Listening Comprehension for the PET 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 the speaker's opinion because they focus only on the facts mentioned
• !Confusing what the speaker says with what a second speaker says in dialogue questions
• !Not using the preparation time to read questions before the audio

Study tips

• 1Listen to B1-level English podcasts: BBC 6 Minute English, Voice of America Learning English.
• 2Practice identifying speaker attitude: positive, negative, uncertain, enthusiastic, disappointed.
• 3For multiple-choice listening, predict the likely answer type (place, time, person, reason) from the question.

Sample PET Listening Comprehension questions

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

1. 1

   You hear two friends talking. Woman: "I thought the film was really interesting." Man: "I see what you mean, but personally I found it a bit slow." How does the man feel about the film?

   • AHe agrees it was interesting
   • BHe found it boring and uninteresting
   • CHe thought it was interesting but too slowCorrect
   • DHe disagrees that it was interesting
   Why this answer?

   The man says "I see what you mean" (partial agreement with "interesting") "but personally I found it a bit slow" (partial disagreement). He acknowledges its interest but criticises the pace. He does not say it was boring — just slow.