Level 1 · Listening

This unit is for you if your listening is around DET 60 to 95: you follow a slow, clear speaker talking about everyday things, but when a sentence comes quickly the small words disappear, you type the meaning instead of the exact words, and in a conversation you choose a reply because it "sounds right" or repeats a word you heard. By the end, you will know how every Listening question on the current Duolingo English Test (DET) works, how each one is scored, and a simple, safe method for each task that a Foundation candidate can use from tomorrow.

Why this level matters: the DET reports an overall score and four subscores, Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking, each from 10 to 160 in steps of 5. Your overall score is the average of the four, rounded up to the next 5. Listening also counts in two of the combined subscores that universities can see: Comprehension (Reading and Listening) and Conversation (Speaking and Listening). So a weak Listening score pulls down more than one number on your certificate. The DET's own concordance places 60 to 95 at CEFR B1, roughly IELTS 4 to 5.5. Many universities ask for about 105 to 120 overall, but requirements vary from university to university and from programme to programme, so always check the figure on your university's own website. The good news is that Listening on the DET rewards careful habits: typing every small word, checking endings, and choosing replies by meaning, not by sound. Fix those habits first, and the score follows.

Lesson 1 · Listening on the DET at a glance

The DET is taken at home, on a computer, and lasts about an hour. It is adaptive: when you answer well, the next questions get harder; when you answer badly, they get easier. Two question types give your Listening subscore: Listen and Type, and Interactive Listening, which has three parts. Unlike TOEFL or IELTS, there is no separate Listening section: Listening questions appear among the other questions.

Two facts shape your strategy. First, the DET is adaptive, so careless mistakes early on send you to easier questions, and easier questions limit how high your score can go. Treat every sentence as if it were the most important one. Second, the DET is taken at home, and your room is your test centre. The rules do not allow headphones or earphones: you hear the recordings through your computer's speakers. A pressure-cooker whistle, a television in the next room or a horn outside can cost you a sentence. Lesson 8 shows how to prepare the room. Always check the current rules on the official DET website before you book.

Lesson 2 · Listen and Type

You hear one sentence. It may ask for information, give an opinion, state a fact, or do something else. You type exactly what you hear. You have one minute, and you can play the sentence up to three times. The sentence is not shown on screen. Your answer is compared with the real sentence, word by word: the closer it is, the higher your score. To get a high score you need the right words, the right spelling and the right punctuation.

This sounds like simple dictation, and for most Foundation students the big words are not the problem. The problem is the small words that are spoken quickly and weakly: a, the, to, of, have, are, and the endings -s and -ed. In fast speech, He has worked can sound like "hezwerkt". Your brain understands the meaning and types He worked. The meaning is almost the same, but two parts of the sentence are now missing, and the score goes down.

The Level 1 method: three plays, three jobs

Hearing what is joined together

Native speakers join words and shorten them. These are the patterns that most often turn into missing words in Listen and Type.

Lesson 3 · Interactive Listening: how a set works

Interactive Listening puts you inside a conversation. You are the student. The other person is a classmate or a professor. One set takes about eight minutes and has three parts, always in this order.

Your time plan for 6 minutes 30 seconds

Parts 1 and 2 share one clock. Part 3 has its own 75 seconds. A Foundation plan:

• Listen and Complete: about 2 minutes. Two plays of the scenario are usually enough. Do not replay it ten times.
• Listen and Respond: about 3½ minutes. Each line plays once, so listen with full attention, then read the options calmly.
• Keep the last 30 to 60 seconds to reread the conversation on screen before the summary starts. The official guide recommends this, and it is the easiest time saving on the test.

Lesson 4 · Listen and Complete

You hear a short scenario that sets up the conversation. On the screen you see sentences about the situation, each with a missing part. You type the missing part. You may listen to the scenario as many times as you want. Scoring gives partial credit: the closer your answer is to the missing part, the higher the score. Spelling is not important here, but your answer must give the right idea.

The Level 1 method: who, why, what next

1. Before you play: read the sentences quickly. They tell you what to listen for. A gap after I am taking a needs a subject or a course; a gap after on may need a day.
2. Play 1: listen for the big picture: who you are, who the other person is, why you are talking, and what you want to happen next.
3. Type: fill in every gap you can.
4. Play 2: listen only for the gaps you are unsure of. Then check that each sentence now reads as correct English.

