CAE (Advanced Exam) Listening Test 6
1 A  2 A  3 B  4 C  5 C  6 A

Extract One
You hear two friends discussing a rock concert they both went to.
Now look at questions 1 and 2.

F: Hi Tom, so what d’you think of the concert?
M: Well, I’m not complaining because at the end of the day, I had a pretty good night out. But it’s
just as well that we got a hefty student discount on the tickets. I went with high hopes of
seeing something really spectacular from the headline band, and it just didn’t happen. I
reckon I was taken in by all the hype; you know, the big build-up in the media and everything.
I should know better than to take any notice of it, but you just get swept up by it, don’t you?
F: Well, you may but I don’t. I hadn’t actually read or heard much about the gig at all, so I didn’t
go with any preconceptions. If you ask me, you’re being rather hard on the main band. I
mean, they were way better than the support act. If the idea was to get us in the mood for
what was coming later, then I think they should’ve been presenting us with something a bit
more exciting.
M: Well, who knows? Perhaps they were chosen because they wouldn’t upstage the stars.

Extract Two
You hear part of a sports report about a football club manager.
Now look at questions 3 and 4.

M: There’s been lots of speculation in the press this week surrounding the fate of United
manager Tony Benson, with some people calling for his resignation after a run of poor
results. Talking to people at the club this week, I sense that there may actually be little
substance to stories that his job’s on the line. Indeed, a number of people I spoke to were
keen to defend his record, feeling that he was focussing the players on a more stylish,
entertaining brand of football. They thought it would only be a matter of time before we begin
to see this reflected in the results. What’s your take on all this, Suzie?
F: Well Gary, the club’s invested in promising players. The potential’s there, it’s just a question
of whether Benson’s the man to pull it all together and make it work; and time’s running out
for him. I’ve been talking to some of the players and I’d say there was a groundswell of
support in the dressing room for Benson’s general approach. But I think the results speak for
themselves and, these days, if a top-flight football team isn’t getting points, then something’s
got to change and that comes back to the manager because that’s his responsibility – getting
the results.

Extract Three
You hear two friends discussing an exhibition of modern sculpture.
Now look at questions 5 and 6.

M: So what did you think of it?
F: I could stand and look at his work all day long. I know it’s a strange thing to say about
sculpture, but it really makes you think, you know, about more than just the art – about
aspects of life itself.
M: But this was a strange exhibition. They seemed to have gone for quite an eclectic selection.
Was it meant to be representative of something? I never read the notes they hand out
because I prefer to come to my own interpretation.
F: Yes, so do I. Actually, I think the unifying theme was the material. I mean, all these pieces
were made out of the same three raw materials – wire, glass and straw. Not all his work is, of
course, but I guess it’s a phase he went through; part of his development as an artist. I’d
have been happy to have seen some of his other stuff actually.
M: Yeah, more of a range. Well you can’t fault the museum, can you? I mean, any exhibition
they put on is worth going to. It’s such a brilliant space and you never know how things are
going to look because the presentation’s so imaginative, isn’t it?
F: There’s nowhere quite like it really.