TOEFL Listening Test

TOEFL Listening Test

Types of questions and tips

You are asked about the purpose of the speaker in regards to the main idea or key point. E.g. why did the speaker say that?

​Gist-Purpose

​You are asked about the main idea or key point. E.g. what happened in the recording?

​Gist-Content

Types of Questions

TIPS

• Listen to academic lectures in various areas. Start with short lectures about familiar topics, and then move on to longer lectures about unfamiliar topics. You can listen to a lecture more than once.

• You are never asked both gist-content and gist-purpose questions. It's always only one.​

​You are asked about the real meaning of a statement within its context.

​Function

​You are asked about important specific details. These are always explicitly stated.

​Detail

Types of Questions

​TIPS

• As an exercise, listen to a recording with someone, write down as much as you can afterwards, and then compare who wrote the most.

• ​Ask yourself, what is the speaker really doing when saying something? Differentiate between literal and real meaning.

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​You are asked about the structure of a lecture. These questions are often about the examples used in the lecture.

​Organization

You are asked about the attitude or feelings in conversation from the speaker's tone.

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​Attitude

Types of Questions

​TIPS

• ​Ask yourself, how can I describe the speaker's tone? Try watching some comedies as tone is very noticeable in these shows.

• ​Listen for signal words about the different parts of the lecture.

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​You are asked about the meaning of something not explicitly stated, usually the implications.

​Inference

​You are asked about the relationship among ideas in a lecture. It is usually Fill in a Table or Chart.

​Connecting content

Types of Questions

TIPS

• Identify the logical chain that connects a conversation or lecture. While listening, stop, summarize, and predict.

• Ask yourself, are the words spoken positive or negative? How do these words imply positive or negative ideas?​