TOEFL Singapore Listening Test

TOEFL Singapore specialist ICON+ provides some insightful tips to prepare for the TOEFL Listening Section...

Are you a good listener?

Even if you are – you may face some trouble during the TOEFL Listening Section. Often, the lectures and conversations go by very fast and use words that even native speakers are unfamiliar with; as a result, you may be left struggling with some of the main points talked about, which can subsequently hinder your ability to answer the questions wholly and correctly. To help you out, we have devised the following tips for you to follow before the exam and during the exam. These tidbits will help you focus, on the major themes, and spend your time wisely when the listening material is turned on.

Before the TOEFL exam:

1) Familiarize yourself with spoken English by listening to varied sources. The key here is completely immersing yourself into the English speaking culture. So: listen to movies, TV channels, the radio, even Youtube videos – as many materials as you can find. Since the listening sections often cover an array of topics, you should similarly listen to speakers talking about many things: politics, music, sports, history, etc. The more you practice listening, the better listener you will become for the TOEFL exam.

2) Listen to and understand a wide range of accents. The TOEFL Listening Section includes speakers who have different ways of talking and culturally specific pronunciations; consequently, you may hear Americans, Latin-Americans, Africans, Asians, Australians, and Europeans alike in the conversations and lectures. To prepare for this, you should listen to many foreigners speaking English.

3) Practice taking notes for reference. During your TOEFL listening section, you will be permitted to scribble down on scratch paper the main ideas and words you hear.  It would be otherwise impossible to remember or memorize all of the intricate details required to answer the following, multiple choice questions. So: while you are listening to the variety of English resources, take down notes. Don’t try to transcribe the conversation word by word; instead, listen for the main ideas, conflicts, examples, and resolutions. Also: learn to write fast!  Otherwise, the words will go by quickly and you won’t understand what is going on.

4) Improve your vocabulary. When you listen to the English sources, pay attention to the frequently used or most common words. If you don’t know what they mean – write them down and look them up, or ask a friend or teacher. Remember: you will only be able to really hear and understand the words you are familiar with or already recognize. Hence, the best way to improve your performance during the Listening Section is to have a large vocabulary that accommodates the kinds of words that are often used and discussed.


During the TOEFL Exam:

1) Concentrate. Often, students get distracted during the listening section because the experience of writing down notes and absorbing information can be more passive than the other sections. You need to avoid this habit completely. When you approach the listening section, forget about the other parts of the test, forget about your girlfriend, forget about your lunch. Devote yourself fully to what you hear; if it helps, pretend that your life depends on it.

2) Disregard the Clock. While the listening material is turned on, time is unimportant. You do not have a specific time frame under which you have to write down the notes or listen; you just need to keep up with the lecture of conversation at hand, and transcribe what you hear. So forget about the minutes and the seconds and completely participate in the process of hearing.

3) Take notice of the visual materials that are presented in the lecture components. Often, these elements will be raised in the questions. Lectures frequently involve professors writing down key words or ideas on a blackboard or whiteboard; or, they may draw diagrams and pictures to help evince their points. You should immediately transcribe these materials as you see them; also be sure to understand their significance and why the professor is noting them down. More often than not, these visual materials will be incorporated into the questions.

4) Listen for different kinds of content. Do not simply write down the words as you hear them; your aim is not to transcribe directly what you hear. Instead, you should try to understand the various rhetorical dynamics of the conversations and lectures. What is the speaker’s motive or attitude towards the subject? Does the professor sound certain?  How does the speaker use metaphor or analogy to make his point? These kind of nuanced elements always come up in the multiple choice questions; so prepare yourself to detect them beforehand.

5) When you approach the questions, answer them carefully and precisely – and use your notes and memory as a guide. If you don’t know the answer – don’t be hesitant to guess. There is no penalty for guessing on the TOEFL exam. Also, use the process of elimination: are there any choices that discuss topics or issues that you don’t remember hearing at all? If so, do not elect them. Alternatively: if there are any words or issues that seem familiar in the context, go ahead and select them. Finally: double check your answers before you move one. Once you turn the page on the exam (via the compute), you cannot return to your previously selected answers.

Good luck – and listen well!

About this article
TOEFL, which stands for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (Wiki: TOEFL) evaluates the ability of non-native speakers of English to comprehend and use North American English as spoken, written and heard in college and university settings. The majority of people who participate in the TOEFL test are planning to study in the United States, or at colleges and universities where the instruction is in English. ICON+ provides TOEFL test preparation classes in Singapore and boasts a reputation of producing students with scores higher than the worldwide average. Read more about ICON+'s TOEFL Singapore program.

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