What should I listen for in Listening Part 3?

Specific details — numbers, reasons, sequences. Strong factual vocabulary helps you catch and hold those details until you answer.

Are the answers worded the same as the audio?

Usually not. They are paraphrased, so knowing synonyms of the key vocabulary is what lets you match meaning.

Listening Part 3: Information

Listening Part 3: Information is part of the Listening section of the CELPIP General test. You get 6 questions and 4 minutes. It is scored by the number of correct answers.

Questions: 6
Time: 4 minutes
Prompts here: 25 published

The three-move information listen

1
Hear what the talk is for in the opening lines
Purpose orders everything that follows.
2
Track the sequence of facts in the order given
Information talks are structured; the questions follow that structure.
3
Catch the qualification
"Usually", "except on", "unless" — the exception is almost always a question.

In an information talk, the exception is the question.

The general rule is stated so the exception has something to contradict.

Build the detail and fact vocabulary you need to follow an informational interview and answer specific questions in CELPIP Listening Part 3.

Part 3 is an interview packed with facts and details. Recognising informational vocabulary and synonyms helps you match what you hear to the answer options, which are usually paraphrased.

Listening · Part 3

Welcome to the Riverside Museum: New Visitor Orientation

One of 25 published prompts · free, no account

You will hear the recording once. Listen carefully, then answer the questions.

Instructions

The audio plays once.
Choose the best answer for each question.

Audio transcript

In the real test you hear this once and cannot replay it.

Marcus: Hi, is this where the visitor orientation starts? I've never been to the Riverside Museum before. Diane: You're in exactly the right place. Good morning, and welcome to the Riverside Museum of Regional History. My name is Diane, and I'll be your orientation guide before you head off to explore on your own. The whole session takes about ten minutes, and then the galleries are yours until we close at five. Marcus: Perfect. So where should I actually begin? I like to follow things in order, from the earliest history onward. Diane: That's a good question, because the layout surprises a lot of first-time visitors. We're on three floors, but they don't run in the order you'd expect. The ground floor, where we're standing now, covers the most recent century. To follow the story from the beginning, you'll actually want to take the elevator up to the third floor and work your way down. The oldest exhibits, the ones on early settlement and the fur trade, are all at the top. Marcus: Good to know. Am I allowed to take photos as I go around? Diane: Photography is welcome throughout the museum, and you're free to use your phone, but please switch off the flash. The flash isn't a rule we made up to be difficult, it genuinely fades the older textiles and paintings over time, so the conservation team is quite firm about it. Oh, and backpacks and large bags need to go in the coat check by the front doors. That service is free, by the way. Marcus: My sister is bringing her kids by later. Is there anything here for children? Diane: Absolutely, tell her not to miss the Discovery Room on the second floor. It's fully hands-on, they can grind wheat, try on period costumes, that sort of thing. It's the one space where touching is not only allowed but encouraged. Everywhere else, please keep your hands off the displays. Marcus: I'll pass that along. And I was hoping to grab a coffee at some point, is there a café? Diane: There is, on the ground floor, but keep an eye on the time, it's open until four-thirty, half an hour before we close. And here's a tip most people appreciate: our special exhibit on the second floor, the one about the great flood of nineteen forty-eight, tends to get crowded around lunchtime as the tour buses arrive. If that exhibit is the main reason you came today, I'd genuinely suggest seeing it first, before eleven, while it's still quiet. Marcus: That's exactly why I came, actually, so I'll head straight there. One last thing, where are the washrooms? Diane: Washrooms are located on every floor, next to the elevators. And our gift shop is right here by the exit, so you'll pass it on your way out. If you get turned around at any point, just ask any staff member in the blue vests. Enjoy your visit!

Questions & answer key6 questions

Listening is scored by the number of correct answers. The audio plays once, so the skill being tested is holding detail while the next sentence arrives.

