OxfordAQA 9280/L (Paper 3): Listening

What 9280/L (Paper 3) assesses

A written exam based on recorded monologues and dialogues. It assesses understanding of spoken English (AO3).

• Time: 45 minutes
• Marks: 40
• Weight: 20% of OxfordAQA 9280 (Specification, Version 7.2 (exams May/June 2018 onwards))
• How it is assessed: External (written examination)
• Who takes it: All candidates

9280/L (Paper 3) is worth 20% of the 9280 grade and carries 40 marks. Each mark moves the qualification by about 0.50%. The qualification is graded 9–1.

What the examiners reward in 9280/L (Paper 3)

Listening

• L3: Understand and collate information from a variety of short and longer spoken texts, involving some complex language and more abstract material

This is one of the objectives. The 9280 overview lists the full set.

The listening paper rewards a candidate who listens with a purpose. Before a recording plays, good candidates read the question so they know what to listen for. While it plays, they hold the gist and catch the specific detail the question asks about.

They also recognise when a speaker signals an opinion, a change of mind or a reason. For objective questions, where an option is chosen, strong work rules out near-misses that sound right but answer a different question. For productive questions, where a short answer is written, good work is exact and spelled clearly enough to be understood.

We teach your child to predict before listening and to use the first and second playings for different jobs. We also teach them to write answers that are brief and correct.

For more detail, see 9280 listening in the syllabus.

Question types we practise for 9280/L (Paper 3)

• ESL listening: note completion: Catching specific detail from spoken English. Skills guide · annotated model response · practice

Where marks are lost on 9280/L (Paper 3)

Answering ESL listening questions: Not reading the questions before the recording. The student listens with no target and catches the wrong thing, often the option being rejected. Read the full guide.

Preparing for 9280/L (Paper 3) with us

A teacher practises 9280/L (Paper 3) listening tasks with your child under timed conditions, then goes through the notes and answers. See English as a Second Language tuition for how a session runs.

9280/L (Paper 3) is one component of OxfordAQA 9280, graded on the 9–1 scale. Check the current arrangement for your exam year with your school or the board.

Next, visit our original practice tasks to rehearse the paper with timings. Our English as a Second Language tuition page explains how lessons run. When you are ready, the paid one-hour trial is the first step.