B2 First for Schools

Audioscript, Sample Test 1

This is the Cambridge B2 First Certificate in English for Schools – Listening. Sample Test 1.
I’m going to give you the instructions for this test.
I’ll introduce each part of the test and give you time to look at the questions.
At the start of each piece you will hear this sound:
Tone
You will hear each piece twice.
Remember, while you are listening, write your answers on the question paper. You will have
five minutes at the end of the test to copy your answers onto the separate answer sheet.
There will now be a pause. Please ask questions now because you must not speak during
the test.
Pause
Now open your question paper and look at Part One.
Pause
PART ONE You’ll hear people talking in eight different situations. For questions 1 – 8, choose the best
answer (A, B or C).
Question 1 You hear two friends talking about a solo sailing trip that a teenage boy is doing.
Pause
Tone
M: I’ve just been reading about that teenager setting off on a solo sailing trip. I wouldn’t fancy it,
sailing through storms … tricky.
F: Oh, I’ve sailed in rough conditions – it’s less scary if you know what you’re doing, and I imagine
he’ll have been trained to handle it. I reckon having no companions will be tougher, especially if
you need a chat ...
M: I thought that might be an advantage – no-one to argue with over decisions!
F: Or to help you if you’re about to make mistakes!
M: Well, he can always consult people by radio. I have to admit, though, spending long periods on
his own could be a challenge.
F: Well, let’s follow his trip online.
Pause
Tone
Repeat
Pause
Question 2 You hear a girl phoning a friend about a party.
Pause

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Tone
Hi Sami. I know you’re going to Jamie’s party on Saturday night, so I just wondered how you’re
planning to get there. My dad’s said he’d be happy to give us both a lift there if we wanted
it, although I know he’ll have been at work all day and he’ll probably be really tired – so I
wondered if there was any chance of coming with you, if you’ve got transport sorted out. If it’s
a problem, though, I’ll try and work something out. Oh, and the time of the party’s changed,
hasn’t it? It starts at 8:00 now, apparently. Anyway, let me know what you think!
Pause
Tone
Repeat
Pause
Question 3 You hear a girl telling a friend about an environmental garden project.
Pause
Tone
M: How’s the bee-friendly garden project going?
F: Well, we’ve put some beautiful purple flowers in the garden, which we’d been told the bees
absolutely love – and supplied water for them, and stuff.
M: Sounds brilliant. I’m sure the bees appreciate it!
F: Well, you’d think so, but we’ve hardly seen any! Probably what we should have done was to
observe closely which plants the bees really liked before we bought them. The butterflies seem
pretty happy, although that wasn’t really the point.
M: Well, you can make some changes, can’t you?
F: Yeah, I’m sure we will. I’ve just lost motivation a bit at the moment – but I’m still really
passionate about it.
M: Right ...
Pause
Tone
Repeat
Pause
Question 4 You hear a girl leaving a message for a friend about a book she’s read.
Pause
Tone
Hi Jack! I’ve just read a great book that you’d like, all about space and the night sky – I know
how interested you are. I mean, you’ll probably know all the stuff about how to find different
stars and planets, and name them, but a lot of it was new to me. What was fascinating, though,
were the ideas for doing things like making a rocket – which sounds just your kind of thing!
There’s also lots about scientists investigating what might be out in space and how you can
make a contribution to what they’re doing. That section looks less appealing to me, but see
what you think. I’ll bring it to school tomorrow!
Pause
Tone

