LanguageCert Listening Part 4: following a three-person discussion

LanguageCert Academic Listening Part 4 is a discussion, often between a tutor and two students, and the six questions are mostly about opinions: who thinks what, who agrees, and what the group decides. The facts are rarely the hard part. What costs marks is attaching the right opinion to the right speaker, and missing the moment when someone changes their mind.

This guide explains what the task looks like, a simple way to track three speakers, an original practice discussion with questions and answers explained, and the mistakes we see most often in AIL classes.

What does Listening Part 4 look like?

As of October 2026, the official LanguageCert Academic description says Part 4 is a group discussion or debate on an academic subject, "such as a three-speaker discussion", with six three-option multiple-choice questions. As in every Listening part, the recording is played twice.

Part 4 is the last part of a Listening section of about 30 minutes and 30 questions, so it comes when your concentration is lowest. For the plan we recommend across all four parts, see our LanguageCert Listening tips.

Use any time you get before the recording to read the questions. Six questions with three options each is a lot of reading, and the questions tell you exactly what the discussion will be about.

What do the questions ask?

From our experience preparing students, Part 4 questions fall into a few types:

The questions follow the order of the discussion, so if you lose your place you can move on to the next question.

How to track three speakers

You cannot write down everything, so write only who and what. Before the recording starts, note the speakers' names from the questions. Your aim is a quick record of positions, using initials. Then as you listen:

• Write a one- or two-word note next to the initial each time a speaker gives an opinion: "T: cost?", "H: yes – quiet", "M: ✗ safety".
• Use a tick for agreement and a cross for disagreement.
• Draw an arrow when someone changes position: "H: ✗ → ✓".

On the first play, focus on positions. On the second play, check each answer you are unsure of against the exact words: did the speaker really agree, or only partly?

Know the voices. In a three-speaker discussion, one voice is usually the tutor, who asks questions and pushes the students. The tutor often raises a problem that leads a student to change their mind, and that change is a common question.

The phrases that carry the answers

Opinions in a discussion are rarely stated as "My opinion is…". They come in reactions. These are the phrases to listen for:

• Full agreement: "Absolutely." "I couldn't agree more." "That's exactly my point."
• Partial agreement: "I take your point, but…" "Up to a point." "That's true in some cases."
• Disagreement: "I'm not convinced." "I see it differently." "I'm not sure that follows."
• Change of mind: "Actually, you've persuaded me." "I hadn't looked at it that way." "OK, maybe I was wrong about that."
• Hesitation: "I suppose so." "Possibly." "I'd need to think about it."

Partial agreement is where most wrong answers come from. "I take your point, but…" sounds like agreement in the first half. The speaker's real view comes after "but".

Try it: an original practice discussion

This is a shorter version of the task, written by AIL for practice: one discussion with four questions. The real test has six. If you can, have someone read the three parts aloud, or read it once quickly and then answer from memory.

Tutor: So, the student union has proposed keeping the main library open 24 hours a day during the exam period. Hannah, you're on the union committee. What's the argument?

Hannah: Basically, a lot of students can't study at home. They share rooms, or their flat is noisy, or they work late shifts and the only time they're free is after ten at night. At the moment the library closes at eleven, so those students lose out.

Marco: I take the point about noisy flats, but I'm not convinced 24 hours is a good idea. If it's open all night, people will stay all night, and you'll get students sitting an exam at nine in the morning after no sleep.

Tutor: That's a fair concern. Although, to be honest, students who want to study all night will do it anyway, at home. The question is whether they do it somewhere safe and quiet.

Marco: Hmm. I hadn't thought of the safety side. Walking home at eleven isn't great either, I suppose.

Hannah: Exactly. And the proposal includes a late-night shuttle bus, so that's covered.

Tutor: The thing that worries me more is the cost. Staffing a building overnight isn't cheap, and the money has to come from somewhere.

Hannah: We looked at that. Most other universities that do this only open one floor overnight, with security staff rather than librarians.

Marco: OK, one floor, just for the exam weeks… I could go along with that. As long as it's a trial, and they check how many people actually use it.

Tutor: That sounds sensible. Let's suggest it as a trial for this semester and see.

Questions

1. Why does Hannah support the proposal? A. Students study better at night. B. Some students have no suitable place to study. C. The library is too crowded during the day.

2. What is Marco's first objection? A. Students may be tired for their exams. B. The library would be unsafe at night. C. Few students would use it.

3. What makes Marco reconsider his view? A. The cost of the plan B. The point about safety C. Hannah's experience on the committee

4. What does the group decide? A. To open the whole library all night B. To reject the proposal for now C. To try opening part of the library for a limited time

Answers explained

Notice question 2. Marco starts with "I take the point about noisy flats, but…". If you stop listening at "I take the point", you might think he agrees. His actual view comes after "but". And in question 3, option A is a trap: cost is discussed, but it is not what changes Marco's mind. It is raised after he has already moved.

Common mistakes in Part 4

• Mixing up speakers. If you only write ideas without initials, you will often give the right opinion to the wrong person.
• Answering from the first opinion. Speakers change position, especially after the tutor raises a problem. Wait until the end of that exchange.
• Treating "I take your point" as agreement. Listen for what follows "but", "although" or "even so".
• Choosing an option because it repeats a word. In the example, "safe" and "cost" are both in the discussion, but only one answers question 3.
• Not using the second play. Go back to the questions you marked as unsure and listen only for those moments.

A practice routine for discussions

1. Listen to real discussions. University podcasts with two or three hosts, radio panel discussions, and recorded seminars all work. Choose 3–5 minute segments.
2. Track positions. On the first listen, write each speaker's initial and their position on the main question. On the second, add where they changed or qualified it.
3. Write your own questions. For one segment a week, write two "opinion" questions and one "outcome" question, with three options each. Writing distractors teaches you how they are built.
4. Do a full timed Listening test once a week so that Part 4 comes at the end, when you are tired, as it will in the test.

Our free Listening practice includes a Part 4 discussion, played twice as in the real test, with an instant 0–100 estimate. The practice material is LanguageCert Academic-style, written by AIL, and is not produced by PeopleCert or LanguageCert. To see how Listening scores relate to CEFR levels and visa minimums, read LanguageCert Academic scores explained.

If you are taking LanguageCert Academic for an Australian visa, Home Affairs accepts the test only when it is taken at a test centre, not the online version taken at home. Australian Institute of Language (AIL) is an official LanguageCert test centre; dates and booking are on the AIL LanguageCert page.