What’s in the Listening Paper?
KEY Listening
The Cambridge English: Key Listening paper has five parts. For each part you have to listen to a recorded text or texts and answer some questions. You hear each recording twice.
Time allowed - about 30 minutes
Listening consists of five parts, and you need to answer 25 questions. It is expected that you show that you understand announcements and other spoken material when people speak reasonably slowly. The tracks will be played twice before moving on to the following piece. The full recording takes approximately 30 minutes (plus 6 minutes to transfer the answers if you are taking the paper-based exam). It is 25% of your marks.
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- Part 1 – Multiple Choice: Identify key information in five short dialogues and choose the correct visual.
- Part 2 – Gap Fill: Listen to a monologue and complete gaps in a page of notes.
- Part 3 – Multiple Choice: Listen to a dialogue for key information and answer five 3-option questions.
- Part 4 – Multiple Choice: Identify the main idea, message, gist or topic in five short monologues or dialogues and answer five 3-option questions.
- Part 5 – Matching: Listen to a dialogue for key information and match five items.
Scoring:
The Listening section is worth 25% of the total score for the exam.
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Each of the 25 listening questions scores 1 mark.
How to prepare for KEY Listening
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Read the instructions carefully before you start each section.
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Read the questions before you listen. You will hear the audio twice.
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Listen! The more English you listen to the better your will do. Listen to the radio, English language TV, podcasts...
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Learn how letters and numbers are pronounced