CELPIP Listening Part 1: Listening to Problem Solving, format and tips
Part 1 plays a conversation between two people working out a problem, in 3 sections. After each section you hear its questions, 8 in all, with 30 seconds to answer each.
The part at a glance
| Questions | 8 |
|---|---|
| Time to answer | 30 s per question |
| Recording | Plays once, with no replay |
| What you hear | A conversation in three sections about solving a problem, with questions after each section. |
What you hear and see
Two people talk through a problem, such as a repair, a booking or a change of plans, and settle on what to do. The conversation stops twice, so you hear it in 3 sections, with two or three questions after each.
After the recording, each question is read aloud and its four answers appear on screen. You choose one before the 30-second timer runs out, then the next question begins. One question in this part has four pictures as its answers.
Question types
- What a speaker means, or is doing by saying something, such as offering or turning something down.
- What will probably happen next, or what someone will do.
- How a speaker feels about the problem or a solution.
Practise Part 1
A practice set for this part, with its own recordings, is coming soon. Until then, the free Listening & Reading mock has the full Listening section, with every recording played once.
Tips for Part 1
- Listen for the problem first, then for each fix the speakers try.
- Listen for intent: an offer, a refusal or a complaint often comes without those words.
- Each section builds on the last, so keep track of what has been agreed: some questions ask what happens next.
- For the picture question, hold on to the details you heard, such as size, place and number, then match them.
- Note how each person reacts to a suggestion: a question asks about a speaker's attitude.
Common mistakes
- Answering from what you expect people to say rather than what they said.
- Taking words at face value when the speaker means something else, such as a polite refusal.
- Choosing a plan the speakers mentioned and then dropped.
Questions
- How many questions are in CELPIP Listening Part 1?
- 8, asked after the 3 sections of the conversation, with 30 seconds to answer each.
- How long do you have to answer in CELPIP Listening Part 1?
- 30 seconds for each question.
For all six parts and how they are timed, see the CELPIP Listening page.
See every part and task in the CELPIP test format, or how to practise for CELPIP.
These parts, questions and timings follow Paragon's published test format: see the sources on our CELPIP test format page.
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