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Repeat
Pause
Question 5 You hear a boy telling a friend about an art competition he’s won.
Pause
Tone
F: I’ve just seen your work for the art competition on display in the school library. So many
pictures and photos – no wonder you won!
M: Well, we had to show where our ideas came from for the finished artworks. My work was based
on stuff in the local gallery.
F: Really? I’d love to go with you one day. Those places always make me feel really creative.
M: Right ... I had to do lots of background reading too, though.
F: I guess you needed to. But I loved the way your drawings are connected to the work of one artist
in the gallery – really cool!
M: Well, I was pretty pleased with it all!
Pause
Tone
Repeat
Pause
Question 6 You hear a teacher talking to her class about their lesson in design.
Pause
Tone
OK, everyone, let’s get started on today’s design lesson. Now, as you’ll already know from our
preparation in previous weeks, you’re each going to build a small wooden table that you can
take home, using this wood that I’ve brought along. However, bear in mind when measuring the
wood that if you cut it and it isn’t the right size, your design won’t work. Anyway, well done for
drawing up some very detailed designs on paper – you’ll now need to use those to start making
your tables. You’ll find the task is quite complex, though, so you certainly won’t finish them for
several weeks.
Pause
Tone
Repeat
Pause
Question 7 You hear two friends discussing a school talk about studying maths at university.
Pause
Tone
F: What did you think of the talk? I’d never thought about studying maths at university before, but
I’m giving it some serious thought now.
M: Mm. I’m not sure the speaker told us enough – so I need to know more.
F: Yeah, but it was only supposed to be an introduction. They’ve given us loads of stuff to take
away and read.

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M: Well, a maths course would certainly cover things I’m interested in – so I’m beginning to think
it’d be a good option.
F: OK! It’s a pity more people didn’t turn up, though.
M: Oh, it was about the same as the last talk about uni courses, I think.
F: Right …
Pause
Tone
Repeat
Pause
Question 8 You hear a book illustrator giving a talk about one author he’s worked with.
Pause
Tone
I’ve been working with the author of the Fantastic History! cartoon books for over 20 years now.
He writes all the text, and I draw all the pictures! Strangely, though, we rarely meet – we live 300
miles apart. But that’s never got in the way of how we work – even though we’re very different
people, we approach our work in the same way, and so we got on really well together right from
the start. I have to say, that hasn’t always been the case with other writers I’ve worked with,
when I’ve created drawings to go with their stories – there were a few arguments along the way.
So we’ve been lucky!
Pause
Tone
Repeat
Pause
That is the end of Part One.

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 B2 First for Schools Audioscript Sample Test 1

Now turn to Part Two.

Pause
PART TWO You will hear a teenager called Gavin giving a class presentation about a cookery course
he recently went on. For questions 9 – 18, complete the sentences with a word or short
phrase.
You now have 45 seconds to look at Part Two.
Pause
Tone
Hi! I’m Gavin, and last weekend, I did a one-day cookery course. It was cool! To be honest, I
wasn’t that into cooking before I went – which is surprising, as I know plenty of people who are.
My cousin cooks professionally – in fact, she’s a top chef! My sister cooks a lot, too, and she’s
brilliant at it. The person I really take after, though, is probably my grandmother. She makes
wonderful traditional dishes, and she’s always encouraged me.
Anyway, on the day, Dad drove me to the hotel where the course was taking place. From photos
I’d seen, I thought it’d be somewhere near the hills, out in the countryside, but it turned out to
be not far from the coast, which was lovely.
Once inside the hotel, we were taken into the kitchen – which was about the size I’d imagined.
But the shape of it was amazing, with two different sections at right-angles to each other – main
courses in one, desserts in the other!
The course was taught by a chef called Matt. He’d worked in a French restaurant for a while,
before beginning to train seriously, and then got his present job. But he’d actually started his
career as a cook on a ship, so he had lots of stories to tell!
First of all, Matt asked who’d brought a recipe book with them. Then he took those away and
handed out a notebook to each of us instead, to keep a record of the dishes we made. I must
admit, when I’m looking for something to make, I use my laptop to search and then I make
notes on a tablet, so this sounded like hard work! But I was happy to try it.
Then we had a lesson on using kitchen equipment. Once I was shown how, I could easily deal
with things like the mixer. And although the microwave was a bit complicated, I soon got the
hang of it. But Matt insisted we all learnt how to use a knife properly. The ones in the kitchen
were serious pieces of equipment, able to slice through anything – although I’m sure I’d still
have coped without being shown. But I guess it was useful.
Matt also emphasised the importance of the ingredients in dishes – they should be fresh and
top quality. He gave us the example of herbs, which I know don’t taste good once they’re old,
and another example that surprised me, which was salt. He recommended a good one to use,
although I found it a bit hard to accept that it’d make such a difference to the taste of a dish.
But I often add so much garlic that perhaps I wouldn’t notice anyway!
Then we started making our first dishes – delicious vegetable soup, and a dough that I thought
was the base for a pizza. As that’s my favourite, I was really pleased! But then we were told
to use it to make a bread roll to go with our first course. It tasted great, and looked very
professional.
After that, we moved on to making our main course, a pasta dish with sauce, followed by a
fantastic strawberry dessert. There were lots of details to remember, but Matt did some really
helpful demonstrations before we began, about how to create each dish. I don’t think I’d have
really got the idea without those, as it was sometimes difficult to follow Matt’s instructions
while we were cooking. But I managed in the end!
Finally, we sat down to eat what we’d made. The kitchen staff had decorated our food, so it
looked fantastic – so good, in fact, that I actually began thinking about becoming a chef when

