Drill L2 · Listening

Table Completion

Four levels, ten recordings each. What changes is how the speaker moves through the table — across the rows at first, then down a column while you hold the grid in your head.

How to attack this question type ›

Read the column headings before you press Play. They tell you what kind of answer each gap wants — a price, a day, a material — and half the work is done before the audio starts.
The speaker does not always follow the table. Lower down they fill one row before moving to the next. Higher up they give the same column for every row in turn, and you have to hold the grid in your head.
Look at what the heading already prints. If the column says Cost (£), write the figure only — not the pound sign, not per metre.
If a value is given twice, the second one stands. At the lower levels it is announced. At C1 there is no announcement at all — instead the sentence that replaces it also tells you why the first no longer applies. Listen for the reason, not for an apology.
One row may have no gap. It is not filler — it is there so you can compare it with the row that does.
Check the word limit before you write. Two words means two words, however right the meaning.

Worked example — let's solve one together

You hear: “Oak comes in at twelve pounds the metre. The ash — and ash is what most people end up taking — is nine.”

The table says: Ash | Cost (£) → 9

Two prices are spoken and the table asks for one of them. The row label decides it: the twelve belongs to oak. Notice also that the heading already prints the pound sign — so the answer is the bare figure. Writing £9 or nine pounds loses the mark on a technicality, and that technicality costs candidates marks in the real test every day.

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Level complete

Carry into the mock: read the column headings before you press Play, and decide what kind of answer each gap wants.