B1 Preliminary Listening: How to Solve Part 4 Multiple Choice 🎧
Welcome, my lovely students! 💙 In this lesson, we are going to train Part 4 of the Cambridge B1 Preliminary Listening paper. This is the interview task: you hear an interview with one person and answer six multiple-choice questions.
Official exam overview
| Exam | Level | Listening parts | Approx. duration | Audio repetition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B1 Preliminary | B1 | 4 parts | Approximately 35 minutes, including 6 minutes to transfer answers | Each piece is heard twice |
Important exam instructions
- You must answer all the questions.
- While listening, you write your answers on the question paper.
- At the end, you have 6 minutes to copy your answers onto the separate answer sheet.
- You must use a pencil on the answer sheet.
- Each question carries one mark.
Teacher tip 💡: Part 4 is longer than Parts 1 and 2, so your job is to follow the story calmly. Do not panic if you miss a word; listen for the main idea behind each answer.
What does Cambridge really test in B1 Listening Part 4?
In Part 4, Cambridge tests whether you can understand a longer interview and choose the correct answer from three options. You need to listen for reasons, experiences, feelings and final meaning. 🎯
Detailed information
You must understand specific details from a longer interview.
Reasons
Why did Vicky start competing, train hard or change her goals?
Feelings and difficulty
What did she find hard? What helped her succeed?
Distractors
Wrong options may be mentioned, but only one fully matches the answer.
B1 Preliminary Listening: the 4 parts
| Part | Task type | Questions | What it tests |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part 1 | Multiple choice with pictures | 1–7 | Specific information in everyday situations |
| Part 2 | Multiple choice | 8–13 | Opinion, feeling, agreement, reason and final meaning |
| Part 3 | Gap fill | 14–19 | Listening for one or two words, a number, a date or a time |
| Part 4 | Multiple choice | 20–25 | Detailed understanding in an interview |
In this lesson, we are focusing on Part 4: an interview with Vicky Prince, a champion swimmer who now works as a swimming coach.
Before, During and After Listening 🧠
In Part 4, you hear one longer interview. The questions normally follow the order of the audio, so your strategy is simple: read, follow, eliminate and confirm.
Before listening
- Read the interview introduction.
- Identify the speaker: Vicky Prince.
- Read questions 20–25 quickly.
- Underline the difference between A, B and C.
First listening
- Follow the questions in order.
- Mark possible answers quickly.
- Listen for the complete meaning.
- Do not stop if one question feels difficult.
Second listening
- Confirm the answer you marked.
- Check if an option was only mentioned as a distractor.
- Eliminate options that do not match the final meaning.
- Correct your answer if the audio gives a clearer clue.
Mini example
Question: What helped Vicky to do well in the national finals?
You are not only listening for “national finals”. You are listening for the reason she performed well: pressure, expectations, extra training or motivation.
The Keyword Trap: mentioned does not mean correct
In Part 4, Vicky may mention more than one option. For example, she may talk about parents, teachers and clubs — but the question asks for the real reason. You must wait for the full explanation.
Example
Question: Vicky first went in for competitions because...
Audio-style sentence: “My parents liked swimming, and I later joined a club, but it was actually my teacher who first said I should try a competition.”
Correct meaning: Parents and club are mentioned, but the real reason is her teacher encouraged her.
How the trap works
| What students hear | What they choose too quickly | What they should check |
|---|---|---|
| “My parents liked swimming...” | Her parents were keen on swimming. | Was that the reason she first competed? |
| “We trained in the pool every day...” | Travelling to a pool once a day. | Does the option describe the full training programme? |
| “I missed some parties...” | She missed lots of parties. | Was this the hardest thing, or just one detail? |
Teacher tip 💡: In Part 4, the correct answer often comes after contrast words like but, actually, in fact or the main reason was.
The options and the interview may not use the same words
In B1 Part 4, the correct option is often paraphrased. The question may say “encouraged her”, but the speaker may say “told me I should try it” or “gave me confidence to enter”.
| Option says | Audio may say | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| her swimming teacher encouraged her | my teacher said I should try / gave me confidence | Someone motivated her to compete |
| exercising on land as well as in the water | we didn’t only swim; we did gym work too | Training outside the pool |
| couldn’t go on school trips | I had to miss trips with school | She lost school experiences |
| not expected to win | no one thought I would come first | Less pressure because expectations were low |
| improve their technique | swim in a better way / correct their movement | Better swimming skill |
| thought it would be fun | I wanted to enjoy it / it sounded enjoyable | She started because it seemed enjoyable |
Before listening, simplify each option into a basic idea. For example, “not expected to win” means: people did not think she would be the winner. 🌟
B1 Listening Part 4 Strategy: Multiple Choice
In the official sample paper, Part 4 is an interview with Vicky Prince, a champion swimmer who now works as a swimming coach. For questions 20–25, you choose the correct answer: A, B or C.
