TOEFL Listening Practice Test, Syllabus, Question Types, Tips and Practice Papers

TOEFL Listening is the second part in the TOEFL exam out of the four sections. The purpose of the TOEFL Listening is to analyse the listening skills of the candidates. Based on a lecture that candidates need to hear and answer the questions, listening abilities of candidates are assessed. The TOEFL Listening questions are based on lectures and conversations. Candidates need to undertake TOEFL Listening practice for acing this section. Given below is the syllabus and question types that candidates need to be aware of for the TOEFL listening test.

Overview of TOEFL Listening

The TOEFL Listening section can be identified in two different forms including TOEFL iBT and TOEFL PBT. Candidates can find different structures and time durations involved within each of these sections. Candidates appearing for TOEFL iBT in the listening section have around 41-57 minutes for 28-39 questions. Candidates appearing for TOEFL PBT exam in TOEFL Listening have around 30-40 minutes for 50 questions.

TOEFL Listening Test Syllabus

Candidates can follow the TOEFL Listening Syllabus based on which the different structures for TOEFL iBT and TOEFL PBT would be understood. The structure of the TOEFL Listening test for iBT can be identified as follows:

Lectures in TOEFL Listening Test :

• 3-4 Lectures
• Lecture duration is 3-5 minutes
• 6 questions per lecture
• Only 1 speaker

Conversations in TOEFL Listening Test:

• 2-3 Conversations
• 3 minute long conversation
• 5 questions per conversation
• 2 speakers

The structure for the TOEFL Listening questions in TOEFL PBT is as follows:

Conversations in TOEFL Listening Test

• Part A with brief conversations
• Part B with Long conversations
• Part A has 30 questions
• Part B has 10 Questions
• 2 speakers in conversations

Lectures in TOEFL Listening Test:

• Part C has lecture excerpts
• 1 minute of lectures
• Only 1 speaker
• 10 questions

TOEFL Listening Question Types 

There are different types of questions involved in both TOEFL iBT and TOEFL PBT within the section of TOEFL listening. These types of questions include multiple choice questions, multiple choice questions with multiple answers and replay questions. These have been explained in the following sections.

Multiple Choice Questions

Candidates can find the standard form of multiple choice questions within the TOEFL Listening section. These questions include four choices of answers and only one is deemed to be correct. This is the most common type of TOEFL listening question that candidates can find.

Tips for Multiple Choice Questions in TOEFL Listening 

The following tips can be useful for candidates to answer the standard multiple choice questions on the day of the TOEFL Listening test.

• Candidates need to read the choice of answers very carefully as it might seem that one of the answers is relevant to the question but rather may not be. Candidates need to be aware of what they listen and answer the questions carefully reading all the answers.
• Candidates can take notes while listening to the audio which would help them remember important information and answer questions correctly. Candidates while taking their TOEFL preparation for the exam can make use of TOEFL Listening practice test with answer 2021 and practice note taking.

Multiple Answer Questions 

Candidates will also get questions of multiple choice which would have multiple answers to the questions. In TOEFL Listening test, candidates need to ensure that they choose multiple correct answers for achieving a better score.

Tips for Multiple Answer Questions in TOEFL Listening 

The following tips can be helpful for candidates to choose multiple answers for their TOEFL Listening questions. Candidates while enduring TOEFL Listening practice can make use of these tips and achieve a higher TOEFL score.

• Candidates would be instructed regarding the multiple answers they can choose along with the number of correct answers in each question. Candidates should be aware as well as concentrated on lectures and conversations played to choose the correct answers.
• These questions do not have partial credit in case candidates do not choose correct multiple answers. Accordingly, candidates need to read the choice of answers carefully and choose the correct ones precisely to score higher.

Replay Questions 

In the entire TOEFL listening test candidates get to hear the audio clip only once. However, there is a question type called replay questions. Candidates get to hear a part of the audio again and answer the question based on that part of the audio. The questions would also be based on standard multiple choice questions with only one correct answer.

Tips for Replay Questions in TOEFL Listening 

The following tips for replay questions are important during the TOEFL Listening test which would ask specific details by replaying the audio. Candidates would find them helpful to achieve good TOEFL scores.

• Candidates despite having taken notes in previous questions would need to pay close attention to any specific detail asked in the question. Listening precisely would help them identify the details and answer correctly.
• Candidates need to pay primary focus on this replayed short clip where they would find the answers to all these types of questions. The rest of the recording is considered not that important.