FCE Listening Part 1: Before The Exam

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FCE LISTENING TIPS

The Cambridge English: First listening test has 4 parts, 30 questions, and takes
about 40 minutes.
Every recording is played twice, but you will have to concentrate hard both
times.

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!
 students are taught to 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 (see the next section).

FCE Listening Part 1


The first part of the exam is quite easy, as long as you pay attention and don't get
fooled by the distractors. You hear 8 texts (monologues or dialogues) and there's
no connection between them. Each question is worth one point.
This part of the listening exam tests if you can understand what the speaker's
purpose or opinion is.

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