Cambridge Proficiency Exam Listening Paper Tips and Tricks

Overview

• Focus on improving listening skills for the CPE exam.
• Listening involves multiple-choice questions and sentence completion.
• Practice involves listening to audio twice.

Part 1: Multiple Choice Questions

Exercise 1

• Listen closely and choose the correct answer (ABC format).
• Example: Science lecture about the sense of taste.
• Key point: Textbook errors about taste perception on the tongue.
  • Virginia Collings' research: All parts of the tongue detect all tastes.
  • Personal anecdote: Importance of questioning textbooks and trusting your judgment.

Key Strategy: Tone Inferring

• Infer speaker's tone or feeling from vocabulary and tone of voice.
• Example answer: Speaker surprised at tongue map's longevity.

Part 2: Sentence Completion

Exercise 2

• Complete sentences with words/phrases (3-4 words max).
• Example: Lecture on ancient Egyptian ships.

Key Strategy: Prediction

• Predict the type of word (noun, place, etc.) needed based on sentence context.
• Use synonyms found in the script to identify answers.

Example Answers

1. Mersa Gowasus was a harbor.
2. Support from the priests.
3. Shipbuilders provided a model.
4. Used beeswax to make watertight.
5. Building compared to solving a puzzle.

Part 3: Speaker Opinions

Exercise 3

• Listen to five speakers discussing a book.
• Focus on why they read the book and their opinions.

Example: Speaker 1

• Read the book due to interest in the subject.
• Found it lively and entertaining (not dry).

General Tips

• Rewind and replay audio to improve understanding.
• Consistently listen for synonyms and context clues.
• Aim for at least 60% correct answers to pass individual sections.
• Combine scores across different sections for overall exam result.

Conclusion

• Practice with scripts to train both listening and reading skills.
• Review incorrect answers to understand mistakes.
• Continuous engagement and practice are key to improving listening skills.