Listening
B1 Preliminary Listening has four parts and 25 questions, lasts about 30 minutes, and every recording is heard twice. You then get six minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. The paper tests practical understanding: following directions and messages, catching specific facts, and recognising a speaker's opinion when it is expressed indirectly.
The four parts
- Part 1 (7 questions): seven short recordings, each with a question and three pictures. The pictures usually show objects, times, places or activities mentioned in the recording.
- Part 2 (6 questions): six short dialogues or monologues with three-option multiple choice.
- Part 3 (6 questions): one longer monologue - a talk, announcement or phone message - with six gaps. Answers are one or two words, often a number, day, name or place.
- Part 4 (6 questions): an interview with three-option multiple choice, testing opinions, reasons and feelings.
Worked example (Part 3)
Transcript: "The tour starts at ten thirty - sorry, that's ten thirty, not nine thirty as it says on the website - so please be at the main entrance ten minutes before." Question: The tour begins at ______. Answer: 10.30. The speaker gives a time, immediately corrects herself, and explicitly rejects the website's time. "Nine thirty" sits on the page as bait for anyone who writes down the first number they hear. Note also that Part 3 answers must be spelled as heard; if a speaker spells a name ("H-A-R-T-L-E-Y"), copy the letters exactly.
Traps that cost marks
- Writing before the speaker finishes. Watch for actually, but, I mean, sorry - they usually signal a correction.
- Part 1 pictures that show something mentioned but not chosen. Listen for which item the speaker finally settles on.
- Part 4 options that repeat the recording's words but do not answer the question. The correct option is normally a paraphrase, not an echo.
- Exceeding two words in Part 3, or writing a full phrase where a single word is needed.
- Spelling lost in the transfer time. Six minutes is enough to check every answer and copy it into the right box.