TOEFL iBT Listening

The Listening section of the TOEFL iBT measures your ability to understand conversations and lectures in English.

In this part of the TOEFL iBT, you will encounter two types of language:

• Informal, Non-academic, and Conversational - in the form of typical campus conversations – for example, between two students, a student and professor, etc.
• Formal and Academic – in the form of lectures from various fields of study such as natural sciences, social sciences, the arts and business. Again, you don't need any special knowledge to do well in this section.

The entire listening section consists of 2-3 conversational passages and 4-6 lectures. This takes about 40–60 minutes to complete because you could get some extra experimental listening passages. You hear the conversations and lectures only once but you are allowed to take notes. You will see the questions on the screen in addition to hearing them.

In general, the questions in the TOEFL iBT Listening section fall into three categories:

• Basic comprehension questions
• Pragmatic understanding questions
• Connecting and synthesizing questions