C1 Practice Test 1

Audioscript (Please access the audio files here)

Speaking Part 1 Interview

1.01

You are going to answer six questions. You have 10 seconds per question for questions 1 and 2, and 30
seconds per question for questions 3–6. Start speaking when you hear the tone. Try to speak for the full
amount of time.
1 What’s your name?
2 Which country do you come from?
3 Thinking about celebrations, tell me about the last thing you celebrated.
4 How important is it for friends to share the same interests?
5 If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
6 Finally, who has had the greatest influence on your life?

Speaking Part 2 Voice message

1.02

You are going to leave a voice message. First read and listen to the task, then decide what you want to
say. You need to be diplomatic in your response. You have 40 seconds to leave your voice message. Start
speaking when you hear the tone.
You study at college. You had arranged to meet your tutor today to discuss something important but you
now have to cancel the meeting. Leave a voice message for your tutor and:
• give a reason for cancelling the meeting
• say how you feel about cancelling the meeting
• explain why it is important to rearrange the meeting quickly.

You now have 10 seconds to think about what you want to say.

Speaking Part 3 Summary

1.03

You are going to give a summary. First read and listen to the task, then decide what you want to say. You
have 50 seconds to give your summary. Start speaking when you hear the tone.
Your tutor has asked you to summarize some research for your tutor group.
Listen to two experts talking about achieving ambitions. The two experts make the same two main points.
You should:
• combine the information from the two experts and
• summarize the two main points the experts make.
You can make notes if you wish.

© Oxford University Press Oxford Test of English Advanced C1 Practice Test 1  1
 Speaker 1: There is evidence to show that people who set ambitious goals for themselves tend to be more
content than those who have lower expectations. In a recent study, participants were asked to complete
a puzzle. They chose between an easy or a difficult version, but in fact they all received the same puzzle.
Interestingly, those who thought they had done a more difficult puzzle reported greater pleasure at having
completed it.
While attempting to do something challenging brings satisfaction, this is only the case if your goal is
achievable. You might, for example, decide to run a marathon in six months’ time having never run before.
If, after six months, you are capable of running 10 kilometres, you might view this as a failure despite other
people thinking the opposite.
Speaker 2: Knowing what your goals are and giving yourself challenges will make you a happier person
in the long run. Without goals, life may seem meaningless: going about your daily activities, responding to
other people’s demands, without any sense of purpose.
Too often, goals are influenced by what others do: ‘She can swim two kilometres – I could do that, too!’ But
it’s important to be able to actually reach the goals you set for yourself. And this is where the problem with
goal setting lies. It’s about stretching yourself and aiming high, while accepting the reality of what is in fact
possible.

You now have 40 seconds to think about what you want to say.

Speaking Part 4 Debate

1.04

You are going to take part in a debate. First read and listen to the task, then decide what you want to say.
You have two minutes to speak. Start speaking when you hear the tone.
Your tutor has asked you to take part in a class debate. You are going to put a case for or against the following
statement:
‘Shorter working hours would be a good thing for society.’
Prepare your case for the debate. You should:
• use two OR three of the ideas below to argue your case
• provide support for the ideas you choose
• give a conclusion.

You now have 45 seconds to prepare. You can make notes if you wish.

Speaking Part 5 Follow-up questions

1.05

You are going to answer four questions on the topic of your debate. You have 40 seconds to answer each
question. Start speaking when you hear the tone.
1 Your talk was about making the working week shorter. Which is more important: having work you enjoy or
a good salary?
2 Some people, such as sportspeople, are paid much more than others, such as nurses. What do you think
about this?
3 How important is it for people to keep studying throughout their working lives?
4 Some people prefer to start their own businesses, but others prefer to work for companies. Why do you
think this is?

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 Listening Part 1
2.01

1 
A fashion designer is talking about fashion and the environment. She is helping to protect the
environment by …
A providing clearer information about her products.
B switching to more ethically produced fabrics.
C starting to produce clothes which will last longer.
F It’s hard for anyone, nowadays, to claim ignorance about the way the fashion industry harms the
environment. We know, for example, that fashion accounts for something like ten percent of global carbon
emissions. Fast fashion – buying cheap clothes and throwing them away after using them just a few
times – is particularly wasteful and is something we have long campaigned against. However, despite this
general awareness, consumers often struggle when it comes to choosing what to buy. Comparing brands
in terms of their environmental impact is far from straightforward and that’s what I’m hoping to address.
So if our jeans are made from sustainable cotton or if a bag is produced using recycled plastic, that will be
indicated on the item itself. Our customers can also be confident that our producers are treated fairly and
that our supply chains are monitored very carefully.

