Cambridge IGCSE English as a Second Language 0510/22 is the May/June 2026 Paper 2 (Listening), variant 2. It lasts about 50 minutes, including 6 minutes to transfer your answers, is worth 40 marks and is sat by every 0510 candidate. It had 40 compulsory questions in five exercises, and every answer is a letter worth one mark. This guide gives the official answer to every question, what each one asked and how the paper is marked. The paper and its mark scheme are free on the Tutopiya Learning Portal.

For an overview of both 0510 papers from this series, see IGCSE English as a Second Language 0510 May/June 2026 past papers: what came up and how it was marked.

0510/22 at a glance

Exercise	Questions	What you hear	Answer type	Marks
1	1–8	Eight short recordings	Choose a picture, A–D	8
2	9–18	Five short recordings, two questions each	Choose A–C	10
3	19–26	A student’s class presentation about Ushuaia, Argentina	Complete each sentence, A–C	8
4	27–32	Six people talking about the book they are reading	Match each speaker to one of eight statements, A–H	6
5	33–40	An interview with a sound engineer	Choose A–C	8
			Total	40

You hear every recording twice. During the test you tick boxes (or write letters, in Exercise 4) on the question paper, then you have 6 minutes at the end to shade one letter per question on the multiple choice answer sheet in soft pencil.

Question-by-question walkthrough

The mark scheme for this paper is a plain answer key: one letter per question, one mark each, with no notes or alternatives. There is no transcript in the published set, so the descriptions below say what each question asked and which option was correct.

Exercise 1: eight short recordings (8 marks)

Each question has four pictures, and you choose the one that matches what you hear.

Question	What it asked	Answer
1	What the boy has forgotten to bring	C (an ID card on a lanyard)
2	What the friends agree to do together on Saturday	D (play tennis)
3	Where the woman wants to go instead of the theatre	C (a live music venue, shown as a stage with instruments)
4	What the boy enjoyed doing most in Paris	A (a boat trip)
5	Who told the girl about the music festival	B (the middle-aged woman)
6	Where the boy is going with his class	B (a castle)
7	The problem the man had while camping	A (insects)
8	How the girl offers to help with the party	D (posting letters at a postbox)

Each question asks for one exact thing, so listen for the option that answers it rather than any picture you hear mentioned: the thing that was forgotten, the plan the friends agree on, the activity he enjoyed most.

Exercise 2: five short recordings, two questions each (10 marks)

Five conversations or phone messages, each with two three-option questions.

Question	Recording	What it asked	Answer
9	A girl on performing in a play	How she felt during her performance	B (afraid of forgetting her lines)
10		What she’d like to perform in next	C (a comedy)
11	A boy’s message about a new sports centre	What he likes most about it	A (the range of activities)
12		What he’d like his friend to do	B (give him some tennis coaching)
13	Two friends on a new science documentary series	What they agree about	B (it covers some interesting topics)
14		What the girl says about the music	A (it goes well with the action)
15	A man on a song he’s writing	What the song is about	B (a place he visited)
16		Why it is taking so long	C (he keeps being interrupted)
17	A girl’s message about her new part-time job	The biggest benefit of the job	A (a staff discount)
18		What she says about her manager	C (he’s more stylish than he thinks)

Question 13 depends on what both friends agree about, so an opinion that only one of them holds is not the answer.

Exercise 3: a presentation about Ushuaia (8 marks)

Emma, a geography student, gives a class talk about Ushuaia, a city in southern Argentina. You complete eight sentences about it by choosing from three options.

Question	What it asked	Answer
19	What the name Ushuaia roughly means	C (deep bay)
20	What the climate is surprisingly like	B (mild)
21	When the first people settled there	A (around 6 000 years ago)
22	What was set up in the middle of the town in the late nineteenth century	A (a prison)
23	The third main industry, alongside fishing and oil	C (tourism)
24	What a small railway originally carried	A (wood)
25	What surprised Emma on her visit	C (how long the daytime was)
26	What impressed her most	C (the unusual architecture)

The options in this exercise are often all plausible facts about the city, so the sentence stem matters: Question 20 asks what is surprising about the climate, and Question 26 asks what impressed her most.

Exercise 4: six people and their books (6 marks)

Six speakers each talk about the book they are reading now. You match each speaker to one of eight statements, using each letter only once; two statements are not used.

Question	Speaker	Statement	Answer
27	Speaker 1	It’s extremely easy to read	F
28	Speaker 2	The plot is quite hard to follow	D
29	Speaker 3	The main characters are all easy to like	B
30	Speaker 4	One character reminds them of someone they know	G
31	Speaker 5	What happens in it is predictable	E
32	Speaker 6	It’s less action-packed than expected	A

Not used: C (it’s inspiring them to read more by the same author) and H (it’s unlike any other book they’ve read). Because each letter can be used only once, one wrong match can cost a second mark: the letter you used may be the one another speaker needed.

Exercise 5: an interview with a sound engineer (8 marks)

Scott, a sound engineer who helps musicians get the right sound, talks about how he started, his training, concerts, studio work and his plans.

