Luisteren: kernpunt
A question about the main point of a fragment or one part of it — what the speaker is really saying, not everything they mention.
98 of our 626 B2 listening items. The question asks what the speaker's central claim is: "Wat is de kern van het betoog?", "Hoe ziet de spreker vergeten?". A lecture or radio talk rarely states its point in the first sentence. It builds up with background, sets up a common view, and then corrects it. The main point is usually the corrected view — the part after maar, niet … maar, or dus — and it is often a little more precise, or more surprising, than the topic itself.
How the exam tests this
Luisteren II: about 40 multiple-choice questions over five or more fragments in 90 minutes, computer-marked, and each fragment plays once. In our bank, 83 of the 98 main-point items are the first question on their fragment. The wrong options are built from true but secondary points the speaker also makes, from the common view the speaker rejects, and from a vaguer version of the right answer that leaves out what makes it the speaker's own.
What is wrong with this sentence?
De gemiddelde zeespiegelstijging die in de komende eeuw wordt verwacht
Most candidates write it exactly like this and lose the mark without knowing why.
The rest of this lesson
The rule, the worked examples, the exceptions and what to do in the exam room open with Mastery, together with every other lesson for this exam.
See plans