Listening Part 2 You will hear five conversations. Listen to the conversations and answer the questions. Choose the correct answer. You will hear each conversation twice. Conversation 1 You hear two students talking about lecture notes. I've just been going through my notes from the last lecture and there are big gaps. Yes, I've got the same problem. I think our whole group is suffering. And it's not like I switched off during the lecture. I just couldn't follow the argument at some points. Yes, it's crazy, isn't it? Even if you pay attention to every word, you miss things. And he doesn't mumble. Everything's clear. Well, the words are, but not the sense. I'm really at a loss what to do. I've thought of recording everything. Are we allowed to use our phones for that? I don't know. But anyway, that's not a very efficient approach. It would be like attending twice or three times as many lectures. True. And there's no point in getting together with other people if, as you say, everyone's having the same problem. I find that I understand far more if I've had time to research the topic in advance. You could try that too. Sounds sensible. Conversation 1. You hear two students talking about lecture notes. I've just been going through my notes from the last lecture and there are big gaps. Yes, I've got the same problem. I think our whole group is suffering. And it's not like I switched off during the lecture. I just couldn't follow the argument at some points. Yes, it's crazy, isn't it? Even if you pay attention to every word, you miss things. And he doesn't mumble. Everything's clear. Well, the words are, but not the sense. I'm really at a loss what to do. I thought of recording everything. Are we allowed to use our phones for that? I don't know. But anyway, that's not a very efficient approach. It would be like attending twice or three times as many lectures. True. And there's no point in getting together with other people if, as you say, everyone's having the same problem. I find that I understand far more if I've had time to research the topic in advance. You could try that too. Sounds sensible. Conversation 2. You hear two science students talking about presenting research findings. I think the best way to go is a traditional slide presentation. Just graphs and charts and slides with bullet points. Yes, but that way they only get to see the information once while we're presenting. And we can't print all our color slides. Ink costs a fortune. So, what would you suggest instead? I was thinking a poster presentation would be more permanent. People can read it in their own time. We could even encourage everyone to do the same and cover the walls of our tutor room with posters. Okay, but it's hard to create an attractive poster, isn't it? I can't draw. I don't think you can either. Drawing isn't necessary. We can use printouts from Word and Excel. It will be just as colorful as slides. But with slides, we can reveal the bullet points one by one and ask the students to try to give the points before we reveal them. That's a brilliant idea. Of course that's the best way. It turns the listeners into active participants, doesn't it? Why didn't I think of that? It came to me as I was creating the first few slides. Conversation 2. You hear two science students talking about presenting research findings. I think the best way to go is a traditional slide presentation. Just graphs and charts and slides with bullet points. Yes, but that way they only get to see the information once while we're presenting. And we can't print all our color slides. Ink costs a fortune. So, what would you suggest instead? I was thinking a poster presentation would be more permanent. People can read it in their own time. We could even encourage everyone to do the same and cover the walls of our tutor room with posters. Okay, but it's hard to create an attractive poster, isn't it? I can't draw. I don't think you can either. Drawing isn't necessary. We can use printouts from Word and Excel. It will be just as colorful as slides. But with slides, we can reveal the bullet points one by one and ask the students to try to give the points before we reveal them. That's a brilliant idea. Of course that's the best way. It turns the listeners into active participants, doesn't it? Why didn't I think of that? It came to me as I was creating the first few slides. Conversation 3. You hear a tutor talking to a student about his course. May I have a word with you? Of course, Michael. Come in, have a seat. What can I do for you? As I think you've seen from my essays, I'm having difficulty producing work to the correct standard for the degree program. The simple fact is I had to take a part-time job to get by financially and it's taking so much of my time and my energy too. I'm going to have to abandon the course. Oh, surely it doesn't have to come to that? I've noticed that you've missed a few lectures lately, but there are ways you can earn money and still continue studying. I didn't think there was a part-time version of this program. Well, not of this course, but we offer this one online, and that way you can attend lectures when you are free. But it'll still be too much work, won't it? Maybe not, because you can have up to five years to complete the online program rather than three. That sounds fantastic. Can I switch or do I have to start again? For that you'll have to talk to several people. I'll make a list. Conversation 3. You hear a tutor talking to a student about his course. May I have a word with you? Of course, Michael. Come in, have a seat. What