7.4. Listening at Band 8
Find the last three or four marks, which hide in known places.
The short version
You are losing three or four marks, not fifteen.
They go to the same few places on every paper.
Part 4 limitations and Part 3 speakers are where they go.
A wrong answer is a word you heard and then stretched.
You heard it. You then over-read it.
At this level a wrong answer is rarely a word you missed. It is a word you heard and then stretched. You turn a limitation into a conclusion, or credit a view to the wrong speaker.
Where the last marks go
In Part 4 a lecturer says what the evidence cannot show. Band 7 turns that into what the evidence does show. Band 8 writes down only the limit the speaker actually stated.
In Part 3 the person who first proposes an idea is often not the person who approves it. Attribute a view to the voice that said it, not the voice that repeated it.
Lecturers announce their structure: the first point, a second point, a follow-up study, the limitation. Each signpost tells you which question you are on, and when to stop waiting for an answer that has passed.
The fourth place is the checking time itself. A correct answer gets changed because a story about the speaker feels more likely than what the speaker actually said. The last cards in this lesson say which changes are worth making.
Signposts in Part 4
A monologue usually has three or four moves, and the speaker names them. Listen for ordering phrases, for a change of study or date, and for the evaluative turn near the end.
Why the signposts matter
Part 4 questions follow the order of the talk. A signpost you hear also tells you the previous question is over.
Quiz time3 questions
Only what the speaker said
Play the lecture once. The answer sits in the final move, after the signpost the limitation is obvious.
Part 4: lecture
0:00 / 0:00
In the exam you hear this once. Here you may play it again after you have tried.
What does the speaker say about introducing a first community fridge to a town that has no food-sharing scheme?
Who proposed it
Play the tutorial once. The final design combines a survey with weighing the bins at one hall. Listen for who puts that combination forward first.
Part 3: tutorial discussion
0:00 / 0:00
In the exam you hear this once. Here you may play it again after you have tried.
Who first suggests doing the survey and then weighing one hall to check it?
Check
Choose the Band 8 habit.
In check time, which is a good reason to change an answer?
Check time: change it or leave it
A spelling that does not match the letters that were read out. A plural that clashes with the words around the gap. An answer written in the wrong box. An empty box.
A number, because the first one you heard now feels more likely. A date, because you have thought of a reason the speaker might have wanted the other day. Anything that depends on rehearing the tape, because you cannot.
Recap
Part 4 is where the last marks usually go.
A distractor you half heard is still a distractor.
Precision on plurals and spelling is worth real marks here.
Next: how the thirty minutes runs on the day.