Skip to content
SPM Tuition
Listening skills practice

Listening skills: practice with answers

You have read the listening lessons and want clips to practise on.

These eight tasks start with single details and move to mixed clues. Ask someone to read each script aloud at a normal pace while you write your answer, then open the explanation.

The lessons are in listening skills. You can also use the original listening practice player and the timed original practice session builder.

Tasks 1 to 4: one skill at a time

Task 1. Question: “What does the speaker need for the workshop?” Predict the answer type, then listen. Script: “For the art workshop, bring an old shirt to wear. We provide the paint and brushes.”

Answer

Predicted type: an object. Answer: an old shirt. Paint and brushes are provided, so they are distractors.

Task 2. Write the number and time. Script: “Train 16 leaves at twenty past six. The ticket is RM60.”

Answer

Train 16, time 6.20, ticket RM60. The stress on “teen” in sixteen and on the first syllable of “sixty” tells them apart.

Task 3. Write the final date. Script: “Let’s meet on the 12th. Sorry, I mean the 2nd, because I have a test on the 12th.”

Answer

The 2nd. The signal phrase is “sorry, I mean”. The 12th is the first version and is rejected.

Task 4. Which drink does the speaker order? Script: “I’ll have an iced tea. On second thought, it is too cold today, so a hot chocolate please.”

Answer

A hot chocolate. The signal phrase is “on second thought”.

Tasks 5 to 8: mixed clues

Task 5. Options: A cinema, B bowling, C picnic. Where do the friends go?

Script: “The cinema has a long queue today. Bowling is fun, but I spent my allowance.”

“A picnic costs nothing, so let’s do that on Saturday.”

Answer

C, the picnic. The cinema and bowling are rejected, and “let’s do that” is the decision phrase.

Task 6. Write the bus number, the time and the fare. Script: “Take bus 40 at five to eight. The fare is RM14.”

Answer

Bus 40, time 7.55, fare RM14. “Forty” is stressed on the first syllable and “fourteen” on the last.

Task 7. When is the club meeting?

Script: “We will meet at four on Monday. Actually, the hall is booked, so let’s move to Thursday.”

“Same time? No, make it five, because of football practice.”

Answer

Thursday at five. Monday and four are both replaced, with the signals “actually” and “no, make it”.

Task 8. Options: A Ali, B Bala, C Chen. Who will lead the project?

Script: “Ali would be good, but he is travelling. Bala has led before, yet he is busy with exams.”

“Chen is free and keen, so Chen will take the lead.”

Answer

C, Chen. Ali and Bala are rejected with reasons, and “Chen will take the lead” is the decision.

If you got these wrong

Match the task to the lesson and retry only those tasks.

Log repeated slips in the mistake log and paper-error review. If you would like a teacher to read scripts aloud for you, see online one-to-one English tuition.

Common questions

How do I practise when there is no audio?

Ask a family member to read each script aloud at a normal pace while you keep the page hidden. You can also use the original listening practice player. Look at the script only after you answer.

Are the scripts from past papers?

No. The scripts, names and numbers are original, written for practice. They practise the skills in this chapter and do not predict what any paper will contain.

Can I replay the script?

You may replay a script once to check a detail. To train for a single hearing, answer after the first reading, then replay and mark the details you missed.

If the answers still slip past on a new script, one-to-one English lessons let a teacher read scripts aloud at exam pace and show which clue you missed.

  • Online one-to-one lessons for your child with an experienced teacher.
  • Your first class is a one-hour trial, from RM50. The fee is agreed before you book.
  • Happy with the teacher? Continue with lessons of about 1.5 hours. If not, ask for another teacher.