Attacking the TOEFL Listening

Attacking the TOEFL Listening

First and foremost, you must take good notes as you listen actively throughout the entire listening. Many students struggle with this. They take either no notes--so they miss important information--or too many notes--so they sacrifice understanding and comprehension. No matter what, take notes. Build the skill and you will improve.

Every now and then, a student will tell me that they score high and take no notes. They tell me that notes distract them. Immediately I think, well, you would score even higher if you did, but if your score is high enough, don’t change what works for you. However, if you’re reading this, then you want to get the best score that you can, so take notes.

If you find that notes distract you, experiment with your notes. It’s like saying that exercise makes you weaker. Yes, in the beginning it might, but over time it builds your strength immensely and you can’t be as strong as you can be without it. I hope that analogy makes sense.

 TOEFL Listening Question Types and Strategy

Just as in the reading, the same question types will appear again and again in the listening section. The difference is that we don’t have a reading to refer to but only our notes and our memory. As a result, strategy for this question is not too intense but a general guide to aid in your choosing the correct answers. Below are the types.

Main Idea, Detail, Choose 2 or 3 detail, Inference, Attitude, Purpose

Read every answer choice and read each word carefully before choosing an answer. You are missing points because of this. Notice that there’s no modal there: may, might, could. It’s a fact: you are missing points because of this, so write that statement on your notes when you take the test and when you practice. Your score will improve if you remember this consistently and apply it for every single question.

Main Idea

This question is easy to spot. It’s usually the first question that you’ll find after the listening and it has the word “mainly” in it. Here are two examples

What does the lecture mainly discuss?

What is the main topic of the lecture?

This is often the easiest for students but it can be tricky. The listening will usually start by introducing the topic in the first few sentences and then discuss it for the rest of the lecture. The main idea here is easy: it’s the topic and described in the beginning of the lecture.

Detail

These questions ask you for the same information as the readings: facts from the information presented. Essentially, answering these correctly relies on your notes. The better your notes are, the better you’ll do. They ask you to identify facts in the reading and often begin with WH- questions. Here are two examples.

What is the major source of meteoric water?

What are the two reasons the woman doesn’t feel safe?

The best strategy is to identify the key word or words in the question. Find where they  appear in your notes and choose an answer that contains key words in your notes that are closest to the topic. Wrong answers often come from words you heard in the lecture but appear distant from when the topic was discussed.

Inference & Listen again

Just as with the reading, these are tough. They ask you to make a small jump from the information that you heard, but instead of being able to refer to the information (as you can in the reading), you must remember it from your notes. As a result, these questions pose a strong challenge to students who have difficulty listening. They contain strong clue words: infer, imply, or suggest. Here are two examples.

What does the officer imply when he says this:

What does the professor imply about the importance of surface tension in water?

To improve, focus on the same strategy as with the detail question and remember that this requires a small jump in logic. Often times, it requires you to make a logical association. Let me give you an example. Let’s say you hear part of a lecture like this:

Tommy likes apples. Because he likes apples, he decided to go to the beach. When he was at the beach, he met his friend Billy.

An inference from this question would be:

Billy met Tommy because Tommy likes apples.

Even though you didn’t read this exactly; it came from making a small jump within the information given.  

Attitude & Opinion

Similar to inference questions, these ask you to look at the way that information is presented to make a judgement on the person delivering the speech. Tone and inflection can be a guide, but it rarely leads to the correct answer. Instead, be aware of adjectives, adverbs, and the overall direction of the lecture or conversation. Here are a few examples of what these questions will look like.

What is the professor’s attitude toward those who take the existence of groundwater for granted?

What is the professor’s opinion about using pterosaur ancestors to learn more about pterosaurs themselves?

Answers will usually fall into one of three categories: criticism, neutrality, or support. As a way to ensure that you get these question right, take notes on words that indicate where the professor stands on what he’s discussing. 

Purpose & Listen again

When dealing with these questions, you must know what the statement is doing in the logical flow of the lecture or conversation. Of course, this is easy to say and not so easy to do. These questions ask you to identify the purpose of a specific statement or reference made. Here are two examples:

Why does the professor mention the railroad industry’s intense competition and price wars?

Why does the professor mention New York City and Boston?

To answer these questions well, we must understand that the key words in the question served a purpose in the development of the topic. What kind of development?

Illustrate

Support

Oppose

Explain

Adverbs and surrounding content will help you identify the answer to these questions. 

TOEFL Listening Answering Strategy

When answering, remember that you cannot return to a question later on. Once you answer a question, you will not be allowed to return to it. That’s why you must click on the answer, then click on next, then click on confirm before you are sent to the next question. They ask you to confirm your answer twice because that’s your last chance at it. Remember this and you’ll be fine.

As you practice, to stay close to the conditions of the exam, don’t review your answers to this section: once you’ve chosen, the question is finished and the answer cannot be changed. Remember that the more you create exam like conditions as you practice the more prepared you’ll be for success.

With the basics of the listening section down, it’s time to learn how to sky-rocket our score by learning about powerful note-taking.

TOEFL Listening Powerful Note-taking

Remember that everyone takes notes differently, so you don't have to have the exact same words in your notes as we do, but they should be similar. And without good notes, you may be getting a good score, but not nearly as good as you could get if you built your note-taking skill. Also, don't over analyze too much. I talk in great detail to give you a good overview of what it means to be an active listener and a good note-taker, so take your time to integrate what you learn as you learn it. Don't work to be perfect; just work to improve gradually and comfortably.