C1 Advanced Listening Sentence Completion Practice
C1 Advanced (CAE) · Listening Part 2 · 21 free exercises
A monologue — a talk, lecture or presentation — with sentences to complete using the exact words you hear. The sentences follow the order of the recording, and answers are short: usually one to three words, often a specific noun.
Listening Sentence Completion: Write exactly what you hear — the whole word, spelled right.
- A monologue — you fill gaps
- 1–3 words — you hear
- 1 mark — each
- Heard twice — spelling counts
Catching specific information — usually a concrete noun — from natural speech and writing it accurately. The word on the page is the exact word spoken; marks are lost to missing part of it, misspelling it, or mishearing it.
What real learners get wrong: From 904 real gaps, C1 learners get 30% wrong — the three error types are incomplete answers ("blue turtle" → "turtle"), spelling ("sandbags" → "sand bags"), and mishearing.
The method
- Read each sentence before the recording and predict the word class you need.
- Write the exact words you hear — do not paraphrase or improve them.
- Capture the whole answer, including describing words ("blue turtle", not "turtle").
- Check it fits the sentence grammatically — singular or plural, verb or noun.
- Spell it correctly on the second listening. Never leave a blank.
The traps
- Writing only part of the answer: The most expensive error — a describing word spoken with the noun gets left out.
- Spelling slips: The right word heard correctly, then a letter wrong or a compound split. Zero marks either way.
- Mishearing the word: A similar-sounding word replaces the real one — prediction from the sentence catches these.
- Changing the word’s form: Write what is said, then check the grammar — do not reshape the word.
All Listening Sentence Completion exercises
Cambridge English Advanced 1, Cambridge University Press
- Bath-Toy Cargo - Test 1
- Gap Year Trip - Test 3
- Mission to Mars - Test 4
- Photographer and Cameraman - Test 2
Cambridge English Advanced 2, Cambridge University Press
- Protecting the Seas from Pollution - Test 7
- Robots Like Termites - Test 5
- Vanilla on Reunion - Test 6
- Working with Chocolate - Test 8
Cambridge Exam Booster for Advanced, Cambridge University Press
- International volunteering - Worksheet 2
- Life as a children's book author and illustrator - Worksheet 3
- Science fairs - Worksheet 1
Ready for C1 Advanced 4th Edition Workbook, Macmillan Education
- Creativity and Eccentricity - Unit 6
- How Photography Has Changed - Unit 2
- Restoring an Island's Ecology - Unit 12
Ready for C1 Advanced 4th Edition, Macmillan Education
- Belinda Cooke Sleep Study - Unit 6
- The Gaming Industry - Unit 8
- Training as an Apprentice Chef - Unit 4
- Volunteering at the Childhood Museum - Unit 2
- Waxwork Sculptor - Ready for Listening
- Wildlife Photographer - Unit 12
- Working on the Front Desk - Unit 9