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I got older. It sounded fun, especially when Matt told us about all the amazing desserts he
created for the hotel restaurant. Then he mentioned that the job of a chef always involves long
hours – in his case from 10 am until 11:30 at night. So it didn’t seem so fantastic to me after
that! But it was still a great day!
Pause
Now you’ll hear Part Two again.
Tone
Repeat
Pause
That is the end of Part Two.

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Now turn to Part Three.

Pause
PART THREE You’ll hear five short extracts in which teenagers are talking about their love of drawing
cartoons. For questions 19 – 23, choose from the list (A – H) what advice each speaker gives
about drawing cartoons. Use the letters only once. There are three extra letters which you
do not need to use.
You now have 30 seconds to look at Part Three.
Pause
Tone
Speaker One
Pause
When I was younger, I’d draw cartoons on my mum’s notebooks – the ones she always took
to her office. I knew she’d show them to other people to see what they thought, so I worked
really hard to get the drawings right, even if I wasn’t happy with them at first. They weren’t
particularly sophisticated drawings. But starting with quite basic figures, drawn with a few
lines, helped me experiment with drawing movement and so on – and I’d recommend that to
anyone doing cartoons. Since then, my style’s developed, but I’ve never pushed it. I’m always
just happy to see where my imagination will take me – and my pens and pencils!
Pause
Speaker Two
Pause
My dad’s an artist, so when I was young he taught me how to draw – and I’ve done it ever
since, using crayons, paints and whatever makes a mark on paper, to draw cartoons. But I
really started improving when I began looking more carefully at my surroundings – people in
the street, animals, shops, whatever, to give me inspiration for my drawings. That’s the key to
developing good cartoon drawings, I think. And everything seems to flow much more easily
once you’ve got that initial inspiration. Of course, you can look in comics for ideas – but if you’re
just copying someone else’s work, you’ll never be as happy with the end result.
Pause
Speaker Three
Pause
I’ve been working with another classmate to draw cartoons to be used at school. We’ve done
cartoons of other students, the classrooms and whatever else we see, and used them on things
like concert posters and the school magazine. They’ve been really popular – thanks to my art
teacher. She got me to develop my drawing by using things like big sheets of paper and ink
pens. That was important, as my cartoons would never have got any better if I’d just kept using
the same old pencils and notepads – so that’s what I’d tell people wanting to take it up. I get
totally different effects now – and loads of new ideas for cartoons!
Pause
Speaker Four
Pause
I’d love to see my cartoons in a big, well-known comic one day – but that’s unlikely at the
moment, as my cartoons aren’t always very good. I’m determined to carry on trying, though
– that’s the only way you improve, I’d say. I’ll redraw a cartoon a number of times before I’m
satisfied – and my best mate will always tell me honestly what’s wrong, even though I never ask

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him! But my style’s slowly developing – that’s not really important to me, but I notice it when
I look back at my early cartoons. Now I’ve moved on from doing simple line drawings to being
bigger and bolder – and they really get people’s attention!
Pause
Speaker Five
Pause
I get a lot of great ideas for cartoons just walking to school in the mornings, believe it or not. I’m
constantly observing people, and making notes of stuff that’s happening. I know that doesn’t
work for everyone, though – cartoonists get their inspiration from lots of different sources. But I
often join up with a mate from school – he writes some great stories, and I add pictures to them,
using whatever materials I can find. As a team, we’re much more imaginative, so I’d definitely
suggest that as a way of producing stuff, even if you feel your drawings are still fairly basic.
Pause
Now you will hear Part Three again.
Tone
Repeat
Pause
That is the end of Part Three.

