Cambridge C1 Advanced (CAE) Listening Part 4
What you will find in this guide:
C1 Advanced (CAE) Listening Part 4
In C1 Listening Part 4 of the Cambridge C1 Advanced (CAE), you will get two listening tasks. You must listen to the track very carefully and do two matching tasks, matching the speaker to what he/she implied in the recording based on what you hear. Part 4 comprises a total of 10 questions. Questions 21 to 25 in task 1 and questions 26 to 30 in task 2. Each correct answer earns candidates 1 mark.
Sample Question
You will hear five short extracts in which people are talking about changing their jobs.
TASK ONE
For questions 21 – 25, choose from the list (A – H) the
reason each speaker gives for changing job.
TASK TWO
For questions 26 – 30, choose from the list (A – H) what each
speaker feels about their new job.
While you listen you must complete both tasks.
Audio
Task 1
A. unfriendly colleagues
B. poor holiday entitlement
C. lacking a sense of purpose
D. needing more of a challenge
E. the workload
F. disagreements with superiors
G. no prospect of advancement
H. the physical environment
Speaker 1 21
Speaker 2 22
Speaker 3 23
Speaker 4 24
Speaker 5 25
Task 2
A. encouraged by early results
B. hopeful about future success
C. delighted by a change in lifestyle
D. relieved the initial uncertainty is over
E. glad to be helping other people
F. grateful for an increase in salary
G. happy to feel in control
H. satisfied with the training received
Speaker 1 26
Speaker 2 27
Speaker 3 28
Speaker 4 29
Speaker 5 30
Potential Challenges in C1 Part 4
Part 1 of the Cambridge C1 Advanced (CAE) could be challenging due to the following factors:
- Accent: You may not be familiar with the accent of the people or one person speaking in the audio as they come from all over the world. To overcome this challenge, you need to expose yourself to listening audio tracks from different parts of the world as much as possible.
- Too Much Information: In this part, you will listen to people speaking about a topic and they will give you a lot of information. Processing all that information may be a bit difficult.
- Fast Delivery! This part involves a lot of information but also that information is delivered to you at the speed of light! So, you may miss some part of the information if you are not focused.
- Inferring and making decision about the correct choice: In this part, The speakers won’t speak about the topic asked in the question directly. In other words, the speaker won’t give you the answer as it is worded in the options. So, you have to infer from the information you listened to and draw a conclusion yourself. This could be tricky.
- Extra Options: The extra options provided in this part (5 speakers but 7 options) would make it a bit difficult to match the speaker to the idea presented in this part.
How to Answer the Questions in C1 (CAE) Listening Part 4
Step 1: Identify the keywords of the answer choices.
Keywords are the words that are most important or carry the most significant meaning in each answer choice or question. By identifying the keywords, you can quickly focus on the relevant information.
Step 2: Focus on the keywords as you listen to the audio.
Once you listen to the audio, listen for keywords you identified earlier. This way you won’t get lost in the audio. Once you hear the keyword or a synonym of it, focus on the meaning and try to identify the answer, which can be found either in the idea introduced before or after the keyword.
Step 3: Eliminate options as you are listening.
Based on your understanding of the idea, eliminate the answer choices that are irrelevant to the part you are listening to. This will help you narrow down your choices and increase your chances of getting the right answer.
Step 4: Choose between the remaining options.
Finally, use your logic and reasoning skills to choose from the remaining options. Look for evidence in the content you listened to that supports or contradicts each option. Choose the option that best matches what is implied in the audio. In this step, you need to focus on implied message as well as what was directly stated. In many cases, the answer is not directly stated but implied through a similar statement.
Note: Be very cautious of the synonyms and distractors. The audio introduces the ideas through synonyms so you have to be very diligent. Also, the speaker may use a word that seems to be the answer but later change the idea using a negative word that negates the idea introduced earlier. This is called a distractor, which you will regularly find in Cambridge listening tracks.
Advice: It may be a good idea to focus on task one when you listen to the recording for the first time and then cover task two when you listen to the recording for the second time. This way you can retain your focus.
Use the Guide
Now, use the guide to answer the following question:
You will hear five short extracts in which young people are talking about traveling alone.
How was your experience?
Describe your experience taking the part 4 listening question in the comment section below.
You may also check out my guides for the other parts of The Cambridge C1 Advanced (CAE) Listening Test:
The guide and th steps were very useful, thank you
It was useful
It was kinda tricky but with the given guide, it became easier to answer. It was of great help.
The practice was good since we were able to understand the listenings so that we could improve our level.