The voicemail about the Saturday job: a correction and an implied problem
This task uses a listening fragment of the kind found in Part 2 of the exam: a spoken message with hesitations, a self-correction, and information that is only suggested, never stated.
The candidate hears a voicemail from Mr De Wit, manager of a garden centre, about a Saturday job. He says: 'Hi, this is De Wit from the garden centre. Good news - we'd like you to start. Can you be here at eight on Saturday? Hang on, no: we open at nine and I'm not in before half eight, so make it half eight and come to the side entrance, not the main gate, because the shop stays closed until nine. Pay is six fifty an hour and you work till one. You're fifteen, aren't you? Then bring a copy of your ID and a form signed by a parent. Oh, and one more thing: the Saturday buses don't start before nine, so you'll need a lift. Call me back if half eight is a problem.'
The candidate is Ravi, who is 15, lives 6 km from the garden centre, and whose parents both work on Saturday mornings.
1. Ravi writes in his diary: 'Start Saturday 8:00, main entrance.' Correct the entry using three details from the message, and explain why each one matters.
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1. Time: 8:30, not 8:00. The manager corrects himself in the recording ('Hang on, no'). A listener who stops at the first time gets it wrong. Arriving at 8:00 means standing outside a closed garden centre with nobody there, because the manager says he is not in before half eight.
2. Entrance: the side entrance, not the main gate. The reason is given: the shop stays closed until nine. The main gate is therefore not a working entrance at 8:30, and Ravi would be waiting at the wrong door while the manager waits at another.
3. Papers: a copy of his ID and a form signed by a parent. The manager asks 'You're fifteen, aren't you?' and then attaches the paperwork to that answer. Without the signed form, the first shift may not be allowed to start at all - this is not an optional extra.
Also worth noting: the pay is €6.50 an hour until 13:00, which is 4.5 hours, and the job is on Saturdays. These are details a strong listener picks up, but they are not corrections to the diary entry.
2. Why does the manager mention the buses, and what does Ravi have to do about it?
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He is warning Ravi, not making conversation. The sentence 'the Saturday buses don't start before nine' does two things at once: it tells Ravi that public transport cannot get him to work by 8:30, and it implies that he must find another way - a lift, a bicycle, or a different arrangement with the manager. The word 'so' before 'you'll need a lift' shows the manager has already drawn that conclusion himself.
What Ravi must do: arrange transport with his parents, knowing that both of them work on Saturday mornings. That is the real problem, and the recording gives him the opening to solve it: 'call me back if half eight is a problem'. A weaker answer says only 'he has to take the bus' - which is exactly what the message says is impossible - or 'he has to be on time', which is true of every job and shows no listening.
Exam skill: this is inference. The bus times are stated; the consequence for Ravi is not. The mark comes from linking the stated fact to the situation described on the candidate's paper.
3. Ravi's friend says: 'He said to call only if there's a problem, so just don't call.' Do you agree?
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No. The manager has made an offer and given a date, a time and a place; he is waiting for confirmation. Silence is not confirmation, and it leaves the manager unable to plan the Saturday.
There is also a practical problem that Ravi already knows about: the buses. Both parents work on Saturday morning, so the lift is not yet arranged. That is a problem, and the message invites exactly that call.
What a good call sounds like: confirm the 8:30 start, say how he will get there, and ask about the one thing that is uncertain - for example, 'I'd like to start on Saturday. My dad can bring me, but only from nine o'clock. Is 9:00 all right, or should we find another solution?' Then repeat the paperwork: ID copy and signed form.
Exam skill: the last sentence of a recording often contains the action the candidate must take. 'Call me back if half eight is a problem' is not a throwaway line; it is the instruction that turns the whole message into a task.