A plan goes on the pad
Priya suggests the plan. Write it the way you'd text it: day, time, how. Three or four words, never a sentence.
CELPIP GymListening courseLesson 1 · Listening Part 1, problem solving
The last plan wins
Part 1 changes its mind on purpose. A plan is suggested, corrected, then corrected again, and three of the four choices are versions that got dropped. Four moves keep you on the one that survived.
5 minutes to read
- Sat 9:002:00 · rent a van
- truck · won't fit her street
- Sun · sister's van · free
1
Strike and caret
Keep the plan on your pad in three or four words. When someone changes it, don't rub anything out: strike the old version and write the new one after a caret. Scroll through one section and watch it work.
Why it scores. Part 1's wrong choices are built from plans the speakers really made and then dropped. The struck words on your pad show you exactly which choices those are.
Beats the dropped-plan trap
Actually: strike, caret, new version
Marco corrects the time, and Priya rules out the truck. Strike what changed and write the new version above it. The struck words are where the wrong choices will come from, so leave them readable.
The real change comes in passing
The plan that counts arrives late and casually, after "wait". Strike the whole line, put a caret in the margin, and write the new plan. The only line with no strike through it is your answer.
Then the question
The narrator asks it out loud, and you see only the four choices. Before you pick, count how many of them are already struck on your pad.
Answer from the line with no strike
Three choices are real plans from the recording, each one dropped. Memory blends them together; the pad doesn't. The fourth says the surviving plan in different words.
Section 1 of 3Plays once
PriyaLet's rent a van Saturday at nine and get the bookshelf over before lunch.
MarcoActually, I called them. No vans till two, just trucks in the morning.
PriyaA truck won't fit on my street. Two o'clock, then.
MarcoWait, my sister can lend us hers on Sunday. Free, and whenever we like.
How will they move the bookshelf?
- AIn a van rented for Saturday at nineFirst plan, struck
- BIn a rented truck on Saturday morningRuled out, struck
- CIn a van rented for Saturday at twoReplaced, struck
- DIn a van borrowed from a relativeThe line with no strike
- Sat 9:002:00 · rent a van
- truck · won't fit
- Sun · sister's van
2
Hear the flip
A plan changes on a handful of words. Learn them by ear, and treat each one as a signal to pick up the pencil. On harder forms the change is polite rather than loud: nobody says no, they say "the only thing is".
Why it scores. The questions are written around the moment a plan changes. Catch the flip as it happens and the question is already answered on your pad.
Wins the "what did they decide" questions
So let's meet at the library at six. Actually, it closes early on Fridays, so let's do the café on Elm. The only thing is, it gets really loud in there after work. Come to think of it, my place is closer for both of us anyway.
- library at six
- café on Elm
- her place
Said out loud
- actually
- wait
- instead
- on second thought
- scratch that
Said politely
- the only thing is
- come to think of it
- I'm not sure that'll work
- that might be a stretch
- I was thinking more…
3
Kill the echo
When a choice repeats the recording word for word, ask which plan those words belonged to. Usually it's one that was dropped. The right choice tends to say the surviving plan in different words.
Why it scores. Familiar words feel like proof, and the wrong choices are written to use that. Matching meaning instead of sound turns the trap into a quick way to cross a choice off.
The trap in this part
Same words
Priya, the first planLet's rent a van Saturday at nine.
AIn a van rented for Saturday at nineEcho of a struck plan
Same meaning
Marco, the last wordMy sister can lend us hers on Sunday.
DIn a van borrowed from a relativeRight: new words, same plan
4
Never leave a blank
Each question gives you thirty seconds, then the screen moves on without you, with no going back. A wrong answer costs nothing extra, so when you're unsure, cut the choices your pad has struck and pick from what's left.
Why it scores. A blank is zero every time. A guess between two is right half the time.
Marks you'd otherwise give away
1 in 41 in 2chance a guess is right
- AShe'll call the shop again in the morningPicked
- BShe'll drive over before it closesStruck on your pad
- CShe'll ask her manager to sign itStruck on your pad
- DShe'll send the form by email
The clock, spent well
30 seconds a questionAbout 8 secondsHear the question out. Don't touch a choice yet.
About 12 secondsFind the line on your pad with no strike through it.
The last 10Cross off what the pad has struck, choose and click.
Quick hacks for Part 1
Smaller than a move, and just as easy to forget on the day.
- PadDay, time, place, how
A plan changes in one of four slots. Write every plan in that order, and a change is a single word to strike.
- ScreenThree clips, three sets of questions
Two or three questions follow each clip, about that clip only. Don't save an answer for later, because there is no later.
- ScreenAn answer can be four pictures
Some questions show pictures in place of words. Name what differs between them, a word each, before you choose.
- PadA tip isn't a fact yet
When the helper suggests something, note it with a question mark. A later clip can prove it wrong, and a question may ask what really happened.
- ClockNo new notes once the questions start
The thirty seconds are for reading the pad you have. Writing now costs you the click.
- If it slipsA lost clip stays lost
Each clip brings its own questions. When the next one starts, drop the last one and listen from zero.
Take this into the test
- 1Pencil on the pad before the section starts.
- 2Every flip word: strike, caret, new version.
- 3Answer from the line with no strike, and never leave one blank.