FCE Listening Introduction

The Cambridge English: First listening test has 4 parts, 30 questions, and takes about 40
minutes. You normally do this after the Reading and Writing tests, so you might be
quite tired before the listening test even begins. Every recording is played twice, but you
will have to concentrate hard both times.

I'll start this section with some general tips and then discuss each section separately.

1. Before the Exam

 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 30'. 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. In the Exam
Time management is a way to give yourself an advantage over rival students. I know it's
not a competition, but it TOTALLY IS A COMPETITION. Some students who take the
exam don't do ANY preparation, if you can believe it. So at the start of every section
Cambridge have to tell everybody what to do. So while the other students are listening
to that explanation, you can start reading the questions in the next section already.

Don't get cocky - you might be 100% sure that your answer is right and think you don't
have to listen when the tape is played the second time. All I have to say about that is
that Napoleon was 100% sure it was a good idea to invade Russia in winter. My
students are taught to listen twice and check for possible mistakes.

Use whatever time you have to read the questions, underline keywords, and PREDICT
possible answers. Guessing the answer before you listen is really helpful - just bear in
mind that the answer you chose might be a distractor (see the next section).
3. 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.

See that ALL the phrases in a, b, and c were mentioned? Let's look at them more
closely:

a] It's the speaker's JOB to give cushions and baskets to the sloths. The question is 'what
does he have in his backpack?' Meaning right now, and he doesn't say that he has a
cushion in his backpack. And he wouldn't carry sloths around in a backpack - he knows
sloths prefer to be carried in buckets.

Remember, he didn't SAY that he had those things in his backpack and you can't
ASSUME that he does.
b] He mentions that he has some apples and carrots for the monkeys, and that a banana
is sticking out of his rucksack, which is a synonym for backpack. So this is clearly the
right answer. Let's just check c before we write anything down.

c] He had egg, bacon, and lettuce for breakfast - it's not in his backpack.

So that's a basic introduction to DISTRACTORS. What about LINKERS?

Linkers are another way Cambridge try to distract you. Here I'm thinking of phrases like
'whereas', 'although', 'however' - all those phrases your English teacher tries to get you
to use!

What sandwich did the man have for lunch?

a} bacon and lettuce
b] cheese 
I normally eat bacon and lettuce sandwiches when I'm working at the zoo. However,
today I had a cheese one.

Get it? The answer is b, but many students will stop listening after hearing 'bacon and
lettuce'.
FCE Listening Part 1
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:

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.”

If you haven't done it already, take a minute to read through the question and answer
and decide if you'd pick A, B, or C. 

Okay?

So this question is all about purpose. Why is the guy calling?

A - to confirm some arrangements. Nope - this call is all about making some new
arrangements. 'I wondered if you wanted...' uses the past tense to talk about the future.
It's a polite construction. But if you weren't sure it was about the future, there are more
clues that it's a new invitation. 'Don't feel like you have to come' isn't something I'd
normally say to someone who had already accepted an invitation. And 'let me know one
way or another' is definitely about a new invitation.
B - to issue an invitation. Yep, this seems to fit. To issue here means 'to give'.

C - to persuade someone to do something. I can imagine some students choosing this

one because it seems like the guy is saying 'please come to my party!' But he isn't. How
do we know? The sentence 'don't feel you have to come'.

Conclusion

As you can see from this quick example - you have to be able to analyse what you hear -
but you also need to know vocabulary such as the difference between confirm and issue,
and certainly you'll need to know words like persuade.
FCE Listening Part 2
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!”

So what do you think the answer is?

The important bit is at the end. 'Some people find it appealing because of its size and
shape... but for me it was such a great name!' There's our answer right there. Name. That
wasn't one of my guesses but that's okay. We don't guess to get the answer - we guess
because it HELPS us get the answer.

The answer to the next question comes right after the answer to the first question, so
you can't waste time admiring your skills.

Quick predictions - arms / legs / ass - any part of the body really. Just don't write 'eyes'
or 'cheeks'. Listen:

“The name 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”

It's easy when it's written down, isn't it? But it's a listening exam, not a reading exam... 
That's why the best way to practice this part of the exam is to do listening activities
similar to the one in First Certificate.

More Tips for Part 2

 Never write more than 3 words.

 If the answer is a number, you can write the number. 300 (or you can write three
hundred), 1918, etc.
 Be careful to read the whole sentence to make sure your answer fits
grammatically. For example, if I wrote 'name that interested her' as my answer to
the bear question, I wouldn't get a point. It says 'interested' later in the sentence.
See?
 The second question always comes after the first question. There is normally one
'paragraph' for each question - if you look at some transcripts from past papers
you'll see what I mean. The first question is answered in the first paragraph - on
the recording the speaker leaves a slight pause - then the next question is
answered in the next section.
 The sentences on your paper are different from what you hear on the recording.
But the words you write should be exactly the same as what you hear.
 Spelling isn't super-important in this part of the exam, though if you spell
something really incorrectly you could miss a point. Basically if it's clear that
you heard and understood the word, you should get a point. The only way to be
REALLY sure of getting a point is to spell it properly!
FCE Listening Part 3

1. Overview
In part 3 of the listening test you hear 5 short clips, each from a different speaker, on the
same topic. There are 8 options and you have to match the options to the speakers.
Obviously that leaves 3 options that don't match any of the speakers.

