• LISTENING PURPOSES INCLUDE:

LISTENING FOR BASIC COMPREHENSION

LISTENING FOR PRAGMATIC UNDERSTANDING

CONNECTING AND SYNTHESIZING INFORMATION

LISTENING SECTION FORMAT

• Listening materials in the new test include academic lectures and long conversations in
which the speech sounds very natural. Test takers can take notes on any listening material
throughout the entire test.
  

Listening Material Number of questions Timing

3-4 lectures, 3–5 minutes long
each 6 questions per lecture
About 500 words
41-57 minutes
2–3 conversations, about 3
minutes long, about 12–25 5 questions per conversation
exchanges
• 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.
WHAT TYPES OF QUESTIONS ARE THERE ON TOEFL LISTENING?

• You will come across three types of questions as you complete the TOEFL Listening
test. Since it’s important to know what to expect, in this section we explain the different
types of question and, for each question type, give a sample question and tips to help you
answer those types of questions.
TIPS FOR ANSWERING

• Read every answer choice. This may seem like obvious advice, but on the day of the test it’s
easy to see an option that looks pretty good, choose it, and move along to the next question
without checking to make sure there isn’t a better option. ETS will try to make some
answer choices sound like the right answer, when they’re actually not. Reading through
all your options will help you avoid getting fooled.
• Take notes while listening to the audio recording (how to do this is discussed in more detail
below). Make them short and clear so you can easily review them when answering
questions. They’ll often help you remember points you may have forgotten and that will
help you answer questions correctly.
MULTIPLE-ANSWER QUESTIONS

• These questions are like the standard multiple-choice questions except they can have
more than one correct answer. You’ll need to get all the answer options correct in order to
receive credit for these questions.
TIPS FOR ANSWERING

• Tips for Answering

• Questions with more than one answer will also be labeled as such, and you’ll also be told
how many correct answers there are, so be sure to pay close attention when
answering these questions so you don’t miss important information.
• For these questions especially, make sure you read through each answer choice to be sure
you don’t miss a correct answer. You don’t get partial credit for these questions, so
you’ll need to select every correct answer choice in order to get the question right.
“REPLAY” QUESTIONS

• For these questions, you’ll hear a short part of the clip played again, and you’ll then be
asked a question on that specific portion of the clip. They then follow the format of
standard multiple-choice questions. This is the only time on the Listening section
where you’ll get to listen to part of the audio recording again.
TIPS FOR ANSWERING

• Even if you took good notes during while listening to the complete audio recording, play
close attention when the short clip is replayed. You’ll often be asked about a specific
detail from the clip that you wouldn’t remember just by looking at your notes.
• Focus primarily on the clip that was replayed as opposed to what was said in the rest of
the recording. For almost all these types of questions, you’ll be able to choose the correct
answer based just on the clip, so you don’t need to worry about remembering what
happened in the rest of the recording.
TOEFL LISTENING TIPS FOR STUDYING

• Listen to Spoken English Regularly

• The number one TOEFL Listening tip is, unsurprisingly, to listen to English regularly. The more you hear English, the better
your listening skills will become and the easier you’ll find the Listening section. You want to listen to spoken English, so
music sung in English won’t be as useful since English sounds different when it’s sung compared to when it’s spoken.

• Talk radio, news stations, movies, tv shows, and podcasts are all great options (as long as they’re in English, obviously). Try
to listen to some English with background noise, such as an interview conducted outside or in front of a large crowd. TOEFL
Listening recordings purposely include background noises, so you’ll want to be used to that.

•
LISTEN TO DIFFERENT ENGLISH ACCENTS

• It will also help you down the line if you practice listening to different accents while you’re
studying. The TOEFL Listening test will include at least one native-speaker English accent
outside of North American accents. This is done to help prepare you for the variety of English
accents you’ll likely come across in the real world. These accents will come from the U.K.,
Australia, or New Zealand.
• Even native English speakers can struggle to understand different English accents, so be sure to
get some exposure to different accents before exam day. Try listening to news clips or radio
stations from these countries if you’re wondering how you can hear more accents.
•  
TAKE COMPLETE PRACTICE TOEFL LISTENING TESTS

• Part of what makes TOEFL Listening tricky is that you spend the section going back and forth
between listening to recordings and answering questions on them. After three or four
recordings, you may get tired and your attention may start to lag. This can really hurt your
score if you miss important information in the audio recording, so you want to take steps to
avoid this, and one of the best ways to do that is to take complete practice Listening sections.
• A full Listening section is four lectures and two conversations. Set aside time to take this
section all at once, with no breaks and no distractions, just like on the real TOEFL. Doing this
will help you become familiar with the length and pacing of the Listening section before test
day.
• Get in the Habit of Taking Notes
• Even if you have great English skills and usually remember the things you hear in
English, you should still takes notes during the Listening section. Each of the
recordings is several minutes long and contains a lot of information. If you don’t take
notes, it can be easy to forget some of points made and therefore miss questions on the
test. Read the next section for tips on how to take great notes.
• Stay Focused While the Recordings Are Playing
• The TOEFL is a long exam, and it can be easy for your mind to wander during parts of it. However, one of the worst
times for this to happen is during the Listening section when the audio recordings are playing. You only get to hear each
recording once, so if you miss a key point, you likely won’t have all the information you need to get a top score on this
section. Your notes will only be great if you do a great job listening to the recordings, so make it a priority to pay
attention while they’re playing.

• The longest each recording will be is five minutes, so work to keep your focus for that long (doing practice problems, as
discussed above, will help you with this). The part of the Listening section where you’re answering questions is
typically less rushed than other sections (you’ll have about 35 seconds to answer each question), so, if you need to take
a mental break for a few seconds, do it then so you can be ready to focus on the next recording when it starts playing.
• Write While Listening
• Some TOEFL test-takers try to listen intently while the audio recording is playing and only begin writing
notes once it’s finished. This is a bad idea for two reasons. First, the audio recordings are each several
minutes long, so you’ll likely forget some key points when you’re trying to write all your notes at once.
Second, not writing your notes until after the recording has ended means you’ll be writing them during
your time to answer questions, which can make you more rushed during the answer portion of the section.
• Instead, write notes throughout the recording. Keep them short (see below), and try to work out a
pattern where you listen for a brief period of time, write down some short notes, then go back to listening.
Practicing will help you get better at this.
• Focus on Main Ideas
• Don’t try to write down everything you hear. You won’t be able to, and you’ll likely miss some important points
because you’re trying to copy every word. Instead, focus on the main ideas in the recording.
• If you’re listening to a lecture, think about (and take notes on) what the professor is trying to accomplish. Is he/she
trying to explain a new topic? Make something clearer? Explain two different opinions? If another person, such as a
student speaks, what are they trying to learn or show? You may want to make a column in your notes for each
speaker and write the main points of what they say under the appropriate column to make it easier to remember who
said what.
• It can be easy to get bogged down in all the details of a recording and miss out on what’s really being discussed. The
majority of TOEFL Listening questions will focus on major points as opposed to minor details, so focus your notes on
the former.
• Review: How to Do Well on TOEFL Listening
• You’ll need strong listening skills, as well as good concentration skills, in order to ace the
TOEFL Listening test. Besides knowing what types of recordings and questions to expect on
this section, you’ll need to do some studying as well.
• The most important TOEFL Listening tips for studying include listening to spoken English
regularly, listening to different English accents, take complete practice TOEFL Listening tests,
and get in the habit of taking notes. During the TOEFL Listening, you should stay focused
when the recordings are being played, write while listening, and focus on main ideas when
taking notes.