ENGLISH LISTENING TEST! Are you Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced?

Video Transcript

Hey there, I’m Emma from mmmEnglish!

Let’s test your English skills. Today I want to focus specifically on your English listening skills. This lesson is actually an English listening level test. Can you understand natural spoken English? This is your chance to find out. Let’s do it.

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This is how the lesson is going to work. I’m going to tell you a story. You’ll be able to follow along with the script on screen, but every now and again, there’ll be a gap, a word or a phrase or a little section of the text that’s missing like this. You’ll need to use your listening skills to fill in that gap. The test is broken down into five sections, one for each level, from beginner to intermediate to advance. Of course, it’s going to become harder as we progress through the lesson. Okay? I’ll start testing you on individual words, but then later you’ll have to fill in chunks of language. We’ll start using more phrasal verbs, modal verbs, contractions, some idioms.

Now, to make this work, you need to make sure your subtitles are off, okay? No cheating. And at the end of each section, you’ll have a chance to check your answers, so make sure you keep track of how many of those answers you get right. Okay? And one more thing. I’ve designed this test to test your ability to understand natural spoken English. So just do the whole thing in one go. No replays, no going back to check or to try again. Just see how you go through the whole lesson.

So are you ready to test your listening skills?

Beginner Level

It’s two o’clock. I’m waiting for a phone call from my friend. Her name is Sarah. We don’t see each other very often because she lives in New Zealand. We often speak on the phone and sometimes we speak for hours. I met Sarah on a hot summer day in Sydney. I wanted to buy an ice cream and she worked at the ice cream shop.

Okay, let’s check your answers so far.

1. my friend
2. is
3. she lives
4. sometimes
5. and

Pre-Intermediate Level

Anyway, I’m just sitting on the couch now and waiting for Sarah to call. We’re going on holiday together next month, and there are lots of things to plan for our trip. Sarah wants to go to Sri Lanka. She went there a few years ago and said it was beautiful. I’ve never been to Sri Lanka before, so I’m excited about the idea. We both love to travel. It’s one of the reasons we get along so well.

The answers for this section are…

6. just sitting
7. on
8. to plan
9. went
10. about
11. so well

Make sure you write down the ones you got right.

Intermediate Level

While I wait for the phone to ring, I’m making a list of all things we need to discuss. We have to book flights. I could fly from Perth and she could fly from Wellington. That way we could meet directly in Colombo. Or we could each fly to Singapore and travel together from there. If we meet in Singapore, we’ll have more time to spend with each other. And then there’s the accommodation. Sarah wants to stay in a beach resort. It’s more expensive, but they will organise transfers from the airport and all meals are included. Basically, we wouldn’t have to do anything. It would be very relaxing. But I’d like to stay in a guest house. Guest houses are often in the centre of town, whereas resorts tend to be a little bit more isolated. If we stayed in a guest house, we could explore the town easily, visit markets and shops, and find more restaurants and things to eat.

Here are all the answers.

12. could
13. we’ll / we will have
14. the accommodation
15. transfers
16. wouldn’t / would not have to
17. I’d / I would like
18. whereas
19. if we stayed

Make sure when you give yourself a correct mark, you’re checking and double-checking to make sure that your nouns are plural or singular. It’s important. And also if your verbs are in the past tense or in a different tense, make sure that they are perfectly accurate. Remember, this is a test.

Upper-Intermediate Level

Just think, this time next month we’ll be sitting on a beach in Sri Lanka sipping cocktails. Actually, that’s something else we need to organise, how we’re actually going to spend our time. Planning and organisation have been our downfall in the past. A few years ago, we went to Vietnam together and things didn’t exactly go to plan. The day started out like any other. We got dressed, had breakfast at the hotel buffet, and then sat down to decide how to spend the rest of the day. We decided to visit a temple nearby and thought we could catch a local bus there. As we left the hotel, we noticed a group of tourists getting on a different bus. In hindsight, we should have just joined in on their excursion. Our shoddy plans didn’t really work out. So basically we caught the wrong bus and ended up in an abandoned industrial complex. The bus driver didn’t speak English, and we had no idea how to get back to the town. We’d forgotten to pack a map. We hadn’t packed any food or water because there was supposed to be a restaurant next to the temple. It was a long and strenuous walk in the heat and the humidity to get back. Luckily, we managed to flag down a taxi on the main road. The taxi driver informed us we needn’t have walked all that way as there was a phone box just five minutes in the other direction. It’s definitely something I’d like to avoid on this next trip.

Okay, it’s time to check your answers again. How’d you do?

20. we’ll / we will be sitting
21. downfall
22. started out like
23. temple nearby
24. should have just
25. ended up
26. suppose to be a
27. flag down
28. needn’t / need not have

Advanced Level

I’m ecstatic about seeing my bestie and spending some quality time together. But I’m sure it won’t all be smooth sailing. Although we hit her off instantly when we first met all those years ago, Sarah and I do have personalities that clash sometimes. Sarah is fun. She’s energetic, she’s got lots of great ideas, but she’ll often change her mind at the drop of a hat. And although I try to go with the flow, it can be a bit of a challenge for me. I’m not a control freak, but I do like a little structure in my day, hence the list I’ve been making and the planning I’ve been doing. I think that a well-devised itinerary is imperative to a successful trip, but I’m not certain that Sarah feels the same way. I like to get things done in the most efficient way possible, and I get so frustrated when we’re wasting time or opportunities to get out there. Not wanting to waste time while I sit here and wait for Sarah’s call, I’ve actually already planned most of our holiday. I’ve put in loads of different options for Sarah to choose from. I’m trying out this tactic. If I can plant the seed in her mind, then her spontaneous plans aren’t so spontaneous after all! It’s the best of both worlds. I know what to expect, and she feels like she’s being her best free-spirited, spontaneous self. I only wish I’d come up with a plan like this for our last trip. Things might have gone a little more smoothly.

And the answers are…

29. I’m ecstatic
30. smooth sailing
31. hit it off
32. the drop of a hat
33. go with the flow
34. hence
35. is imperative to
36. most efficient way possible

So how did you go? Take a moment to add up your score. If you need to go back and check your answers, you can also do that here.

So based on the number of correct scores you got, you’ll be able to see what level your English listening skills are at.

• If you scored between one and five, you’re a beginner. You’ve made a great start. You’ve got to keep going.
• If you scored between six and eleven, you’re probably around a pre-intermediate level. You’re doing really well, and your English is improving all the time.
• If you scored between twelve and nineteen, your level is somewhere around intermediate, and this is a great place to be. You understand most things, but not quite everything.
• If you scored between twenty and twenty-eight, your level is upper intermediate. I think you should check out this lesson to up your listening game.
• And if you scored between twenty-nine and forty, wow, just wow, you did really well. Your listening skills are super impressive, and you can pretty much understand everything. From here, it’s really about finessing the language that you use and picking up on some of the exact phrases and expressions that are used by English speakers around the world. Plus, it’s especially important for you to actually start applying some of those interesting expressions and phrases that you hear native speakers using and actually start to use them yourself.

Thanks for joining me today. I hope that you had fun with this lesson. Make sure you share it with a friend who’s also studying English. I’m sure that they’d be curious to test their English listening skills as well, and let me know how you did down in the comments.

I’ll see you in the next lesson.