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C1 Advanced (CAE) · Paper 3 · 97 free exercises
C1 Advanced Listening: the complete guide
Four parts, 30 questions, about 40 minutes, and every recording heard twice. What each part tests at C1, the marks you need, how to handle the two-task matching, and free practice with instant marking.
Try one now · Part 3 · 1 of 6 in the real paper
You hear part of an interview with a furniture designer.
People assume I start with sketches. I don’t, actually. I’ll spend weeks just handling the wood, seeing how it bends and where it splits, before I’ve any idea what it’ll become. The drawing comes almost last.
What does she say about the way she works?
- She draws her ideas before choosing materials.
- She lets the material suggest the design.
- She prefers to finish pieces quickly.
- She works from other people’s sketches.
She corrects what “people assume”. What does she actually do first?
- 4 parts
- 30 questions
- 40 minutes
- 180 for a C1
Practise Part 1 free → · Try a timed paper
The four parts, and where students lose marks
Tap a part for its guide
- Part 1 · Multiple Choice: Extracts: Feeling, attitude and opinion in three conversations · 23 free exercises. Questions: 6 questions, 1 mark each. What you hear: 3 extracts, 2 questions each. C1 students score: 76%.
- Part 2 · Sentence Completion (Hardest): Specific words in a talk, written as you hear them · 25 free exercises. Questions: 8 questions, 1 mark each. What you hear: 1 talk, write the words. C1 students score: 69%.
- Part 3 · Multiple Choice: Interview: Opinion and attitude in an interview or discussion · 24 free exercises. Questions: 6 questions, 1 mark each. What you hear: 1 interview, 4 options each. C1 students score: 75%.
- Part 4 · Multiple Matching: Five speakers, two tasks: what each says and feels · 25 free exercises. Questions: 10 questions, 1 mark each. What you hear: 5 speakers, 2 tasks. C1 students score: 72%.
- Every part counts towards one Listening score (30 marks)
- You hear every recording twice
Sentence Completion is where C1 students score lowest (69%). Predict the kind of word each gap needs before the recording starts, then write exactly what you hear, spelled correctly. Multiple Choice: Extracts is the friendliest part (76%): bank those marks.
Average score from 2,030 tries by 218 C1 students on Cambridge Ready.
The marks you need for a C1
180 on the Cambridge English Scale
- Listening: 18 of 30. About 60% of the marks gives 180.
Your overall result is the average of all five skills, so a good Listening score can make up for a weaker paper.
From Cambridge’s published conversion tables. The exact mark varies slightly from paper to paper.
The method
Six habits that hold under time pressure
- In Part 1, read both questions for each extract in the pause before it plays.
- In Part 2, write the exact words you hear, usually one to three. Don’t paraphrase.
- In Part 3, wait for each speaker’s final position: views are developed, then qualified.
- In Part 4, do Task 1 on the first listening, then Task 2 and your checks on the second.
- Use the second listening to confirm, not to start again.
- Fill every gap. There’s no penalty for a wrong answer.
The traps
The mistakes we see most
- Every option gets mentioned: Distractors are usually said aloud. The right option is the one that answers the question asked.
- Agree or disagree?: Questions often ask whether two speakers share a view. Listen for “I’m not so sure” and “exactly”.
- Rewording your Part 2 answer: The sentence on the page is reworded, but the answer is the speaker’s own word. (
a boat→ a canoe (the word you hear)) - Mixing up the two tasks: In Part 4 each speaker needs one answer in each task. Keep the two lists of options apart.
Practise Sentence Completion free → The part where C1 students score lowest. 25 exercises, every answer explained.
Questions students ask
How long is the C1 Advanced Listening test?
About 40 minutes, with four parts and 30 questions. Every recording is played twice.
How many marks do you need to pass C1 Advanced Listening?
About 18 out of 30 in Listening, which gives 180 on the Cambridge English Scale, the C1 level. You pass on your overall score, the average of all five skills.
Which part of C1 Advanced Listening is the hardest?
For C1 students on Cambridge Ready, Sentence Completion (Part 2, 69%) and Multiple Matching (Part 4, 72%) have the lowest average scores.
How does C1 Advanced Listening Part 4 work?
Five short monologues on one theme, and two tasks. For each speaker you choose one option in Task 1 and one in Task 2, so there are 10 questions in all, and you hear the whole part twice.
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