1. Take past TOEFL®
listening tests and become familiar with the format. Quickly read the
comprehension questions before the recording begins - this helps you to listen
out for key points – often there is a lot of content that you will not be
tested on – keep your focus and energy for the points that count!
2. Practice note taking
whenever you are listening to something in English – only write down key words
or phrases, use abbreviations for long words and always write in English.
Record only the major points – you will not have time to write down the minor,
unimportant details in the exam.
3. Improve your
vocabulary – the more words you know, the easier it will be for you to understand
the listening section. Learn new vocab and save words you have trouble with by
becoming an English, baby! Super member.
4. Listen for signal
words that indicate major steps, changes or ideas such as seldom, at the
moment, in 1975, so far, usually, often, up to now, at the moment. Make sure to
also listen for repetition, synonyms and pronouns.
5. Download listening
practice lessons, such as lessons on Daily English Audio and stop it at
different times. Try to guess what will happen next! This is a great way to
practice your ability to connect and combine ideas. Then go back and listen to
the lesson in full and see how well you did.
6. Determine the purpose
of a conversation or speech – what do you think the speakers are trying to do?
Are they angry? Trying to resolve a conflict? Sad? Expressing an idea? Practice
this technique every time you hear English including English movies or TV
shows, daily English lessons on English, baby!, even people you hear speaking
English on the street! This will help you focus on the key points and improve
your ability to filter out information that is not necessary for theTOEFL®
listening exam questions.
7. Recognize key points –
who or what is the conversation about? What is the main point of the lecture?
Why are they talking about this? Remember, the TOEFL® listening exam is testing
your comprehension, not your ability to memorize and repeat what you have just
heard!
8. Find connections
between ideas – how do these points connect to the key ideas of the passage? If
they do NOT connect to the key ideas, they are probably not the major ideas of
the passage and you should not focus on them.
9. Pay attention when
someone in the exercise asks a question – often it is a clue that information
is about to be given. However, this is not always true so be careful for
responses that sound a lot like the answer to a question. Listen very carefully
as these responses are often there to test your ability to understand the
context of what you heard.
10. Categorize the type
of exercise you are listening to when taking practice TOEFL®listening tests.
Ask yourself – is it a lecture (mostly one-sided and on academic topics) or a
conversation (language is more informal, two or more people)? This will help
you understand the flow of the conversation more clearly.
Practice your TOEFL®
listening exam skills by taking the official TOEFL® online practice test today
No comments:
Post a Comment