Chapter 3: The Listening test

The test lasts for around 30 minutes. And at the end, there'll be 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer paper. There are 40 questions. And you might see a number of different types of questions. That could be multiple choice, matching, putting labels on a diagram, completing a table, a number of different question types.      

• In Section 1, you'll hear conversations between two people. This will be an everyday social context.      
• In Section 2, you'll hear a monologue, just one person speaking, again, in an everyday social context.      
• In Section 3 you'll hear another conversation between two, three, or four people. This time the conversation will be in an educational or training context, for example, a tutor talking to a student.      
• Finally, in Section 4, you'll hear another monologue. And this one too will be on an academic subject, for example, a university lecture.     

One important thing to remember, you only hear each section once.

TIPS:

Before Listening:

The first thing, before  you listen  is to make sure you use the time wisely. Before  you do anything  else, read the instructions! There are different types of task so there might  be some differences from the practice tests you’ve tried . If it says ‘write no more than two words ’ then that’s exactly what you have to do or you’ll lose the marks. 

You have 30 seconds before each section to read the questions, and then another 30 seconds at the end to check your answers. It may not  sound  like  much but you can do a couple of other things in that time to help you  too . Read through the questions and look for key words in the text, and underline or circle the words you think are important as you do it . That  can help you predict as much information as you can before you listen. Think  what information you need to listen for – names, numbers, days of the week and so on. But remember, as I’m sure you found out last time, it’s not so  simple. In the audio the speakers use different words from the words on the  question sheet so you need to think about that and listen for different  words  with similar meaning or different ways of saying the same thing.  
Example: If in audio you hear "Recently renovated", then options can be as "it was done up last year" or  "it's just been re-decorated and extended".

When the Listening  Starts: 

Remember that you only hear each part once, so as you listen you have  to write down your answers. Don’t wait until the end of a section then try to  answer! The answers all come  in the same order as on the question sheet, so you need to concentrate and follow it carefully. If you do miss something don’t panic –  just  concentrate on the next item.

First, keep reading ahead of the audio recording. For example, if you have just answered question 11, you should have read questions 12 and 13 as well and you should be ready to hear the answers for 12 and 13. Also, don't panic if you miss an answer. If you think you have missed an answer, mark the question you have missed, keep reading ahead and try to answer the question after the section has finished. This technique can be difficult if you are not used to it. So, I would advise you to get as much practice as possible before your test.

Watch out for tricks – for example in multiple choice questions you’ll hear the speaker mention one or more of the possible answers, and lots of people make the mistake of writing an  answer as soon as they hear the  speaker mention some words from the question. Don’t do that – wait and think about the whole meaning of what the speaker says. They might talk  about all the choices  before they actually choose one  and that catches lots of people out. 

While Listening: Being ready to hear

 

While Listening: Listening while reading

After Listening:

Remember you have ten minutes at the end to transfer your answers to your answer sheet.  That’s really valuable time when you can check your answers, make sure your spelling is correct and write out in full any abbreviations or short forms you used in your notes. You’ll lose marks if you make mistakes with either of those things so make sure you don’t lose any points through carelessness. And remember, don’t leave any blanks – you don’t lose marks for a wrong answer so make sure you answer every question, even if it’s only a guess.  

After Listening: Checking Answers

 

After Listening: Transferring Answers