A student and the registrar's office
In the real test you hear this once and see no transcript. Practise properly: have someone read it aloud at normal speed, or use your device's read-aloud, take notes, and only then look at the questions.
Show the transcript
STUDENT: Hi — I hope you can help. I'm trying to register for Professor Okonkwo's Environmental Policy seminar, and the system keeps rejecting me.
ADVISER: Let me look. What's your student number? … Right, I see the problem. That seminar is restricted to third and fourth years, and you're registered as a second year.
STUDENT: But I've already done both prerequisites. I took Introduction to Policy last spring and Environmental Science in my first semester. I got an A- in both.
ADVISER: I believe you, but the restriction isn't about prerequisites — it's about seminar size. It's capped at fifteen, and we hold those places for students who need the course to graduate. If a fourth year can't get in, they can't finish their degree.
STUDENT: So there's nothing I can do?
ADVISER: I didn't say that. There are two routes. The first is to wait until the add-drop period closes, which is the Friday of the second week. If any places are still open then, the restriction lifts and it becomes first come, first served.
STUDENT: That's risky, though. If it fills up I'd have lost two weeks.
ADVISER: It is. The second route is better if you're willing to do a little work. You can ask Professor Okonkwo directly for an instructor override. She has the authority to admit anyone she wants, regardless of year.
STUDENT: Would she actually do that for a second year?
ADVISER: She has before — more often than most of the faculty, in fact. But don't just turn up and ask. Write to her first, tell her which prerequisites you've completed and what grades you got, and say specifically why you want this seminar rather than the lecture course. She cares about that last part. The students she's admitted early were the ones who had something particular they wanted to work on.
STUDENT: I do, actually. I want to write about groundwater regulation — my family's farm has been dealing with it for years.
ADVISER: Then say that. That's exactly the kind of thing that works. And send it today, because she makes these decisions before the first class, not after.
STUDENT: Today. All right. And if she says no?
ADVISER: Then you still have the add-drop route on the Friday. You haven't lost anything by asking.
Questions
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1. Why does the student go to the registrar's office?
Answer: B. Gist–purpose. She states the problem in her first line: the system keeps rejecting her registration.
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2. Why is the seminar restricted?
Answer: C. The adviser says explicitly that the restriction is about seminar size, not prerequisites, and that places are held for those who need the course to graduate.
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3. What does the adviser mean when she says 'I didn't say that'?
Answer: B. A function question. The phrase pushes back on the student's despairing 'so there's nothing I can do' and introduces the two routes.
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4. What are the two options the adviser describes?
Answer: B. Detail. Route one: wait until the Friday of the second week. Route two: ask the professor for an override.
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5. According to the adviser, what should the student emphasise in her message to the professor?
Answer: C. The adviser says the professor 'cares about that last part' and that successful students 'had something particular they wanted to work on'.
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6. What does the adviser imply about the student's chances?
Answer: B. Inference from two remarks: 'She has before — more often than most of the faculty' and 'That's exactly the kind of thing that works.'
