C1 Business Higher (BEC Higher)
Listening Part Three. Eight points.
In this part of the exam, you will hear an interview or a conversation. You will have to answer eight multiple choice questions. You will receive one point for each correct answer. There are three possible answers shown but only one is correct. The answers are in the same order as the questions.
Introduction to task – One Minute and Sixteen seconds.
You can download the audio file for Part Three here. You can download the answers for the complete Listening test here.
Procedure
Read the context given in the first line at the top of the page.
Read the question sentence and quickly decide on a question word connected with it. This will help you listen for the right information. For example, if the sentence is, The English teacher takes two trains to work because then the question word is Why? which means you will need to listen for explanations and for words which introduce explanations, for example, so, since or as. Sometimes this will not be necessary because the question sentence is already in the form of a question.
Highlight the keywords in the question sentence.
Read the three options given and highlight keywords. Focus on understanding each option and the differences between them. It is important to read all three here because they are all likely to be mentioned or referred to – it is your job to decide which one is the correct answer.
During the first listen, identify “where” in the listening the answer is. Part 3 is usually in the form of an interview, each question sentence is more or less signposted for you by the interviewer’s questions.
Listen for synonyms of the keywords or words related to the keywords. Listen for the words which introduce the answer, like so, since as mentioned above. If you can hear enough to make a decision about the correct answer, mine the sentence, if not try to eliminate one of the three options. Remember an incorrect option might be discussed but will not be the exact answer to the questions. Listen for negatives, contrasting words or negative adjectives.
During the second listen, you should confirm your answers. If you had decided on one option ensure that it is the exact answer and listen to how the other two options are discussed. If you did not make a decision during the first listen, then focus on the two options remaining and eliminate the incorrect option. Focus on connecting the keywords in the question and options to what you hear, making sure that they are directly related.
Transfer time
You are finished, the listening is over.
Well in fact you are not and you still have some work to do. Working well in this part can give you extra points.
When Part Three finishes you have a whole wonderful ten minutes given to you to “transfer” your answers to the official answer sheet.
This extra time is very valuable, but you need to be careful and use it.
Part One
Here you need to change your notes into the ONE or TWO words required for the answer. In the procedure, I advised you to write what you hear so you may have written more than one or two words. If this is the case, decide on which words are the exact answer to the question.. Check carefully for spellings that are difficult, long numbers, or reference numbers with a combination of letters and numbers. There is no point hearing it correctly and then writing it incorrectly. Believe me, people can LOSE points here just when writing.
Part Two
There is no special technique here, add the answers you decided were correct during the listening.
Part Three
If you find part four difficult you can transfer these answers first because you have just finished listening to part four. Here it can be used to review your notes but also the logic of your answers. I feel that student can often forget to use logic and their own professional knowledge. So here check that the answer you chose during the stress of the listening is logical.
