Part 1 — Photographs

What this part tests

Part 1 tests your ability to match a spoken sentence to a photograph. You see one photograph and hear four sentences (A, B, C, D). You choose the sentence that most accurately describes what is happening in the photograph.

The test has 6 photographs.

Part 1 tests vocabulary for objects, locations, and actions. It also tests your ability to detect subtle errors in tense, subject, or setting.

What the questions look like

You see a photograph — for example, a woman sitting at a desk, looking at papers. You hear:

(A) A woman is typing on a keyboard. (B) A woman is reviewing documents. (C) A woman is standing near a window. (D) Papers are being filed in a cabinet.

The correct answer is (B). The woman is seated, not standing. There is no keyboard. No one is filing.

Core strategies

1. Study the photograph before the audio begins.

You have a few seconds while the directions are read. Use them. Identify the main subject (a person, a group, an object, a scene), what they are doing, where they are, and any notable details in the background. Form a rough mental description: "A man is standing at a counter indoors, looking at something in his hands." When the audio begins, you are matching, not discovering.

2. Listen for the subject first.

The subject of each sentence — a person, a group, or an object — is usually stated at or near the start. If the photo shows one woman but you hear "Two men are…", eliminate it immediately. Matching the subject quickly frees mental bandwidth for the rest of the sentence.

3. Watch for action vs. state errors.

A very common distractor describes someone doing something they are not doing, or incorrectly identifies whether something is in progress versus completed. "A woman is reading a book" is different from "A book is lying on the table." Both could be plausible from the same photo, but only one is accurate.

4. Watch for passive constructions about objects.

Part 1 frequently describes objects using passive voice: "Chairs have been arranged around the table," "A sign is posted on the wall." These sentences are often correct answers. Don't dismiss them as unusual — practice parsing them quickly.

5. Eliminate impossible answers rather than searching for the perfect one.

Each wrong answer contains at least one detail that contradicts the photo: wrong subject, wrong action, wrong location, wrong number, wrong state. Train yourself to cross off (A), (B), (C), or (D) as you hear it, rather than waiting for all four and then deciding.

Most common traps

Sound-alike words. The test frequently uses words that sound similar to something visible in the photo but describe something different. A photo of someone near a shore might have an answer mentioning a store. A photo of a man reading might include a distractor about leading. Listen carefully to the full word.
Partially correct answers. A distractor may get the person right and the location right but name the wrong action. "A man is writing at a desk" could be wrong if he is actually reading — the desk is real, the man is real, but the action is wrong.
Background detail traps. An incorrect answer describes something genuinely in the photo — a chair, a window, a shelf — but the description is inaccurate or exaggerated. "Shelves are fully stocked" could be wrong if a shelf is only partially filled.
The absence of people. Some photos show only objects or a scene. Answers with people as subjects are then automatically wrong. Notice immediately whether any people are present.

Vocabulary to focus on

Actions: adjusting, assembling, carrying, examining, facing, loading, placing, pointing, reaching, sorting, stacking, wheeling
States of objects: displayed, gathered, mounted, occupied, parked, piled, sealed, stacked, stored
Locations: adjacent to, along, beside, beneath, in front of, on top of, opposite, throughout
Indoor/outdoor scenes: aisle, corridor, counter, courtyard, dock, hallway, platform, staircase, walkway