Strategies and Tips for Listening Section

1. Strategies for TOEFL iBT Listening Section

Preparation Strategy
(http://i-courses.org/listening-tips)

- Listen to English movies (you may put only English subtitle)

- English spoken TV channels (CNN; Discovery Channel; National
Geographic)
- Listen to the radio
CNN radio (http://cnnradio.cnn.com/);
Podcasts;
Listen to spoken
Voice of America (http://www.voanews.com/)
English from
National Public Radio (www.npr.org)
multiple
- English spoken YouTube channels
resources as much
- Audiobook (https://librivox.org/ )
as possible
- Other interest sites to practice listening
CBS News (www.cbsnews.com)
Randall’s Cyber Listening Lab (www.esl-lab.com)
BBC World Service.com Learning English
(www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish)
- Try to listen spoken English in several accents

Listen for the - Main Idea is usually found at the beginning of the listening
main Idea passages, while the details are dispersed throughout the lecture. The
& main idea will give you understanding of what the
Learn to Find conversation/lecture is about. Then you may listen for details.
how the ideas is - Some of the main ideas relations between ideas compare/contrast;
presented steps in a process; cause and effect; theory and evidence
- Take your time to test your Vocabulary mastery
(https://my.vocabularysize.com/)
- While listening, try to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words
from context.
- Learn to listen for signal words that indicate different part of
Build Vocabulary
the passage - introduction, major steps, examples,
and Learn to
conclusions, etc.
listen for signal
opinion (I think, It appears that, It is thought that)
words
theory (In theory)
inference (therefore, then)
negatives (not, words that begin with "un," "non," "dis," "a")
fillers (non-essential information) (uh, er, um)

Note-taking is allowed during all sections of TOEFL iBT. Effective

note-taking may highly improve your performance. It is almost
impossible to memorize all clues and details provided in the Listening
Practice Note-
section. Moreover, you can hear the passages ONLY ONCE.
taking
Therefore, to answer the questions you have to rely on what you
remember from the passage and your notes. See also our Effective
Note-Taking Strategies.
- Make sure your notes follow the organization of the lecture
Introduction
Body
Conclusion
- Try to answer questions, “what is the professor trying to
accomplish in this lecture?”
- When u miss something, just “let it go” and refocus on Note-
taking
- Identify digressions (discussion of a different topic from the main
topic) or jokes that are not important to the main lecture. (It’s okay
not to understand these!)