Listening Comprehension

Step 1: Preparations

Take notes if the teacher provides you with further information about the text!
Identify the type of exercise! (Multiple choice, True-False, answering questions?)
Look at the title of the text! Does it give you further information?
Read the instructions carefully!
Check for additional vocabulary provided with the text!
Figure out whether the items come in the same order as the information in the text – they usually do!
After reading the headline, try to anticipate what could possibly be said about this topic!
Think of vocabulary you might need for this topic!
If you are supposed to answer questions, prepare an extra sheet for collecting important information, ideally with suitable headings or categories!
Use a pen that will work under exam conditions – you need to be able to write fast. Get all the other materials ready as well.

Step 2: First listening

First, relax. Take a deep breath.
Get rid of the idea that you need to understand every single word.
Make sure you’re focusing from the very beginning.
Don’t panic if the recording seems too fast or the accents seem to thick. It will usually take some time to adjust to the accent and speaking rate. Keep in mind that spoken English may differ a lot from its written form!
Keep in mind that intonation patterns may help you to identify the speaker’s intentions and attitude.
The way the speaker stresses or repeats certain words may help you to spot important facts.
Sometimes, speakers might emphasize certain aspects. Look for phrases which indicate something is important (“I’d like to emphasize...”, “We mustn’t forget that...”).
Leave some space between your notes to allow for additions! Another way to structure your information would be mind-mapping.
Write down key words, names, dates, places, times and numbers!
If possible, make preliminary notes or tick boxes. However, make sure don’t drop out of the recording.

Step 3: Break

Read the tasks again. Fill in the information that is still missing.
Mark all the gaps and the things you are not sure about!

Step 4: Second Listening: Listening for further details

Take down information that is still missing!
Look for connecting phrases – they may help you to work out the overall structure of the text!
Check the information you already have! Does it still seem valid and logical?

Step 5: Additional time

Complete the text / exercise.
In closed test formats, don’t leave anything unanswered.
If it’s about answering question, write your complete answers.
If necessary, you need to restructure your findings or connect them to other contexts.

Central Listening Exam / Zentrale Hörverstehensklausur (BW)

Listening Exams: Selection of Topics

Most of the listening texts are dialogues which downloaded from the websites public radio stations in the U.S. (NPR, National Public Radio) and the U.K. (BBC, British Broadcasting Corporation) approximately a year prior to the exam. The recordings are usually four to six minutes long, speakers tend to speak rather slowly. While non-standard accents may occur quite frequently, they are never extreme.

HT 2018-2019 (1)	“Biosphere 2 – Building a New World” / Witness	BBC, UK
HT 2018-2019 (2)	“The Birth of eBay” / Witness	BBC, UK
NT 2018-2019 (1)	Twist Of Fate Leads Musical Prodigy To Pursue Social Sciences	NPR, USA
NT 2018-2019 (2)	'Hidden Figures': How Black Women Did The Math That Put Men On The Moon	NPR, USA
HT 2017-2018 (1)	“London Dock Strike of 1889” / Witness	BBC, UK
HT 2017-2018 (2)	“How does the journey change the hero?” / TED Radio Hour	NPR, USA
HT 2016-2017 (2)	“Meet Mafiaboy, The ‘Bratty Kid’ Who Took Down The Internet“ / All Things Considered	NPR, USA
NT 2016-2017 (2)	“A brief history of America’s hostility to a previous generation of Mediterranean migrants – Italians” / The World	PRI, USA
HT 2016-2017 (1)	“Bemusement on the beach: Welcome to Dismaland” / The World	PRI, USA
NT 2016-2017 (2)	“Conservatives Call For ‘Religious Freedom’, But For Whom?” / All Things Considered	NPR, USA
HT 2015-2016 (1)	Mixed-Race Marriage Victory in US / Witness	BBC, UK
HT 2015-2016 (2)	University of Birmingham: Ideas Lab Predictor Podcast (Episode 43) with Dr Chris Shannahan	UoB, UK
NT 2015-2016 (1)	“Jack Ma” [= Founder of Alibaba, Chinese internet portal] / Profile	BBC, UK
NT 2015-2016 (2)	“Jack Ma” [= Founder of Alibaba, Chinese internet portal] / Profile	BBC, UK

General Exam Layout

Baden-Württemberg’s central listening exam consists of two parts. The procedure for each part is:

Read the task descriptions and the test items (6 min)
Listening, first round (usually 5-6 min)
First working period (3 Minuten)
Listening, second round (another 5-6 min)
Second working period (3 min)

You may either take notes or complete the tasks right away.

You may take a monolingual dictionary with you.

Task Descriptions and Formats: General Remarks

First of all, keep in mind that half credit points will not be assigned at all.
Usually, numbers need no be spelled out.
Orthographical and grammatical mistakes will only influence the corrections if they make your answer unintelligible or distort its meaning.

Task descriptions

The most commonly used task descriptions in the central listening exam are:

True or false? Tick the correct box.
Tick the one correct solution.
Complete the sentence.
Fill the gaps.
Give a short answer.
Match … with …. . There is one more topic than you need.

Ordering exercises

All items need to be arranged in the expected order.

Multiple choice

Whenever there are four possible answers, only one is correct. If there are seven items, only two of them are correct. Then,

no credit points will be assigned if no or more than two items have been selected;
one credit point will be assigned if one answer is correct;
two credit points are assigned if two correct answers have been chosen.

True-False-Exercises

A true-false-exercise consists of four items. Each item needs to be tested separately whether it is true or not with regard to the text. True-false-exercises will be corrected as follows: one credit point will be assigned for two correct answers, no matter which of the correct answers have been selected. This means:

no credit points: no or only one item have been marked correctly;
one credit point: two or three items have marked correctly;
two credit points: all four items have been marked correctly:

Grading system

There are 30 credit points altogether. You need 14 for passing the exam.

30-29

27-26

very good (= A+ / A)

24-23

good (=A- / B+ / B)

21-20

18-17

satisfactory (= B- / C+)

15-14

sufficient (= C / C- / D+)

12-11

9-8

insufficient (= D / D-)

7-0

failing grade (= F)