Listening

What's the Cambridge First Certificate Listening exam like?

The test has four sections and takes about 40 minutes:

You get one point for each correct answer.

You will hear the audio twice. There is likely to be a variety of ages and accents (think Scottish, South African, Australian, Irish etc.) so the best way to prepare is to listen to as many as possible. Try watching films/series and listening to the radio/podcasts in English.

Listening - Part 1

What is listening part 1 like in the First Certificate exam?

In listening part 1 you get 8 questions that are unrelated. You need to choose the correct answer from A, B or C. As with all the parts of the listening section, you will get two opportunities to listen.

Quick tips for listening part 1

All of the answers will have keywords that are mentioned in the audio. You're job is to listen carefully and decide which is the correct answer. These are called distractors (see below for more information)
Revise your knowledge of linkers/connectors. They will use a lot of contradicting linkers to show an opposing point of view. If you don't understand these, you might miss the proper meaning of the sentence.

Example Question

You will hear people talking in eight different situations. For questions 1-8, choose the best answer (A, B or C)

1. You hear a message on a telephone answering machine.

Why is the speaker calling?

A to confirm some arrangements
B to issue an invitation
C to persuade someone to do something

audio here

Answer

Transcript

Oh, hi! It's me, John. Sorry to miss you, you must have already left for work. Look, I wondered if you wanted to come away for the weekend? There'll be about ten 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. Er, they've decided it will be on October 9th, Friday night til 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!

In this recording there is no language relating to confirmation, so we know immediately it is not (A). I wondered if you wanted to… is a way to invite people, so it looks like it could be (B), but we need to listen to it all to make sure. We can confirm it's (B) when the speaker says don't feel you have to come, this is non-persuasive language and allows the recipient of the message to choose.

Listening - Part 2

What is listening part 2 like in the First Certificate exam?

In listening part 2 you have to complete 10 sentences with a missing word. As with all the parts of the listening section, you will get two opportunities to listen.

Quick tips for listening part 2

You won't hear the sentences exactly how they are written in the audio, so you need to listen for key words and other ways of saying the same thing to get the correct answer.
The questions are in order, so the audio will say the answer to question 1 before it says the answer to question 2 etc.

Example Question

You will hear a woman called Angela Thomas, who works for a wildlife organisation, talking about the spectacled bear.

For questions 9-18, complete the sentences with a word or short phrase.

Spectacled Bears

Angela says that it was the (9) ......................... of the spectacled bear that first interested her.

Angela mentions that the bear's markings can be found on its (10) ......................... of the as well as its eyes and cheeks.

audio here

Answer

First, notice these three important things:

For both question (9) and (10) we are looking for nouns because they have 'the' and 'its' (pronoun – NOT 'it is'), which both come before nouns.

The key words for (9) are first interested her.

The key words for (10) are can be found so we need to think of other ways this can be said.

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. It comes from the patches of yellowish fur around the bear's eyes which grow in a sort of circle shape - like glasses - although these golden markings vary greatly from one bear to another and may not be limited to the eyes. They can extend as far as the bear's cheeks or even chest.

Listening - Part 3

What is listening part 3 like in the First Certificate exam?

You will hear 5 people speak about the same topic and a list of 8 possible sentences. You must then match the speakers to one of the correct answers provided.

Quick tips for listening part 3

A lot of speakers will speak about three or four things on the list, these are called distractors. Uou need to listen carefully to see which is most relevant to the question.
Look for keywords, remember the meanings of your linkers.
Think of synonyms and ways to paraphrase the sentences given and listen for them.
Again, watch out for those DISTRACTORS!

Example Question

You will hear five short extracts in which people are talking about their visit to a city. For questions 19-23, choose from the list (A-H) what each speaker liked most about the city they visited. Use the letters only once. There are three extra letters which you do not need to use.

the efficiency of the public transport system
the natural beauty of the scenery
the variety of goods in the markets
the style of the architecture
the well-designed plan of the city
the helpfulness of the people
the range of leisure opportunities
the standard of the accomodation

audio here

Answer

Transcript

We were pretty tired when we first arrived, so we were glad just to relax. We'd booked late and I have to say that the room wasn't the best I've stayed in, but we had a view of the lake which was a real treat! We were really impressed by the forests and mountains around the city. We made good use of the swimming pool though we were too lazy to go to the famous markets. We didn't take advantage of all the shows either. Lots of people told us how good they were, so that was a pity and the theatres themselves were supposed to be impressive.

Focusing on speaker 2, she talks about 3 things from the list,

(H) The standard of accommodation
(B) The natural beauty of the scenery
(G) The range of leisure opportunities

Although the speaker talks about the range of leisure opportunities (G) the most, there are key words that show us that actually she didn't use them and therefore (G) cannot be the answer.

though we were too lazy to go to the famous markets.
We didn't take advantage of the shows either… that was a pity.
the theatres were supposed to be impressive.

She also comments on the standard of the accommodation (H), but this is negative and we are looking for the best part of each speaker's stay.

The room wasn't the best I've stayed in.

There are lots of distractors there but the natural beauty of the scenery (B) is the correct answer for speaker 2.

Listening - Part 4

What is listening part 4 like in the First Certificate exam?

You will hear a monologue (one person talk for a long(ish) amount of time) or a conversation between two people for around 3 minutes. You then have to answer 8 multiple choice questions.

Quick tips for listening part 4

This is to test how well you can follow a conversation, there aren't as many distractors but there might still be some.
The questions are in order of the conversation, so the answer to question one will happen before question two etc.

Example Question

You will hear part of a radio interview with a woman called Rachel Reed, who works in a cmmercial art gallery, a shop which sells works of art. For questions 24-30, choose the best answer (A, B or C).

24 What does Rachel say about her job title?

It makes her feel more important than she is
It gives people the wrong idea about her work
It is appropriate for most the work she does

audio here

Answer

Transcript

MAN: This evening in our series 'Careers With a Difference', our guest is Rachel Reed who works for a small commercial art gallery. Rachel, Welcome.

RACHEL: Hello

MAN: Rachel, What exactly do you do?

RACHEL: Well, there's two great things about working for a really small company. Firstly, you get to do a bit of everything. The other is that you can practically invent your job title - mine is marketing manager, although I do a lot of other things too. It does describe the majority of what I do.

The answer is clearly (C).