B1 Preliminary Listening Part 4 is a longer conversation, usually an interview, with multiple-choice questions that follow the order of the talk. Unlike the short recordings, this one asks what the speaker thinks and why, which means listening past the facts to the reason attached to them.
You get time before the recording. Read the stems, not every option — the stems tell you the story of the interview and what each part is about.
‘Why’, ‘how did she feel’, ‘what does he suggest’. That single word decides which part of the speaker’s answer matters, and it is easy to lose once the audio starts.
They match the order of the recording. If the speaker moves on and you are still on question three, mark it and jump forward, or you will lose four and five too.
Facts are easy to hear and are often in the wrong options. The mark is usually in the clause that follows ‘because’, ‘the thing is’ or ‘what really changed it was’.
The interviewer often proposes an idea the guest then rejects: ‘So you were nervous?’ ‘Not really, more excited.’ The guest’s answer is what counts.
Choose something on the first listening for every question. A marked answer you can revisit is worth far more than a blank you must solve under pressure later.
Know your two open questions before it starts, and listen for their section. The rest of the recording is now background you do not need.
Wait for the speaker to finish. Answers are often reversed by the second half of a sentence: ‘I loved the travelling — at least, I did for the first year.’
Not thisShe said ‘nervous’, so the answer is ‘she felt nervous’.
ThisThe interviewer said ‘nervous’ and she replied ‘not really, more excited’.
Words in the recording belong to whoever said them. Options are built from the interviewer’s vocabulary precisely to catch this.
Not thisHe mentioned the money, so he left the job for the money.
ThisHe mentioned the money but said the hours were the real reason.
Several reasons are usually named and only one is given as the real one; ‘mainly’, ‘really’ and ‘in the end’ mark it.
Not thisI was still deciding question two while question three was playing.
ThisI marked question two and moved my eyes to question three.
The recording continues whether you are ready or not, and one unresolved question costs you the next one.
Not thisI read every option for all six questions during the pause.
ThisI read the six stems and the options for the first two.
There is not time to read everything, and stems carry more useful information per second than options do.
Not thisI left two blank because I wasn’t sure.
ThisI marked my best guess for both and revisited them on the second listening.
Nothing is deducted for a wrong answer, so a blank is the only choice that cannot score.
Not thisThe answer is A because A was mentioned first.
ThisThe answer is the option the speaker actually confirms.
Order of mention says nothing. Distractors are frequently mentioned earlier than the answer.
40 original questions. The first 10 are open to everyone. Answers are checked in your browser and never sent to us, so you can share this page with a class as it is.
2Complete with one verb form.
3Complete with one adverb.
6Complete with one preposition.
7Explain in one sentence why the word in the question stem — why, how, what — matters so much here.
One good answer
It tells me which part of the speaker’s answer to listen for, so that when they give a fact and then a reason, I know which one the mark is attached to.
8Complete with the past simple of one verb.
10Complete with the past simple of one verb.
12Complete with one adjective.
14Complete with one noun.
15You are still deciding question three when the speaker clearly moves on to question four. Write one sentence saying what to do.
One good answer
I should mark my best guess for three immediately and get my eyes onto four, because the recording will not wait and losing two answers is worse than guessing one.
16Complete with one word.
18Complete with the past simple of one verb.
21Complete with the past simple of one verb.
23Complete with one verb form.
25Write one sentence saying how you would plan the second listening of this part.
One good answer
Before it starts I would note the two question numbers I am unsure about and where they come in the interview, then listen only for those sections and let the rest pass.
26Complete with the past simple of one verb.
28Complete with the past simple of one verb.
30Complete with one modal verb in the negative.
33Complete with the past simple of one verb.
35The stem asks: ‘Why did the speaker decide to move?’ Write one sentence saying what you would listen for.
One good answer
I would listen for the reason clause after words like ‘because’, ‘mainly’, ‘the thing is’ or ‘what really decided it was’, and ignore the other reasons she mentions and dismisses.
36Complete with one verb in the present simple.
38Complete with the past simple of one verb.
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A few minutes, played twice. It is long enough that losing your place matters, which is why following the questions in order is the core of the technique.
No. You need the answer to six specific questions, and the rest of the conversation is context. Trying to follow every word is what makes candidates lose the question in front of them.
Because they are built from things that are actually said — by the interviewer, or by the guest about a different part of the story. That is why the question word matters more than the vocabulary.
Listen for the shape rather than every word: a question, a hesitation, ‘but’, ‘because’. Reasons are slower and more stressed than the surrounding speech, so they are easier to catch than they feel.
Listen to short interviews and, after each answer, say in one sentence what the guest thinks and why. The ‘why’ is the part this task is built on.