TOEFL LISTENING TIPS

TOEFL Listening Section Overview

          Listening is the second of four sections on the TOEFL. The entire section lasts 60 to 90 minutes and includes four to six lectures and two to three conversations. Each lecture lasts about three to five minutes and is followed by six questions, and each conversation lasts about three minutes and is followed by five questions.
         The variation in time and length is due to the fact that some test takers will have un-scored experimental questions in their TOEFL Listening section, making it extra long, while others will have experimental questions during their Reading instead. You won’t know which questions are experimental and which are graded, so try not to worry about it too much.
          The lectures and conversations will be similar to those you’ll likely hear as a student. They may be a conversation between a student and teacher, a class discussion, a lecture by a professor, or a similar scenario. There will be pictures on the computer screen to give you an idea of how many people will be speaking and what the setting will be.
          For some questions clips of the conversation or lecture will be replayed, but other than that, you’ll only hear the audio clip once. You don’t have the option to replay it. This section tests your ability to understand spoken English, listen for pragmatic understanding, and connect and synthesize information.

TOEFL Listening - GENERAL ADVICES

• Become familiar with the listening section structure. Before taking the TOEFL listening exam, you absolutely must know what to expect.
• Learn all the instructions by heart. This way, you will feel more confident on D-Day as there will be no surprise. You will save time and energy when understanding the instructions and will be able to better focus upon listening to the audio recordings and upon answering the questions.
• Learn all the types of questions by heart. Take the time to learn and understand all the types of questions and which answers are expected. You will be more efficient on the exam day: you will be able to read the questions more quickly and know how to tackle them. You'll simply have to understand the audio tracks well!
• There are no negative points in the TOEFL exam: When you only have a couple of seconds left, randomly select answers to the remaining questions. You have a one out of 4 chance to get the right answer. If you have enough time to read the answers and proceed by elimination, you will be even more likely to hit upon the right one!

TOEFL LISTENING SPECIFIC TIPS 

• You will be asked questions after each audio track, one by one. Unlike the reading part, you won't be allowed to go back to the previous question. Therefore, always give an answer to a question and only confirm it once you are sure about your choice.
• Use some draft paper: Although the TOEFL Test is not about memorising, some questions will be based on details or sequences (see aforementioned table of types of questions). These may be more difficult if you have not taken notes. You do not need to write down everything you have heard on your draft paper, but rather you should note the key elements: the structure of the text, its general topic, dates that are mentioned, examples that are developed, etc. A specific knowledge of the question-types as well as intensive training will enable you to take better notes by anticipating the questions that may be asked. Once again, we can only recommend practising on the Global-Exam platform.
• Stay focused: You can only hear the audio recordings once per exercise. These tracks are relatively long (up to 5 minutes). You will hear a lot of information. You therefore need to stay focused throughout the listening phase.

TOEFL LISTENING TIPS - HOW TO MANAGE YOUR TIME?

In the listening section, you will have 10 minutes per exercise to answer 5 or 6 questions. Time is much less of an issue in this section than in the other sections. Of course, this does not mean that you should take time between each question, but you should worry about the countdown.