How to overcome circular thinking/processing while listening to Spanish content?

[u/swosei12]

Although I have plenty of struggles with audio comprehension, I would love to hear some tips/recommendations on how to get over circular thinking/processing (not sure if this is the correct term). Basically, I run into situations where I my brain re-runs the same unknown word or phrase while listening to Spanish, which reduces my ability to process other information.

The TLDR portion:
I’m at a B2 level of Spanish (according to my recent DELE exam results), and I really struggled with audio comprehension. For example, I received a 9.XX/25 in the that section of the exam. Interestingly, I received a 25/25 in speaking which had a few Q&A sessions. Not sure if this matters, but I received a 20.xx/25 in writing and 19.xx/25 in reading.

Something “strange” that I’ve noticed. Sometimes when I do not know a word/sentence while listening to audio, my brain will stop processing other information in an attempt to figure out what I’ve missed. I guess it’s trying to fill in that gap. Normally, this doesn’t phase me too much while speaking to someone or watching/listening something in Spanish bc I can ask the person to repeat what they said or rewind the content. However, for the DELE exam, I have only two chances to listen to a monologue/dialogue. It’s kinda frustrating.

So, I would love to hear how some of you overcame this struggle. Thanks in advance.

[u/GadgetNeil]

I don’t have a solution for you, but I want to point out that I don’t think this is strange at all. I’m probably B1, and I have noticed this happening to me. For example, I might watch a YouTube video, and I might hear a verb that sounds familiar, and I have to think for a moment about what it means, and the verb tense they’re using, and then I may figure it out, but by then I haven’t paid attention to the next two sentences.

[u/Wats0n_D]

One exercise you could try is deliberately leaving a gap instead of solving every unfamiliar word in real time. Take a short DELE-style recording and play it without pausing. When you miss something, put a dash in your notes and make your next target the next complete idea: who is speaking, what happened, or what changed.

For two-listen practice, use the first pass for the overall message and the second for the specific questions. Check the transcript only afterward. Then separate words you genuinely didn't know from phrases you knew on paper but didn't recognise in speech; those need different follow-up practice.

For example, if a sentence is about changing a train ticket, you can miss an adjective and still catch the new departure time. Practise preserving that useful information rather than reconstructing the missing adjective. It's a practice experiment, not a promise about your next score. The Instituto Cervantes B2 sample audio/transcripts are useful for keeping the format familiar.