CAE Listening Part 2: sentence completion
CAE Listening Part 2 is sentence completion: you hear one speaker give a talk and fill eight gaps with the words they use. Correct spelling is expected, and the answer is the word or phrase you actually hear, not a paraphrase.
- Questions
- 8 (7–14)
- Recording
- 1 talk, ≈ 3 min
- Answer
- Words you hear
- Marks
- 1 each
What CAE Listening sentence completion tests
Part 2 is a monologue of about three minutes: a talk, a lecture or a radio piece aimed at a general audience, in a neutral or semi-formal style. Typical speakers are a researcher describing their work, a guide introducing a place, or someone explaining how they got into an unusual job. You have 45 seconds to read the eight sentences (questions 7–14) before the recording starts, and you hear it twice.
Each sentence summarises part of the talk and has one gap. You complete it with a word or short phrase, usually no more than three words, and the answer is the actual word or words you hear. You should not paraphrase or change the form. The sentences follow the order of the talk, and they paraphrase it, so you listen for the idea in the sentence and write the speaker's word for the gap.
The focus is specific information and stated opinion. Spelling matters: Cambridge expects correct spelling at this level, and both British and American spellings are accepted. Each answer earns one mark. In the paper-based exam you write your answers in capital letters when you transfer them to the answer sheet; in the digital exam you type them into the gaps.
Try a CAE Listening Part 2 extract
Read the transcript extract, then complete the sentences with a word or short phrase. In the exam you only hear the talk, twice.
You hear a marine biologist called Dr Kate Ellison giving a talk about her research on seagrass.
"People often ask why I chose to study seagrass rather than something more glamorous like coral reefs or dolphins. The honest answer is that I stumbled into it. As a student I signed up for a summer project mapping the seabed off the Welsh coast, assuming I'd spend my time counting fish. Instead I spent it measuring underwater meadows, and I was hooked. What most people don't realise is that seagrass is a flowering plant, far closer to the grass in your garden than to seaweed. Those meadows store carbon remarkably efficiently, which is why there's been so much interest in them recently. Now, the biggest threat we found wasn't pollution, as you might expect, but boat anchors. Every time a leisure boat drops anchor in a meadow, it tears out a patch, and those scars can take years to recover."
7 Kate first worked on seagrass during a summer project to map the (7) off the coast of Wales.
8 Kate explains that seagrass is a type of (8), unlike seaweed.
9 According to Kate, the main threat to seagrass in her study area was (9).
Show the answer and explanation
7 seabed. She expected to count fish, which is the distractor; what the project mapped was the seabed.
8 flowering plant. Two words, exactly as heard. Grass is a trap: she says seagrass is closer to garden grass, not that it is grass.
9 boat anchors. Pollution is mentioned first and then rejected (wasn't pollution, as you might expect, but …). This pattern, a wrong answer followed by the right one, appears in almost every Part 2 task.
How to do CAE Listening Part 2, step by step
- 01
Use the 45 seconds to read all eight sentences. For each gap, predict the type of answer: a noun or a number, singular or plural, a thing or a person. Grammar around the gap often tells you.
- 02
Note the words just before and after each gap. The speaker will not say the sentence word for word, but these words help you recognise the moment the answer is coming.
- 03
Expect distractors. Speakers often mention two or three possible answers and reject all but one: not X, as you might expect, but Y; I assumed it would be X; in fact ….
- 04
Write something for every gap on the first listening, even if you are unsure. Use the second listening to confirm, correct and fill in what you missed.
- 05
At the end, read each completed sentence. Check that it is grammatical, that singular or plural matches what you heard, and that every word is spelled correctly.
Mistakes that cost marks
Paraphrasing. Writing anchors from boats when the speaker said boat anchors. The task wants the words you hear, and changing them risks the mark.
Writing too much. Copying a whole clause instead of the word or phrase that fills the gap. Answers are usually one to three words.
Spelling mistakes. At C1, correct spelling is expected. Common slips include accommodation, environment, questionnaire, rhythm and committee.
Writing the first thing you hear. The first possible answer is often the one the speaker goes on to reject. Wait for the end of the sentence.
Spelling traps in C1 sentence completion
Answers are nearly always words a C1 candidate knows, which is why spelling is not forgiven. These are the patterns that most often cost marks:
- Double letters: accommodation, committee, occasionally, recommend, necessary, embarrassment, millennium.
- Silent or unexpected letters: environment, government, rhythm, foreign, scissors, Wednesday, February.
- Plurals: -y → -ies (facilities), -f → -ves (shelves), irregular (criteria, phenomena).
- Words often confused: conscience / conscious, affect / effect, principal / principle, stationary / stationery.
- Numbers and dates: write the figure if you hear a figure, and check it on the second listening.
Practise Part 2 in full CAE Listening tests
Each CAE Listening test on this site has its own Part 2, timed with the whole paper and marked as soon as you submit, with an explanation for every answer.
CAE Listening sentence completion: questions
Does spelling count in CAE Listening Part 2?
Yes. Correct spelling is expected at C1 level. Both British and American spellings are accepted, but a misspelled word can cost you the mark.
How many words should I write in CAE Listening sentence completion?
Usually one to three words. Write the actual words you hear, without changing their form or paraphrasing them.
How long is the CAE Listening Part 2 recording?
About three minutes. You have 45 seconds to read the sentences first, and the talk is played twice.
Is C1 Listening Part 2 the same as in B2 First?
The task type is the same, but B2 First has 10 sentences and C1 has 8. B2 also forgives minor spelling errors if the meaning is clear, while C1 expects correct spelling.
Sources
- C1 Advanced Handbook for Teachers (Cambridge University Press & Assessment), pages 54–57
- C1 Advanced exam format (cambridgeenglish.org)
- Developing listening skills for C1 Advanced: a guide for teachers
- C1 Advanced preparation materials: Cambridge's own sample tests
CambridgeMock is independent and not affiliated with Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Facts on this page are checked against the official documents above; the practice items and advice are our own.
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