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 B2 First for Schools Audioscript Sample Test 1

Now turn to Part Four.

Pause
PART FOUR You’ll hear an interview with a teenager called Laura Moffat, who recently won a
trampolining competition. For questions 24 – 30, choose the best answer (A, B or C).
You now have one minute to look at Part Four.
Pause
Tone
M: With me is Laura Moffatt, who’s recently won a big trampolining competition. Laura, welcome.
Can you remember your first ever trampolining experience?
F: Yes – and it wasn’t successful! I was on a student exchange trip, and my host family had a
trampoline in the garden. I’d never set foot on one before, but I guessed I’d be expected to
during my stay. Anyway, their daughter had a trampolining party with friends, so I decided
I’d join in. And actually, I didn’t feel that nervous as I climbed on it, even though the ground
was some way below me – normally that would’ve worried me! But the other girls were pretty
experienced at trampolining and laughed as I struggled to even stand up. They weren’t being
nasty, though, and I guess I did look quite funny! But I was a bit embarrassed, and it put me off
trying again for a while.
M: But luckily you did try again, some time later.
F: That’s right, at a trampolining centre, and it was a whole different experience from the first
time. I was with a group of friends, and we got quite competitive! I’d done some gymnastics
by then, too, so I managed the jumps on the trampoline as if I’d done it for years because I had
more flexibility. And it was such a thrill to jump so high in the air! I was definitely hooked by the
time we finished the session!
M: And you soon started taking part in serious competitions. What sort of challenge do they
present?
F: Well, they’re always exciting, but they can be tough. In a typical competition, there are lots
of elements that the judges are looking at, like how high you jump, your shape while you’re
jumping and how difficult your routine is, all of which you’re keeping in your head – and I can
cope with all that. But the whole time, you’re really pushing yourself hard, and the sheer effort
of launching yourself into the air over and over again can really take it out of you. I’m usually
pretty out of breath after I finish.
M: But it must be thrilling to do the very high jumps.
F: You’re right! And in fact, when you’re at the highest point of a jump, there’s a brief moment of
weightlessness. Everything slows down, and it really feels as if you’re flying. Quite weird – but
wonderful! But before I know it, the air’s rushing up towards me, and I’m heading back down to
land on the trampoline again. It’s all over very fast, of course!
M: And what do your friends think of the moves you do on the trampoline?
F: Well, I show them videos of me, and they’ll go ‘Wow, what was that weird jump you did?’. They
know I couldn’t have done that at the beginning. And now trampolining’s become an Olympic
sport, they no longer think it’s just about people messing around on their garden trampolines.
They realise there’s a real sport behind it. I really hope some people I know will join me,
although so far I don’t think anyone’s expressed an interest.
M: But you can also get injured when you’re trampolining, can’t you?
F: Well, there are risks, of course, like any sport, but unlike in rugby or football, you’re not crashing
into other players, so you’re less likely to break a bone or pull a muscle – unless you keep
falling off the trampoline. And the people who tend to do that generally haven’t taken safety

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very seriously and have pushed things to the limits. It’s the same in any sport. But if you go to a
trampolining centre that’s properly supervised by staff, you’ll be fine.
M: So … any advice to people taking up trampolining?
F: Well, it’s important to remember that if you’ve never tried jumping on a trampoline before, then
try not to be too ambitious. Remember, it takes ages to become skilled – so just concentrate on
having fun! But if you want to take it further and enter competitions, then of course you’ll have
to put in the effort.
M: Laura, thanks.
Pause
Now you’ll hear Part Four again.
Tone
Repeat
Pause
That’s the end of Part Four.
There will now be a pause of five minutes for you to copy your answers onto the separate
answer sheet. Be sure to follow the numbering of all the questions. I’ll remind you when
there’s one minute left, so that you’re sure to finish in time.
Pause
You have one more minute left.
Pause
That’s the end of the test. Please stop now. Your supervisor will now collect all the
question papers and answer sheets.

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