These 25 original PrepEx questions include audio, transcripts and worked answers. Listen before opening the transcript to practice understanding speech. You can replay each recording and review at your own pace. These are independent practice examples, not official ETS questions or a full adaptive test.
How to use these questions
- Play a recording and leave its transcript closed. Choose your answer before opening the explanation.
- Compare all four options. For a short exchange, ask what the speaker is requesting or communicating. A refusal or correction can be the best reply.
- Replay anything you missed, then open the transcript and answer explanation. Identify the precise misunderstanding behind each distractor and explain the difference in your own words.
Choose a Response · Audio practice
Exchange 1
Read transcript: Exchange 1
Which part of the project would you rather work on?
Question 1. Choose the best response.
Answer and explanation for question 1
B. I'd prefer to analyze the survey.
The question asks which project component the listener prefers. Analyzing the survey states that preference. The due date, earlier collaboration and survey duration are project details without a choice.
Choose a Response · Audio practice
Exchange 2
Read transcript: Exchange 2
I can give you a ride, unless you need to leave before five.
Question 2. Choose the best response.
Answer and explanation for question 2
D. Five is fine; thank you.
The offer excludes departures before five. Accepting five respects that condition. Meeting at four ignores it; an earlier trip and its duration do not say whether the conditional offer works.
Choose a Response · Audio practice
Exchange 3
Read transcript: Exchange 3
Who should I contact about a missing delivery?
Question 3. Choose the best response.
Answer and explanation for question 3
A. The reception staff can help.
'Who should I contact' requires an appropriate person or group. Reception staff answer it. Expected arrival, usual delivery time and contents concern the delivery but do not identify a contact.
Choose a Response · Audio practice
Exchange 4
Read transcript: Exchange 4
Didn't you say you were taking chemistry this term?
Question 4. Choose the best response.
Answer and explanation for question 4
C. I switched to biology instead.
The speaker checks an earlier course plan. Switching to biology corrects that expectation. A lab location, term ending and past exam do not establish the course currently being taken.
Choose a Response · Audio practice
Exchange 5
Read transcript: Exchange 5
Could you tell me how this graph relates to your conclusion?
Question 5. Choose the best response.
Answer and explanation for question 5
B. It shows the decline I mentioned.
The request asks for a reasoning connection. The plotted decline supplies evidence for the stated conclusion. Slide position, paragraph length and the device used to make the graph do not explain that connection.
Conversation · Audio practice
A research poster
Read transcript: A research poster
Maya: I can barely read the text on your poster from here.
Leo: I tried to include all the results. The full report is twelve pages.
Maya: People will only stop for a minute or two. Why not choose one result and use a bigger graph?
Leo: But what if someone asks about the other findings?
Maya: Bring the report along. They can ask you for it.
Leo: Right, the poster doesn't have to do everything.
Question 6. What problem are the speakers discussing?
Answer and explanation for question 6
C. The poster is difficult to read.
Maya can barely read the poster, and Leo explains that he packed in results from a long report. There are results, so missing findings are not the problem. No inaccurate graph is identified. A visitor's short attention span motivates simplification; it is not a reduction in scheduled display time.
Question 7. What does Leo probably intend to do?
Answer and explanation for question 7
A. Summarize a finding on the poster.
Leo accepts that the poster need not do everything after Maya suggests highlighting one result and keeping the report available. He will simplify the display. He does not discard the report, require advance questions or put all twelve pages on the poster.
Conversation · Audio practice
The garden project
Read transcript: The garden project
Nora: The seedlings by the fence look smaller than the others. Should we give them more water?
Eli: The soil there is already damp. The fence shades them until lunchtime.
Nora: So moving them might help?
Eli: Possibly, but let's move only half. If they grow faster than the ones left behind, we'll have a better idea.
Nora: Good point. Moving all of them wouldn't leave us anything to compare.
Question 8. Why does Eli mention the damp soil?
Answer and explanation for question 8
D. To question Nora's proposed solution.
The damp soil is evidence that insufficient water may not explain the small seedlings. Eli uses it to question adding water. He identifies no other bed needing water, gives no origin for the seedlings and does not recommend the shaded fence as a planting site.
Question 9. Why will some seedlings stay beside the fence?
Answer and explanation for question 9
B. They will provide a comparison group.
Eli wants to compare relocated seedlings with those left in place. Nora explicitly recognizes that moving all would remove that comparison. Water needs and lack of space are not given, and the fence shades these seedlings until lunchtime.