can I do for you? As I think you've seen from my essays, I'm having difficulty producing work to the correct standard for the degree program. The simple fact is I had to take a part-time job to get by financially and it's taking so much of my time and my energy too. I'm going to have to abandon the course. Oh, surely it doesn't have to come to that. I've noticed that you've missed a few lectures lately, but there are ways you can earn money and still continue studying. I didn't think there was a part-time version of this program. Well, not of this course, but we offer this one online, and that way you can attend lectures when you are free. But it'll still be too much work, won't it? Maybe not, because you can have up to five years to complete the online program rather than three. That sounds fantastic. Can I switch or do I have to start again? For that you'll have to talk to several people. I'll make a list. Conversation 4. You hear a student talking to a university accommodation officer. Hi, I understand I'm eligible for campus accommodation as a first year student. Is that the case? Yes, it is. We think it makes a lot of sense for first years. I suppose living on campus means I'm close to lecture halls, libraries, the canteen and, well, other students. Yes, you join the community more quickly and it saves time that would otherwise be spent commuting. So you recommend a campus room because of convenience? Actually, we think the key point in your first year is that you should focus on your studies and not worry about utility bills and cooking and so on. Right, but a campus room's more expensive than renting in the city, isn't it? Yes, because in the city you can share costs with other students in a house or a flat. I see. Are campus halls noisy? Yes, that can be a consideration, but you can have the same issue in a student house or flat in the city. I suppose that's true. I must say, the idea of not having to worry about cooking for myself and so on sounds appealing. For me, that outweighs any drawbacks. Conversation 4 You hear a student talking to a university accommodation officer Hi, I understand I'm eligible for campus accommodation as a first year student. Is that the case? Yes, it is. We think it makes a lot of sense for first years. I suppose living on campus means I'm close to lecture halls, libraries, the canteen and, well, other students. Yes, you join the community more quickly, and it saves time that would otherwise be spent commuting. So you recommend a campus room because of convenience? Actually, we think the key point in your first year is that you should focus on your studies and not worry about utility bills and cooking and so on. Right, but a campus room's more expensive than renting in the city, isn't it? Yes, because in the city you can share costs with other students in a house or a flat. I see. Are campus halls noisy? Yes, that can be a consideration, but you can have the same issue in a student house or flat in the city. I suppose that's true. I must say, the idea of not having to worry about cooking for myself and so on sounds appealing. For me, that outweighs any drawbacks. Conversation 5. You hear 2 psychology students talking about their repetition of a well-known research study. Although I know what the original research by Ash found, it's hard to believe that people are so desperate to agree with the opinions of other people, even when that opinion is clearly wrong. I know, like even if it's a matter of fact, like whether one line is longer or shorter than another line. It's incredible. But what we found is almost exactly in line with Asch's results from the 1950s. Well, on average, 70% of people agreed with a group in our research rather than 75% in Asch's experiment. But that difference isn't significant. It suggests that any time you do the experiment under similar conditions, the result won't deviate too much. I suppose we need to draw some conclusions. You spoke to the participants afterwards. What did they say? Most of the people who went along with the wrong answers said they were too shy to stand up to the other people. They were afraid to be different. I suppose, as many people have said, agreeing with your group is a survival instinct. You don't want to be left outside the protection of your group. It would have been physically dangerous in the past. Conversation 5 You hear two psychology students talking about their repetition of a well-known research study. Although I know what the original research by Ash found, it's hard to believe that people are so desperate to agree with the opinions of other people, even when that opinion's clearly wrong. I know, like even if it's a matter of fact, like whether one line's longer or shorter than another line. It's incredible. But what we found is almost exactly in line with Asch's results from the 1950s. Well, on average, 70% of people agreed with a group in our research rather than 75% in Asch's experiment. But that difference isn't significant. It suggests that any time you do the experiment under similar conditions, the result won't deviate too much. I suppose we need to draw some conclusions. You spoke to the participants afterwards. What did they say? Most of the people who went along with the wrong answers said they were too shy to stand up to the other people. They were afraid to be different. I suppose, as many people have said, agreeing with your group is a survival instinct. You don't want to be left outside the protection of your group. It would have been physically dangerous in the past. That is the end of part 2.