Listening Key Points

A PRESENTATION BY SLIDECORE
Listening
1
- Make sure you know what to expect in each part of the exam.
- Listen to English! There are billions of free videos, presentations, radio shows, podcasts, etc,
that you can listen to.
- Accents - you will hear some standard British and American accents in the exam, but you
might also hear Australian, South African, Irish, Scottish... Try to listen to a variety of accents to
give you a good chance of understanding everyone.
- Ages - the speakers will range from teenagers to the elderly - so again, make sure you're
listening to a variety of types of people. Oh, and don't only listen to men, or only women.
- Practice listening and writing at the same time! Many of my students complain that they can't
listen AND write. But they can - they just need to practice a few times.
- Learn from your mistakes. If you take some practice tests don't just say 'I got 23 out of 40'.
Focus on the ones you got wrong and try to work out WHY you got them wrong. Read the
transcripts. Listen again and again until you understand why the answer is the answer and why
your answer is the wrong answer. Investing 20 minutes in this activity will have a huge impact!
2
DISTRACTORS, LINKERS, AND OTHER CAMBRIDGE FAVOURITES
Imagine a listening test where you hear a voice saying 'I have an apple, a banana, and a carrot in my
backpack' and your job is to answer the following question:
What does the speaker have in his backpack?
a] sloth, cushion, basket
b] apple, banana, carrot
c] egg, bacon, lettuce
It's quite easy, right? Well I've got some bad news for you. Cambridge will never, ever, give you a question
this easy.
Instead, they will mention ALL of the answers.
This morning I ate a bacon and lettuce sandwich with some sliced egg, and then I went to my job at the
zoo where it's my job to make sure the sloths have enough cushions and baskets. I'm on my way to the
monkey cages now so I've got a few apples and carrots for them. Oh, and a banana, as you can see
poking out of my rucksack.
3
FCE Listening Part 1 Tips
The first part of the exam is quite easy, as long as you pay attention and don't get fooled by the distractors. You hear 8 texts
(monologues or dialogues) and there's no connection between them. Each question is worth one point.
This part of the listening exam tests if you can understand what the speaker's purpose or opinion is. For example, is the man
happy, sad, or disappointed? Does the customer want to complain or to give a compliment?
It's also sometimes about understanding the gist of a speech or picking up on details.
Let's look at an official Cambridge exam question:
4
And what you would hear in the exam:
“Oh hi it’s me, John. Sorry to miss you – you must’ve already left for work. Look,
I wondered if you wanted to come away for the weekend. There’ll be about 10 of
us including someone called Sam Brent who says he was at college with you –
and he remembers that you were brilliant at rock and roll! They’ve decided it’ll
be on October 9, Friday night till Sunday. Anyway, I’ll put the details in the post.
I know you’re busy at the moment, so don’t feel you have to come, but just let me
know one way or the other when you can. Talk to you soon. Bye.”
5
FCE Listening Part 2 Tips
This is a task called sentence completion. On your answer paper is a text with ten gaps. You listen to a monologue for
about 3 minutes and you have to put the missing words (or numbers) into the text. It looks like this:
You get a little time (45 seconds) to read through the text before the recording starts to play. The phrase will never be
more than 3 words long.
Right, let's take 5 seconds to guess some words that might fit the gap: mother / history / smell / nose / fluffiness.
(The last word is pretty unlikely to be the answer - the answers are all at FCE level.)
Here's the transcript:
“Thanks for inviting me tonight. As you know, my main interest is in conservation and I’m lucky enough to work with lots
of different organisations looking after animals both in captivity and in the wild. I’d been fascinated by all kinds of bears for
a long time before I started working in this field. But it was the spectacled bear that really attracted me – some people find
it appealing because of its size and shape, and it’s less well known than other types of bear, but for me I thought it was such
a great name!”
6
Quiz TN - VI
1. What is the american dream?
2. Who's Tom having an affair with?
3. Where does Nick meet Gatsby?
4. What happens on Nick's 30th birthday?
5. Who told Mr. Wilson that it was Gatsby that killed his
wife?
6. How did Mr. Wilson kill Gatsby?
7. Who really killed Myrtle?
8. Why doesn't Daisy get with Gatsby when they ﬁrst meet?
9. What was odd about Gatsby's funeral?
10. Where is the setting on The Great Gatsby? 7
QUIZ TEXAS
1. Describe the narrator's house.
2. Describe Tom. What is our impression of him in the movie?
3. What is the setting of The Great Gatsby’s movie?
4. Where did Gatsby's wealth come from?
5. Who arranges the reunion between Daisy and Gatsby?
6. What does George Wilson discover hidden in his wife's bureau
draw
7. Who was driving the car that killed Myrtle Wilson?
8. Who kills Gatsby?
9. How many people were at Gatsby’s funeral and why is that
relevant in the movie?
10. Who's Myrtle having an affair with?
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Quiz UTAH
1. Who's Tom having an affair with?
2. Who was driving the car that killed Myrtle Wilson?
3. Describe Tom. What is our impression of him in the movie?
4. What does George Wilson discover hidden in his wife's bureau
draw
5. How many people were at Gatsby’s funeral and why is that
relevant in the movie?
6. Who arranges the reunion between Daisy and Gatsby?
7. Describe the narrator's house.
8. Who really killed Gatsby?
9. Where is the setting on The Great Gatsby?
10. What happens on Nick's 30th birthday? 9

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A PRESENTATION BY SLIDECORE

What does the speaker have in his backpack?

a] sloth, cushion, basket

b] apple, banana, carrot

c] egg, bacon, lettuce

Instead, they will mention ALL of the answers.

Let's look at an official Cambridge exam question:

Here's the transcript:

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