Think about these questions, or answer them aloud.
In the B1 course you practised hearing exact numbers, dates and prices. In C1 talks, figures are rarely given on their own. Speakers round them (roughly, just over), compare them (up from, twice as many), turn them into proportions (one in five, a sizeable minority) and comment on them (fell well short, a striking figure).
This creates two problems for listeners:
The good news is that the language is predictable. Learn the phrases in the tables below until you no longer need to translate them.
| What you hear | What it means | Example figure |
|---|---|---|
| just under a third; a little under a third | slightly less than 33% | about 31–32% |
| a little over a quarter | slightly more than 25% | about 26–27% |
| getting on for half; approaching half | almost 50% | about 46–49% |
| roughly one in eight | about 12.5% | 1 in 8 |
| upwards of 2,000 | more than 2,000 | 2,000+ |
| in the region of / somewhere around 3 million | approximately | ≈ 3 million |
| the best part of a decade | most of, almost all of | 8–9 years |
| the vast majority / a sizeable minority | far more than half / a large group, but under half | e.g. 85% / e.g. 35–40% |
| What you hear | What it means |
|---|---|
| doubled; a twofold increase | × 2 (200 → 400) |
| rose threefold; tripled | × 3 (200 → 600) |
| halved; fell by half | ÷ 2 (600 → 300) |
| fell by a third | lost one third of its value (600 → 400) |
| rose by two percentage points, from 10% | now 12% |
| rose by two per cent, from 10% | now 10.2% (two per cent of ten) |
| edged up / crept up / dipped | a small change |
| soared / took off / plummeted | a large, fast change |
| levelled off / plateaued / held steady | stopped changing |
| peaked at / bottomed out at | reached its highest / lowest point |
Match each spoken phrase to the figure it describes. There are three figures you do not need.
| What the speaker says | Type of figure | Note |
|---|---|---|
| the council set a target of half a million journeys | Target | target 500k |
| riders made around three hundred and eighty thousand, so it fell well short | Actual result + comment | actual ≈ 380k (short) |
| usage roughly doubled | Multiple | yr 2 ≈ 760k |
| journeys dipped slightly before recovering | Small, temporary fall | price ↑ → dip |
| getting on for two thousand bikes | Approximation | ≈ 1,900+ bikes |
| around one in twelve riders… now fifteen per cent | Old vs new proportion | over-50s ≈ 8% → 15% |
| up from forty-eight per cent… four percentage points | Change in percentage points | commuting 48 → 52% |
| a fifth of the fleet… close to forty per cent of journeys | Two proportions compared | e-bikes 20% fleet, ≈ 40% trips |
| the council expects… around three and a half million | Forecast, with doubt | forecast 3.5m (?) |
Five kinds of figure in one talk. Target, actual, old, new and forecast. A question such as How many journeys did the council hope for in the first year? is answered by the target (500,000), even though the actual figure comes straight after it.
Comment words carry meaning. Fell well short tells you the result was far below the target, dipped slightly is a small fall, and the most striking figure tells you what the speaker thinks is most important. Multiple-choice options often paraphrase these comments rather than the numbers.
Proportions are compared, not just stated. E-bikes are a fifth of the fleet but close to forty per cent of journeys. The point of the comparison is the conclusion that follows: each e-bike is used more than twice as often.
Percentage points. From 48% to 52% is four percentage points. A rise of four per cent from 48% would only reach about 50%.
Complete the notes. Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
Choose the correct answer. The options paraphrase the figures in the lecture.
Choose the best answer to each question. The real test asks three questions per talk; there are five here for extra practice.
Complete the notes. Write a NUMBER for each answer. Digits are fine.
Save words to review them later with flashcards.
“There are getting on for two thousand bikes in the scheme.”
“The project took the best part of a decade.”
“The recycling rate rose by three percentage points.”
“E-book loans saw an almost threefold increase.”
“Growth has levelled off over the last two years.”
“The volunteers' average age has edged up every year.”
“The return rate has been creeping up since spring.”
“After four slow years, the number of cafés took off.”
“The scheme fell well short of its first-year target.”
“A sizeable minority of volunteers are retired engineers.”
“Online sales were the bright spot in a difficult quarter.”
“Store sales were more or less flat this quarter.”