Conversation · Audio practice
Joining the production
Read transcript: Joining the production
Ava: Are you auditioning for the play?
Ben: I like the production, but being on stage isn't really my thing.
Ava: We also need someone to run the lighting. You did that for the concert.
Ben: True, and I enjoyed it. Would I have to attend every rehearsal?
Ava: Just the final three, once we start using the theater.
Ben: That sounds manageable. Who should I talk to?
Question 10. What does Ben mean by “isn't really my thing”?
Answer and explanation for question 10
A. He would rather avoid performing.
Ben likes the production but distinguishes it from being on stage, which he does not enjoy. The lighting alternative appeals to him. Disliking the play contradicts his opening, and attendance time or concert experience does not explain this preference.
Question 11. What matters to Ben when considering the lighting role?
Answer and explanation for question 11
C. How many rehearsals he must attend.
He asks about attending every rehearsal and finds the final-three requirement manageable. That exchange makes the time commitment decisive. The speakers do not discuss concert equipment, choosing a play or the number of actors.
Announcement · Audio practice
Student radio contributors
Read transcript: Student radio contributors
The student radio station is inviting ideas for short programs about campus life. You don't need recording experience: selected contributors will work with a producer. Send a description of your idea rather than a finished recording. We especially welcome stories about activities students may not know about. Applications close Friday, and we'll contact successful applicants next week.
Question 12. What is the speaker mainly doing?
Answer and explanation for question 12
B. Recruiting contributors for radio programs.
The station invites ideas and tells prospective contributors how to apply. Producer support is part of that invitation, not a separate producer-training offer. There is no broadcast schedule or request to review programs already made.
Question 13. What should an applicant submit?
Answer and explanation for question 13
D. A description of a proposed program.
The announcement explicitly requests an idea description rather than a finished recording. Experience is unnecessary, and preferred broadcast times are not requested. The description lets the station select an idea before helping produce it.
Announcement · Audio practice
Repair café
Read transcript: Repair café
Bring a small broken household item to Saturday's repair café in the community room. Volunteers will help you investigate the problem and try a repair with you. This is a chance to learn, so please stay with your item instead of dropping it off. We can't promise every item can be fixed. We can work on small plug-in appliances, but not battery-powered devices: replacement batteries and testing equipment aren't available.
Question 14. Why are participants asked to stay with their items?
Answer and explanation for question 14
C. To take part in the repair process.
The event is intended to teach participants through investigating and repairing with volunteers. Moving tables and paying for tools are not requested. A repair is explicitly not guaranteed, so merely waiting for a certain result misreads the event.
Question 15. Which item fits the announced restrictions?
Answer and explanation for question 15
A. A desk lamp powered from a wall socket.
The café accepts small plug-in appliances but excludes battery-powered devices because it lacks replacement batteries and testing equipment. The wall-powered lamp fits that condition. The radio, fan and clock are also small, but their battery power makes them ineligible. Acceptance still does not guarantee a repair.
Announcement · Audio practice
Museum drawing session
Read transcript: Museum drawing session
This afternoon's museum drawing session will focus on observing the shapes of everyday objects in our design gallery. You can join even if you haven't drawn before. Paper and pencils will be provided, but please bring a folding stool if you'd prefer not to stand. The session begins at two in the gallery, not in the lecture room used for last month's art talk.
Question 16. What is the session intended to help participants do?
Answer and explanation for question 16
B. Notice forms in ordinary objects.
The focus is observing shapes of everyday objects. The earlier lecture is mentioned only to prevent a location error. Folding stools are optional seating, not the design subject, and no exhibition preparation is described.
Question 17. What should a participant who needs a seat do?
Answer and explanation for question 17
D. Take a folding stool to the gallery.
The announcement supplies drawing materials but asks people who prefer sitting to bring their own folding stool. The gallery is the venue. Supplied stools are not promised, the lecture room is explicitly excluded, and changing drawing materials does not address seating.
Academic Talk · Audio practice
Roads and animal movement
Read transcript: Roads and animal movement
Professor: A road can divide an animal's habitat even when plenty of habitat remains on both sides. Imagine a small mammal that feeds in one wooded area and finds shelter in another. Traffic may make the trip between them dangerous. Simply counting the remaining trees would miss that problem.
