The Listening section: format, two hearings and the order of questions

1. What Section One is, and how much it is worth

Section One of the EAL/D ATAR course examination is Listening. On the 2026 front cover it carries 31 raw marks and is worth 25% of the written examination, with a suggested working time of 35 minutes and 12 questions, all of which you answer. The syllabus examination design brief describes the section as 5 to 15 short-answer questions, including one or two multiple-choice items, on two separate aural texts. Each text is played twice from a sound recording, with a short pause between hearings.

Two facts about the marks matter for your preparation. First, raw marks change every year (29 in 2025, 35 in 2024, 32 in 2023) while the 25% weighting stays fixed, so a single mark in Listening is worth roughly the same share of your result whatever the raw total. Second, Listening is worth exactly as much as Reading and viewing, even though it takes twenty minutes less. That makes it one of the most efficient places in the paper to gain marks, because the answers are short and the marking key accepts precise, brief phrases.

The stimulus can be a reproduction of a conversation, lecture, narrative, interview, explanation or news broadcast. Recent papers have paired an interview with a speech or lecture, and the topics come directly from the Unit 3 and Unit 4 contexts: community programs for refugees, Indigenous languages, technology and the environment, childhood and play, textile waste. Voices and accents vary between the two texts, so you may hear an older speaker, a young presenter or a speaker whose first language is not English.

Unlike a classroom recording, you cannot pause or rewind. The design of the section rewards candidates who arrive with a routine: read the questions, predict, take notes on the first hearing, confirm on the second, then write clean final answers.

2. Using the reading time before the recording starts

The ten minutes of reading time at the start of the examination cover the whole paper, but many candidates spend the first part of it on the Listening questions because the recording begins soon after working time starts. Use that time to turn the question list into a listening plan.

• Underline the instruction verb in every question: list, identify, state, outline, describe, explain, define, complete. The 2024 report specifically advises candidates to listen for the instruction verbs and use them in their answers.
• Circle the mark value. A 3-mark question usually needs three separate pieces of information; a 1-mark question needs one.
• Box the key nouns: two causes, three solutions, one indicator, the metaphor. These are the words you will hear in the recording just before the answer.
• Predict the answer type. Will it be a number, a name, a reason, a benefit, a place? Write a tiny prediction in the margin, such as num? or reason x2.
• Notice where Text 1 ends and Text 2 begins. The questions are grouped by text, so you know which questions belong to which recording.

Prediction is not guessing the answer; it is preparing your ear. If a question asks for two benefits for regional towns, you will recognise the moment when the speaker says for country towns, the advantages are and you will already be writing. A candidate who reads the question for the first time while the speaker is talking loses the first answer and often the second.

Finally, read any multiple-choice options and table headings during reading time. Table items tell you exactly how the information will be organised, and the options in a multiple-choice item show which details the examiners think are easy to confuse.

3. First hearing and second hearing: two different jobs

Because each text is played twice, you should give each hearing a different job instead of trying to do everything at once.

First hearing: gist and capture. Listen for the overall purpose (Is this speaker informing, persuading, explaining a program?) and the structure (How many main points? Where do they turn?). Write notes next to each question number as the answers go past. Do not stop to write full sentences; a key word, a number or an abbreviation is enough. If you miss something, leave a gap and keep up with the speaker, because the next answer is coming.

The pause. Use the short pause between hearings to look at your gaps. Put a small mark beside each question that still needs work, and re-read the wording of those questions so you know exactly what to listen for.

Second hearing: confirm and complete. Now listen mainly for the gaps. Check details that are easy to mishear: singular or plural, a number such as fifteen or fifty, the exact verb the speaker uses, and the name of the person who said something. The 2024 report noted that some candidates misheard similar-sounding words and lost the meaning of their answer, and the second hearing is your chance to fix that.

After the recording. Convert notes into final answers before you move to the next text or to Section Two. Write each answer clearly in the space for that question, in words, not in private symbols. A marker cannot award a mark for an arrow or an abbreviation that only you understand.

A useful rule: at the end of the first hearing you should have something written for most questions; at the end of the second hearing you should have something for every question, even if it is your best inference.

4. Questions follow the order of the text

The design brief states that the sequence of questions follows the sequence of information in the texts. This is the most useful structural fact in the section, and you should use it in three ways.

1. The question paper is a map. As the speaker moves through the text, your eye moves down the question list. When you hear the answer to Question 4, you know the answer to Question 5 is next, so you can switch your attention to it at once.

2. A missed answer is not a disaster. If you realise the speaker has moved on to the content of Question 6 and you have nothing for Question 5, leave Question 5 and listen for Question 6. You can return to Question 5 on the second hearing. Candidates who freeze on a missed item often lose the next two as well.

3. Signposts tell you a new question is starting. Speakers in lectures, speeches and interviews mark their structure with discourse markers. Listen for phrases like these:

In an interview, the interviewer's questions act as signposts. When the presenter asks, So who actually comes along to these sessions?, the next answer is almost certainly about participants. Treat every interviewer question as a heading for your notes.

5. What the different text types sound like

Each kind of aural text has a typical shape. Knowing the shape helps you predict where the answers are and what form they will take.

