Tutorial: Planning a Student Diet Survey: Listening Answers & Explanations
IELTS Listening practice test · 9 questionsPart 3medium
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About this recording
The recording opens: “So, your project is on what students actually eat during exam periods. Interesting topic.”
- Transcript length: about 415 words
- Questions: 9
- Question types: Multiple Choice, Matching Features, Sentence Completion
“Tutorial: Planning a Student Diet Survey” 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
Tutorial: Planning a Student Diet Survey answers with explanations
Question 1: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
Why did the students abandon their original questionnaire?
- A. People remember a whole week's food poorly.
- B. Questionnaires take too long to write.
- C. Students refused to answer questions.
- 1
The questionnaire was dropped because
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Answer: A — People remember a whole week's food poorly.
Why: The students abandoned the original questionnaire because people are unreliable at recalling everything they ate over a week, often forgetting snacks, underestimating portions, or lying to appear healthier.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 2 (Ellie) “Our original plan was a questionnaire asking people to remember everything they'd eaten over the past week.”
Question 2: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
What new risk does the food-diary method introduce?
- A. Participants may eat more healthily because they are observed.
- B. Phones may run out of battery.
- C. Meals may be recorded twice.
- 2
The food diary risks the
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Answer: A — Participants may eat more healthily because they are observed.
Why: The food diary introduces the risk of the observer effect, where participants may eat more healthily than usual because they are aware their eating habits are being monitored, as discussed by Raj and Dr Sato.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 7 (Raj) “If people know we're watching what they eat, they might start eating more healthily than usual — just because they're being observed.”
Question 3: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
How is the disagreement about the diary's length resolved?
- A. They compromise on ten days.
- B. The tutor supports Ellie's two weeks.
- C. They agree on Raj's one week.
- 3
On the length of the study, they decide to
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Answer: B — The tutor supports Ellie's two weeks.
Why: Dr Sato sides with Ellie, agreeing that two weeks are necessary for the observer effect to settle, which resolves the disagreement in favor of Ellie's suggestion.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 11 (Dr Sato) “The observer effect really does need those extra days to settle.”
Questions 4–6: Matching Features
Who is responsible for each task?
Choose your answer from the list of people A–C and select the correct letter for each task.
- A. Ellie
- B. Raj
- C. Dr Sato
- 4
building the phone form
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Answer: B — Raj
Why: Raj is the correct answer because he volunteered to build the phone form, mentioning his experience in app design, which makes it a natural task for him.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 13 (Dr Sato) “Someone builds the phone form, someone recruits participants, and I'll sort out the nutritional database you'll need to code the meals.”
- 5
recruiting participants
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Answer: A — Ellie
Why: Ellie is responsible for recruiting participants because she mentions knowing many people across different courses, which would help in obtaining a varied sample.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 15 (Ellie) “I know lots of people across different courses, so I can get a varied sample.”
- 6
sorting out the nutritional database
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Answer: C — Dr Sato
Why: Dr Sato is responsible for sorting out the nutritional database, as he explicitly states, "I'll sort out the nutritional database you'll need to code the meals.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 13 (Dr Sato) “Someone builds the phone form, someone recruits participants, and I'll sort out the nutritional database you'll need to code the meals.”
Questions 7–9: Sentence Completion
Complete the sentences below.
Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
- 7
Instead of a questionnaire, participants will keep a food ______.(max 1 word)
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Answer: diary
Why: The answer is found when Ellie mentions that they switched from a questionnaire to a food diary, where participants record each meal as they eat it, eliminating the need to rely on memory.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 5 (Ellie) “A food diary.”
- 8
The tendency to eat better when watched is called the ______ effect.(max 1 word)
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Answer: observer
Why: The answer comes from Dr Sato's explanation, where he states that the tendency for people to change their eating habits because they know they are being observed is known as the observer effect.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 8 (Dr Sato) “Exactly, that's the observer effect.”
- 9
They should recruit at least ______ participants.(max 1 word)
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Answer: 50 (also accepted: fifty)
Why: Dr Sato instructs Ellie to aim for at least fifty participants for the study, emphasizing that fewer participants would make the results less meaningful.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 16 (Dr Sato) “One rule, though — aim for at least fifty participants, or your results won't mean much.”
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 “Tutorial: Planning a Student Diet Survey” under exam conditions
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