How to venture into first b2 listening section of the B2 first exam.

FCE Course Lesson 32 – Venture into first b2 listening Skills 2

The B2 First Certificate of listening comprehension (Listening) consists of 4 parts. Let’s focus on Part 2! You will focus on: detail, specific information, declared opinion. This test contains 10 questions, each preceded by a recording / listening passage that you just heard. You must complete each of the 10 spaces with 1 to 3 words of the recording. You have no options to choose from, so you should pay attention to the listening passage.

First Dialogue 32: Ryanair low-cost flights to America

CHARLOTTE: Hey Nicole how’s it going?

NICOLE: Hiya, you’ll never guess what I’ve just seen on the news. That low-cost airline is doing flights from Europe to America starting from £15.

CHARLOTTE: What a coincidence, I was just about to tell you that, I was reading an article on a news website before. Hopefully they will have started in time for us to plan our trip to the East coast. I don’t know though, it seems too good to be true.

NICOLE: Well yeah I thought the same. I bet there’s a catch.

CHARLOTTE: You know what these companies are like with the charges they add for baggage allowance and taxes.

NICOLE: True, but I guess it won’t come to more than £100 overall which is an absolute bargain!

CHARLOTTE: Yeah that would be amazing! I mean, it’s definitely worth sacrificing the comfort of a more expensive flight to save money, right?

NICOLE: I think so! Just think, then we have more spending money for when we get there.

CHARLOTTE: Absolutely, I’m going to have another look at my budget with all this in mind. I can’t wait!

Vocabulary venture into first b2 listening Skills 2

ENGLISH	SYNONYM or DEFINITION
to guess	to estimate, to reckon, to gauge
a low-cost airline	a relatively inexpensive airline
a coincidence	a co-occurrence, providence
to be about to + verb	to be on the verge of
in time for	not late, punctual
too good to be true	unbelievable
to bet	to lay a wager, to gamble, to put/lay money
a catch	a trap, a stumbling block
the baggage allowance	the amount of luggage permitted on the plane
taxes	compulsory contribution to state revenue
a bargain	a good buy, a giveaway
to sacrifice	to give up, to renounce
spending money	money available to be spent on pleasures and entertainment
a budget	financial plan, statement
with all this in mind	with all to remember, with all this noted

Exam tips First Listening Skills 2

EXAM TIP FOR venture into first b2 listening Skills 2

The Listening exam is comprised of 4 parts. Let’s focus on Part 2!

You will be focusing on:

detail, specific information
stated opinion

This test contains 10 questions each preceded by a recording / listening passage you will have just listened to. You have to complete each of the 10 gaps with 1 to 3 words from the recording. You are not given any options to choose from so you must pay attention to the listening passage. The gap can be completed with 1 to 3 words which could be heard in the recording, as they are spoken (they do not need to be changed in any way). The missing word(s) can be words, numbers or phrases. You must try and spell the words correctly. Minor spelling errors are not penalised.

Listening passages may include broadcasts, monologues, or classroom presentations. So expect a specialist topic to appear in this recording!

Advice:

get used to listening to real-life recordings such as announcements, news announcements, weather reports, YouTubers vlogging (video blogging). Ask a friend to hide ten words in a text, then have him or her read out the text with the missing words. Try to write down the words to fill in the gap.
go over numbers: cardinal and ordinal numbers, but also letters of the alphabet. In lesson 38 your exam tip will be about this!
do not rephrase what you hear in the recording. You have to transcribe words or phrases from the recording
check the text before and after the gap to ensure that the 1 to 3 words that you have added make sense.