Listening skills
Be prepare
1. You should know this part has approximately 30 minutes plus 10 minutes to transfer
answers.
2. You have a total of 40 questions in your four section and about 10 questions per section. 3. Listening Test always has following types of questions:
(1) Multiple-choice
①Three or four choices given you’re supposed to choose only one ②May have pictures look carefully
Tips: understand specific part or general idea of whole passage (2) Short answer
Also known as ‘filling the blank’. ①Generally no more than three words or a number (3) Sentence completion
①No more than 3 words or/and a number
②Remember to read through and understand the whole passage (4) Form/note/summery/flow-chart/table completion
①Words limit: One word
②Remind part or all key points
(5) Labelling a diagram/plan/map
①Word limit
②Map/a series of pictures/ichnography (6) Matching
①options could have a set of acronyms/a list of descriptive words or phrases/a set of criteria or similar things
Tips:relations among materials and pay more attention to detail 4. You should pay attention to the word limit.
（Explanation of every question type is made by Mr. Zhang Wenqian）
During the text
1. Main challenge: you must do three things------more or less at the same time.
(1) listen (2) read (3) write
2. Keep your eyes on the paper.
Keep your ears focused on the recording.
Write what you listened on your paper in pencil and then transfer the answer sheet.
3. You may miss some of the information, so you need try to guess the answer. You ought to
make sure finalise all you answers-----don not wait until the end of the text. 4. Mange your time
You are usually given 30 seconds to read each set of questions. If you cannot answer a question , guess it and move on.
Question Types
Section1
1. It is always a conversation between two speakers about a social topic. 2. The content is usually about journey, application or personal information
3. The type of question in this part is usually filling a form/chart. Sometimes maybe a form
with several multiple-choice questions or short answer questions. 4. You should pay attention to the numbers, address, date and names.
Example: (From Listening exercise P4)
Complete the form below(题型: 完成表格)
Write no more than three words and/or a number for each answer MINTONS CAR MART Customer Enquiry Example (Important hints) Make: Engine size: …… PERSONAL DETAILS Name: …… Condition: Answer Lida(Example) 1, 1.4 (number type, pay attention to the interruption :1.6 or 1.8) ….. Wendy 5, Harris (Spelling question, pay special attention to the ‘double r’ which was read continuously) Typical wrong answer: Ajllis (LOL) …… 10, reasonable (it’s a hard one. They can use synonyms to make you confused or read the answer before the speaker mention the hint.) Tip: You have the ability to get full marks in the Section 1. The main point is to keep focused. Watch out for 3 things: 1, synonyms of key information in the chart/form.
2, speaker can read out the answer before they read the important hints. 3, different reading methods can make it hard to tell the answer clearly Now the difficulty level starts to increase!
Section2
1. A monologue about a social topic
2. The content is usually about travelling, campus life or banking. 3. The three main types are table, mapping and short-answers
Example: (from Listening exercise P8)
Choose the correct letter. A, B or C. (题型: 单项选择)
BICYCLES FOR THE WORLD
13, Dan says the charity relies on A
A getting enough bicycles to send regularly. B finding new areas which need the bicycles. C charging for the bicycles it sends abroad.
The speaker used the different sentences to express the same meaning as the letter A. (Which is called paraphrasing)
Answer the question below. (题型: 简答题)
16 How much money did the charity receive when it won an award?
75000￡ The speaker said that ‘He spent 15% of the 75000￡ to …’ don’ t let other number confuse you. Additionally, the right way to read 75000￡ is ‘seventy five thousand pounds’.
Choose Three letters A----G. (题型：多项选择)
Which THREE things can the general public do to help the charity Pedal Power? CEF A organize a bicycle collection B repair the donated bikes C donate their unwanted tools D do voluntary work in its office E hold an event to raise money F identify areas that need bikes G write to the government Caution: rather than/instead of/used to/but always have some wrong answers next to them (转折类连词后常接错误答案)
The Section 2 can be boring for some students for its monologue property. That’s why they always earn more marks in Section 3 than the Section 2. Anyway, the most crucial tip you should remember is to stay focused. If you get bored and lose your mind, you are doomed to fail!!!
(The general explanation of every part of the handbook is made by Mr. Qu Yi.)
Section3
1. A conversation between two to four speakers about an academic topic. 2. Main types are form, multiple-choice and short answer.
Example: (from Listening Exercise P23)
Complete the notes below. (题型：完成图表)
Write No More Than THREE Words for each answer.
Box Telecom Problems: ben affected by ?drop in 21, sales (In Section 3, it becomes common that the speakers use the synonyms to replace key information. Like this question, speaker used another word ‘decrease’ to replace ‘drop’. Remember to remain cautious all the time.) …… …… Cause of problems: ?lack of good 24,__training__ (As usual, the word ‘poor’ take place the ‘lack of good’)
Which opinion does each person express about Box Telecom?
Choose your answer from the box and write the letters A—F next to questions 28—30. (题型：搭配) A its workers are motivated B it has too little investment C it will overcome its problem D its marketing campaign needs improvement E it is old-fashioned F it has strong managers
28 Karin C (‘I think it will recover’=’It will solve its problem’)
29 Jason B (‘to attract right level of investment……definitely needs a boost’=’the
company is lack of/has little investment’)
30 the tutor D (the tutor said he ‘disagree about the advertising campaign…..where could do with more innovation’.)
*The answer would be put in order. But watch out for the disturbing option which may be mentioned in the opposite way by speakers.
This example is a typical group discussion for academic propose. The reading speed and rhythm may be obviously faster than the 2 former Sections. In addition, the Section 3 is also a great challenge for your vocabulary. After all it’s used for academic research. The key point for solving the problems in this Section is finding out the opinion of different participators. Then use their sentence to help you fill the blanks.
Section4
1. A university-style presentation by one speaker about an academic topic. 2. It is always a long conversation. 3. Main type is table completion.
Example1: (From Listening Practice P16)
Complete the sentences below.(题型：完成句子)
Write no more than TWO words and/or a number for each answer. HOUSEHOLD WASTE RECYCLING
32 Recycling saves energy and reduces emissions from landfill sites and incineration plants . (The word ‘incineration’ is a hard word which can deeply confuse most of people. In this case, if you want to earn this mark, you should identify the word with the certain pronunciation.) ……
35 In the UK, 500000 tons of glass is recycled each year. (Read the question carefully, the speaker mentioned ‘two million tons of glass is thrown away this year, but only 500000 tons of that is collected and recycled.)
*In the Section 4, if the first question type you met is the blank-filling type. Then it might be easier for the information quantity is not that much to absorb. The key information listed in the question or mentioned by the speaker or even the right answer can be very academic and hard for you to understand. In that case, you can only strengthen your fundament by viewing or documentaries or English science reports.
Example2: (From Listening Practice P19)
Which section of the university will help postgraduate students with their dissertation in the following ways? (题型：搭配)
A the postgraduate’s own department or tutor B library staff
C another section of the university
Write the correct letter, A, B or C, next to questions 37—40
37 training in specialized computer programs B (‘Include some time on the computers’&’…run data programmes’ computers can only be found in the library.)
38 advising on bibliography presentation A (‘You tutor will …… ask them how they would like to organize the bibliography’. You don’t have to understand what does the word ‘bibliography’ means.)
39 checking the draft of the dissertation B (‘The trainer will …… look through the draft version ……’ When it comes to version, you have to come to the library to use computer.)
40 providing language support C
(‘…… need language lessons …… available from the International Center next to the Law Department’. It‘s definitely another location.)
Listening skills
