C2 Proficiency Listening Sentence Completion Practice
C2 Proficiency (CPE) · 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: In our C2 data this is the hardest Listening part (about 33%). The three error types — incomplete, spelling, misheard — cover nearly all of it.
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 Proficiency 2, Cambridge University Press
- Airline pilot Rebecca Martin - Test 4
- Earthpods - Test 1
- Non-native species in Australia - Test 2
- The colour red - Test 3
Cambridge English: Proficiency 1, Cambridge University Press
- A Talk on Soil - Test 1
- Ancient Egyptian Ships - Test 3
- Sport Psychology - Test 2
- The Giant Panda - Test 4
Proficiency Testbuilder, 4th Edition, Mark Harrison, Macmillan
- Interactive Science and Technology Centres - Test 3
- Karen Williams on her career - Test 1
- Meccano - Test 4
- Ty-Phoo Tipps Tea - Test 2
Ready for C2 Proficiency Student's Book, Macmillan
- E-Waste Emergency - Unit 8
- Into the Wilderness - Unit 2
- Making a Mark - Unit 9
- Side Hustles - Unit 6
- The Mediator - Unit 4
Ready for C2 Proficiency Workbook, Macmillan
- Celtic Languages - Unit 10
- Painting with the Mind's Eye - Unit 9
- Rainforest Conservation - Unit 8
- Sleep Hotels - Unit 2