Seminar: A Business Case Study on Brightleaf Tea: Listening Answers & Explanations
IELTS Listening practice test · 9 questionsPart 3hard
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About this recording
The recording opens: “So, this week's case is Brightleaf Tea — a small company whose sales have fallen for three years running. You've both read the file.”
- Transcript length: about 515 words
- Questions: 9
- Question types: Multiple Choice, Matching Features, Sentence Completion
“Seminar: A Business Case Study on Brightleaf Tea” 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
Seminar: A Business Case Study on Brightleaf Tea answers with explanations
Question 1: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
What does the tutor identify as Brightleaf's most urgent problem?
- A. weak marketing
- B. poor cash flow caused by too much stock
- C. an unreliable website
- 1
The most urgent problem is
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Answer: B — poor cash flow caused by too much stock
Why: The tutor identifies poor cash flow as the most urgent problem because the company's cash is tied up in unsold stock, which could lead to financial failure despite being profitable on paper.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 5 (Meera) “They're profitable on paper, but they're running out of cash because so much is locked up in unsold stock.”
Questions 2–4: Matching Features
Who makes each recommendation?
Choose the correct person A–C for each recommendation and select the correct letter.
- A. Meera
- B. Josh
- C. Dr Fairhurst
- 2
cutting the product range to about twenty teas
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Answer: B — Josh
Why: Josh recommends cutting the product range to about twenty teas to free up cash and simplify operations, as indicated when he suggests dropping the range from ninety teas to the twenty best-sellers.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 7 (Josh) “My recommendation is to cut the range hard — drop it from ninety teas to maybe the twenty best-sellers.”
- 3
starting to sell online
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Answer: A — Meera
Why: Meera suggests starting to sell online to expand Brightleaf Tea's reach beyond a few shops, as mentioned in her recommendation during the discussion with Dr Fairhurst.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 9 (Dr Fairhurst) “Two sensible ideas that actually reinforce each other — a leaner range is far easier to sell online.”
- 4
finding a second supplier as a backup
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Answer: C — Dr Fairhurst
Why: Dr Fairhurst identifies the over-reliance on a single supplier as a genuine vulnerability and suggests lining up a second supplier as a backstop to mitigate supply-chain risk.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 13 (Dr Fairhurst) “A key insight — that's supply-chain risk, and over-reliance on one supplier is a genuine vulnerability.”
Question 5: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
What risk does the tutor warn about when cutting the product range?
- A. losing loyal customers of niche teas
- B. upsetting the shop staff
- C. running out of shelf space
- 5
Cutting the range too hard risks
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Answer: A — losing loyal customers of niche teas
Why: The tutor warns that cutting the product range too aggressively risks losing loyal customers of niche teas, as these products may have a small but extremely loyal and high-spending customer base.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 9 (Dr Fairhurst) “Cutting the range that aggressively carries a risk.”
Question 6: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
Why does relying on a single supplier concern the group?
- A. the supplier is too expensive
- B. a supplier failure or bad harvest would leave nothing to sell
- C. the supplier is in the wrong time zone
- 6
The single supplier is a concern because
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Answer: B — a supplier failure or bad harvest would leave nothing to sell
Why: Relying on a single supplier is concerning because if the supplier fails or there is a bad harvest, Brightleaf would have nothing to sell, highlighting a supply-chain risk.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 12 (Meera) “If that supplier fails, or there's a bad harvest, Brightleaf has nothing to sell.”
Questions 7–9: Sentence Completion
Complete the sentences below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
- 7
The written analysis must be no more than ______ words.(max 2 words)
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Answer: 2000 (also accepted: two thousand / 2,000)
Why: The answer comes from Dr Fairhurst's instruction, where he emphasizes the need for a clear structure in the written analysis and specifies that it should be limited to two thousand words.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 13 (Dr Fairhurst) “Right, for your written analysis, I want a clear structure.”
- 8
The analysis is due on the Friday of week ______.(max 1 word)
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Answer: 9 (also accepted: nine)
Why: The answer is found when Dr Fairhurst instructs Josh and Meera to submit their written analysis by uploading it to the portal by five o'clock on the Friday of week nine.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 15 (Dr Fairhurst) “The Friday of week nine.”
- 9
It must be uploaded to the portal by ______.(max 2 words)
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Answer: 5 o'clock (also accepted: 5pm / 5 pm / five o'clock / 17:00 / 5 p.m.)
Why: The answer is found when Dr Fairhurst instructs that the written analysis must be uploaded to the portal by five o'clock on the Friday of week nine.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 15 (Dr Fairhurst) “Upload it to the portal by five o'clock.”
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 “Seminar: A Business Case Study on Brightleaf Tea” under exam conditions
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