Listening and reading in the Czech exam — task types and tips
5 min read
Listening and reading together make up the largest part of the written Czech exam — for both A2 and B1 you'll meet the same kind of tasks you can already try in the sample tests on this site: multiple choice, matching, true/false, and gap-fill.
Below is a task-by-task breakdown — exactly what you do in each one, how much time you get, and how best to organize yourself so you lose points to rushing or inattention, not to a lack of language knowledge.
Listening and reading at a glance
- A2 (permanent residency): reading 40 minutes / 25 items across 5 task types, listening approx. 40 minutes / 25 items across 5 task types. Both parts are pooled together with writing into a single 60% written gate (minimum 42 out of 70 points).
- B1 (citizenship): reading 50 minutes / 25 points across 4 task types, listening 30–35 minutes / 25 points across 4 task types. The rule is 60% overall and 60% on each subtest (see How the Czech A2 and B1 exams work for details).
Reading in the A2 exam
| Task | What you do |
|---|---|
| Matching pictures to ads | Match a picture to each of a series of short ads/texts |
| Four-option multiple choice (A–D) | Read a short text and pick the correct answer from options A–D |
| Matching people to offers | Match a short profile of a person to a suitable ad/offer |
| Multiple-choice gap-fill (A–D) | Fill gaps in a text by choosing the correct word from the given options |
| Open gap-fill | Fill in the missing words in a text with no options given |
The five task types alternate through the test — each comes with its own short instructions, which are worth reading carefully before you start reading the text itself.
Listening in the A2 exam
| Task | What you do |
|---|---|
| Short dialogues | Listen to a short conversation between two people and answer a question about it |
| Public announcements | Listen to an announcement (at a station, in a shop, etc.) and pick the correct information |
| Who is it? Matching occupations | Match a speaker to their occupation based on a description of their activity |
| Matching to pictures | Choose the matching picture based on what you hear |
| Answering-machine message | Listen to a message and note down or select the key information |
Here too there are five task types — at A2 the recordings are usually played twice, so the first listen is for orientation and the second for filling in details.
Reading in the B1 exam
| Task | What you do |
|---|---|
| Task 1 — true/false | Decide whether statements about the text are true or false |
| Task 2 — four-option multiple choice | Read a text and pick the correct answer from options A–D |
| Task 3 — matching | Match texts/paragraphs to the corresponding captions or situations |
| Task 4 — ordering | Arrange parts of a text (sentences or paragraphs) into the correct logical order |
Listening in the B1 exam
| Task | What you do |
|---|---|
| Short dialogues — multiple choice | Listen to a series of short dialogues and pick the correct answer for each |
| Long dialogue — multiple choice | Listen to one longer conversation and answer several questions about it |
| Monologue — true/false | Listen to one person's continuous narration and decide whether statements are true or false |
| Short monologues — brief written answer | Listen to short monologues and answer the questions briefly in your own words |
The last task (brief written answer) is the only one in the B1 listening part where you don't choose from given options — you formulate a short answer yourself, so it pays to jot down keywords as you listen, not only after the recording ends.
Tips for reading
- Read the task first, then the text. For both multiple-choice (A–D) and matching tasks, read the questions or captions first — that way you know exactly what to look for in the text and don't end up reading it twice.
- Skim long texts, read short ones carefully. For longer texts (true/false, ordering), skim through quickly first to get the overall sense, then go back for the details that a specific question depends on.
- Distractors are deliberately close to the correct answer. In four-option multiple choice, one option is usually clearly wrong, but the remaining three often differ only in a detail (time, place, person) — read statements literally, not just for whether they "sound similar."
- Budget your time per item. For both A2 reading (40 min / 25 items) and B1 reading (50 min / 25 points), that works out to roughly 1.5–2 minutes per item — if one item is taking noticeably longer, mark a provisional answer and come back to it at the end.
Tips for listening
- Read the questions before the recording starts. In every listening task type you usually get a moment before playback — use it to read the questions/options so you know what to focus on.
- Note keywords as you go, not only after the recording ends — numbers, names, times and places are easy to forget if you wait until the very end.
- Don't get stuck on one item. If you miss an answer, let it go and focus on the next one — in dialogues and longer recordings the information often comes back or gets filled in elsewhere.
- Use the second listen (at A2) deliberately. The first listen is for overall meaning, the second is for checking specific details and answers you were unsure about the first time.
Where to practice
The best way to get used to these task types is to try them in the actual exam format. On this site you'll find free sample tests covering all the listening and reading task types described above for both A2 and B1, and if you're just starting out with Czech, the course from scratch will help — it gradually builds the vocabulary and grammar these tasks draw on. For a complete overview of both exams, see How the Czech A2 and B1 exams work, and for general preparation tips, see How to prepare for the Czech exam.
The exact content and format of the tasks can change slightly over time. Before registering, always check the current conditions on the official pages of cestina-pro-cizince.cz (A2) and ÚJOP UK (B1). This text is not legal advice.