Conversation Between David and Maria About Student Election - IELTS Listening Sample Answer

Oct 6, 2021

IELTS Listening section tests a candidate’s listening skills through two conversations and two monologues. The candidate needs to carefully listen to the IELTS listening audio as it is played only once. This topic - A conversation between David and Maria about student election is IELTS listening section part 3. The candidates will find the following question types:

Sentence completion
Note completion

Audio Transcript:

You will hear a conversation between two students David and Maria about the candidates for an election for student office.
First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 23.
Listen carefully to the conversation but answer questions 21 to 23.

David: Hi Maria. Have you voted yet?

Maria: Hello David. What did you say?

David: Have you voted yet? You know in the Student Union elections.

Maria: Well, no, I mean they've only just released the names of the final candidates.

David: The first-round elections were only held last week, but I voted already.

Maria: Yes, but that's the first round. You know how this works, don't you?

David: Well, not exactly. I mean I thought you just voted.

Maria: It's pretty simple, but it's made more complicated because this university has four colleges not just one. Each College can have many candidates for each post. These are reduced to a logical number. Then the real voting takes place.

David: So, what did I vote for last week?

Maria: That was the first round. Like I said you voted for the candidates for Peterborough College. That's all. There are also candidates from the other three colleges.

David: Oh, I see.

Maria: Well, there are seven positions to apply for in the union. Although two of those are dealt with later in the year. That's the president and the vice president. Anyway, each college sends one candidate on to the second round. So that's four and all for each post. In other words.

David: In other words, it's 20 candidates. It’s quite a lot.

Maria: It isn’t when you think that there are 14,000 students at this college.

David: No, I suppose not … Can they all vote?

Maria: Yes, part-time and full-time students everyone but most don't. Only about a quarter of those eligible to actually bothered.

You now have some time to look at questions 24 to 30.
Listen to the rest of the conversation and answer questions 24 to 30.

David: So, who are the candidates from our college?

Maria: There was a leaflet about it this week. Some of the students stood as candidates for several posts before the final ones were selected. I think Jenny de Groot is standing for women's officer. She wanted to be finance officer. But Laura got that post.

David: She seems more suited to working for the female students.

Maria: Yes, I like her. She's the best person for the job. I'm not sure I'd support Michael McCarthy for his post. He's putting up for entertainments officer.

David: Doesn’t he arrange the Saturday night band for the college and the sports events? Surely, he'd be ideal. He has so much experience.

Maria: Maybe. I don't think he chooses the right kind of groups for the cottage. He's too way out. He's not my choice.

David: Who's the candidate to be overseas officer?

Maria: A Chinese student who's been here for just over a year. She's the president of the chinese club and she organizes some interesting cultural evenings for them. She seems to be quite capable.

David: Do you really think so? She's in my seminar group for Linguistics. Her English is quite dull and she's so shy she never mixes with us.

Maria: Oh, there are 30 different nationalities here. So she'd need to be more sociable perhaps Vikram Patel would have been a better choice.

David: Yes, I think so. Who did you say was finance officer? Law? Charles Law? He does accountancy. So, he should be able to cope with the boast. He be responsible for a lot of money.

Maria: I've always thought he was unreliable. And didn’t he fail some of his exams in the first year? Doesn't sound too competent to me.

David: Okay. Yes. You're probably right. Who's the other person on the list?

Maria: It's Brian McKay.

David: Oh Mckay, he's quite a character. What position is he standing for?

Maria: He wants to be the liaison officer - the person who lets the teaching staff know about any problems the students might have. He's such a sociable person. He'd be a great communicator. David: Yes. He's articulate and well organized, but he wouldn't be my first choice. Anyway, they're only the candidates from Peterborough College. We’ll have to wait for the results of the election next week to see what actually gets each post.

Maria: Yes. We can discuss this again.

Section 3

Questions 21-30
Questions 21-23

Complete each sentence with NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS or A NUMBER for each space.

Student Union Elections

There are_________________colleges in the university.

Answer: 4

Explanation: According to the conversation between Maria and David about the student election, it can be stated that there are four colleges in the university.

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This election is held to choose______________student union officers.

Answer: 5

Explanation: From the conversation held, it can be concluded that the election is supposed to take place for 5 union officers.

Turnout last year was only_____________ percent of those eligible to vote.

Answer: 25

Explanation: According to the conversation, the turnout was only 25 percent of those eligible to vote.

The total number of candidates in the second round is________________

Answer: women’s

Explanation: The total number of candidates in the second round is mainly women.

Last year, only roughly_________________of the total number of students eligible to vote actually care about the election.

Answer: quarter of 14,000 or 3500

Explanation: Last year only around 3500 students from a total of 3500 bothered about the student election.

Questions 26-30

Complete the notes below.
Write ONE WORD for each answer.

Choose the letter A-D. Write answers next to 26-30 on your answer sheet.

if Maria approves,
if David approves,
it both approve,
if neither approves.

CANDIDATE	Good choice?
Jenny de Groot – Women’s Officer	26_________
Michael McCarthy – Entertainments Officer	27 _________
Wu Bing Lei – Overseas Officer	28 _________
Charles Law – Finance Officer	29_________
Brian McKay – Liaison Officer	30 _________