The C1 Advanced sentence-completion task gives you a set of statements with gaps and one monologue to listen to. The words you need are said on the recording, and your job is to catch them and write them down in a form that fits the sentence already printed.
Mark each gap with the class you expect: noun, plural noun, adjective, number. That prediction is what lets you recognise the answer in real time instead of reconstructing it afterwards.
An ‘a’ before the gap means a singular noun; a preposition after it constrains what can go in. The printed sentence is as much a clue as the recording.
Monologues announce their structure: ‘the first thing that struck me’, ‘what changed everything was’. The answer usually follows the signpost by a second or two.
This task is not testing your synonyms. If the speaker says ‘a wooden frame’, write ‘wooden frame’, not ‘timber structure’ — paraphrase is the single commonest way marks are lost here.
Speakers often mention a plausible wrong word just before the right one: ‘We thought it was clay — in fact it turned out to be chalk.’ The answer is what the sentence on the page states, not the first candidate you hear.
One, two or at most three words. If your answer is longer, you have written the sentence around the answer rather than the answer itself.
Read your completed sentence silently. Does it make sense? Is the noun singular or plural? Is it spelled the way it was said?
Write your best guess from the prediction you made. A plausible noun in a noun slot is occasionally right; a blank never is.
Not thisWriting a synonym of the word heard.
ThisWriting the word heard.
The mark scheme is looking for the item the speaker used. A neater word is not a better answer.
Not thisWriting an answer that does not fit the printed grammar.
ThisChecking the sentence reads correctly with your answer in it.
The stem is a complete sentence apart from the gap, so an answer that breaks it is wrong even if the word occurred.
Not thisWriting ‘a new laboratory’ where the stem already contains ‘a’.
ThisWriting ‘new laboratory’.
Repeating a word already printed produces a sentence with two articles. Read the whole stem, including what is on each side of the gap.
Not thisWriting a whole clause in the gap.
ThisWriting up to three words.
Long answers usually mean you did not catch the item and are writing what you remember instead of what was said.
Not thisChoosing the first plausible word after the signpost.
ThisWaiting for the speaker to finish the sentence.
Monologues frequently mention and then reject a candidate answer. The rejection comes after the word, so an early decision catches the distractor.
Not thisLeaving a gap blank because you missed it.
ThisWriting a guess of the right word class.
A guess costs nothing and occasionally scores. It also keeps you moving instead of dwelling on a lost 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 the sentence.
3Complete the sentence.
6Complete the sentence.
7What do you write on the question paper in the pause before the recording?
One good answer
Beside each gap, the word class you expect and, where you can, a one-word prediction: ‘adj — colour?’, ‘plural noun’, ‘date’. The prediction is not a guess at the answer; it is a filter that lets you recognise the right item at speed instead of reconstructing it afterwards.
9Complete the sentence.
10Complete the sentence.
13Complete the sentence.
15Complete the sentence.
16Explain why a paraphrase loses the mark in this task even when it means the same.
One good answer
Because the task tests whether you caught the item the speaker used, not whether you can rephrase it. The mark scheme accepts a narrow set of forms of what was said. Writing ‘timber structure’ for ‘wooden frame’ shows understanding but not the specific catch the task is designed to assess, and it scores nothing.
17Complete the sentence.
20Complete the sentence.
22Complete the sentence.
23Complete the sentence.
26Complete the sentence.
28Complete the sentence.
29Your completed sentence reads oddly but contains a word you definitely heard. What now?
One good answer
Trust the sentence, not the memory. If the stem will not read correctly with your word, you have caught a nearby word rather than the answer — often the one the speaker mentioned and then rejected. On the second listening, fix your attention on the two seconds after the signpost phrase and listen for an item that fits the printed grammar.
30Complete the sentence.
32Complete the sentence.
34Complete the sentence.
36Complete the sentence.
37Complete the sentence.
39Write three predictions you would note beside these gaps: ‘…made from ___’, ‘…lasted nearly ___’, ‘…found it surprisingly ___’.
One good answer
First: a material, so a noun, possibly uncountable — wood, clay, glass. Second: a length of time, so a number plus a time noun — two hours, a decade. Third: an adjective describing a reaction — straightforward, expensive, fragile. Each note takes two seconds and turns listening into recognition.
Note
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Keep to three at the very most, and one or two whenever you can. A long answer nearly always means you missed the item and are writing your memory of the sentence instead.
Yes. A word that is unrecognisable does not score, so write clearly and check the obvious traps — doubled letters, silent letters, -ough words — on the second listening.
Choose the one that fits the printed sentence grammatically and semantically. Speakers often mention a wrong candidate first and then correct it, so the second of the two is more often the answer.
Yes, the stems follow the recording. That is why losing your place is so costly, and why writing a quick guess and moving on protects the answers that follow.
Take any five-minute talk with a transcript. Listen once, write down the key noun in each main point, then check against the transcript for the exact word. You are training recognition of specific items, which is precisely what the task rewards.