Listening: Tracking the Final Decision After Multiple Time Proposals
Listening section: a 45-second dialogue about a culture-festival meeting is played twice. Candidates may take notes but cannot pause. The dialogue includes: 「水曜日の3時はどう？」「水曜日はアルバイトがあるから、4時なら大丈夫。」「4時ね。あ、でも教室が4時まで使えないって。」「じゃあ、4時半は？」「4時半は先生の会議と重なるんだ。5時でもいい？」「5時は図書館の当番。じゃあ、木曜日の4時は？」「木曜日なら大丈夫。4時にしよう。」 Question: 「二人はいつ会いますか。」 Options: A 水曜日の4時; B 水曜日の4時半; C 木曜日の4時; D 木曜日の5時. A candidate hears 「4時半」 clearly and writes B, missing the later rejection. The audio is not repeated after the final line. The candidate has 30 seconds to transfer the answer.
1. Which option is correct? Trace each rejected time.
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Correct option: C, Thursday at 4. Trace the rejections: Wednesday 3 is rejected because of the part-time job; Wednesday 4 is rejected because the classroom is unavailable until 4; Wednesday 4:30 is rejected because it overlaps the teacher's meeting; Wednesday 5 is rejected because of library duty; Thursday 4 is accepted and confirmed with 「木曜日なら大丈夫。4時にしよう。」 The final confirmation line overrides all earlier proposals.
2. Why does option B feel correct, and which discourse markers should the candidate listen for?
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B feels correct because 「4時半」 is said clearly and is the last time heard before the teacher's meeting problem; a candidate who stops listening at the first plausible time writes B. The rejection markers are 「でも」「重なるんだ」「5時でもいい？」 and the later shift to 「木曜日」. The acceptance markers are 「なら大丈夫」 and the final 「～にしよう」, which is a decision, not a suggestion. In dialogue items, the last explicit decision wins over the most recent time mentioned.
3. Suggest a note-taking layout that prevents this particular trap.
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Use a three-column note table: day/time | status | reason. Write W3 × part-time, W4 × room, W4:30 × meeting, W5 × library, Th4 ○ confirmed. Use × for rejected and ○ for accepted, and draw a box around the final line with 「しよう」. This prevents the 4:30 trap because the status column shows it was rejected before the Thursday proposal. During the second listening, check only the final two exchanges.