Now listen again.

2 A social media expert is being interviewed on the radio. She claims that concerns about time spent
using social media …
A only apply to a relatively small minority of people.
B are just the latest in a long line of similar issues.
C can easily be addressed through minor lifestyle changes.
M How do you respond to fears that social media use is cutting into the amount of time we all spend
interacting face to face?
F I recognize there are anxieties about this, and yet I think I’m right in saying this is hardly the first time such
a claim’s been raised. To my mind, it’s something that’s been around ever since the telephone first came
onto the scene. It seems to me that any innovative form of communications technology inevitably faces
precisely this kind of criticism, no matter what.
M What does the research tell us?
F Well, we recently commissioned a study in which participants logged their daily activities while alternating
between normal use and social-media-free weeks. Although the latter saw more time spent on everyday
chores like housework, there was little or no difference in time given over to face-to-face socializing with
those we’re closest to.

Now listen again.

3 A professor is talking about some archaeological research. Why does the professor consider the
research to be particularly significant?
A It highlights the important role of technology.
B It challenges our perception of a species.
C It has renewed interest in a discovery.
F Look at this photo of a cave, taken five years ago. It would be easy to assume that this colouration in
the rock occurred naturally – possibly due to minerals. That’s what many archaeologists believed at first,
although others claimed it was the work of a prehistoric artist. This was a controversial theory, especially
as the coloured particles were estimated to be over sixty-four thousand years old. The only humans in that
region at the time were the now-extinct Neanderthals, who’ve long been viewed as unsophisticated –
lacking any capacity for language, complex thought – or art! Well, moving on a few years, recent analysis
has proved that the coloured materials didn’t originate in the cave, and were deliberately applied using
a blowing technique. It seems our distant cousins weren’t so uncultured after all. Interestingly, detailed
dating methods also indicate that the paint was added on many different occasions, over the course of
thousands of years.

Now listen again.

© Oxford University Press Oxford Test of English Advanced C1 Practice Test 1  3
 4 Two journalists are discussing gender stereotypes in the media. In which area does the man feel there
has been progress?
A the way men and women are portrayed in advertising
B the roles played by girls and boys in children’s TV
C the proportion of male and female participants in debates
F I listened to a radio discussion today on the environment, and do you know what… all the experts invited
to contribute were men.
M I heard it, too. And all it would’ve taken is for the programme editor to pick up the phone to a few
universities, to put a more balanced panel together. There’s no excuse for it. Though it’s not all doom and
gloom … Take commercials – remember when washing up was only done by women and cars were only
driven by men?
F And kids’ TV has come a long way too, wouldn’t you say?
M I’d like to think so – the days when boys were routinely cast as leaders and girls as helpers should be long
gone – though it seems we’re still exposing kids to this type of thing. The producers need to be called out!
F The more pressure the better, I’d say!

Now listen again.

5 A psychologist is talking about listening. Which aspect of listening does she think is particularly
challenging?
A resisting the urge to make suggestions
B recognizing the underlying message behind the words
C signalling genuine interest in what someone is saying
M Joining me for this podcast is psychologist Joanne Reddy. Joanne, what’s the key to being a good listener?
F Contrary to what you might think, it’s not just about being quiet while the other person talks. And there’s
more to listening than making appreciative noises and nodding in the right places. You have to think
about what you’re being told, and why the person feels the need to tell you it.
M And will that make someone with a problem feel better?
F If someone’s feeling down, what they want from you is your attention and understanding rather than any
insights you might have.
M Really? But isn’t that precisely why we turn to others?
F Far from it! That’s a fairly common presumption but in fact, despite our natural tendency to do otherwise,
we have to hold back and even allow silences to develop sometimes.
M I see.

Now listen again.

Listening Part 2
2.02

Listen to a lecture about a seed bank called the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Complete the gaps in the
notes with a word or two-word phrase from the audio. Remember to check your spelling.
You now have 30 seconds to look at the task.
M Welcome to my lecture on the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. As its name suggests, this is a bank of currently
well over one million seeds, located on the Norwegian island of Svalbard. It was established in 2008,
although a smaller, national seed bank had existed there since the 1980s, a stone’s throw from the island’s
airport. Its coal mine location was increasingly being seen as unsuitable, so discussions began about not
only rehousing the seed bank, but creating something altogether more ambitious.
What transpired was the foundation of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, whose remit was to accept
duplicates of seeds from national and regional seed banks around the world, thereby safeguarding the
future of countless plant species. The earth in Svalbard is permanently frozen, so there’s little available
moisture which could damage seeds. However, dangerous gases occasionally build up in the cavities, so it
was decided to create the bank within the rock of a nearby hillside.

