B1 LISTENING

What’s in the Listening paper?

The Cambridge English: Preliminary Listening paper has four parts. For each part, you have to listen to a recorded text or texts and answer some questions. You hear each recording twice.

Summary

Time allowed:	36 minutes, including 6 minutes to copy your answers onto the answer sheet.
Number of parts:	4
Number of questions:	25
Marks:	25% of total

Part 1 (Multiple choice)

What's in Part 1?	Seven short recordings. For each recording there is a question and three pictures (A, B or C). You have to listen to the recordings and choose the right answers.
What do I have to practise?	Listening to find key information.
How many questions are there?	7
How many marks are there?	One mark for each correct answer.

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Part 2 (Multiple choice)

What's in Part 2?	A longer recording (one person speaking or an interview) and six questions. You have to listen to the recording and choose the right answer (A, B or C) for each question.
What do I have to practise?	Listening to find specific information and detailed meaning.
How many questions are there?	6
How many marks are there?	One mark for each correct answer.

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Part 3 (Gap-fill)

What's in Part 3?	A longer monologue (one person speaking) and a page of notes which summarise the text. Six pieces of information are missing from the notes. You have to listen to the recording and fill in the missing information.
What do I have to practise?	Listening for information.
How many questions are there?	6
How many marks are there?	One mark for each correct answer.

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Part 4 (True/False)

What's in Part 4?	A longer informal conversation and six sentences. You have to listen to the conversation and decide if each sentence is true or false.
What do I have to practise?	Listening for detailed meaning, attitude and opinion.
How many questions are there?	6
How many marks are there?	One mark for each correct answer.

Listening practice 1  Listening practice 2