Part 2: monologues and note completion

One voice, ten questions, no second chances

Part 2 is the first monologue in the test: one speaker talking about an everyday, non-academic subject. Typical examples are a guided tour, a talk to new volunteers or club members, a radio item about a local event, or an introduction to a new sports centre. It covers questions 11–20.

Many candidates find Part 2 harder than Part 1, for good reasons:

• Nobody interrupts. In Part 1, the receptionist says “Sorry, could you spell that?” and you hear the answer twice. In Part 2, you hear it once.
• The information comes quickly. A speaker can cover two or three answers in thirty seconds.
• There are more paraphrases and distractors. The notes say “sign in at the ___”, but the speaker might say “you'll need to register your arrival”.

The good news is that monologues are planned. Speakers who give talks use signposting language to tell the audience where they are. Once you can hear the signposts, the talk becomes a route you can follow, and you will always know which question you are on.

How a Part 2 talk is built

Almost every Part 2 talk has the same structure:

1. Introduction. The speaker says who they are and why they're talking. “I'm Rob, the farm manager.”
2. Overview. This is the most useful sentence in the whole talk: “I'll start with a bit of history, then go through some practical information, and finish by explaining the different jobs.” It is a free table of contents, and it usually matches the headings on your question paper in the same order.
3. Body sections. Each one starts with a signpost (first of all…, moving on to…, now, as for…). The answers inside each section come in question order.
4. Closing. “The last thing I'd like to mention…” means the final question or two is coming.

Practical consequence: when you read the questions before the audio, look at the headings first. If the notes have three headings (History / Practical information / Volunteer roles), you already know the three signposts to listen for.

Missed an answer? How to get back on track

Every candidate misses answers, including band 8 candidates. What separates bands is what happens next. A weak listener loses one answer and then three more while trying to find their place. A strong listener loses one answer and nothing else.

1. Watch two questions at once. Keep your eyes on the current blank and the next one. This is your two-question window.

2. Use the next answer as an alarm. If you hear the answer to question 14 while you are still waiting for 13, then 13 has gone. Let it go immediately, write 14, and put a small mark (?) next to 13.

3. Use signposts to re-anchor. If you are completely lost, wait for the next moving on to… or now, as for… and jump to that heading. You will be back on track within one sentence.

4. Never go back during the recording. The audio is played once. Thinking about a missed answer while the speaker continues is how one lost mark becomes four.

5. Guess at the end. There is no penalty for wrong answers, so never leave a blank. Use grammar and common sense: “Volunteers must bring their own ___” → boots or gloves is a far better guess than nothing.