Question	What it asked	Answer
33	What made him want to become a sound engineer	C (watching one at work)
34	What he says about his sound engineering course	C (the tutors knew a lot about the music industry)
35	How he felt at his first concert	B (worried the sound was too loud for the audience)
36	What he enjoys most about studio work	A (seeing musicians react to the finished songs)
37	What he suggests about a singer called Fran	A (she’s more talented than she realises)
38	The most challenging part of his job	B (meeting recording deadlines)
39	What he has a reputation for	C (listening carefully to what bands want)
40	What he’d most like to do in the future	C (organise a large music festival)

The interview questions test opinions and feelings (“most enjoyable”, “most challenging”, “most like to do”), so wait until the speaker gives the main point rather than ticking the first option you hear mentioned.

Where the marks are on 0510/22

Skill	Exercises	Marks
Understanding specific information in short recordings (pictures)	1	8
Understanding detail, feelings and opinions in short exchanges	2	10
Following facts in a longer talk	3	8
Understanding each speaker’s main idea and attitude	4	6
Understanding opinions and attitudes in a longer interview	5	8
Total		40

• Every question is worth one mark, so the eight-question Exercise 1 counts as much as the eight-question interview in Exercise 5.
• Exercise 2 carries the most marks (10), spread over five different situations, so you need to reset your attention quickly between recordings.
• Exercises 4 and 5 lean on opinions and feelings, which are harder to catch than facts and figures.

How to self-mark 0510/22 with the mark scheme

1. Mark from the answer sheet, not the question paper. Only the letters you shade on the multiple choice answer sheet count, so practise the 6-minute transfer and check you copied every answer across.
2. One letter per question. The rubric tells you to shade one letter only for each of Questions 1 to 40, so check that every question on your answer sheet has exactly one.
3. Score each exercise separately. Note your mark out of 8, 10, 8, 6 and 8, so you can see which type of listening costs you most.
4. Check Exercise 4 as a set. If two of your speakers share a letter, or you used C or H, you have at least one wrong match; find which speaker you misheard.
5. Replay what you got wrong. If you have the audio, listen again to each missed question and find the moment that gives the answer. Ask whether you were caught by a word that matched a wrong option, or missed a change of mind.
6. Log the error type: misheard detail, missed opinion, or a transfer slip, and practise the weakest type with older 0510 papers.

Sit 0510/22 as a timed mock

On a listening paper the recording sets the pace: the reading time before each exercise, the pauses and both playings are all on the audio. Of the roughly 50 minutes, the last 6 are for transferring your answers. Use each part of the recording like this:

Stage	What to do
Reading time before each exercise	Read every question and option, and underline the key word in each question (most, agree, instead, surprised)
First playing	Choose a provisional answer for each question and move on if you miss one
Second playing	Confirm your answers, and listen for the questions you missed
Transfer time (6 minutes)	Shade one letter per question on the answer sheet, and check the question numbers match
Total	About 50 minutes, set by the recording

Each correct answer scores one mark, so shade an answer for every question, even one you are unsure of.

Other May/June 2026 0510 papers

• 0510 Paper 12 (Reading and Writing)

Practise and download

• Download 0510/22 and its mark scheme on the Learning Portal →
• All 0510 May/June 2026 papers: overview and marking patterns
• Try a free IGCSE English as a Second Language quiz

Need help with a 0510 topic? Book a free trial lesson with an IGCSE English as a Second Language tutor →

Frequently asked questions

What came up on 0510 Paper 22 May/June 2026? +

Five exercises: eight short recordings with picture answers, five short conversations and messages with two questions each, a student's presentation about the city of Ushuaia in Argentina, six people talking about the book they are reading, and an interview with a sound engineer called Scott.

How many marks is 0510/22 and how long is it? +

It has 40 questions worth one mark each, for a total of 40 marks. It lasts about 50 minutes, including 6 minutes at the end to transfer your answers to the multiple choice answer sheet.

What were the answers to Exercise 4 on 0510/22 2026? +

Speaker 1 F, Speaker 2 D, Speaker 3 B, Speaker 4 G, Speaker 5 E and Speaker 6 A. Statements C and H were the two extra letters that were not used.

How many times do you hear each recording on 0510/22? +

Twice. Every recording in all five exercises, including the Ushuaia talk and the sound engineer interview, is played two times.

Is the 0510/22 audio included with the past paper? +

No. The question paper and mark scheme are on the Learning Portal, but the recording is not part of the set, so ask your teacher for the audio if you want to sit the paper as a full mock.

Where can I download 0510/22 May/June 2026 and its mark scheme? +

Both are free to download and print on the Tutopiya Learning Portal, on the Cambridge IGCSE English as a Second Language 0510 past papers page.

Ready to Excel in Your Studies?

Get personalised help from Tutopiya's expert tutors. Whether it's IGCSE, IB, A-Levels, or any other curriculum — we match you with the perfect tutor and your first session is free.

Book Your Free Trial