Listening Parts 3 & 4 — Multiple Matching & Multiple Choice for the CAE Exam

Common failure modes

These are the patterns that cause most candidates to lose marks on this topic. Recognising them in advance is half the work.

• !Part 3: Matching on the most prominent topic word rather than the speaker's actual opinion
• !Part 4: Selecting factually correct statements that do not answer the specific question asked
• !Being distracted by distractors — intentionally placed misleading content

Study tips

• 1For Part 3, listen for the speaker's main point in their turn (usually stated or implied near the end).
• 2For Part 4, understand the question precisely before listening — know whether you are looking for a fact, opinion, attitude, or implication.
• 3After the exam, review any wrong answers by reading the transcript (available in practice books) to understand why your answer was wrong.

Sample CAE Listening Parts 3 & 4 — Multiple Matching & Multiple Choice questions

These sample items mirror the format and difficulty of real CAE questions. Practice with thousands more on the free Koydo question bank.

1. 1

   In CAE Listening Part 4, a question asks: "What does the speaker imply about the research?" This requires the candidate to:

   • AFind the sentence that directly states the answer
   • BDraw an inference from what the speaker says without it being explicitly statedCorrect
   • CUse their own knowledge about the topic
   • DSelect the longest answer option
   Why this answer?

   "Imply" specifically means the answer is not directly stated — the candidate must draw an inference from the evidence provided. This distinguishes C1-level comprehension questions from lower-level tests where answers are directly stated and can be matched word-for-word.