B1 Preliminary Listening and Speaking practice
B1 Preliminary Listening and Speaking reward the same thing: keeping going. In Listening you hear everything twice, so a missed answer is recoverable if you do not freeze on it; in Speaking you are marked on communication, so a candidate who keeps talking and involves a partner beats one who waits for the perfect sentence. These five lessons cover the main tasks in both papers.
What this paper asks of you
- Listening for one specific detail while several plausible ones are mentioned and rejected.
- Writing short answers you have heard, spelled well enough to be understood.
- Following a longer conversation for opinion and attitude, not just facts.
- Speaking for about a minute alone about a photograph, without drying up.
- Working with a partner: suggesting, agreeing, disagreeing politely and reaching a decision.
- Using fillers and repair phrases so hesitation does not become silence.
- Answering the examiner’s questions with a reason, not a single word.
- Pronouncing numbers, dates and spellings clearly enough to be understood first time.
- Staying calm on the first listening and using the second one deliberately.
Task types, one page each
- Multiple choice with picturesB1 Preliminary (PET) Listening Part 1 practice: choose the right picture when the recording mentions all three, with 40 original questions.40 questions
- Sentence completionB1 Preliminary (PET) Listening sentence completion practice: predict the missing word, write exactly what you hear and spell it clearly. 40 questions.40 questions
- Longer listening: multiple choiceB1 Preliminary (PET) Listening Part 4 practice: follow a longer interview for opinion, reason and feeling, and beat the distractors. 40 original questions.40 questions
- The photo long turnB1 Preliminary (PET) Speaking photo description practice: fill a minute with place, people, actions and guesses, with 40 original questions.40 questions
- The collaborative taskB1 Preliminary (PET) Speaking collaborative task practice: suggest, react, disagree politely and reach a decision with your partner. 40 questions.40 questions
Note
Pick Two Activity is an independent tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Cambridge University Press & Assessment, the British Council, IDP, ETS, Duolingo or any other exam board. Exam names are trademarks of their owners and are used here only to describe the exam you are preparing for. Every question on this page is original practice written by us: we do not provide, copy or reproduce official exam papers.