How Part 3 works
Part 3 has 13 conversations, mostly about work, with three questions each; some have three speakers. Each conversation is played once and not printed; the questions and four options are in your test book, usually in the order of the conversation. Some sets add a graphic, such as a table or a schedule, and some questions ask what a quoted line means.
Practice conversation: the wrong room
Listen once without the transcript and answer. Then replay and find your evidence.
Maya Hello. I booked a room for a small training session tomorrow. I’ve just learned that two participants use wheelchairs, and the room in my confirmation is upstairs.
Owen Thanks for telling us. That room has no lift access, but I manage the bookings for a ground-floor studio as well. How many people are coming?
Maya Twelve, including the trainer. We also need a screen for slides.
Owen The ground-floor studio holds sixteen and has a screen. It is free at your original time, so I can move the booking at no extra charge.
Maya That would solve the problem. Please send me the revised room details so I can tell the group.
Owen Of course. I’ll email a new confirmation this afternoon.
Purpose and roles
The purpose is rarely said in one sentence: the woman never says “I need an accessible room”. You build it from wheelchair users, a room upstairs and “no lift access”. For roles, listen to actions, not titles: managing bookings and offering to move one suggest a venue employee. Wrong options often reuse a word you heard, like “wheelchair”.
Suggestions, refusals and the plan
A suggestion becomes the plan only when the other speaker accepts it. One speaker suggests delaying a delivery; the other says “I’d rather not; the stand has to be ready on Friday.” They book a courier instead. “Delay the delivery” repeats words you heard, but it was rejected.
In many languages a literal “why don’t we” sounds like a complaint; in English it is a friendly suggestion. Learn the forms:
- Suggestion: “Why don’t we move it?” (base verb), “How about asking the team?” (-ing)
- Offer: “I can move the booking.” “Shall I call them?”
- Refusal: “I’d rather keep the current supplier.” (no “to”)
- Acceptance: “That would solve the problem.” “Let’s do that.”
The next action: who, what, when
The evidence for “What will… do next?” usually comes near the end. Catch the person, the action and the time: “I’ll email a new confirmation this afternoon.” Then check who acts: in “Please send me the revised room details so I can tell the group”, sending is the man’s job and telling the group is the woman’s.
- “I’ll…” or “Let me…”: the speaker acts.
- “Could you…?”: the other speaker acts.
- “I’ll ask our technician to…”: a third person acts.
Graphic questions: needs become conditions
Before the audio, see which table column the options come from; the speakers usually give the other details. Turn each need into a condition and check every row. A speaker says: “We’re expecting twenty people, we need a projector, and our budget is fifty dollars an hour at most.”
- Room A: 16 seats, projector, $40/hour
- Room B: 24 seats, no projector, $45/hour
- Room C: 24 seats, projector, $48/hour
- Room D: 30 seats, projector, $60/hour
- Answer: Room C. A is too small, B lacks a projector and D is over budget.
Common mistakes
Most lost points come from four habits:
- Choosing the first suggestion, not the accepted one.
- Picking an option that repeats a word from the audio.
- Giving the next action to the wrong speaker.
- Dwelling on a missed question and losing the next set.
A 20-minute daily routine
One conversation and three questions at a time:
- Read the questions and label each: purpose, role, suggestion or next action.
- Listen once and answer.
- Replay with the transcript, underline the evidence and mark each suggestion accepted or rejected.
- Say the outcome: who will do what, and when.
- Twice a week, describe a meeting that ended without a plan: “We all thought…, but…”, “In the end, nobody…”.
What to practise next
If short replies still slip past you, go back to Part 2. If conversations feel manageable, move on to Part 4, where one speaker gives a message or talk.