What Part B looks like
Part B has six short extracts, each about a minute long, with one question each and three options. Each extract is played once. The extracts come from everyday healthcare work: a handover, a team briefing, a colleague explaining a new procedure, a manager giving an update, or a short conversation between a clinician and a patient or family member.
Before each extract you get a short time to read the question and options. Six marks out of 42 may not sound like much, but each extract is short, so a lapse in concentration costs a full mark quickly.
Use the reading time: what kind of question is it?
Read the question stem first, then the options. Decide what kind of question it is. This tells you what to listen for.
| Question type | Typical stem | Listen for |
|---|---|---|
| Gist / purpose | What is the main purpose of the briefing? | Why the speaker is talking at all. Often clear near the start or the end. |
| Detail | What does the nurse say about the new pumps? | One specific fact, often after a lot of background. |
| Action | What should staff do from Monday? | Instructions: 'you'll need to', 'please make sure', 'from now on'. |
| Concern / feeling | What is the patient worried about? | The real worry, which may come after a polite or vague start. |
Stem: What is the physiotherapist explaining to her colleague? Options: A. why a patient's discharge is delayed B. how to use a new walking frame C. which exercises a patient should avoid
Read only the stem and wait for the recording.
Notice that all three options are about a patient's care, but each points to a different topic: discharge, equipment, exercise.
Why: Knowing how the options differ tells you what to listen for. When you hear 'frame' or 'discharge', you know which option is being tested.
Gist and detail in one extract
Quick one before handover, everyone. You'll have seen the new bedside alarm units arrive yesterday. They won't be switched on until the training is done, so for now, carry on with the old call bells. What I really need is for each of you to book a training session this week. There are slots on the sign-up sheet in the staff room. The sessions are short, twenty minutes, and the units go live next Thursday.
Many details are mentioned: the units arrived yesterday, training lasts twenty minutes, they go live next Thursday.
| Question | Answer from the extract |
|---|---|
| What is the main purpose of the briefing? (gist) | To ask staff to book a training session. |
| What should staff do this week? (action) | Book a session using the sign-up sheet. |
| What does she say about the alarm units? (detail) | They will not be used until after the training. |
Notice that the same minute of speech supports very different answers. If you do not know which question you are answering, every detail sounds important.
Trap 1: mentioned, but not the point
Wrong options often use words you really hear in the extract. Hearing a word does not make an option correct. Ask: does this option answer this question?
Question: What is the main purpose of the briefing? (the alarm example above)
To tell staff that the new alarm units have arrived.
To make sure staff arrange their training.
Why: The arrival is mentioned, but only as background. The manager says what she 'really needs': staff to book training.
Trap 2: true, but not answering the question
Some wrong options are true statements about the extract. They are still wrong if they answer a different question.
Your mum's doing well after the procedure. We're hoping she can go home on Friday.
That's great. It's just, well, she lives on her own, and her bathroom's upstairs. I work full time. I don't know how she'll manage the stairs at night.
That's a fair worry. I'll ask the physiotherapist and the occupational therapist to see her before Friday.
| Option | True? | Answers 'What is the daughter concerned about?' |
|---|---|---|
| A. Her mother's recovery after the procedure | Mentioned, but the doctor says she is doing well | No |
| B. Her mother's safety at home | Yes | Yes: the stairs at night, living alone |
| C. Her own working hours | True, she works full time | No: this is a reason for the worry, not the worry itself |
A routine for each extract
- Read the stem and decide the question type.
- Read the options quickly. Notice how they differ from each other.
- Listen to the whole extract. Do not choose at the first matching word.
- Eliminate options that are not mentioned, mentioned but not the point, or true but off the question.
- Choose, then let it go. The next extract starts soon.
Concentration is the hidden skill in Part B. The extracts come one after another, after the 24 gaps of Part A. Between extracts, take one breath, clear the last question from your mind and read the next stem. If you were unsure about the previous answer, you can mark it lightly; you will not get a second listen, so spending time on it now only risks the next mark.
Check yourself
4 quick questions. Tap an answer to see why.
1 Question: 'What should staff do from Monday?' Which part of the extract matters most?
2 An option repeats a phrase from the recording word for word. What should you think?
3 A patient says: 'The pain's much better, thanks. It's just, I've got my daughter's wedding in two weeks, and I'm not sure I'll be able to drive there.' What is the patient mainly concerned about?
4 Which option is 'true but not answering the question'?