Five
Tips to Improve Your TOEFL Listening Score
Not getting your ideal score on
your listening section and looking for concrete ways to improve it? The listening section on the TOEFL exam can
be overwhelming for many students with its complicated lectures and at times
lengthy conversations. Here are 5 proven
tips to up your score – guaranteed!
(1) Keep
it simple. Remember: you don’t have to write everything down. The TOEFL listening section does not want or
expect you to write down every single detail – such a feat would be impossible,
even for a native speaker. When taking
notes for conversations, differentiating by columns what the male speaker says
versus the female is quite useful, as there will more than likely be questions
regarding opinions and statements from each speaker. With lectures, make sure
to write down key words and not get bogged down with too many details. You don’t want to lose track of the lecture
or conversation because you’re so concerned with specifics.
(2) Organize your notes. It’s always a smart idea
to number or letter your notes by section, particularly if the speaker gives
examples. Be aware that when any sort of process is described in a lecture or
conversation there will be questions later on in the test regarding what order
the process comes in. Organizing your
notes as you hear them will save you time later and be invaluable when
answering “rhetorical function” questions, which are very common on the
listening section.
(3) Listen
to academic audio recordings. If you can, go to your library or search online
for academic lectures; specifically, history, science, philosophy or the
arts. The lectures presented on the
TOEFL exam are lectures that would be typically heard by freshmen or sophomore
students at a university. Challenge
yourself by seeking these types of audio recordings out so you can be familiar
with the structure and language. If you
can’t find academic recordings, then try listening to the news online, which is
usually spoken in Standard American Dialect and uses advanced vocabulary words,
all of which are applicable to the TOEFL.
(4) Watch TV. Yes – believe it or not, you’re
being given advice to watch TV to study for the listening section on the
TOEFL. Not just any type of TV program,
either: sitcoms and hour-long dramas.
Why? These are useful to the conversations presented to you in the TOEFL
listening section because they are spoken in dialogue and deal, ultimately,
with problems and solutions. When
watching a sitcom or hour-long drama, take notes and make sure to identify the
problem and the solution.Research any idioms or slang you might hear – this
will also come in handy, as many rhetorical function questions deal directly
with idiomatic expressions.
(5)
Listen
to less music and more spoken words. Download news articles from the BBC or
Business English from I-Tunes and try to listen to them instead of music for
thirty minutes a day. Pick topics that
interest you – there are a wide variety of podcasts to choose from. This will sharpen your listening skills and
expand your vocabulary, not to mention make you more well-informed. Remember,
listening skills can be improved just as your reading, speaking and writing
skills. And keep in mind – the TOEFL
does not expect you to have a preconceived knowledge of any of the material
based in the lectures or conversations, so don’t feel overwhelmed when you are
given a lecture on cellular division in plants or the geographical history of a
particular nomadic tribe.
Sumber : http://www.manhattanreview.com/blog/five-tips-to-improve-your-toefl-listening-score/
