B1 Preliminary Listening Practice 🎧
About B1 Preliminary Listening
⏱ 30 Minutes | 4 Parts | 25 Questions
The Listening paper of B1 Preliminary and B1 Preliminary for Schools takes 30 minutes, including 6 minutes’ transfer time, and is worth 25% of the total marks. You hear each recording twice.
| Part | Task type | What you do | Questions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Multiple choice | Identify key information in seven short monologues or dialogues and choose the correct picture | 7 |
| 2 | Multiple choice | Understand the gist of six short dialogues | 6 |
| 3 | Gap fill | Complete six gaps while listening to a monologue | 6 |
| 4 | Multiple choice | Understand detailed meaning, attitudes and opinions in an interview | 6 |
Source: Cambridge English – B1 Preliminary exam format.
At the moment, EnglishProLab offers practice for Part 1. Practice for Parts 2–4 is not yet available.
You can also practise reading in B1 Preliminary Reading or return to the B1 Preliminary (PET) overview.
Tips for the B1 Preliminary Listening paper
- Read each question before you listen and think about the kind of information you need: a time, a place, an opinion.
- Use the first listening to answer and the second to check.
- In picture questions (Part 1), all three pictures are usually mentioned or suggested; listen for the detail that makes only one of them correct.
- Pay attention to words that change the meaning, such as but, actually and in the end.
- Answer every question, even if you are not sure.
How to use this practice: try the Part 1 exercise without pausing, then check your answers and replay the recordings you found difficult.
Part 1 Practice
Listening Part 1: Multiple Choice
Practise the first part of the Listening paper:
- 7 short recordings
- Choose the correct picture (A, B or C)
- Interactive exercise