1What is the main purpose of Diane's talk?
1. ✓To prepare visitors before they explore the museum on their own
2. BTo describe a single special exhibit in detail
3. CTo lead a guided walking tour through every gallery
4. DTo train new staff members on museum procedures
Answer
A
Diane says she is the 'orientation guide before you head off to explore on your own,' and 'then the galleries are yours.' A guided walking tour is wrong scope (visitors explore alone); the flood exhibit is only one of several tips, not the whole talk; and the audience are visitors, not staff being trained.
2To see the exhibits in chronological order, where should visitors begin?
1. AIn the Discovery Room on the second floor
2. BOn whichever floor the elevator opens first
3. COn the ground floor, where the orientation is held
4. ✓On the third floor, then work their way down
Answer
D
Diane says 'take the elevator up to the third floor and work your way down,' because 'the oldest exhibits... are all at the top.' The ground floor is where they stand but it 'covers the most recent century,' so it is the end of the story, not the beginning.
3Why does the museum ask visitors to turn off their camera flash?
1. AThe flash disturbs other visitors in the galleries
2. BThe conservation team invented the rule to reduce photography
3. CPhotography is not permitted anywhere in the building
4. ✓The flash gradually damages older textiles and paintings
Answer
D
Diane states the flash 'genuinely fades the older textiles and paintings over time.' Photography itself is 'welcome throughout,' so a total ban is wrong; she never mentions disturbing other visitors; and she explicitly says it is 'not a rule we made up to be difficult,' contradicting the invented-rule option.
4What is special about the Discovery Room compared with the rest of the museum?
1. AIt contains the oldest exhibits in the collection
2. BIt is the only space where photography is allowed
3. ✓It is the one place where touching the displays is encouraged
4. DIt is reserved exclusively for school tour groups
Answer
C
Diane calls it 'the one space where touching is not only allowed but encouraged,' unlike 'everywhere else.' Photography is allowed throughout, not only there; she says it is for children with visitors, not exclusively school groups; and the oldest exhibits are on the third floor, not the second-floor Discovery Room.
5Why does Diane suggest visiting the flood exhibit before eleven o'clock?
1. AIt is only staffed by guides in the morning
2. BThe café next to it stops serving after eleven
3. CIt closes to visitors at eleven o'clock each day
4. ✓It becomes crowded around midday when tour buses arrive
Answer
D
Diane says the flood exhibit 'tends to get crowded around lunchtime as the tour buses arrive,' so she advises seeing it 'first, before eleven, while it's still quiet.' The exhibit doesn't close at eleven; she never mentions morning-only guides; and the café closes at four-thirty, not eleven.
6What can be concluded about the museum's closing time and café?
1. ✓The café stops serving before the museum itself closes
2. BThe café stays open half an hour after the museum closes
3. CThe café and the museum close at exactly the same time
4. DThe museum closes at four-thirty in the afternoon
Answer
A
Diane says the museum closes 'at five' and the café is 'open until four-thirty, half an hour before we close.' So the café shuts first. The same-time and museum-closes-at-four-thirty options misplace the figures, and the café closes before, not after, the museum.

Three mistakes that cost points heremost common first

1Remembering the general rule and missing the condition attached to it.
2Answering with a number from the wrong part of the talk.
3Assuming the order of the questions matches the order you remember.

Now do it yourself and find out where you land

You can check right and wrong on this page. What a page cannot do is tell you which question types you keep losing, under real timing.

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Questions people ask

What should I listen for in Listening Part 3?: Specific details — numbers, reasons, sequences. Strong factual vocabulary helps you catch and hold those details until you answer.
Are the answers worded the same as the audio?: Usually not. They are paraphrased, so knowing synonyms of the key vocabulary is what lets you match meaning.

The other 24 Information prompts1 free

·A Community Garden Volunteer Program
·Punctuality in the Workplace
·Library Briefing: New Digital Services
·An Office Renovation Proposal
·Workplace Dress Codes
·Maplewood Community Centre: Winter Programs
·Peer Pressure in the Workplace
·Rethinking Business Meetings
·Classrooms of the Future
·A Discussion About Road Rage
·The Changing Role of Public Libraries
·The Role of Routines in Modern Life
·Understanding Food Labels
·School Uniforms in Canada
·Finding a Family Doctor in Canada
·Online Dating
·The Role of Modern Zoos
·Quarterly Fire-Safety Briefing at the Riverside Distribution Centre
·Riverbend Recycling: An Interview on How Materials Get Sorted
·Whitepine National Park Visitor Safety Briefing
·New-Student Orientation at Northbrook University
·Selling at the Farmers' Market: A Guide for New Vendors
·Transit Route Changes: An Interview with a Transit Planner
·Riverbend Food Rescue: An Interview with the Volunteer Coordinator

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