Forty questions, played once

Forty questions, about thirty minutes of audio, the same test for Academic and General Training. On paper you then get ten extra minutes to copy your answers onto the answer sheet.

The recording plays once. No rewind, no pause, no second playing. If you miss an answer it is gone, and the only useful response is to let it go and stay with the audio. Candidates who freeze on a missed answer routinely lose the next three as well, because their attention stayed behind while the recording moved on.

Four parts, getting harder:

Part 1 — a conversation in an everyday situation: booking a room, joining a gym. Almost always a form to complete with names, dates, numbers and prices. The most gettable part of the test, and where careless marks are thrown away.

Part 2 — one person speaking, everyday context. Often a map or plan to label.

Part 3 — up to four people in an educational context, usually students discussing an assignment. Harder because speakers interrupt, disagree and change their minds.

Part 4 — one person, an academic lecture. Longest continuous stretch, hardest vocabulary, and no break in the middle.

Every question is one mark and there is no penalty for a wrong answer. A guess costs nothing. A blank box is simply a mark thrown away, so always write something.

The band conversion moves slightly between tests, but roughly 30 of 40 sits near band 7 and 23 near band 6. That matters for one reason: the gap between those bands is about seven questions, and most candidates lose more than seven to procedure rather than to listening.