Narrator: Listen to a conversation between two students.
Male student: Hey, are you going on the trip to the Asian History museum?
Female student: I really want to, but I can’t. I have to give a presentation in my linguistics class. It counts as a third of my grade, so there’s no way I can miss class that day.
Male student: Just give the presentation on a different day, then.
Female student: I don’t think the professor would let me do it late, just because of a school trip.
Male student: No, I mean you could do it early—your professor would probably be okay with that, right? If you ask to do the presentation a day earlier, that makes you look studious. You’re not asking for an extension.
Female student: You’re right, then it wouldn’t look like I was procrastinating.
Male student: And then you can come on the trip.
Female student: Although I’d have to get the work done earlier—and I have a lot of other homework to do. Also, the professor would probably rather have me present on the same day as everyone else.
Male student: Wait, I have an idea. Do you know anybody else in the class? Maybe you could, like, record yourself giving the presentation, and then have somebody play the tape in class for you that day.
Female student: That’s smart. I’d just have to figure out how to make the recording, and see if they’d let me do that. But that way I’d be able to go to the history museum.
Narrator: Briefly summarize the problem the speakers are discussing. Then state which of the two solutions from the conversation you would recommend. Explain the reasons for your recommendation.
The woman has the problem. There is a trip to a museum that, uh, she wants to go to, but… it is at the same time as a presentation she has to give for class. The two solutions are, one, um, she, uh… asks to give the presentation at different time… uh, earlier. But this solution would give her lesser time to prepare and also would be not at the same time as everyone else presenting. The second solution would be to… record the presentation and play it. I do not like the second idea because when you record something… you don’t have the pressure of… public speaking. So I would choose the first one, uh, to give the presentation earlier. I think the professor would be more likely to agree because this solution still requires her to be speaking in public.
The student summarizes the problem and the two possible solutions. He states a clear preference for the first solution and explains why. He has a few small grammar errors. But these errors are infrequent enough that he can still earn a good score.