Listening Comprehension
This domain tests listening comprehension in English: understanding short dialogues and monologues played in the exam room, then choosing or writing answers. Questions often ask for a detail (time, place, price, number), the speaker's reason or intention, or the best response in a conversational situation. Because the recording is usually played twice, the first listening should confirm the topic and the second should settle details.
Core rules and concepts
- Read the question and options before the recording starts; predict the kind of answer (a time, a place, a person).
- Track the question word: when, where, who, why, how much, how long.
- Listen for contrast and correction markers: but, actually, instead, not ... but, I meant.
- Note numbers, dates, and names in shorthand; do not try to write full sentences.
- On the second listening, check whether an earlier detail was revised.
Worked example
Recording: 'I usually take the 7:15 bus, but today I missed it and caught the 7:30. I was ten minutes late for the 8:00 meeting.' Question: What time was the meeting? Reasoning: The question asks about the meeting, not the buses. The speaker gives two bus times as background and says 'late for the 8:00 meeting', so 8:00 is the meeting time. 'Ten minutes late' means arrival at 8:10, not the meeting start. Do not choose 7:30 simply because it is the last number heard. Answer: 8:00.
Traps that cost marks
- Choosing the last number heard instead of the number attached to the question.
- Missing a correction after but or actually.
- Confusing departure time with arrival time, or start time with being late.
- Ignoring the situation: a polite refusal may contain a reason and an alternative.
- Writing an answer in Japanese when the task requires English.