Listening is one of the parts of the CAE/Advanced exam which many students don't like and sometimes fear. And there is a valid reason for that, it is not easy. In fact, it is the part of the exam in which a lot of students get their lowest mark when they do the actual exam.
There is a reason for this and it is not because of their lack of knowledge of the language, it is because of their lack of practice of listening in English.
If you are not living or working in an English-speaking country or regularly in contact with English speakers, then your English listening skills are going to be lower than your other ones. However, there is a way to improve your listening without the need to move to an English-speaking country or find English-speaking friends; and that is through regularly listening to things in English.
And this is what I am going to provide you with now, a listening resource which is free to use and is at the right level for the Advanced exam. It is a resource which I have personally been using with my students studying for the exam for the last ten years. It is the podcasts from the BBC's Witness History series.
These are short podcasts (each is a maximum of ten minutes long) which cover a wide variety of topics/subjects which you will find used in the actual CAE/Advanced exam.
There are literally thousands of episodes to listen to. You simply have to create a free BBC account and then you can listen to them whenever or wherever you want.
But because there are so many episodes available, you may not know where to start. So below you will find a list of my recommendations of BBC Witness History episodes to listen to. These are grouped by subject/topic (e.g. the environment, business, psychology etc...). Just click on the title and then you can listen to it.
About listening to them
Before you do listen to them, I need to make you aware about some things:
You are not going to understand everything you hear in them, so don't worry if you don't. This is perfectly normal and how much you do understand will improve with time and practice.
You are listening to them to improve your listening comprehension, not your vocabulary. There are quicker and more effective ways of improving your vocabulary (i.e. reading). so, if you don't understand a word or phrase you hear, in my opinion it is not necessary to try to find out what that word or phrase is.
I personally would recommend you listen to them when you are doing something else, like walking the dog, cleaning the house or your room. You are going to be more relaxed when listening to them and you are taking advantage of this time to improve your English.