Listening Comprehension
The listening section of the Okayama public high school English test asks you to take information from spoken conversations and monologues and record it on paper. The passages are usually read twice and the questions and choices are printed in your booklet, so your job is to match what you hear to a printed option, or to write a short English word or phrase into a printed sentence.
What the recording asks for
- Numbers: times, prices, dates, bus numbers, temperatures.
- Place and direction: which shop, which gate, where on a map.
- Reason: why a speaker changes a plan.
- Feeling or intention, and "What will X do next?"
- Short dictation: one word or phrase written into a sentence.
Worked example
Recording: "I usually take the 7:30 bus, but today I'm taking the 8:00 one. I have to drop my sister at school by 7:40." Question: Why is the speaker using the later bus? Choices: (a) The 7:30 bus was full. (b) He must take his sister to school. (c) He woke up late. (d) He wants to arrive later. Reasoning: "usually ... but today" signals a contrast, and the reason follows "I have to". The 7:40 obligation does not fit the 7:30 departure. Nothing is said about the bus being full, and waking late is never mentioned. Answer: (b).
Traps
- Choosing the number you heard first; distractors often repeat the original plan.
- Writing during the first reading and missing the correction given in the second.
- Missing negation: "not until", "no need to", "doesn't have to".
- Spelling errors in the dictation item, which cancel an otherwise correct answer.
- Confusing "what did he do" with "what will he do".