1/2The task: the table does not follow the order of the audio
You hear a woman explaining how she became a translator, and you have to complete a four-row table. It plays only once, and here is the trap: the information does not come in the order of the table.
2/2The answers and the technique
The answers: she accepted her first commission because she had lost her job in a bookshop (the audio rules out the money: Not the money, which was poor); the hardest thing was the tone, not the technical vocabulary (which you can look up); what surprised her most is that she still enjoys the manuals; and her advice is to accept the job that scares you.
Now the important part: her advice, which is the last row of the table, comes at the beginning of the audio, in the second sentence; and what surprised her, row three, comes at the end. If you fill in the table from top to bottom expecting the audio to follow you, you lose it. The technique: have the four rows read before you start and write as soon as you hear something that fits any of them, not the one that is next in line.
·Three ideas to take away
Three ideas about the Advanced Listening: in Part 1, all four options are usually mentioned in the audio; in Part 3, agreement is expressed in a few words and you have to catch them; and in Part 4, the table does not follow the order of the audio.