• Lecture or explanation. One speaker, often an expert, addresses an audience such as parents, students or a community group. Expect an introduction that names the topic, a clearly signposted body (causes, effects, examples, solutions) and a summary. Lectures are dense with lists and with cause-and-effect language, so many outline and explain questions come from them.
• Speech. Persuasive and addressed to a named audience. Expect rhetorical questions, inclusive we, repetition and a call to action at the end. Speeches often produce questions about the speaker's purpose, a metaphor or the meaning of the final sentence.
• Interview. Two or more voices: a presenter and one or more guests. The presenter's questions organise the content. Expect personal examples, program details, numbers, and opinions. Questions may ask what a named guest believes, so note who says what.
• News broadcast. A newsreader gives the key facts in the first sentence (who, what, where, when), followed by detail and often a short quotation from an official or witness. Facts arrive quickly, so your notes must be fast.
• Conversation. Informal register, interruptions, colloquial language and idioms. Inference matters more here: speakers may hint at an attitude rather than state it.

Accents and voices vary between the two texts. In preparation, the 2024 report advises teachers to expose students to a range of voices and accents speaking Standard Australian English. That means listening to older and younger speakers, Australian regional speech, and speakers who use English as an additional language, not only to news presenters.

When the recording begins, identify the text type in the first fifteen seconds. Then adjust: for an interview, prepare to track two voices; for a speech, listen for the call to action; for a lecture, count list items.

6. Worked example: an original practice excerpt

The excerpt below is ORIGINAL practice material written for this hub; it is not from an SCSA recording. Read it as if you were hearing it.

Presenter: So, Mei, the library runs a conversation club every Thursday night. Who is it actually for?
Mei: Mainly adults who are new to Perth. Some arrived last month; some have been here ten years but never had the chance to practise English outside work. We also get a few retirees who just like the company.
Presenter: And what happens in a session?
Mei: We start with tea, then split into small tables of four. Each table has a volunteer who keeps the talk going. The topic changes every week. Last week it was public transport, which turned out to be very popular because everyone has a story about a missed bus.

Question A (2 marks): Identify two groups of people who attend the club.
Model answer: (1) adults who are new to Perth / recent arrivals; (2) retirees who want company. Also acceptable: long-term residents who have not practised English outside work.

Question B (1 mark): State the role of the volunteer at each table.
Model answer: To keep the conversation going.

Question C (2 marks): Explain why last week's topic was popular.
Model answer: The topic was public transport, and it was popular because everyone had a personal story to tell about it (for example, missing a bus).

Notice how the presenter's questions signpost each answer, how Question A needs two separate groups (one mark each), and how the explain item needs both the what (the topic) and the why (everyone has a story). A candidate who writes only public transport for Question C earns at most one mark because the reason is missing.

7. What the examination reports keep saying

The SCSA summary examination reports for 2023, 2024 and 2025 give consistent advice about Listening. Read it as a list of the ways candidates most often lose marks.

• Be precise and concise. The 2024 report advises candidates to avoid unnecessary elaboration and not to give multiple answers when unsure, because the correct parts of an answer may not be rewarded if they are mixed with incorrect material. Write one clear answer per required component.
• Use the instruction verb. If the question says describe, give characteristics; if it says explain, give a reason. The 2024 report said some candidates needed to be more precise with verbs.
• Count the components. The 2025 report noted that many candidates addressed one or two components of a question but not all of them, especially in questions with multiple parts. A 3-mark question with three parts needs three answers.
• Do not combine answers. The 2025 report also listed combining answers for multi-part questions as a common error. If a table has two rows, write the answer for each row in its own cell.
• Watch vocabulary. Errors in vocabulary, and mishearing words that sound similar, changed the meaning of some answers. If you are unsure of a spelling, write the word as clearly as you can; the meaning must be recognisable.
• Take notes and attempt everything. The 2024 report praised candidates who made notes and attempted all questions, describing this as effective listening and time management.

None of this advice asks for long answers. The marking keys for listening are lists of acceptable short phrases, often with alternatives separated by slashes, such as save money or prolong the life of clothing. Your goal is to land one of those phrases, in your own clear words or in the speaker's words, for each mark available.

8. A preparation routine for the final weeks

Listening improves through regular, structured practice rather than last-minute cramming. A realistic routine for the final term looks like this.

• Three short sessions a week. Choose a four-to-six minute segment from an Australian radio program, podcast or recorded lecture on a Unit 3 or Unit 4 theme: migration, identity, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, the environment, social media, ageism. Variety of voices matters more than difficulty.
• Write questions before you listen. Ask a friend or teacher to write four or five questions, or write your own from the program description. This trains prediction.
• Listen twice only. Copy the real conditions: one hearing for gist and capture, a thirty-second pause, a second hearing to confirm. Do not replay a third time until you have marked your answers.
• Mark against a short key. Check whether each answer matches the number of components and uses the instruction verb correctly. Note the type of error: misheard word, missing component, wrong section of the text, or too much elaboration.
• Transcribe thirty seconds. Once a week, write down every word of a short section. This exposes the sounds you regularly miss, such as unstressed endings (-ed, -s), linked words (a lot of heard as alotta) and numbers.
• Build a topic word bank. After each session, add five topic words to a list with their spelling and meaning, for example settlement, volunteer, initiative, sustainable, intergenerational. Many listening errors are vocabulary errors.

In the last fortnight, practise with full papers: two texts back to back, about 35 minutes including writing time. Then move straight into a Section Two reading set so you get used to switching modes, as you must in the examination.