Listening Parts 1 & 2 — Multiple Choice & Sentence Completion for the CPE 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.

• !Missing implied meaning because focus was on content words rather than evaluative language and intonation
• !Part 2 sentence completion: writing a paraphrase (wrong) instead of the exact words from the recording
• !Being misled by distractors that use the same topic words but represent the opposite meaning

Study tips

• 1Listen to Radio 4 programmes (In Our Time, Analysis, The Inquiry) for extended discussion at C2 speech rate.
• 2For Part 2, practise transcription: listen and write what you hear verbatim to build processing accuracy.
• 3For Part 1, focus on tone, hedging, and contrast structures — these carry the answers.

Sample CPE Listening Parts 1 & 2 — Multiple Choice & Sentence Completion questions

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

1. 1

   You hear: "The findings are, to say the least, counterintuitive — one might even say they overturn decades of conventional wisdom." The speaker's assessment of the findings is:

   • ASlightly unusual but broadly expected
   • BSignificantly surprising and potentially paradigm-shiftingCorrect
   • CDisappointing and unimportant
   Why this answer?

   "To say the least" is an understatement device emphasising impact. "Counterintuitive" means contrary to expectation. "Overturn decades of conventional wisdom" is dramatic language for a paradigm shift. The speaker is saying the findings are highly surprising and potentially revolutionary — option B.