Official Part 4 task focus
- Questions: 20–25.
- Task type: multiple choice.
- Options: A, B or C.
- Topic: Vicky Prince’s life as a swimmer and swimming coach.
- Skill: understanding detailed information, reasons, training experiences and personal decisions.
Step-by-step strategy
| Step | What to do | Why it helps |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Read the introduction first. | It tells you who is speaking and what the interview is about. |
| 2 | Read the question stem before the options. | The stem tells you what type of information to listen for. |
| 3 | Underline the key difference between A, B and C. | This helps you avoid similar-looking options. |
| 4 | Follow the questions in order. | The answers normally come in the same order as the interview. |
| 5 | Listen for the full meaning. | One word from an option is not enough to choose correctly. |
| 6 | Eliminate options that are only mentioned but not correct. | This protects you from distractors. |
| 7 | Use the second listening to confirm. | The second listening is your chance to check the exact meaning. |
Teacher tip 💡: Your mental formula for Part 4 is: question focus + option difference + final interview meaning.
Common mistakes Spanish speakers make in B1 Part 4
In Part 4, many students understand the topic, but lose marks because they choose too quickly or stop following the interview. Let’s avoid the most common traps. 💪
| Mistake | Why it happens | How to fix it |
|---|---|---|
| Choosing repeated words | You hear a word from an option and choose it. | Wait for the full explanation before deciding. |
| Not reading the question stem carefully | You only look at A, B and C. | Read what the question asks: why, what helped, what was hard, or why now. |
| Losing focus in the middle | The interview is longer than previous parts. | Follow the question numbers in order and reset your attention after each answer. |
| Confusing similar options | Options may all be connected to swimming. | Underline the exact difference between the three options. |
| Stopping after the first idea | The first idea sounds familiar. | Pay attention after “but”, “actually”, “however” and “in the end”. |
| Panicking after one difficult question | You keep thinking about the previous answer. | Leave it, continue, and use the second listening to confirm. |
Useful vocabulary for B1 Listening Part 4
The official Part 4 is about Vicky Prince, a champion swimmer and swimming coach. This vocabulary will help you understand ideas about competitions, training, school life, coaching and long-distance swimming.
| Category | Useful words and phrases | What it may help you identify | Example meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Competitions | competition, race, enter, win, finals, national finals | Why Vicky started competing and what helped her win | “Enter a race” means take part in a competition. |
| Training | training programme, exercise, pool, land training, practice | What her teenage training involved | Land training means exercise outside the water. |
| School life | school trips, friends, parties, miss, social life | What Vicky found difficult as a teenager | “Miss a trip” means not be able to go. |
| Success | expected to win, pressure, cup, train harder, do well | What helped her in the national finals | Low expectations can reduce pressure. |
| Coaching | coach, technique, qualifications, deal with failure, improve | What Vicky is best at teaching | Technique means the way someone performs a skill. |
| Long-distance swimming | long-distance, get fit, fun, travelling, challenge | Why Vicky started doing long-distance swimming | Long-distance swimming means swimming for a long time or over a long route. |
Teacher tip 💡: Before listening, activate topic vocabulary. If the interview is about swimming, your brain should be ready for words like coach, competition, training, technique and finals.
How to train B1 Listening Part 4 every day
Part 4 improves when you train your ability to follow one person’s story from beginning to end. You do not need to understand every word. You need to understand the answer to each question.
Daily 15-minute routine
- Listen to a short interview without subtitles.
- Write the topic in one sentence.
- Listen again and write three key facts.
- Answer simple questions: why, what, when, what helped, what was difficult.
- Check the transcript and highlight distractors.
- Repeat two useful interview sentences out loud.
Final Part 4 checklist
Before the audio starts
- Read the introduction.
- Read all six questions.
- Underline key words in A, B and C.
- Predict simple paraphrases.
While listening
- Follow the questions in order.
- Listen for complete meaning.
- Do not choose repeated words only.
- Mark possible answers quickly.
After listening
- Use the second listening to confirm.
- Eliminate distractors.
- Check the final meaning.
- Transfer answers carefully.
Practise with Intellego 🎧
You can also train this skill with Intellego: listen, type what you hear and get instant correction. It is perfect for building real listening accuracy, and you can find the free version here:
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B1 Listening Part 4 - Interview with Vicky Prince (Questions 20-22)
Question 20
For each question, choose the correct answer.
Vicky first went in for competitions because