FCE Listening- Introduction and General Tips

The Cambridge B2 First listening test has 4 parts, 30 questions, and takes about 40 minutes.

You normally do this after the Reading and Writing tests, so you might be quite tired before the listening test even begins. Every recording is played twice, but you will have to concentrate hard both times.

Bellow are some general tips.

1. BEFORE THE EXAM

• Make sure you know what to expect in each part of the exam.

• Listen to English! There are billions of free videos, presentations, radio shows, podcasts, etc, that you can listen to.

• Accents – you will hear some standard British and American accents in the exam, but you might also hear Australian, South African, Irish, Scottish… Try to listen to a variety of accents to give you a good chance of understanding everyone.

• Ages – the speakers will range from teenagers to the elderly – so again, make sure you’re listening to a variety of types of people. Oh, and don’t only listen to men, or only women.

• Practice listening and writing at the same time! Many of my students complain that they can’t listen AND write. But they can – they just need to practice a few times.

• Learn from your mistakes. If you take some practice tests don’t just say ‘I got 23 out of 40’. Focus on the ones you got wrong and try to work out WHY you got them wrong. Read the transcripts. Listen again and again until you understand why the answer is the answer and why your answer is the wrong answer. Investing 20 minutes in this activity will have a huge impact!

2. IN THE EXAM

Time management is a way to give yourself an advantage over other students. I know it’s not a competition, but it TOTALLY IS A COMPETITION. Some students who take the exam don’t do ANY preparation, if you can believe it. So at the start of every section Cambridge have to tell everybody what to do. So while the other students are listening to that explanation, you can start reading the questions in the next section already.

Don’t get cocky – you might be 100% sure that your answer is right and think you don’t have to listen when the recording is played the second time. All I have to say about that is that Napoleon was 100% sure it was a good idea to invade Russia in winter, so listen twice and check for possible mistakes.

Use whatever time you have to read the questions, underline keywords, and PREDICT possible answers. Guessing the answer before you listen is really helpful – just bear in mind that the answer you chose might be a distractor.

3. DISTRACTORS, LINKERS, AND OTHER CAMBRIDGE FAVOURITES

Imagine a listening test where you hear a voice saying ‘I have an apple, a banana, and a carrot in my backpack’ and your job is to answer the following question:

What does the speaker have in his backpack?

a] sloth, cushion, basket
b] apple, banana, carrot
c] egg, bacon, lettuce

It’s quite easy, right? Well I’ve got some bad news for you. Cambridge will never, ever, give you a question this easy.

Instead, they will mention ALL of the answers.

This morning I ate a bacon and lettuce sandwich with some sliced egg, and then I went to my job at the zoo where it’s my job to make sure the sloths have enough cushions and baskets. I’m on my way to the monkey cages now so I’ve got a few apples and carrots for them. Oh, and a banana, as you can see poking out of my rucksack.

See that ALL the phrases in a, b, and c were mentioned? Let’s look at them more closely:

a] It’s the speaker’s JOB to give cushions and baskets to the sloths. The question is ‘what does he have in his backpack?’ Meaning right now, and he doesn’t say that he has a cushion in his backpack. And he wouldn’t carry sloths around in a backpack – he knows sloths prefer to be carried in buckets.

Remember, he didn’t SAY that he had those things in his backpack and you can’t ASSUME that he does.

b] He mentions that he has some apples and carrot for the monkeys, and that a banana is sticking out of his rucksack, which is a synonym for backpack. So this is clearly the right answer. Let’s just check c before we write anything down.

c] He had egg, bacon, and lettuce for breakfast – it’s not in his backpack.

So that’s a basic introduction to DISTRACTORS. What about LINKERS?

Linkers are another way Cambridge try to distract you. Here I’m thinking of phrases like ‘whereas’, ‘although’, ‘however’ – all those phrases your English teacher tries to get you to use!

What sandwich did the man have for lunch?

a] bacon and lettuce
b] cheese

I normally eat bacon and lettuce sandwiches when I’m working at the zoo. However, today I had a cheese one.

Get it? The answer is b, but many students will stop listening after hearing ‘bacon and lettuce’.

Some Common Questions