Lesson 5 · Listen and Respond

Now the conversation begins. The other person speaks, and you choose your reply from the options on the screen. Each line plays only once, but you can listen to the scenario again at any time. Sometimes you choose how to start the conversation; at other times you listen first. Each turn is scored right or wrong. After you choose, the screen shows a green tick for a correct answer, or a red cross and the correct reply. The conversation then continues from the correct reply, whatever you chose.

Why wrong replies are wrong

The official guide lists the reasons wrong replies fail. Learn them as a checklist: when two options look possible, one of these will rule out the wrong one.

The Level 1 method for each turn

1. Listen with your eyes off the options. Ask: what kind of line was that? A question, an offer, a suggestion, news, a problem?
2. Predict the kind of reply in two or three words: say yes and thank, give a time, ask what to do.
3. Read all the options and cross out any that fail the checklist: wrong scenario, wrong match, wrong pronoun, wrong register, extra information.
4. After a red cross, read the correct reply before you listen to the next line. The conversation continues from that reply, not from yours.

Lesson 6 · Summarize the Conversation

The last part of each set gives you 75 seconds to type a short summary of the conversation you have just had. There is no word count. The summary is scored on the DET's writing criteria, content, discourse coherence, grammar and lexis, and it is also checked for accuracy against the conversation. That is why it counts towards both Writing and Listening. You may write in the first person (I asked Daniel…) or the third person (Two students talk about…). You may reuse words from the conversation. British and American spelling are both accepted.

The three-sentence frame

In 75 seconds, a Foundation candidate can type about 35 to 50 careful words. That is three or four sentences. Use the same frame every time, so you never waste time deciding how to begin.

The same summary at four levels

Here is a summary of the Set A conversation (Exercises 9 and 13) written at each of the four FLC levels. The facts stay the same; what changes is how accurate, how connected and how complete the writing is. Read them in order and decide which is closest to the way you write now.

Lesson 7 · A full set under test conditions

Now put the three parts together, as on test day. Set a timer for 6 minutes 30 seconds for parts 1 and 2 together, and keep at least 30 seconds at the end to reread. Then set a new timer for 75 seconds for the summary. Do not stop the clock to check answers until the end of the set.

Lesson 8 · Habits that cost marks, and your Level 1 plan

At this level, the quickest gains come from stopping the losses. These are the habits we see most often in our classrooms in Vadodara, Anand, Bharuch and Scarborough.

• Typing the meaning, not the words. In Listen and Type, She lived here for She has lived here loses marks. Check every small word and every ending on your second and third plays.
• Typing like a chat message. Small i, no full stop, u, pls, gonna. There is no autocorrect on the test.
• Leaving time unused. Pressing Next after 25 seconds of a one-minute Listen and Type, without a final check.
• Replaying the scenario too many times. Two plays, then type and move on, so Listen and Respond has enough time.
• Writing too much in a gap. A whole sentence in Listen and Complete is not "safer". Type just the missing part.
• Choosing the reply that repeats words. The same-word option is usually a trap. Choose the reply that answers the speaker.
• Using office formulas. Kindly do the needful and revert back are wrong in a conversation with a classmate or a professor.
• Ignoring the red cross. After a wrong turn, read the correct reply: the conversation continues from it.
• Writing notes instead of a summary. Summarize the Conversation is scored as writing. Use three full sentences.
• An unprepared room. No headphones are allowed, so noise matters. Close the windows, switch off the television and ceiling-fan rattles if you can, tell your family when the test starts, and test your speaker volume before you begin.

Your Level 1 practice routine

1. Daily, 10 minutes: dictation. Play ten short sentences from a podcast, a news clip or a university video, up to three times each, and type them. Check every small word against the transcript or subtitles.
2. Daily, 5 minutes: typing accuracy. Type five sentences with no autocorrect: capital letters, full stops, question marks, apostrophes.
3. Three times a week: one short conversation (a campus video or a podcast dialogue). After it, say aloud who was talking, why, the main points and the ending.
4. Three times a week: one 75-second summary of a conversation you heard, using the three-sentence frame. Count your words; aim for 35 to 50 correct ones.
5. Weekly: one full Interactive Listening set under time from this book or FLC material, and log every error: small word missed, ending missed, spelling, punctuation, same-word trap, register, time.
6. Move to Level 2 when, on unseen FLC material, you regularly type at least four out of six Listen and Type sentences with no more than one mistake, answer at least four out of five Listen and Respond turns correctly, and write three-sentence summaries with no more than two grammar errors, two weeks in a row. These are FLC's guidelines, not official DET scores: your real score depends on the whole test.