Cambridge English Listening

The Listening Paper at Each Level

A2 Key and B1 Preliminary Listening takes about 30 minutes, B2 First, C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency about 40. On paper you get time at the end to copy answers onto the answer sheet; on computer you get a short checking time instead.

The Task Types

Voices and Accents

Recordings use a range of native-speaker accents, mostly British, with others appearing from B1 upwards. The speech is scripted but written to sound natural: speakers hesitate, correct themselves and change their minds, and those changes are where the questions are.

• The key is almost never the first thing that sounds like an answer. Listen on for "actually", "but then" and "in the end".
• Every wrong option in a multiple-choice question is usually mentioned. Hearing a word from an option proves nothing.
• In gap fill, the words you write are the words you hear, but the sentence around the gap is a paraphrase.

Common Mistakes

• Not reading the questions in the pause before each part. It is the only preparation time you get.
• Spelling in gap fill. Words spelled out on the recording, and common words, must be spelled correctly.
• Writing too much in sentence completion. A long answer with the key inside it can be marked wrong.
• Worrying about a missed answer and losing the next two. Move on; the second hearing will come.

How to Prepare

1. Listen to talk radio and podcasts at your level, with the transcript hidden, then read it and find what you missed.
2. Practise every part with the transcript open after the second hearing. Underline the sentence that gives the key and the one that sets the trap.
3. Train for accents you rarely hear.
4. Do full parts, twice through, under real conditions.

Every part for all five exams, with audio, answer keys and full transcripts, is on the Cambridge Listening samples page.