A Conversation Between John And Ann About Their Survey Reports - IELTS Listening Sample Answer

IELTS Listening section examines a candidate’s ability to properly listen to audio and answer the questions. IELTS Listening contains four sections and a total of 40 questions. This topic - A conversation between John and Ann about their survey reports is Section Three of IELTS Listening. Candidates will find different types of questions in IELTS Listening practice papers. This section contains many question types:

• Choose the correct answer
• Sentence completion

Audio Transcript

John: Hi, Ann. How’s it going? Thank goodness I’ve finished that survey on television watching and reading ability. What was your survey on?

Ann: I told you before. I wanted to find out if there is any relationship between how fat students are and how many times they eat at fast-food restaurants.

John: That’s right. I’d forgotten. Have you got your report finished, all the graphs and charts, that sort of thing?

Ann: Almost done, What about you?

John: All ready to present to the class, apart from one or two small things, Actually, my results are really interesting. Want me to tell you what I found?

Ann: Sure. If you promise to let me tell you what I found.

John: No problem. Anyway, look at this graph here. On the X axis I have the dependent variable, reading level.

Ann: How did you measure reading level?

John: I used the English Department test. And on the Y axis I have number of hours usually spent watching television every week.

Ann: Thirteen to 19. 20 to 29. 30 to 39. 40 to 49 and 50 to 59. What are these numbers?

John: The people’s ages. I managed to get exactly 20 people from each age group to do the test. Took me ages!

Ann: And what did you find out?

John; Well, look at this. If we take the 100 people as one group, we see that the more television people watch, the worse their reading level.

Ann: That’s not surprising. But did you find any significant difference between the different age groups?

John: You bet. OK. This is the curve for the group as a whole. These lines are for the different age groups. See what I see?

Ann: Wow, that’s fascinating! The two youngest groups are very similar. Big difference between the oldest two groups and the youngest two. The older the people are, the less the correlation between reading level and hours spent in front of the TV. Why do you think that is?

John: Well, I need to do more research before I can say for sure. But from talking to the people, it’s clear that over the past thirty years, most people have been watching more television and reading fewer books. But the older people …

Ann: Don’t tell me. They spent more time reading when they were young than young people nowadays, so they learnt to read well and even though they spend more time in front of the TV than they used to. their reading levels stay the same.

John: Hey, you’re pretty smart. That’s exactly what I think. But I need to do more research before I can say for sure. How about your survey?

Ann: Nothing surprising. Well, actually, one thing is really interesting. Look, this is the number of times people usually go to a fast food place every week, and these are the percentages of people who are normal weight, overweight or obese, meaning really really fat. Look, no fast food, only about 5% are obese. And look, 12 or more, about a third. And another graph we have the number of hours they exercise every week.

John: Wow, a big difference! More junk food, less exercise, more fat! I didn’t think it would be so obvious. That’s great work. Why do you think people who exercise more tend to eat less junk food?

Ann: I asked everyone about that, and found that people who care about their health do more exercise and eat fewer French fries and all that other greasy fast food stuff. Simple.

John: That makes sense. But I see you found lots of people who eat the stuff more than once a day on average. I can’t believe it.

Ann: You’d be surprised. You’re right.

John: Hey, who’s this guy – more than twelve a week! I bet it was Richard, He must weigh 260 kilos! And he’s pretty short, all fat, no muscle.

Ann: You’re right. And he drinks tons of soft drinks, All that sugar!

John: OK, that’s it. Healthy food only from now on.

Ann: And get to the gym, fatty!

Question 21

Choose the correct letter, A-C

1. John and Ann have both finished writing their survey re pons.
2. John has finished and Ann has nearly finished,
3. Both of them have nearly finished.

Answer: C

Explanation: As we listen to the conversation we can confirm that both of them have not completely finished their survey. John and Ann have one or two things that need to be done before presenting the reports in the class. So the correct option is C.

Also, check:

Questions 22 and 23

Complete the following sentences. Write ONE WORD OR A NUMBER for each answer.

22. The X axis of John’s graph is the____________ variable.
23. John divided his survey population into____________ groups.

Question 22.

Answer: dependent

Explanation: John states while showing his reports to Ann, “On the X-axis I have the dependent variable, reading level.” Therefore dependent is the answer.

Question 23.

Answer: 5/ five

Explanation: John explains that he has taken 20 people from each age group and the age group that he mentioned are 13 to 19, 20 to 29, 30 to 39, 40 to 49, and 50 to 59. Accordingly, we can conclude that he divided his survey population into five groups.

Question 24

Choose the correct letter, A-C

The relationship between time spent watching TV and reading ability is____________.

1. the same for teenagers as it is for people in their fifties
2. almost the same for people in their forties as it is for those in their fifties
3. very different between teenagers and people in their twenties

Answer: B

Explanation: John explains that it’s clear that over the past thirty years, most people have been watching more television and reading fewer books but this is not the same with older people. Hence the correct answer is option B.

Question 25-26

Choose the correct answer

John’s survey shows that

25. people now in their fifties read as much as they used to.

• True
• False
• Not Given

Answer: False

Explanation: As states by John,” But from talking to the people, it’s clear that over the past thirty years, most people have been watching more television and reading fewer books.” So the above statement is false.

26. forty and fifty-year-olds watch television more than they used to and their reading level have not declined.

• True
• False
• Not Given

Answer: True

Explanation: Ann explains, “They spent more time reading when they were young than young people nowadays, so they learned to read well and even though they spend more time in front of the TV than they used to their reading levels stay the same.” Therefore the above statement is true.

Question 27 – 30

Complete the following sentences. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.

27. On the above chart, the arrow point the percentage of _______________ people.
28. The Y (horizontal) axis is the usual number of _________________ meals per ______________.
29. Ann ask people about their eating, weight, and __________________.
30. Richard weighs 260 kilograms, short, fat and _______________.

Question 27.

Answer: obese

Explanation: We can hear Ann stating, “only about 5% are obese.” Accordingly, the arrow in the above graph is pointed towards the percentage of obese people.

Question 28.

Answer: fast food; week

Explanation: Ann while explaining the graph Look, this is the number of times people usually go to a fast food place every week,” though she did not explicitly mention the Y-axis. But as we can see that Y-axis has numbers only therefore we can confirm the same.

Question 29.

Answer: exercise

Explanation: Ann mentions that another graph which has the number of hours they exercise every week. So we can confirm from this that ‘exercise’ is the answer.

Question 30.

Answer: no muscle

Explanation: John states while looking at the graph, “He must weigh 260 kilos! And he’s pretty short, all fat, no muscle.” Here he is talking about Richard after he found out that he eats junk food more than twelve a week!