Topics · Primary Chinese · Listening (听力)
听力: answering what you heard
A passage read aloud twice, with questions printed in front of you. The difficulty is not the Chinese — it is that you cannot go back, so the work happens before the reading starts.
- 103 exam papers analysed
- appears in 26% of P4 Chinese papers
- ~2 min read
01 Read the questions and the options first
The questions are on the paper before the reading begins. Read them, and read the options.
In a Chinese listening paper the options are often pictures. Looking at them first tells you what to listen for — a number, a place, a time — and turns listening into searching.
Underline the key word in each question: 什么时候, 在哪里, 为什么. That word is what you are waiting to hear.
02 Between the readings
Answer everything you are sure of straight away, while it is fresh.
Mark the ones you missed so the second reading has a target. Trying to re-check all of them is how the answers you had get lost.
Trust the first answer unless you actually hear something that contradicts it.
Leave nothing blank. It is multiple choice, so a blank scores nothing and a guess might not.
03 What gets misheard
The wrong options are written to catch particular mishearings, and they repeat.
Numbers. 十四 and 四十, 三点 and 三十. The passage often says several numbers and only one answers the question.
Near-sounding words. 星期四 and 星期日 pass quickly. So do the pairs that differ only by tone.
A change of mind. 本来要坐巴士，后来改坐地铁。 The answer is the 地铁 — listen past 本来.
但是 and 可是 mean the important part is still coming. So does 不过. Do not answer on the first half of a sentence.
04 How to say them
These are words most children have never said out loud, and a word you cannot say is a word you avoid using. The respelling is Hanyu Pinyin, with the tone marked over the vowel. Tap the speaker to hear it.
- 听力saytīng lì
Listening — answering questions on a passage read aloud.
- 本来sayběn lái
Originally. It usually signals that the plan changed later in the sentence.
- 后来sayhòu lái
Afterwards, later. What follows it is often the answer.
- 但是saydàn shì
But. The important half of the sentence comes after it.
- 选项sayxuǎn xiàng
The options. In a listening paper they are often pictures rather than words.
05 What each level is tested on
The same topic, asked differently as it goes up. The percentage is the share of papers at that level in which it appears.
- P3
Short passages with picture options, asking who, what and where.
Practise P3 Chinese Listening (听力) — 8 questions → Practise P3 Higher Chinese Listening (听力) — 8 questions →21% of P3 Chinese papers
35% of P3 Higher Chinese papers
- P4
Longer passages, and questions about times and numbers.
Practise P4 Chinese Listening (听力) — 8 questions → Practise P4 Higher Chinese Listening (听力) — 8 questions →26% of P4 Chinese papers
50% of P4 Higher Chinese papers
- P5
Conversations as well as passages, and questions about reasons.
Practise P5 Chinese Listening (听力) — 8 questions →24% of P5 Chinese papers
- P6
Passages where the answer depends on a change stated late in the sentence.
Practise P6 Chinese Listening (听力) — 8 questions →18% of P6 Chinese papers
06 Mistakes worth knowing about
Each of these is wrong. Decide why before you open it.
“I listened first and read the questions after.”
Read them first. Knowing what is being asked turns listening into searching.
“I tried to remember the whole passage.”
You only need what the questions ask. Everything else can go past.
“I used the second reading to start again.”
Use it for the ones you marked. Re-checking everything loses the answers you already had.
“I heard 四十 and picked the option with 十四.”
Number pairs are the commonest trap. Listen to the order of the characters, not just the sounds.
“I answered as soon as I heard the fact.”
但是 and 后来 mean it changed. Wait for the end of the sentence.
Now try it
32 questions across 4 levels, marked as you go with the working shown.