TOEFL is the Test of English as a Foreign Language. The exam is organized more than 50 times an year in written as well as computer-based mode. The TOEFL exam consists of 4 sections that are- Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing.
Listening section in the TOEFL exam is the second part of the exam followed by the reading section. The listening section consists of 28-39 questions that a student is supposed to answer in 41-57 minutes(depending upon the number of questions a student is provided with). Listening is considered to be a rather easier section compared to the rest. So, here are a few suggestions to help you prepare better for this section.
Avoid taking notes of everything. 90% of the things that a student listens to maybe irrelevant to the questions given in the test. If a person tries to adapt every line he/she may end up being perplexed about the main idea behind the prompt. Hence, it becomes important for one to take notes of the information he/she feels is relevant in context to the lecture. Always focus on listening more than writing.
Focus on the main idea of the audio. Majority of the times, the first question to show up after the lecture maybe regarding the gist of the lecture. It also becomes important for the student to focus on the tone of the speaker since he/she maybe asked to draw opinions about the attitude of the speaker.
Familiarize yourself with different accents. One of the passages out of the six maybe with an atypical accent. A student should try to be ready to face any such uncanny accent, hence making it important to practice passages with passages available in different types of speech (especially different American accents).
Trying to listen out for transitions. One of the least talked about tips to ace the listening section of any language is to learn to listen for transitions words. Transition words help one to predict the beginning or end of a topic and to move between different subtopics rather than being confused in the middle of a topic.
Make vague guesses instead of skipping questions. In the listening section, you won’t be allowed to answer question once skipped. Thus, making a guess on the choice that best compliments the gist of the topic is always a better option. It is also recommended to make similar guesses about the questions that tend to consume more than a minute and a half (90-100 seconds) of your time.
We hope you have got an idea of how to attempt and ace the listening section of the TOEFL exam. Check out our other such blogs. Good luck!
