The listening paper game plan

The recording starts, and you're still reading question 3. A first name goes past, then a time, and you catch neither. That happens to nearly every beginner, and it isn't a vocabulary problem. You just didn't know how the paper works before the sound arrived.

This lesson gives you the map. First the five exercises and what each one is worth. Then how the recording runs your clock, and what each of the two plays is for. Last come the clues you can catch without understanding a whole sentence.

Five exercises, and where the points sit

Listening is the first paper of the day. It runs about 20 minutes and it's marked out of 25. There are five exercises, and each one has its own very short recording.

Exercise	What you hear	What you do	Points
1	A voicemail or a short announcement, about 45 to 50 words	Tick one option out of three, four times	4
2	One short document	Tick two written options and two pictures	4
3	One document that gives you instructions	Tick one option out of three, four times	4
4	Four mini-dialogues, 30 words each at most	Write each dialogue number under the right picture	8
5	One document of 50 to 55 words, plus five pictures	Tick oui or non under each picture	5
Total			25

Read the last column before anything else. Exercise 4 is worth 8 points on its own, which is almost a third of the paper. Each of its four dialogues carries 2 points, and every other question on the paper carries 1. So one matching line is worth two ticks anywhere else, and that tells you where your attention belongs.

Now notice what this paper never asks of you. You don't write a single French word in it. You tick a box under a written option, you tick a picture, you tick oui or non. In Exercise 4 you write a number under an image. Your spelling can't cost you a point here.

One more rule saves time in every exercise. The questions follow the order of the recording. What answers question 1 is said before what answers question 2. So you can read down the page while the audio moves forward, instead of searching back and forth.

Two of those six images match nothing at all. They sit there on purpose, so an image that looks right for two different dialogues deserves a second look.

Point d'étape 1/4

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Q1How many exercises does the A1 listening paper have, and how many points is it worth?

• ACinq exercices, 25 points
• BQuatre exercices, 25 points
• CCinq exercices, 20 points
• DSix exercices, 30 points

Q2Which exercise carries the most points?

• AL'exercice 1
• BL'exercice 3
• CL'exercice 4
• DL'exercice 5

Q3What do you have to write in French during this paper?

• ARien. On coche des cases ou des images et on écrit des numéros sous les images.
• BUne phrase courte par exercice
• CUn mot par question
• DUn petit texte de 40 mots à la fin

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How the recording runs your clock

In this paper the time isn't yours. The recording decides when everything happens, and the same pattern comes back in all five exercises.

Here's the order. You get about 30 seconds to read the questions. The document plays. A short pause lets you start answering. The document plays a second time. You get about 30 seconds more to finish, and the next exercise begins.

Every document is played twice, in all five exercises. That changes what a missed word costs you. A detail you lose on the first play isn't lost yet, so keep listening instead of stopping to worry about it.

Those 30 seconds before the first play are worth more than any list you could revise the night before. Spend them on the questions. At A1 the instructions are printed in front of you and read out on the recording as well. You don't need to study them twice.

In Exercises 4 and 5 there are no questions to read, so that time goes to the images. Six of them in Exercise 4, five in Exercise 5. Look at who is in each picture, where the scene happens, and which small objects appear. A picture you've already studied is a picture you can recognise from three spoken words.

Point d'étape 2/4

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Q1How many times is each document played?

• AUne seule fois
• BDeux fois, dans les cinq exercices
• CTrois fois
• DDeux fois, sauf à l'exercice 4

Q2What do you do with the 30 seconds before the first play?

• AOn lit les questions, ou on regarde les images aux exercices 4 et 5.
• BOn relit la consigne mot à mot.
• COn écrit déjà ses réponses au crayon.
• DOn attend sans rien faire.

Q3In what order do the questions of an exercise come?

• ADans l'ordre des informations du document
• BDans le désordre
• CDe la plus facile à la plus difficile
• DDans l'ordre alphabétique

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Two plays, two jobs

Before any sound arrives, underline the question word. Each one names the kind of answer you're waiting for. Qui wants a person. Où wants a place. Quand and quel jour want a time. Combien wants a number or a price. Pourquoi wants a reason. Comment wants a way of doing something, often a means of transport.

That one pencil stroke takes a second, and it changes how you listen. You stop trying to follow every sentence, and you start waiting for one kind of word.

Then divide the work between the two plays, and divide it by points.

Exercises 1, 2, 3 and 5 are built from 1-point questions only. Take them as they come on the first play, in the order they're printed. The second play is then free for checking them and filling the ones you left empty.

Exercise 4 works the other way round. Each line there is worth 2 points, so one wrong match costs you as much as two mistakes elsewhere. On the first play, put a light pencil number under the image you think fits. On the second play, confirm that choice before you make it final.

A word about your hands. Keep them still for most of the recording, because writing notes while French is playing makes you miss the next sentence. Numbers, first names, days and times are the exception. They go down the instant you hear them, since a number you only heard is gone by the end of the document.

And leave nothing empty. A wrong tick and an empty box both score zero, so a guess costs you nothing and sometimes pays 2 points.

Point d'étape 3/4

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Q1Where do the 2-point questions sit on this paper?

• AÀ l'exercice 4
• BÀ l'exercice 1
• CÀ l'exercice 5
• DIl n'y en a pas

Q2A question begins with the word où. What kind of answer are you waiting for?

• AUn lieu
• BUne heure
• CUn prix
• DUne personne

Q3You are not sure of one matching line in Exercise 4. What do you do?

• AOn laisse la case vide.
• BOn écrit deux numéros sous la même image.
• COn choisit l'image la plus probable, car une case vide vaut zéro comme une erreur.
• DOn barre l'exercice et on passe au suivant.

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What sound tells you before the words do

Some answers arrive before you've understood a single sentence. Exercises 4 and 5 lean on this hard, because a picture shows a place, a number of people and a mood.

Start with the background. Children and a bell put you in a school. A till and trolleys put you in a shop. A loudspeaker and a departure put you in a station.

Then count the voices. One voice alone is a message or an announcement. Two voices taking turns is a scene between two people. A child's voice removes several images on its own.

Then listen to the shape of the sentence rather than its words. A voice that falls at the end is a statement. A voice that rises at the end is a question. A short loud line is an exclamation. Between three options, that alone can remove one.

The pronoun places the relationship. Two people saying tu are family or friends. The pronoun vous with monsieur or madame points to a shop, an office or a stranger.

Five mood words come back session after session: fatigué, malade, content, en colère, triste. They match the face drawn in a picture, and reviewing them costs you five minutes once.

Here's the cheapest way to reuse this lesson. Read the points table again the week before your exam. Knowing that Exercise 4 holds 8 of the 25 points is worth more to you than a fresh list of vocabulary.

Point d'étape 4/4

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Q1You hear one voice, a loudspeaker and a platform letter. What kind of document is it?

• AUne annonce dans une gare
• BUn dialogue entre deux amis
• CUn message d'un enfant à sa mère
• DUne conversation dans un magasin

Q2Two speakers use the pronoun vous and the word madame. What does that tell you?

• AElles ne sont pas de la même famille. On est dans un magasin, un bureau ou la rue.
• BElles sont frère et sœur.
• CCe sont deux enfants d'une même classe.
• DElles parlent de la météo.

Q3The voice rises at the end of the sentence. What kind of sentence is it?

• AUne question
• BUne affirmation
• CUne annonce de gare
• DUne liste de courses

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