Sharp  Ideas

The Listening Section of the TOEFL will take between 60 minutes and 90 minutes depending on the length of the audio and the number of questions each test-taker must answer.  Just like in the Reading Section, ETS might give test-takers experimental questions that are used to make future TOEFL tests, making the test longer but not affecting the test-takers score.  

 

There are several types of audio recordings students will find in the Listening Section.

• Conversations are always featured in this section, with dialogues typically taking place between two students, a student and a professor, or a student and another campus employee.

• Lectures where the professor does all the talking.  These are probably the hardest audio recordings for most students.  They can be on any topic, and students will hear only one speaker for the entire length of the lecture, which runs for several minutes.

• Lectures with student interaction.  These lectures, too, can be on a wide variety of academic topics.  However, they can be much easier to follow if you use the question and answer format as a guide.  Listening to interviews could help you prepare for this type of lecture.

•  A seminar style class.  It is possible that you will encounter an audio recording where students are doing the vast majority of the talking in a seminar style, with student conversation driven audio recording.  Though it is rare, you will hear a number of student speakers with the professor simply guiding the conversation.

 

Remember, you will need your listening skills in other sections of the TOEFL due to the integrated format of the TOEFL iBT.  This means that you will need to draw upon your listening skills in the Speaking and Writing Sections, making listening a very important ability to master on this test.