being decided in exam at the end.

Ivan: It’s good for people like you who are hardworking all year round. You’ll be spending all your time in the library. They just expanded it too.

Chloe: That’s good.

Ivan: Well, yes, and no. They’ve made the study area bigger, but it means they’ve taken some of the magazines and periodicals away. So I think it was better as it was. The university is expanding all the time and there are lots of new courses coming next year.

Chloe: Well, that’s great news, isn’t it? It means the college will have a better reputation as more people will hear about it. So that’s good for us.

Ivan: I agree, but they really need to add more lecture rooms as we often have lectures in tiny rooms.

Chloe: Well, you obviously think overall it’s a good place to do a degree. I should probably go and have a look round.

Ivan: Well, it’s holidays now and there’s not much going on there.

Chloe: Oh! So, it’s probably not worth going in now,

Ivan: But you could email my tutor. I know he’d be happy to answer any questions and I can give you his email address. I looked at quite a lot of other universities and read lots of prospectuses, but I thought this one was the best.

Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 26 to 30.

Pause the recording for 30 seconds.

Now listen and answer questions 26 to 30.

Chloe: I was a bit unsure about all the different subjects, you can choose on this course.

Ivan: Well, I can tell you a bit about them. There are some subjects you have to do and some that you can choose. The most interesting course I’ve done, is public relations.

Chloe: From what I’ve read. It doesn’t look very demanding. Some of it is really just common sense.

Ivan: But it will be really useful if you want to go into marketing or advertising.

Chloe: That’s true, but I need to find out a bit more about it first, before I decide, if it will really help me. It’s difficult to tell from the prospectus.

Ivan: But you are interested in marketing.

Chloe: Oh, yes.

Ivan: Well, you can choose a marketing course. I wasn’t very impressed with that course, actually. The tutor didn’t make it very interesting.

Chloe: It’s good to put on your CV that you’ve done a marketing course though. So that would be a definite for me and maybe I’d get a different tutor. What other courses did you choose?

Ivan: I’m doing taxation as I was thinking of training to be an accountant, but I’m not sure now.

Chloe: Oh that will be a good option for me because I enjoy working with figures. Although I don’t want to be an accountant, it’ll be good to have an understanding of taxation, especially if I ever run my own business.

Ivan: Then there’s the most popular course, which is human resources and a lot of people seem to get jobs in that field.

Chloe: My friend works in human resources, and she’s really good at it. But I don’t think I’ve got the right personality. So I’d give that one a mess. I’m more interested in how businesses actually work, the structure.

Ivan: That’s a compulsory course, the structure of business, but you might find information systems helpful.

Chloe: Is that kind of computer programs?

Ivan: Some of it is, but also databases, project management and other things.

Chloe: Oh! sounds useful, but I’ll have to look at some of the other possibilities first, you know, Ivan this course sounds as though it would suit me. I’m going to apply.

Ivan: Great! If there’s anything else you want to ask me, you’ve got my number.

Chloe: Thanks.

Section 3

Questions 21-30

21-25

Choose the correct answers A-C and write them next to 21-25 on your answer sheet.

What is Chloe concerned about?

her knowledge of maths
her ability to write essays
her lack of business experience

Answer: B

Explanation: During the conversation between Ivan and Chloe about pursuing a business studies degree, Chloe was concerned about her essay writing skill and wanted to improve that.

Also check:

Which of the following does Ivan feel he has improved?

his computer skills
his presentation skills
his time management

Answer: C

Explanation: Ivan mentioned that how he was slow in working and always submitted the tasks right before the deadline by working hard in the end. But now he has improved his time management skills.

What does Chloe especially like about the course?

She won’t have to do a final examination.
She can spend time working in a business.
She can study a foreign language.

Answer: A

Explanation: Chloe likes the fact that she would be assessed throughout the year, unlike other courses which are only assessed during the time of the final exam, this degree assesses students all throughout the year.

Ivan is pleased that the university is going to have _______

more lecture rooms.
a larger library.
more courses.

Answer: C

Explanation: When talking about expansion, Ivan mentioned how he is interested in the university’s expansion, and the addition of more courses.

What does Ivan advise Chloe to do?

contact his tutor
read about some other universities
visit the university

Answer: A

Explanation: Ivan asks Chloe to contact his tutor for guidance. He told that his tutor would be happy to answer all the queries.

26-30

Choose the correct answers A-C and write them next to 26-30 on your answer sheet’

What does Chloe decide about the following subjects?

She will study it.
She won’t study it.
She might study it.

Subjects

Public relations ……………
Marketing ……………
Taxation ……………
Human resources ……………
Information systems ……………

Question: 26

Answer: C

Explanation: Chloe was confused about whether she should pursue public relations as she thinks it mainly needs common sense to study that. But after Ivan told her that it would help in marketing and advertising, she thought that she might study it.

Question: 27

Answer: A

Explanation: Chloe was interested in marketing, and therefore decided to take up the course. She also said it was really good to put in your CV that you’ve pursued a marketing course.

Question: 28

Answer: A

Explanation: Chloe was really interested in pursuing a course in taxation as she was interested in figures. She also told that pursuing a degree in accounts would be helpful if she ever runs her own business.

Question: 29

Answer: B

Explanation: Chloe told that the human resource course is not suitable for her as she thinks she has a different personality, and therefore, is a misfit for the job.

Question: 30

Answer: C

Explanation: Chloe clarified about the information systems course and what it contains. Ivan told that it contains not only computer programs but also project management, databases, and more. She told that she might consider doing it.