© Oxford University Press Oxford Test of English Advanced C1 Practice Test 1  4
 From the outside, there are few clues as to its function apart from a modest vault door in a tall concrete
shaft, which slopes gradually into the ground. For something as critical as this facility, one might
envisage there being a range of security features surrounding it. The reality is somewhat different – an art
installation at the top, made of steel, mirrors and prisms reflecting the Arctic lights, which hints at its being
something of true significance.
The interior of the facility boasts three huge halls, hidden a hundred metres inside the hill. Each is
capable of holding one and a half million seeds. Extensive renovations were carried out between 2016
and 2019, during which the main entrance to the facility was made substantially more waterproof. Also,
an environmentally friendly cooling system was installed – the original one being unable to adequately
regulate the humidity.
There are three scheduled deposits of seeds per year at the bank. Ownership of the seeds remains with
whichever individual or national institution placed them in the bank. To prevent the precious seeds falling
into the wrong hands, the security team ensure that black box procedures are followed, meaning that no-
one other than the original owner is allowed to withdraw seeds from the bank.
The seeds are kept at a decidedly chilly minus eighteen degrees Celsius. In order to prevent any spoilage,
it was crucial that anything which came into direct contact with the seeds should be unreactive, so the
custom-made envelopes they’re kept in are fabricated from aluminium. These are then placed in plastic
crates, which are stacked on the shelves in the facility’s halls.
So in summary, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault acts as invaluable insurance against any of the world’s
many plant and crop species going extinct, and for maintaining genetic diversity. It’s there to cover
relatively low-impact eventualities, such as local mismanagement of plant resources. But its role in
potentially combatting the effects of climate change is becoming increasingly apparent. After all, there
are seeds within it from species that are capable of coping with the most extreme environments on earth,
from burning deserts to frozen tundra.

Now listen again.

Listening Part 3
2.03

Listen to two fashion journalists discussing clothing made from recycled plastic. Match the people
(the woman, the man, or both) to the opinions below. You now have 30 seconds to look at the task.
M Hi, I’m fashion journalist Ronnie Callow, and I’m delighted to welcome fellow writer Elena Bartlett to this
week’s podcast, in which we’ll be discussing clothing made from recycled plastic. Elena, a few of the
groundbreaking companies who have built their identities around this kind of clothing generate so much
excitement on social media …
F I’d say there was certainly an astonishing amount of initial interest when they first appeared on the fashion
scene, and all sorts of predictions that they’d take the world by storm. These haven’t really materialized,
though, for one reason or another, and it’s something of a rarity to see celebrities or even people in the
street wearing them.
M Well, whatever the fact of the matter is, clothing’s certainly being made from some unusual things these
days – old plastic fishing nets, for example.
F For sure, and plastic bottles are commonly recycled and repurposed into synthetic fabrics. I guess the sky’s
the limit in terms of what you can transform into clothing …
M Actually, my understanding is that the type and grade of plastic required is harder to come by than people
perhaps imagine, so diverting the entire contents of our recycling bins to create materials suitable for
clothing is unlikely to be happening anytime soon.
F We’ll see, but what’s for sure is that the processes involved in transforming plastic into fabric aren’t
straightforward, so …
M This is what troubles me somewhat about recycling plastic into clothing. I wonder whether it gives the
rather misleading impression that manufacturers and retailers are creating garments in a sustainable
way …
F Whereas in fact they’re just cutting down slightly on the resources required, but certainly not the energy
used, particularly when compared to producing items of clothing from brand new synthetic fabrics.
M So maybe it’s a step in the right direction, maybe not.

