All right.
So very quickly, it just in case we have anybody that's brand new to the exam and you've never taken
the exam before.
It has four parts, right?
It has four parts.
And the four parts get progressively more difficult as you go along.
The four parts get progressively more difficult.
So part number one is really, really easy.
And then part number four is much more difficult.
Basically you have two conversations and two short talks.
You start out with a conversation between two people.
Then you have a short talk by one person, and then you have a conversation that can be between 2 to
3 people.
And then you have a shorter you have a short academic talk.
And so.
You're dealing with conversations and short talks.
And like I said, it gets progressively more difficult.
Now there are different types of fill in the blank questions.
It's all filled to blank, but sometimes it's arranged differently.
So you have, of course, a standard field of blame question like this.
Right.
This is a standard field, the blank question where they have a sentence and they have a blank line.
Sometimes you have it with a field of blame question where the blank line is in the middle of the sentence
like we have here, or sometimes the blank line is at the end of the sentence.
And these are the standard fill the blank questions.
Then you might have a field to blame.
Question That is more of a flow chart type of field, the blank question and it is still it's still
a field.
The blank question is still the field, a blank question.
But we're just working from a flowchart, which means that it's going to start here 34 and then you
see the arrow pointing down.
So next is going to go 35, 36, 37, 38.
And as you know, on the listening exam, all the questions go in order.
You're not going to hear the answer for number 37 before you hear the answer for number 36.
That's not going to happen.
Now you could also have a field of blank question.
That is where the the sentences are put into a paragraph format.
And so here this is more of like a summary fill.
The blank question on the listening exam is still a field of blank question.
The only difference is, instead of having the sentences separated line by line, they're giving you
a paragraph and you have to fill in the blanks.
But it's the same process is the same principles.
You're not going to hear the questions out of order at all.
And then sometimes you might have a fill the blank question where it's in the format of a table.
And again, it just goes in order.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten.
Right?
It goes in order.
And you just have to be able to follow along with the table.
They're going to they're going to start here.
Right.
They may or not the first time they may say the word class, but after that they won't say it again,
probably.
But it starts here.
Then they go to this box, then the next box, then the next box.
And so you're paying attention to what's what's in the heading of the table so that you know which box
that you're in at the time.
But it goes in order, right?
So you can have a field of playing question that is designed like a table.
Then you can have a fill in the blank question, which is really a short answer.
A short answer type of question.
It's a short answer type of question.
And with this type of field, the plain question in terms of in terms of short answer, you know, you
you says put right, no more than two words for each answer.
You're filling in the blank with the correct answer to the question.
So again, it's still a field.
These are all field to blank questions.
But what they're doing is they're just changing the format and the structure of what it looks like.
And that's why when people ask me, when people ask me what kind of questions are on the listening exam,
and I tell them it is either fill the blank or multiple choice is fill the blank or multiple choice.
That's all you're dealing with.
It's nothing more than that.
It's just sometimes shaped and formed and structured a little bit differently.
Then it's possible to have a fill in the blank question where you're filling in the blanks on a diagram.
You're filling in the blanks on a type of diagram.
And so it could be a diagram that looks like this.
It could be the shape of some type of radial tower.
I mean, it could be different types of diagrams.
But again, all you're doing is filling in the blanks.
21.
Then they're going to say this, then they're going to say this.
Then it goes to 22.
Then it goes up.
They go to 23, they're going to see this.
They're going to see their goals here, 24 and 25.
So again, this is a field of question, but it's just shaped and formed and structured like a diagram.
Now there are some traps and some tricks that you should be aware of when it comes to the field.
The blank questions.
There are some traps that you should be aware of because.
They have to.
They have to be able to test the students English ability.
They have to be able to test the student's English ability.
And so and also they have to be able to separate you.
Like they have to be able to know that, you know, a person at a five level can do this.
A person at a seven level can do this.
A person at a nine level can listen for this.
And so they have these different tricks and traps that they use.
And throughout today, I will try to point out for you when these traps and when these tricks occur,
because you have to really get better at being able to recognize them.
So one trick that they use is they might give multiple possibilities, but only one of the possibilities
actually fits the the keywords that are before or after the blank line.
They love them, too, which is to change up the word order, where they change up the they the way
that the question is structured and the way that they speak in the audio, they are they're changing
up the word order of the question to try to hide when the answer is being said.
Also, sometimes they'll switch from active to passive voice or passive to active voice between the
question and the audio.
You also can have self correction, self correction, more happens.
And part number one than anything that happens in part number one where you can have self correction,
where somebody says something and then they correct themselves.
You also can have a confirmation where one person says the answer and then the other person they're
talking to confirms that that is the answer.
So you have to be able to recognize when confirmation occurs.
Pronoun usage.
Pronoun usage is also a really good trick or trick that they use to hide the answer.
And what this means is that in the previous sentence they'll say the answer choice, and then in the
next sentence, the person will use some pronoun that confirms that is the answer choice.
And that pronoun refers to something that was said in the previous sentence.
And so that's another way that they hide when the answer is being said.
Number seven is one that you really will see.
Number seven is one that you'll see more in section three and really in Section four.
But they have what's called filler language, where they'll give they may give the key words.
One of the some of the key words from the question, and then they'll have a lot of extra language that's
in between that keyword and when they say the answer choice.
And very often students get lost with filler language.
They really get lost in section four with that.
And so again, when that happens, I'll try to point that out so you can recognize it.
And then this is something also that happens in section four is rare.
Right.
There may be one question where it happens in a Section four, but it requires you.
To infer the meaning.
It's rare that it happens.
And I think I think there may be a question today where that happens, and we'll have to take a look
at that one to see in terms of a rare reference.
So before I move on.
To the next section that I want to go to.
I see that there are some questions that are typed in the chat box, and I'm going to take a moment
to look at those questions and see if I can answer any of those questions, and then I will move on
to the.
Okay.
So it's all about synonyms and paraphrasing what they filled the blank question.
And so understanding how to recognize synonyms or or recognize paraphrasing when it happens is going
to really help you spot the answer choice.
So the exam designers create paraphrasing by using synonyms.
Paraphrasing Sometimes they change the word order or word form.
And also at times they will change the grammatical structure or sentence structure to try to create
paraphrasing within a question and a passage.
So how do you get better at tackling paraphrasing?
Number one, you can create study synonym tables, which is what I'm going to show you how to do today.
Sometimes creating a study or synonym table involves using the transcript.
Also practicing or recognizing when it's occurring through audio.
Studying vocabulary or synonyms list currently in section 25 is where we put all of our synonyms list.
And then, of course, improving your overall listening ability is a big, big help when it comes to
understanding or tackling paraphrasing a little bit better.
A lot of students always ask me, how can I improve my overall English?
And I can't stress this enough.
The more you improve your English, the more the better you're going to score on the exam.
So if you really want to improve your overall English in terms of listening, listen to a lot of short
lectures.
TED talks.
Listen to podcasts.
And also listen to English talk radio.
If you notice, I don't put movies and television on there.
And the reason why is because with movies and television, you're dealing with the visual medium and
very often you're not focusing on just your listening.
And so that's why I recommend these three choices as the best options for improving your overall listening
ability.
When it comes to English.