Hints and reveals

Under every practice clip you'll find Get a hint and Reveal transcript next to Check my answer. A hint nudges you towards the words without giving them away, and it doesn't change your score. Reveal opens the full transcript straight away; that sentence then counts as zero unless you type it once more and check.

Get a hint when one word won't come

Choose Get a hint and the feedback line shows Hint 1 of 3 with how many words to listen for. Choose Next hint for the recording's opening words, and once more for an outline of the line with a blank for each word you still need. After the third hint the button reads Show last hint, so you can read the outline again. On a longer clip with gaps to fill, the hints point you to the words just before and after each gap instead.

Hints cost nothing. Your score is the share of words you matched when you checked, whatever you read on the way there. See How scoring works for the rule.

Reveal the transcript when you're really stuck

Choose Reveal transcript and the transcript opens with the words in order, the feedback line says Read along as you replay the clip, and the clip's chip changes to Revealed. It's fine to do this. Revealing is how you learn the word you kept missing, and the Mistake notebook brings the sentence back later so you can try it cold.

What it does to the number: the clip is recorded at 0% and the lesson can be finished with it. If you'd rather keep a real score, replay the clip, type the line with the transcript open, and choose Check my answer; your newest answer is the one that counts.

A rhythm that keeps you honest

1. Play the clip, then Replay it once before typing anything.
2. Type what you catch and choose Check my answer. The marked words tell you where to listen.
3. Stuck on one word? Get a hint, replay, and check again.
4. Still nothing after the third hint? Reveal transcript, read along with one more replay, then type it once more.

Hints in the Test tab and the Learn tab

The Test tab is deliberately different: a new clip, no hints and no reveal, and the transcript opens only after you check. That's what the Practice hints are preparing you for.

The short checks in the Learn tab have their own help. After a wrong first try you get a clue and a second go; after that the answer appears. These checks don't touch your listening score.

In the free listening samples under Find your next lesson, the reveal button is called Show script and works the same way.

If a hint or the reveal shows Something interrupted this step, your typed answer is still in the box; wait a moment and choose the button again, or tell us what happened.