The introduction is always the same and you should pay attention to two things:

In this example, the topic is a visit to a city, which probably means vocabulary about
travel and cities. You have to say what the speaker liked most about the city. Without
looking at the options, what would you expect to see on the list? The food, the weather,
the architecture, the people?

When you've eliminated the 3 wrong answers and decided which speaker said what,
your finished paper might look like this:
2. What skills does part 3 test?
This part of the exam is about how you understand attitudes and opinions, plus your
ability to work out the overall meaning of what someone is saying.

For example, you might hear 5 people talking about their last holiday, and you have to
decide if their holiday was stressful or fun, expensive or cheap.

That means understanding that a person was happy with his holiday even though he
never used the exact word 'happy'.

3. What are the biggest mistakes students make?

Mistake 1

One trap a lot of students fall into is hearing specific words on the audio and matching
them with words in the options. For example, take a closer look at two of the options
from the picture above:
Now 'listen' to speaker 1.

“Oh my time in Rome was fantastic! All the people are so well dressed - they’re so
stylish! And the markets were great fun - really good!”

Is the answer C or D?

Think about it...

Done?

As I hope you guessed, the correct answer is neither C nor D. The people have style, but
answer D is about the buildings, not the people. And the markets might be good but
answer C is about the variety of goods.

If C was the answer it would sound like this:

“There was such a range of products for sale! Every market had a different speciality,
like fish, or fruit, but even in the fruit market you could still buy some sneakers or even
some DVDs.”

Get it? If you hear the exact word it's 96% NOT the answer. Repeat - NOT THE
ANSWER!

Mistake 2

I don't know about you, but all my students are very lazy and arrogant (except the ones
reading this...). They listen to the CD for ten seconds and write their answer. Then they
pick up their phones and send smiley faces to their boyfriends.

That's a big mistake because the answer can be in the middle or the end of each speech.
It's a DOUBLE mistake because if you write 'B' as the answer for question 1, but B is
really the answer for question 4, then you're sure to get two questions wrong.

It's a listening test and you have to listen!

The good news is you get to listen twice - use the opportunity to check your answer the
second time round.

Mistake 3

I always give my students time to read the task and options before I play the CD.
Sometimes they use this time to draw little spider webs on the page or add facial hair to
people in the coursebook. What they should be doing, as you know, is reading the
options and underlining key words!
4. Case Study
Let's 'listen' to one of the speakers from the example above and discuss it a bit.

“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.”

Here are the options:

 A   the efficiency of the public transport system 

 B   the natural beauty of the scenery 
 C   the variety of goods in the markets 
 D   the style of the architecture 
 E   the well-designed plan of the city 
 F   the helpfulness of the people 
 G   the range of leisure opportunities 
 H   the standard of the accommodation 

Okay, first up - the room. The room WASN'T the best, and our job is to find what the
speaker LIKED, so we can rule out H.

We had a view of the lake, forests, mountains - that sounds like B - the natural beauty.
But let's keep listening just in case.

We were too lazy to go to the market - so it's not C. How can it be his favourite thing if
he didn't even go?

And what about G - the range of leisure activities? He mentions a swimming pool,
shows, theatres... but he didn't go to the last 2 things and he doesn't say it was HIS
favourite thing, only that he heard good things about it from others.

So B then.
FCE Listening Part 4
You hear an interview or conversation (about 3 minutes long) and have to answer 7
multiple choice questions. By this time, you might be quite tired from concentrating so
this will be a challenge even if you’re normally quite good at this kind of task.

Like in the rest of the listening test, you have to ignore distractors, listen for linking
words, and understand the meaning of what the people are saying.

What it looks like

After underlining key information, eliminating wrong answers, and choosing the right
answer, your paper might look like this:
Read the question - carefully!
Make sure you read the questions carefully because some of the answers might be true
without being the answer. A good example is when the question asks you to find the
main reason for something. Example:

What’s the main reason the writer moved to Spain?

 a) the weather
 b) his girlfriend
 c) the food

‘What everyone knows about Spain is that the climate is perfect for writers, and I’m a
bit of an amateur chef so it’s great to be surrounded by good restaurants and fresh
ingredients. But despite that, I would have stayed in England had it not been for my
partner. She wanted to be close to her family, whereas it’s quite easy for me to work
from anywhere in the world.’

