Listening and reading: how not to lose easy points
The listening and reading parts of the A2 and B1 exams rarely test difficult words. They test whether you notice details. Here are the task types, the usual traps and a few short examples with answers.
Updated 12 November 2026
Ask people who have just taken an Italian exam where they lost points and you hear the same answers: "they changed the time at the end", "I answered false but it was not mentioned", "I ran out of time on the last text". None of these is about vocabulary. They are about how the tasks are built, and that can be practised.
What you will hear and read
At A2 the texts are short and practical: a phone call to the doctor's surgery, an announcement at the station, a message from a colleague, a notice in a shop, an ad for a room. At B1 they get longer: a radio interview, a conversation between friends about a plan, an article about a local service, an email from a school. The topics are almost always everyday life in Italy: work, health, transport, housing, offices, free time.
The audio is usually played twice and you cannot stop or rewind it.
The task types you will meet
- Multiple choice: a question with three answers, sometimes three pictures.
- True or false. Simple at A2. At B1 often in the form "is this information present in the text or not", which is a different question (see below).
- Gap filling: a text with gaps and a list of words to put in, with some extra words that do not fit anywhere.
- Matching: each short dialogue or text with a picture, a title or a person. There is usually one option more than you need.
Listening: five habits that save points
- Read the questions before the audio starts. You will usually get a few seconds. Underline what each question asks for: a day, a time, a place, a price, a reason.
- First listening for the general idea, second for checking. Do not try to catch every word the first time. Mark your best answer, then use the second listening to confirm it.
- Watch for changes of plan. Exam dialogues love corrections: "alle cinque... anzi no, facciamo alle sei". The first piece of information you hear is often the wrong answer.
- Listen for the small words that turn a sentence around: però, invece, anzi, cioè, non più, ormai, solo, purtroppo.
- Numbers deserve extra attention. Quattordici and quaranta, sedici and sessanta sound close when someone speaks fast. Write the digits down as you hear them.
Try it: an announcement at the station
Read the transcript as if you were hearing it once:
Attenzione. Il treno regionale 3417 per Bologna Centrale, previsto in partenza alle ore 14:20 dal binario 5, partirà con un ritardo di circa 15 minuti dal binario 8. Ci scusiamo per il disagio.
1. The train leaves from platform: a) 5 b) 8 c) 15
2. True or false: the train leaves at 14:20.
Answers
1. b) 8. Platform 5 is mentioned first, but it is the platform that was planned, not the real one. And 15 is the delay in minutes, not a platform.
2. False. 14:20 is the planned time; with a 15-minute delay the train leaves at about 14:35.
Try it: a phone call
— Studio dentistico Rossi, buongiorno.
— Buongiorno, sono Amina Hassan. Avevo un appuntamento giovedì alle dieci, ma purtroppo non posso venire. Si può spostare?
— Vediamo... venerdì alle dieci è libero, oppure lunedì pomeriggio alle tre.
— Venerdì lavoro. Va bene lunedì, grazie.
When is Amina's new appointment? a) Thursday at 10 b) Friday at 10 c) Monday at 3 pm
Answer
c). All three times are in the dialogue. Thursday is the old appointment, Friday is offered but she works, Monday is the one she accepts. Three plausible answers, one of them confirmed at the end: this is how most exam questions are built.
Reading: where the points go
"False" or "not in the text"? In many B1 tasks you decide whether a piece of information is present in the text (Vero) or not present (Falso). "Not present" does not mean the text says the opposite. It means the text does not say it. If you have to use your own logic or general knowledge to say "yes", the answer is "not present".
Try it: a notice in a block of flats
Avviso ai condomini. Da lunedì 3 a venerdì 7 marzo saranno eseguiti lavori di manutenzione all'ascensore. Durante i lavori l'ascensore non funzionerà dalle 8 alle 17. Le persone che hanno difficoltà a salire le scale possono contattare l'amministratore al numero 051 234 567 per ricevere assistenza. La spesa è stata approvata nell'assemblea di gennaio. L'amministratore
Is the information present in the notice?
1. The work lasts five days. 2. Anyone who needs help can call the administrator. 3. Each flat will pay 50 euros. 4. The lift does not work in the evening.
Answers
1. Present. Monday to Friday.
2. Present. People who have difficulty with the stairs can call the number.
3. Not present. The notice says the cost was approved, not how much each flat pays. A common mistake is to think "they will have to pay something, so yes".
4. Not present. The lift is off from 8 to 17, so in the evening it works. The text contradicts the sentence.
Gap filling with extra words. Do not choose only by meaning. Check that the word fits the grammar of the gap: an article before it means a noun, la means a feminine word, ho before the gap means a past participle. Do the gaps you are sure about first: every word you place makes the list shorter for the difficult ones. And remember that some words are there only to trick you.
Short notices and messages. First ask "who wrote this and why?": to inform, to ask, to cancel, to sell. Many questions are really about the purpose of the text.
Managing the time
Reading is usually where people run out of time, because they read every text word by word. Read the questions first, then look in the text for the part that answers each one. Do not leave blanks: a wrong answer usually costs the same as an empty one. If you are stuck, choose, mark it, and come back at the end.
The only way to make these habits automatic is to practise with tasks in the exam format and a timer. Then compare your mistakes: you will see that most of them repeat.
Practise in the exam format
Pino has 100 A2 and B1 practice tests with listening, reading, writing and speaking, a timer and a score for each section. The first test of each level is free.
Official sources
This guide is general information written by the team behind Pino, an independent practice app. It is not legal advice, Pino is not affiliated with any government body or exam centre, and rules can change: check the official sources and your Prefettura before you act.