Project Feedback: A River Restoration Study: Listening Answers & Explanations
IELTS Listening practice test · 9 questionsPart 3medium
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About this recording
The recording opens: “Let's go through the feedback on your river restoration project. Overall it's strong, but I've got a few things to raise.”
- Transcript length: about 404 words
- Questions: 9
- Question types: Multiple Choice, Multiple Choice — Multiple Answers, Matching Features, Sentence Completion
“Project Feedback: A River Restoration Study” is an original IELTS-style practice recording written by IELTS-Bank. It is not taken from an official IELTS or Cambridge test, so these answers only apply to our version.
Answer key at a glance
Project Feedback: A River Restoration Study answers with explanations
Question 1: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
What was the students' project trying to find out?
- A. whether planting trees changed downstream water quality
- B. how quickly trees grow beside a river
- C. which insects live in restored rivers
- 1
The project investigated
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Answer: A — whether planting trees changed downstream water quality
Why: The passage states that the students aimed to determine if re-planting trees along the riverbank affected downstream water quality, as indicated by their comparison of a restored and a bare stretch.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 2 (Hannah) “We wanted to see whether re-planting trees along the riverbank changed the water quality downstream.”
Question 2: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
Why does the tutor prefer Hannah's explanation of the weak sediment data?
- A. because the sampling happened after rain
- B. because judging cloudiness by eye is not defensible
- C. because too few sites were sampled
- 2
Dr Farrell agrees the main weakness was that
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Answer: B — because judging cloudiness by eye is not defensible
Why: Dr Farrell prefers Hannah's explanation because he agrees that a subjective judgement of cloudiness isn't defensible in a report and suggests using a turbidity meter for more reliable data.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 7 (Dr Farrell) “A subjective judgement of cloudiness isn't defensible in a report.”
Question 3: Multiple Choice — Multiple Answers
Choose TWO letters, A–E.
Which TWO parts of the project does the tutor praise?
- A. the temperature results
- B. the sediment method
- C. the insect species count
- D. the choice of a rainy sampling day
- E. the number of sampling visits
- 3
Two strengths praised by the tutor
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Answer: A — the temperature results; C — the insect species count
Why: The tutor praises the project's temperature results as convincing and the insect species count as excellent, highlighting them as strong aspects of the river restoration project.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 9 (Dr Farrell) “The insect count, on the other hand, was excellent — that's the standout part of the project.”
Questions 4–6: Matching Features
Who will take on each revision task?
Choose your answer from the list of people A–C and select the correct letter for each task.
- A. Hannah
- B. Deepak
- C. Dr Farrell
- 4
redoing the sediment section
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Answer: B — Deepak
Why: Deepak is redoing the sediment section because he collected most of the data and wants the opportunity to fix it properly, as stated in his dialogue.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 12 (Deepak) “I'll take on the sediment section, since I collected most of that data.”
- 5
producing the final charts
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Answer: A — Hannah
Why: Hannah is responsible for producing the final charts because she stated, "And I'll produce the charts — I enjoy the visual side, and I've already got the insect data laid out neatly.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 13 (Hannah) “And I'll produce the charts — I enjoy the visual side, and I've already got the insect data laid out neatly.”
- 6
rewriting the statistics commentary
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Answer: C — Dr Farrell
Why: Dr Farrell is responsible for rewriting the statistics commentary, as he states, "And I'll handle the statistics commentary so it's consistent," indicating he will take on this task.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 14 (Dr Farrell) “And I'll handle the statistics commentary so it's consistent.”
Questions 7–9: Sentence Completion
Complete the sentences below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
- 7
Next time, they should measure sediment using a ______ meter.(max 1 word)
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Answer: turbidity
Why: Dr Farrell suggests borrowing a turbidity meter from the lab for future measurements, as it provides a numerical value, unlike the subjective method of judging water cloudiness used in the current project.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 7 (Dr Farrell) “Next time, borrow the turbidity meter from the lab.”
- 8
The restored stretch had nearly ______ the number of insect species.(max 1 word)
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Answer: double
Why: The answer comes from Hannah's statement, where she mentions that the restored stretch had almost twice as many insect species, indicating a significant increase in biodiversity compared to the other stretch.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 10 (Hannah) “The restored stretch had nearly double the number of species.”
- 9
The revised draft must be submitted by Friday of week ______.(max 1 word)
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Answer: ten (also accepted: 10)
Why: Dr Farrell clearly states that the revised draft is due by Friday of week ten, emphasizing the importance of not procrastinating.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 14 (Dr Farrell) “One firm deadline: I want the revised draft submitted by Friday of week ten.”
Estimated band score for this test
Your raw score out of 9 scaled to the 40-question IELTS Listening conversion table. This is the same estimate the practice page shows after you submit. A single recording is a small sample, so treat it as a guide.
| Correct answers | Estimated band |
|---|---|
| 9 / 9 | 9.0 |
| 8 / 9 | 8.0 |
| 7 / 9 | 7.0 |
| 6 / 9 | 6.5 |
| 4–5 / 9 | 5.5 |
| 3 / 9 | 4.5 |
| 2 / 9 | 3.5 |
| 1 / 9 | 2.5 |
| 0 / 9 | 0.0 |
Full-test score? Use the IELTS band calculator.
Tips for the question types in this test
Listening Part 3
- Before the audio, read the questions and note whose view each one asks about — "What does Marta think…" is answered by Marta’s words, not her tutor’s.
- Learn the voices in the first few seconds: names are always exchanged early, and attaching name to voice immediately pays off for the whole part.
Common trap: Attributing one speaker’s opinion to another, especially when a speaker summarises someone else’s view before disagreeing with it.
Full Listening Part 3 strategyPractise “Project Feedback: A River Restoration Study” under exam conditions
Free, auto-marked, with the audio + 10 minutes to check and an instant band estimate.
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