How Part 4 works
Part 4 has 10 talks with three questions each. Each talk is played once and is not printed, but the questions and four options are in your test book. Some sets add a graphic, and some ask what the speaker means by a quoted phrase. Typical questions:
- Audience: “Who most likely are the listeners?”
- Purpose: “Why is the speaker calling?”
- Changes: “What has been changed?”
- Actions: “What are listeners asked to do?”
Practice message: a changed collection plan
Listen once without the transcript and answer, then replay it to find the proof.
Speaker This is a collection update for customers who ordered seedling trays from Green Lane Garden Centre. Your confirmation originally said to collect orders from the outdoor loading area on Thursday. Because heavy rain is expected, collections will now take place inside the greenhouse on Friday. The collection hours remain nine in the morning to one in the afternoon. Please use the side entrance beside the bicycle racks; the main shop entrance will be closed for floor repairs. Your order number has not changed. If Friday is impossible for you, reply to this message by Wednesday evening and we will arrange a Saturday collection. Please do not arrive on Thursday.
Audience and purpose
Speakers usually name the audience and purpose at the start: “This is a collection update for customers who ordered seedling trays” gives both. Wrong purpose options often repeat background; the floor repairs only explain why the main entrance is closed. Openings to catch:
- “This message is for…”, “Attention, all passengers…”: the audience.
- “I’m calling about…”, “I’d like to remind everyone…”: the purpose.
- “Welcome to those joining us for the first time”: a narrower audience.
Before, now and the same
An update has three layers: the old plan, the new arrangement and what stays the same. Wrong options often repeat the old plan or change a detail the speaker kept. The reason is tested too: “Because heavy rain is expected” answers “Why was the collection moved?”
- Before: “originally”, “was scheduled for”. Here: Thursday, outdoors.
- Now: “will now”, “has been moved to”, “instead”. Here: Friday, inside the greenhouse.
- The same: “remain”, “has not changed”, “still”. Here: nine to one, the order number.
Required, conditional or optional?
“What are listeners asked to do?” differs from “What does the speaker offer?” Requirements come as requests or rules, often with a deadline; optional help sounds softer. Some are conditional: only customers who cannot come on Friday reply. “By Wednesday evening” is a deadline; “until” marks something that continues up to a time.
Sort this voicemail: “Please collect your new laptop from the IT desk by Thursday. If you’d like help moving your files, you can book a short session.”
- Required: “Please…”, “You need to…”. Here: collect the laptop by Thursday.
- Conditional: “If…, please…”. Only some listeners act.
- Optional: “If you’d like…”, “Feel free to…”. Here: the file session.
Grammar of changes and rules
Note the last line: “must not” forbids; “don’t have to” only removes the obligation.
- “The meeting has been moved to Room 4.” Present perfect passive: the change is complete, and who made it is unimportant.
- “The main hall is being redecorated.” Present continuous passive: work in progress, often the reason for a change.
- “Monday’s training moves to the new workshop.” Present simple for a scheduled change.
- “You must sign the list” (required), “You must not park here” (not allowed), “You don’t have to reply” (optional).
Common mistakes
Habits that cost points:
- Choosing the original plan because you heard it first.
- Changing a detail the speaker kept, such as the hours.
- Treating optional help as a requirement.
- Missing a condition: “If Friday is impossible…” applies only to some listeners.
- Hearing “don’t have to” as “must not”.
A 20-minute exam routine
One recorded message a day:
- Read the three questions first and label each: audience, purpose, change or action.
- Listen once, answer and note before, now and the same.
- Replay with the transcript; mark each action required, conditional or optional.
- Sum up the talk in one sentence: “Collection moves to Friday in the greenhouse, same hours; reply by Wednesday if you can’t come.”
- Twice a week, argue aloud: action or reason first in a staff message? (“If I were writing it, I’d…”)
What to practise next
Still missing two-person exchanges? Go back to Part 3. Comfortable with talks? Move on to Reading Part 5, then Part 7, where notices state conditions in writing.