Students Notes

Advanced (CAE): LISTENING

About 40 minutes There are four parts with a total of 30 questions.

You are tested on your ability to understand gist, main points, specific
information, attitudes and opinions. You will hear each part of the listening twice.
This is a very demanding part of the exam because it is at the end of the exam
session and follows a long morning of testing. In the break try and get some
fresh air before going back into the exam room.

Always use the pre-listening time allotted to read over the questions, try to
establish: WHO, WHERE and WHAT the passages are about.

Before listening highlight key words in the questions to help you focus on the
exact information that is required.

Part 1 6 multiple choice questions from three unrelated extracts spoken by

two speakers.

Part 2 8 sentence completion questions on a monologue lasting approximately

3 minutes. You have to write either a word or short phrase to complete
sentences. Make sure that your answer is grammatically correct Does it need a
noun, adverb, verb, adjective?

Part 3 6 multiple choice questions on a conversation between two or more

speakers.Remember that you may hear words and ideas that may cause you to
choose the wrong answer. Always listen right up to the end. Discourse markers
(e.g. however, although, etc.) can change the meaning of the idea being put
forward make sure you learn these and how they are used.

Part 4 10 multiple matching questions from four short monologues on the

same theme. There are two separate tasks and for each task you are required
to select the correct option from a choice of eight. Listen to the whole of each
monologue to find the answers to both tasks. You may hear the answer to Task
Two before the answer to Task One.

There are always distractors in the Listening exam do not get caught out.

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