iBT Listening

Skills 1 - 2
 Overview of listening section
60 to 90 min.
 Academic lectures
– 4-6 lectures, some with
classroom discussion
– 3-5 minutes long
– Each lecture is followed
by 6 questions.
 Informal conversations
– 2-3 conversations
– 3 minutes long
– Office conversation/
Service encounters.
– Each conversation is
followed by 5 questions.
Language Level

 More informal language than in Reading section

 based on speech samples from North American colleges
and universities
 Easier than Reading section
 lectures: 8th grade difficulty level
 conversations: 4th or 5th grade difficulty level
 Lectures
 more difficult than conversations because of academic
content
Lecture Visuals

 Screen with course name

 Context visual: professor in class
with students
 Types of graphic screens
 content image: explains content
with photograph or illustration
 blackboard image with key
terminology
Conversation Visuals

 Context visual sets the scene.

 Visual appears when narrator introduces the
conversation.
 Question Sets

 Each set
 two lectures and one conversation
 each set of passages has 17 questions
 Time
 10 minutes to answer 17 questions
• Lecture questions are more difficult than
conversation questions.
 four minutes for questions on each lecture and two
minutes for the conversation questions
• Question order usually follows order of
information in passage.
Listening Toolbar

 NEXT to see the next question.

 OK to confirm the answer.
 After clicking OK, you cannot change your answer.
 VOLUME to increase or decrease volume.
Listening Questions Format

 MCQ / 1 correct answer.

 MCQ/ 2 correct answers
 Put in order in a process
 Match objects to categories in a table
Multiple Choice Questions

 Most have four choices and one correct answer

 Gist: purpose for a conversation
 Inference: draw conclusion from stated facts
 Detail: main supporting details
 may have two or three correct answers
 if two correct answers, then four answer choices; if three
correct answers, then five answer choices.
 Organization: underlying organization of lecture or
relationships between two parts
Question Types

 Basic comprehension
1- Gist-Content
2- Gist-Purpose
3- Details
 Pragmatic understanding
4- Understanding the function of what is said
5- Understanding the speaker’s attitude
 Connecting information
6- Understanding Organization
7- Connecting Content
8- Making Inferences.
Connecting Content Questions

 Drag and drop answer choices to the correct

category.
 Place checkmarks in the correct boxes.
Replay Questions

 Attitude
 ask about speaker’s feelings,
opinion, or certainty
 Function
 ask about meaning behind
speaker’s words
– Include headphone icon
 Listen again to portion of lecture or conversation.
Common Distractors

 Common distractors (incorrect answers) in the

Listening section:
 repeat words and phrases from passage, but incorrectly
answer the question
 contain similar sounding words
 do not answer the question
 are not mentioned in the passage
 contradict passage
 Gist Questions
 Incorrect answers may be too broad or too narrow.
Listening Skills:

 1- Gist Questions
 2- Detail Questions
 3- Function Questions
 4- Stance Questions
 5- Organization Questions
 6- Relationship Questions
1- Gist-Content Questions
1- Gist-Content Questions

 UNDERSTANDING THE MAIN IDEA

 Directly stated or needs to be synthesized

 Explicit or Implicit
Where can the main idea be
found?

– In the very beginning of the listening passage.

– At the very end of the listening passage.

Question stems:

- What is the subject of the passage?

- What is the topic of the passage?
- What is the main idea of the passage?
- What is the purpose of the passage?
General Answer Tips

- Generalize and Synthesize ideas

- Eliminate choices that refer to small portions

of the listening

- Use your notes to decide the overall theme

ties the listening details.
2- UNDERSTAND THE DETAILS
Skill Description

 You are required to understand ad remember

explicit details or facts.
 Details are related, directly or indirectly, to
the text gist.
 They may come on forms of:
- Elaboration - examples
Question Stems:

– What is stated in the passage?

– What is indicated in the passage?
– According to speaker..?
– What does the lecture say…?
Answer tips:

* Take notes on:

Names
Numbers
Stages, Phases
Step in a process
*Look for restated/ paraphrased answers
Example:

 (Professor): Halley’s comet, which

passes by our planet every seventy six
years, last came by our planet in 1986.
This comet was named after
astronomer Edmund Halley, who
correctly predicted its return in 1758,
sixteen years after his death.
Example

Listen
 TOEFL® Practice Online
www.ets.org/toeflpractice
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28
Why does the man go to see his professor?

a. To borrow some charts and graphs from her

b. To ask her to explain some statistical
procedures
c. To talk about a report he is writing
d. To discuss a grade he got on a paper
 What does the professor offer to do
for the man?

a. Help him collect data in other areas of the

state
b. Submit his research findings for publication
c. Give him the doctor’s telephone number
d. Review the first version of his report
Score reports

 Low level (0-13)

 Intermediate level (14-21)
 High level (22-30)
Helpful Tips

 Correct answers are usually restatements of

information from the listening passage.
 Guess if you’re unsure of an answer
 Eliminate the definitely wrong answers.
 Choose the answer that is most consistent with the main
idea.
More Helpful Tips

• Work quickly.
 You only have 35 seconds to answer each question.
 Maintain a balance between speed and accuracy.
• If time is running out,
 guess the answers to the remaining questions.
• You do not lose points for incorrect answers.
Practice!!