C2 Proficiency listening sentence completion practice

• Predicting the word class and likely meaning of each gap before listening.
• Hearing and recording the speaker’s exact words rather than an equivalent.
• Distinguishing the answer from the near-miss the speaker mentions first.
• Spelling accurately at speed, including numbers, plurals and compound nouns.
• Keeping to the grammar of the printed sentence.
• Recognising the signposting that tells you a gap is about to be answered.
• Coping with self-correction, where the speaker gives a word and then replaces it.
• Writing concisely, since answers are normally one to three words.
• Holding your place in a talk that develops quickly.
• Transferring answers accurately to the answer sheet at the end.

1. Step 1: 1

   Use the preparation time to predict

   Read every sentence and mark what each gap needs: a plural noun, an adjective, a number, a place. Half the answers become obvious the moment you hear them once you know their shape.

2. Step 2: 2

   Read to the end of the printed sentence

   The words after the gap constrain the answer as much as the words before it. A gap followed by 'of the building' cannot be an adjective, however plausible the adjective you heard.

3. Step 3: 3

   Listen for the signpost, not the word

   What really changed things was, the key point is, and that brings me to all announce that a gap is about to be answered. Following the structure of the talk keeps your place better than listening for keywords.

4. Step 4: 4

   Write exactly what you hear

   This is the one task where an elegant paraphrase scores zero. If the speaker says cast-iron guarantee, write cast-iron guarantee, not absolute assurance.

5. Step 5: 5

   Beware the near-miss

   Speakers often mention a plausible wrong answer just before the right one: we tried it in Leeds first, but it was Bristol that made the difference. The first place name is bait.

6. Step 6: 6

   Keep answers short

   If your answer runs to five words you have almost certainly included the sentence’s own wording. Strip it back to the one to three words that fill the gap.

7. Step 7: 7

   Leave nothing blank after the second listening

   Write your best guess in the right word class. An answer that is wrong costs nothing more than a blank, and a plausible guess is sometimes right.

8. Step 8: 8

   Check grammar and spelling in the transfer time

   Read each completed sentence as a sentence. A singular where the printed text demands a plural is a lost mark that costs nothing to find.

• Not thisWriting a synonym of the word the speaker used.

  ThisWriting the speaker’s own word.

  The task asks for the words heard. A paraphrase proves comprehension and still scores nothing.

• Not thisWriting an answer that makes the printed sentence ungrammatical.

  ThisChecking the sentence reads correctly with your answer in it.

  The printed sentence is part of the item. If it does not read, the answer is wrong however accurately you heard it.

• Not thisCopying the first plausible thing the speaker says on that topic.

  ThisWaiting for the contrast, which usually carries the answer.

  The distractor is placed before the answer precisely so that candidates who write early get it wrong.

• Not thisWriting 'trainning' or 'accomodation'.

  ThisWriting training and accommodation.

  Spelling is marked. The words that recur in this task are also the words candidates most often misspell.

• Not thisWriting a full clause in the gap.

  ThisWriting one to three words.

  Long answers usually duplicate the printed sentence and break its grammar, which loses the mark twice over.

• Not thisLeaving a gap blank because you missed it on the first listening.

  ThisPencilling in the expected word class and correcting it on the second.

  A partially formed expectation makes the answer far easier to catch the second time, and a blank guarantees nothing.

what really changed things was

signposts the decisive factor, often the answer

the key point here is

explicit marker of an important item

that brings me to

signals a move to the next section of a talk

I should add

introduces a qualification the speaker judges necessary

or rather

self-correction; the words after it replace the words before

not so much X as Y

corrects a likely assumption; Y is usually the answer

which is to say

restates a point in plainer terms

the turning point

the moment after which things were different

a cast-iron guarantee

an absolutely reliable promise

a stumbling block

an obstacle that prevents progress

a rule of thumb

a rough practical guideline

by way of illustration

as an example

in the region of

approximately (with numbers)

a fraction of

a very small proportion of

bear fruit

produce results after a delay

at the outset

at the very beginning

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