One approach is to build a crossing beneath or above the road. But providing a crossing is only the first step. Animals must find it and be willing to use it. Fences can guide animals toward the entrance, while vegetation can make an exposed approach feel less unfamiliar. Different species may respond differently to the same structure.
How do researchers assess whether a crossing works? A camera can show an animal entering it, but entry alone doesn't establish that the animal completed the journey. Researchers therefore place cameras at both ends and compare records. They may also monitor nearby road sections to see whether animals still cross in dangerous places. We'll next consider why a successful design at one site may need changes at another.
Question 18. What is the main topic of the talk?
Answer and explanation for question 18
C. How animal crossings are designed and assessed.
The talk moves from habitat division to crossing design and then evaluation. Mammal habitat is an example, traffic is the obstacle, and counting trees is presented as an inadequate way to recognize that obstacle. None covers the whole explanation.
Question 19. Why does the professor describe the mammal's feeding and shelter areas?
Answer and explanation for question 19
A. To illustrate a need to move across a road.
The example shows why an animal may need to travel between habitat areas despite a road. It does not say mammals avoid woods, compare diets or recommend a planting scheme. The point is connection between resources, not just habitat quantity.
Question 20. What limitation of a single entrance camera is mentioned?
Answer and explanation for question 20
D. It cannot establish completion of a crossing.
An entrance record shows entry but not arrival on the opposite side. Cameras at both ends address that limitation. The professor does not claim that cameras fail to distinguish species, cannot work near traffic or cannot record fences.
Question 21. What will the professor probably discuss next?
Answer and explanation for question 21
B. How crossing designs depend on local conditions.
The final sentence introduces why a design that succeeds at one site may need changes elsewhere, pointing to local conditions. Camera identification, material durability and seasonal animal counts could all matter in crossing research, but none is the topic signaled by that transition.
Academic Talk · Audio practice
Revision and memory
Read transcript: Revision and memory
Professor: Rereading a chapter can make its sentences feel familiar. That feeling is useful, but it isn't the same as being able to explain the ideas later. When the book is open, the page supplies clues that won't be available when you're asked a question without it.
Try closing the book and writing down what you remember. This is retrieval practice: you attempt to bring information back from memory. You may discover that you can recognize a term but can't explain the relationship it describes. That discovery tells you where further study is needed.
Of course, retrieving a wrong idea repeatedly could strengthen an error. That's why checking matters. After attempting an explanation, compare it with the source and correct mistakes. The attempt and the checking work together; neither makes the other unnecessary.
You might find this method more difficult than rereading. Difficulty during study, however, doesn't automatically mean less learning. An activity can feel smooth because the material is right in front of you. We'll now look at a classroom example comparing how confident students feel with what they can actually recall later.
Question 22. What distinction does the professor emphasize?
Answer and explanation for question 22
C. Recognizing familiar text and recalling its meaning.
The central contrast is familiarity while reading versus explaining from memory later. Terms illustrate it, but reading aloud is not discussed. Classmates and writing a new chapter are not part of the comparison.
Question 23. Why should students check their explanations after retrieval?
Answer and explanation for question 23
B. To prevent repeated practice of an error.
The professor warns that repeatedly retrieving a wrong idea could strengthen the error. Checking and correction prevent that. Making work feel easy is not the purpose; returning to the source is required; and checking complements rather than replaces the attempt.
Question 24. What does the professor suggest about a smooth study experience?
Answer and explanation for question 24
D. It may depend on clues in the open book.
The material can feel smooth because it remains visible, supplying clues. Smoothness therefore does not prove later recall or remove the need for checking. The professor contrasts that experience with retrieval difficulty rather than saying retrieval is required for smoothness.
Question 25. What is the purpose of the planned classroom example?
Answer and explanation for question 25
A. To compare confidence with later recall.
The final sentence announces confidence versus later recall, developing the warning that familiarity can overstate learning. Chapter errors, feedback methods and study time are plausible learning-research comparisons, but none is the relationship the speaker says the example will examine.
What should I learn from the explanations?
A wrong answer often uses a real detail from the source but changes its role. A time can be correct information and still fail a location question. A speaker can mention an earlier event to challenge a plan rather than announce that event. Find the evidence that makes one interpretation fit the whole exchange, and check whether another option confuses an example with the main point.
Review the ETS Listening section overview for the current task names. Our format comparison used the actual Listening prompts, transcripts and options in ETS Teacher Resources Practice Test 1 and Practice Test 2 on 4 October 2026. The questions on this page were written separately for PrepEx.