PART ONE THE LISTENING TEST

OVERVIEW

The Listening Test measures how well you understand English that is used in typical day-to-day situations. How much can you comprehend when people express opinions, preterences, or viewpoints in social or workplace situations? Will your listening skills help you respond appropriately to questions, comments, or suggestions? Each part of the Listening Test measures certain listening skills, Your  answers show how well you understand spoken English in everyday situations.

You have 47-55 minutes to complete the Listening Test. This includes a short practice task at the beginning of the test. The Listening Test may contain unscored items used for test development. These unscored items can be found anywhere within the test and will have the same format as one of the other parts of the test. All questions on the Listening Test are multiple choice. Your answers will be automatically marked by the computer, If you do not know the right answer, you should make your best guess. There are no deductions for incorrect answers. 

The chart on the next page provides an overview of the Listening Test, 

LISTENING TEST

Unscored Items·Unknown

• The unscored items ore used for test development purposes and may be placed an'{V'lhere within the Listening Test. They will have the same format as one of the other ports of the Listening Test. The unscored items will not affect your official Score. However. you will not Know which part of the test contains the unscored items. so apply your best effort to all ports of the test.

ACCESSING AUDIO CLIPS AND TRANSCRIPT

Each part of the Listening Test is designed to involve a distinct set of listening skills and a specific language focus. In the offidallistening Test. you will hear each audio clip through your headset once, and you will not be able to read if on fhe computer screen. You will hear the audio clips far the CELPIP Study Guide: Ustening and Speaking through your computer speakers or headset. You will be able to replay the audio clips if you like, and you will also have the opportunity to read and study the transcripts.

To hear the audio clips, go to the website below. Then simply click on the related link to hear the audio clip for each listening question. For study purposes. you may listen to the audio clips as many times as you like. On the official test. you will only hear each clip once. 

YOUR TEST SCORE

The Listening Test has 38 questions in total. The table below provides a rough guide to how your Listening Test score corresponds to your CELPIP level.

PRACTICE TASK

GUIDELINES

This task is designed to help you feel comfortable with the Listening Test prompts and to give you practice with the audio and timer. If also allows you to adjust your volume setting. After listening to the instructions page. you will be brought to a new page with one simple practice question. which is unscored.

The instructions. question, audio. and timer will be presented just as they are in Parts 1-6. which ore scored. This is an opportunity to make sure you can clearly hear the audio and to practice selecting an answer from the options presented on the screen. 

EXAMPLE PROMPT

The Listening practice task will consist of one short audio statement, followed by one simple question.

RESPONDING TO THE PROMPT

• Your answer is not scored for this practice task. Don't worry about producing the best possible response. Instead. focus on making sure your equipment works properly and understanding how to use the timer to help you give your best possible answer. 
• If you are concerned about a problem with your equipment. this is a good time to tell the invigilator about it.
  
  

PART 1: LISTENING TO PROBLEM SOLVING

GUIDELINES

In Port 1 of the Listening Test. you will hear a conversation between a man and a woman who do not know each other. One has a problem. The other, someone who works for an organization and serves the public, helps solve the problem. The conversation is divided into three sections. After each section, you will answer two or three multiple choice questions, for a total of eight questions. In each question, the response options may be either aU words or all pictures. To answer the questions you must understand the main ideas, the opinions expressed, and some of the details. You will also need to make inferences. that is, apply your thinking skills to the given information in order to draw a logical conclusion. You will have about 8 minutes to listen to the three sections of the conversation and answer the questions that follow.

In the official test. you will listen to the audio only once. You won't be able to read the script. However. in this guide you can read and study the script. This may help you understand what to listen for in this part of the test.

You will read and hear: "You will hear a conversation between a man and a woman in a retail store. He is a shopper; she is a sales assistant." 

You will see: An image related to the audio conversation.

You will read: Listen to the conversation. You will hear the conversation only once. It is about 1 to 1.5 minutes long.

PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT FROM PART 1: LISTENING TO PROBLEM SOLVING

WOMAN [51) Well. a tutorial would get you comfortable with using the system, show you how to find files, send emails, do the main things you want to use your tablet for.
MAN 152) Hmm. That would be helpful. 153) Is it free?
WOMAN (54) It's $20 plus tax. ISS] It's for one hour.156j People find it really helpful when they first buy tablets.
MAN (57) Hmm. I think I would too. [58J It's not expensive. (59] But. on second thought. I'll leave it for now. (510) I'm going to ask my wife for help!
Note: The full transcript can be found starting on page 65.

EXAMPLE PROMPT AND QUESTION

You will hear: "Does the man decide to take the tutorial?" 

You will read: Choose the best answer to each question.

a) No. his wife will help him.
b) No. it would cost too much.
c) Yes. his wife will come too.
d) Yes. it will be really helpful.

RESPONDING TO THE PROMPT

• Try to identify what people say when they politely make. consider. accept. and decline offers and suggestions. For instance. when politely declining an offer. people might say, "It's okay, I'm fine for now." When deciding not to act on someone's suggestion, people sometimes say, "I'll just leave it for now."
• Although they may sound similar to your ears in everyday speech. learn to hear the difference between "would" and "will." There's an important difference in meaning. "Will" before a verb signals a future state or event that is reasonably certain to happen. In contrast. "would" before a verb often signals a future event or state that's only possible. not certain. because it's dependent on something else. The woman says, "a tutorial would get you comfortable" [SI]. and the man replies, "That would be helpful" [S2]. "Would" signals that the help and comfortable a future possibility for the man, not a certainty-because they depend on his taking the tutorial. "Would" tells you the man has not yet decided whether or not to take the tutorial. At this point. from his perspective. the tutorial is just a "maybe." not a "yes." This knowledge helps you
  eliminate the "yes" options (c and dj, which both assume the man will go for sure.

ELIMINATING THE WRONG ANSWER

Answer (b): No. it would cost too much-Incorrect 

In [S8] the man says the tutorial is "not expensive."ln other words, he doesn't think: it costs too much  

Answer (c): Yes, his wife will come too-Incorrect 

In [SI0] the man says he's going to ask his wife for help. He does not say he's going to bring her to the tutoriol.
Answer (d): Yes. it will be really helpfue-Incorrect
In [S2] the man agrees that Ihe tulorial would indeed be helpful. AI this point he may be considering allending. However. in 1591 he decides nol fa allend: "On second thought. 

I'll leave it for now."

STUDY TIP

Part 1 of the listening Test presents a typical face-fa-face problem-solving conversation between two strangers in a public or semi-public place. One of the speakers works for a business. a government agency, or some other type of organization; the speaker interacting with him or her is a member of the general public. Conveniently. everyday life in Canada gives you endless opportunities to practice listening to real English conversations of this kind-for free. Cities are crowded; stores and offices ore busy; strangers are close. When it's socially appropriate for you to be within hearing range without intruding on someone's privacy, listen in.

Listen to a salesperson talking with a shopper. Listen to a food seller talking with a restaurant patron. Listen to a receptionist talking with a client at a medical clinic. Listen to a public transit driver talking with an incoming passenger. listen to a customer service representative talking with a client in a bank, an airport. a plane. and any business and government office. Work at understanding the topic. the speakers' intentions. and the outcome. You will probably hear some unfamiliar expressions; take mental note of them. Later. write them down and find out what they mean. When you listen to people interacting in the English-speaking world around you, you are working on the basic skills for Port 1 of the Listening Test.