Listening Part 6
The Listening test closes with an extended talk about a topic on which people disagree. The six questions ask about the views presented, the reasons behind them, and where things are heading - and it all arrives at the point in the test when you are most tired.
Walkthrough published by the official CELPIP Test channel.
Listening to Viewpoints presents a topic together with the range of opinion around it: a change people are arguing about, a trend, a proposal with supporters and sceptics. It comes as a continuous stretch of speech rather than as an exchange.
The six questions are about stance - who holds which view, on what grounds, with what reservations, and what is expected to follow. All of it has to be caught on one hearing, at the end of a long section.
The language is more considered than in the conversational parts, and heavily hedged. "Some argue", "critics point out", "supporters counter" - the hedging is not padding, it is the content, because what the questions test is who is being reported and how firmly.
Take the fatigue seriously: this part comes last, and attention is the resource in shortest supply by then. Reset deliberately before it starts instead of replaying the previous part in your head.
As the talk unfolds, keep a running list of positions, one line each, with a plus or a minus for direction and a mark for strength. The audio sets the pace, and the ideas arrive in a deliberate order, so a list built in that order is quick to search when the questions come.
Train stamina, not only comprehension. Practise with long-form spoken argument - opinion segments, documentary narration, lectures - and after each one write down every position you heard with a plus or minus beside it. What this part measures is holding attitude in your head across several unbroken minutes, so practise it when you are already tired rather than when you are fresh.
Quick answers about Listening Part 6.
Six, and they are the last of the 38 scored Listening questions. They are asked after the recording has finished playing.
It combines extended, unbroken speech with the most abstract content in the section, and it arrives when concentration is lowest. Nothing about it is unfair - it simply asks for sustained attention rather than a short burst.
Both are about viewpoints, but in Reading you can go back over the text at your own pace. Here the argument passes once, in real time, so all the work has to be done while it plays.
A list of positions, one line each, in the order they appear, with a plus or minus for direction and something to mark strength. Detail beyond that costs more attention than it returns.
Sometimes, but much of the talk reports what other people think. Marking who each view belongs to as you listen is what keeps the two apart when the questions ask.
The Listening test ends. All six parts feed a single Listening CLB level built from the 38 scored questions, so a weaker part can be offset by the others - which is a good reason to answer every question even when you are unsure.