IELTS Listening Practice Test: Science Topic

Welcome to this IELTS Listening Practice Test based on a lecture from TED Talks about cell culture and tissue engineering.

This test simulates the format and difficulty level of the actual IELTS Listening test.

You’ll hear the audio once and answer 7 multiple-choice questions.

The recommended time limit is 10 minutes. Listen carefully and good luck!

Play the recordingNina Tandon Caring For Engineered TissueThe video loads from TED when you press play. TED may set cookies.

Questions#

Circle the correct letter A, B, or C for each question.

1. What does the speaker primarily work with in her lab?

A. Petri dishes

B. Cells

C. Incubators

2. The main goal of the speaker’s lab is to:

A. Observe cells on plates

B. Engineer tissues

C. Develop new cell culture media

3. Why does the speaker say traditional cell culture techniques aren’t enough?

A. The cells are too small to study

B. The cells don’t feel at home in the dish

C. The techniques are too expensive

4. What does the speaker mean by the “biomimetic paradigm”?

A. Creating new types of cells

B. Studying cells in their natural environment

C. Copying nature in the lab

5. How do they simulate the heart’s beating in the lab?

A. By using mini pacemakers

B. By adding more blood to the culture

C. By increasing the temperature

6. According to the speaker, what is lesson number one?

A. Cells are very complex

B. Life can do a lot with very little

C. Electrical stimulation is crucial for cell growth

7. What does the speaker suggest about our relationship with our cells?

A. We should ignore them

B. We should consider environmental stewardship of our body’s ecosystem

C. We should focus only on cancer cells

Check your answers

Enter your answers and press Check. Spelling counts, but capitals and punctuation don’t.

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Answer key with explanationsShowHide

1. 1B“I work with really amazing, little, itty-bitty creatures called cells.”
2. 2B“what we’re really trying to do in my lab is to engineer tissues out of them”
3. 3B“The cells are kind of homesick; the dish doesn’t feel like their home.”
4. 4C“We call this the biomimetic paradigm — copying nature in the lab.”
5. 5A“These electrodes act like mini pacemakers to get the cells to contract in the lab.”
6. 6B“lesson number one: life can do a lot with very little”
7. 7B“shall we expand our sense of environmental stewardship to include the ecosystem of our own bodies?”

For more listening practice tests, you can visit Climate Change and An Innovative Journey.