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 F I’ve heard it suggested that clothing manufacturers who used recycled plastic in their products should be
required to state details about exactly how garments were made on the product’s label.
M It’d mean that companies trying to do their bit environmentally would be faced with complying with extra
legislation, while the ones who couldn’t care less about the environment could get away with doing next
to nothing.
F It’d encourage being transparent about the impact manufacturing has environmentally, though, and other
companies might well follow. Anyway, do you own any clothes made from recycled plastic?
M I do – some swimming trunks and a jacket – and I’ve tried on plenty of others. In terms of how they feel
to wear, it’s actually tremendously hard, if not impossible, to tell them apart from garments created from
artificial fibres.
F I’ve run testing sessions recently, in which participants have been given a coat, for example, made from
recycled plastic, and a similar one that hadn’t been recycled in any way. As far as cosiness went, there was
next to no difference between the scores they gave for each – apart from anything made from natural
fibres, which did tend to outperform them.
M Fascinating! Of course one way to encourage more clothing companies to use recycled fabrics is to remove
any government tariffs or other charges from products made from them.
F I’d much rather that approach was applied to products made from natural fibres which have had minimal
processing during their manufacture instead. Otherwise you might end up sending out the wrong
message.
M Every little helps, though, surely, so I can see no reason for going down that road for both of these kinds of
garments. Anyway, it’s been really great talking to you, Elena – thanks so much for joining me.
F You’re welcome!

Now listen again.

Listening Part 4
2.04

1 A student is telling a friend about a computer club. Why is she dissatisfied with the club?
A Other members tend to be uncommunicative.
B The resources that it provides are inadequate.
C There are few opportunities to learn from others.
F I’ve started going to the university computer club.
M Oh? How’s that been?
F Hmmm, the jury’s still out, but I’ll give it a few more tries. I mean, they have all the latest stuff there. I didn’t
even know half of it existed!
M All that goes right over my head!
F Mine too, to an extent, and part of why I went cos I imagined that with all the collaborative projects and
so on that I thought members’d do at the club I’d end up being a bit more of an expert, but everyone just
seems to get on with their own thing. Don’t get me wrong – it’s pretty lively and I can hardly get a word in
edgeways at times. It’s just not quite what I was hoping for, I guess.

Now listen again.

2 A professor is giving a lecture about robots. What does he consider to be of particular significance?
A the rapid advance of robotic technology
B the relationship between humans and robots
C the influence of film on our perception of robots
M If I ask whether you have a robot at home, you’ll probably say ‘no’, presumably because you’re picturing
an android – a robot that resembles a person – the kind that TV movies and cinema have made so familiar
to us. And yet, you do have robots – your washing machines, for example. Perhaps you even have one
of those devices that goes around by itself, quietly hoovering. If so, have you found yourself naming and
talking to it? Would you feel guilty if you broke it? Now, the science behind those questions is critical
because robots are here to stay and they’re becoming more sophisticated all the time.

Now listen again.

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 3 A woman has recently taken up running. How does she feel about it?
A frustrated with her progress
B disappointed by the lack of support
C doubtful about keeping it up
M Emma – are you up for a run later?
F Oh, I thought I’d give it a break today. I did my first three kilometre run yesterday, and I’m paying for it.
It was absolute torture, though everyone else made it look so effortless, which really didn’t help.
M Perhaps you’re going too fast?
F Well, no, cos I’m following this app which is meant to get you from absolute beginner to running 5k in nine
weeks, though whether or not it’ll live up to expectations remains to be seen. I know I haven’t exactly been
great at sticking to exercise regimes, but I’m determined that won’t be the case this time!

Now listen again.

4 A history lecturer is talking about research into smells. The most significant objective of the research
into smells is …
A to establish findings about them that have a commercial application.
B to explore changes in attitudes towards them.
C to find written sources that reveal past impressions of them.
M One of the current research projects involves searching through historical documents to seek references
to smells. Smells are very effective at stimulating emotions – think of a rose, for example – but the way
people feel about them isn’t necessarily constant over time. Coffee, for instance, when first introduced to
Europe, would’ve seemed exotic, but as it gained popularity, the smell became commonplace. Shifts like
this are fundamental to our research. The project involves analysing the prevalence of references to smells
in different historical contexts as well; the results of this could perhaps provide valuable information for
tourist attractions that offer visitors an authentic experience of life in the past.

Now listen again.

5 A man is talking about deciding to become a teacher. He suggests he decided to enter the teaching
profession after …
A meeting someone unexpectedly.
B recognizing he had the right skill set.
C realizing it might be a sensible option.
F John – I hear you’re doing a teacher-training course. That’s a surprise!
M Well, you know I studied Chinese at college? Last year we had a reunion, and it was chatting to one of
my ex-classmates who’s actually already head of languages at a secondary school that got me seriously
thinking about it.
F Funny, I’d always seen you as something like an interpreter.
M Chance would be a fine thing, especially these days.
F Still, you’re good at explaining things, which I guess is half the battle.
M Maybe, though I don’t exactly tick all the boxes when it comes to patience and organization!

Now listen again.

© Oxford University Press Oxford Test of English Advanced C1 Practice Test 1  7