As you can see, the speaker mentions all three choices - the food, his girlfriend, the
weather. But only one is the MAIN reason for his move.
Guess before you listen
Another good tip is to think what the answer will be before you hear the recording. But
while that can be VERY helpful, some students go too far with it. A lot of my students
work in banks, so imagine you’re a banker and this question comes up:

What is the speaker’s opinion of bankers?

 a) They are true heroes; princes among men

 b) They are thieves and criminals
 c) They are bad people in good suits

Sometimes my students will decide ‘the answer must be A, of course!’ and as a result
they don’t listen to the CD. The correct method is to think, ‘My answer is A, but I
wonder what the speaker says?’ That way, you are alert and attentive.

More Tips
 When you’re practicing this before the exam, don’t only try to find the answer.
Also say why the wrong answers are wrong. That will really help you build
the skills you need to do well in the exam.
 The answers are in the same order as the questions. 
 You’ve got a lot of text to read in part 4, so as soon as part 3 finishes, turn to
part 4 and start underlining key words.
 As always, be very suspicious when you hear the exact words from the answers
in the audio.
 You probably won’t know every word, so sometimes you’ll have to guess the
meaning. That’s a skill you can work on while you’re preparing. Take a text
with a new word and instead of reaching for your phone to check the meaning,
think about what it could mean from the context.

Case Study 1
Here’s one taken from everybody’s favourite Cambridge English: First preparation
book, Ready for First. It’s about a man who gives guided tours of his city called ‘ghost
walks’.
Alan says that his customers on the ghost walks:

 a) are never disappointed

 b) want to be frightened
 c) laugh at all his jokes

Before we listen, let’s use our knowledge to guess at the answer. First, nobody ever
laughs at every joke, so I think it’s unlikely to be C. And customers are always
complaining about something - So probably it’s not A. How about B? People want to be
frightened? Seems strange, but horror movies are very successful, and most people like
to sit around a fire and tell ghost stories. Right, let’s listen:

Interviewer: How about people who go on the tours? Do they get frightened?
Alan: Well, obviously these are ghost walks, so it wouldn’t be much fun if there wasn’t
a bit of fear involved. Not too much, of course, we often have children in the groups, so
we have to be careful. But people expect to be scared and they’d be disappointed if they
weren’t, so we aim at least to give them goose bumps, and perhaps even a little fright -
after which they all laugh nervously and enjoy the release of tension.

What do you think the answer is?

Me, I don’t think it’s A. He uses the word ‘disappointed’, which makes me suspicious. I
want to check exactly what he says - ‘people would be disappointed if they weren’t
scared.’ Okay but that’s very different from ‘his customers are never disappointed’,
right? I mean, an ‘if’ sentence is for things that are less than 100% certain, so that
doesn’t match the word ‘never’. Never means 100%.

He does say that they laugh at his jokes… maybe it’s C? But wait - he gives them a little
scare and then they laugh - not because of a joke. Ah! They nearly tricked me! In fact,
he doesn’t mention telling jokes at all.

That leaves B, and we know that’s the correct choice because he says ‘people expect to
be scared’ and they ‘would be disappointed if they weren’t scared’. It seems that people
will pay you money to frighten them. Good business model!

Case Study 2
This one’s from a Cambridge exam book. It’s from an interview with a man called Tony
who makes wildlife films.

Tony says the achievement he is most proud of is:

 a) helping to make a popular film

 b) doing a scientific study
  c) working on an award-winning project

Before I listen, I’m already on high alert! I’m pretty sure Tony will mention ALL
THREE THINGS because the question asks for the one he is MOST proud of. So I’ll
have to filter out the two that are not the right answer. Deep breath - okay I’m ready!

Interviewer: What have you achieved that you’re most proud of?
Tony: Actually, one of my most popular films was the one I did on lions but I didn’t
feel it got anywhere near, in terms of being closest to my heart, to the time I spent
rescuing orphan monkeys. The special sanctuary I set up won a world nature prize. A
close second would be the research project I was involved with on whales in the South
Atlantic. I spent quite a bit of time there and it was brilliant.

Ha! That was easy! So the first mention was the film on lions - okay that’s his most
popular film, probably the reason that most people know him. But the most important
part is what he says next. The sentence construction is a little bit complicated, but in a
simple form goes like this:

My most popular film is the one about lions but helping orphan monkeys meant more to
me.

The monkey project won an award (the world nature prize), so C is closer to the answer
than A.

All we need to do now is check whether B made him more proud than C.

‘A close second would be the research project’ - that’s pretty clear! So the things that
made him most proud go C>B>A.

Actually, one of my most popular films was the one I did on lions but I didn’t feel it
got anywhere near, in terms of being closest to my heart, to the time I spent rescuing
orphan monkeys. The special sanctuary I set up won a world nature prize. A close
second would be the research project I was involved with on whales in the South
Atlantic. I spent quite a bit of time there and it was brilliant.