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The TOEFL Listening section contains seven different question types. In this post, you’ll learn what each type is and be given an example question and explanation. Just click each question type below to jump down to a detailed description. For more information, click here for a complete guide to TOEFL Listening<\/a>!<\/p>\n <\/a> The kinds of questions that the TOEFL Listening section asks are somewhat similar to those in the Reading section (to review those, check out The TOEFL Reading Section<\/a>).<\/p>\n For an in-depth look at each question type, with an example question and an answer explanation for each type, click to expand each of the tabs below.<\/p>\n <\/a> Detail questions are roughly equivalent to the factual questions from the TOEFL Reading section. They deal with specific facts from the Listening section, but they are not usually as specific as detail questions in the Reading section. Because you don\u2019t have the option of listening to the recording a second time, you will depend on the information that you wrote in your notes. For this reason, detail questions in the Listening section rarely deal with very specific information like numbers or names. Instead, they focus on those facts that you would recognize as important as you listened to the recording.<\/p>\n Detail questions are usually in harmony with the main idea of the recording. Before you mark a final answer, revisit the main idea of the recording and make sure that your answer choice makes sense considering the main idea.<\/p>\n As you choose your answer choice, be careful not to fall into the trap that false friends may set for you. False friends are answer choices that use key words from the passage in a way that appears to be correct, but isn\u2019t. They may directly contradict the information in the passage, or they may simply not make sense.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s check out an example of a false friend using a question from this sample audio conversation from Magoosh TOEFL<\/a>. Click that link to hear the conversation, and then check out this question: <\/p>\n What problem does the student have?<\/strong><\/p>\n (A) He received another student\u2019s tuition statements. In this question, (A) is a false friend, based on a real statement from the audio clip where the student says “I\u2019ve received two separate statements about my tuition payments in the last week, and they seem to\u2026it looks like they kinda CONTRADICT each other.” This indicates that the student did get an extra tuition statement, and that the extra statement seems wrong in some way. Both of these ideas would be consistent with receiving another student’s tuition statement, as indicated in A. But if you listen to the greater context in the audio track, the student actually got an additional, seemingly wrong statement for entirely different reasons!<\/p>\n Actually, this isn’t the only false friend in the answer choices for this detail question. Can you find other false-friendliness here, and can you find the right answer? If you’re not sure, feel free to check out Magoosh’s text and video answer explanations for this question<\/a>. <\/a> Every listening sample will begin in the same way: with a main idea question. These questions ask you to identify the main point of the lecture or conversation. They usually take one of the following forms:<\/p>\n When you see this kind of question, remember that you should only be concerned with the main idea <\/strong>of the passage. Supporting ideas, examples, and counter-examples will not be correct answers. Just because an answer choice is true doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s the correct answer. It must be the most important of all the correct answer choices.<\/p>\n But there’s one important exception to make: if the question asks for the main purpose <\/em>of a conversation (like in the first example given above), that might only be talked about in the beginning of the conversation. That’s because sometimes conversations change topic, and therefore what was originally the purpose of the conversation changes slightly. So, for example, a student might go to an administrative office to ask about where they can park their car on campus, but then the conversation might change to the application process for receiving a parking permit. Now, the purpose<\/em> of that conversation is for the student to find a place to park their car on campus, although a lot of the dialogue is about an application process.<\/p>\n In either case\u2014in main idea or main purpose questions\u2014the answer will often be in the very beginning of the recording, although the wording in the answer choice will be slightly different from that in the sample. For example, the wording in the question may be more abstract or general than the wording in the lecture.<\/p>\n \nFor a common example of a main idea TOEFL Listening question, see the first question in Rachel Kapelke-Dale’s free TOEFL practice set<\/a>, right here on the blog.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n <\/a> Inference questions will usually look very similar to one of these examples:<\/p>\n Sometimes, the question will replay a sentence from the recording for you; other times, you will need to rely on your notes and memory to answer the question. Unfortunately, your notes may not always be much help, since you can\u2019t take notes on information that isn\u2019t there. So when you\u2019re answering inference questions, keep these pointers in mind.<\/p>\n That last point is the most important one. Even though we call these questions “inference” questions, they’re very, very similar to detail questions. The information is in the recording\u2014never draw from your own thoughts or experiences if they’re not also spoken about in the recording.<\/p>\n \nFor an example of an inference question and the audio clip associated with it, let’s again revisit this example conversation audio clip, taken from Magoosh TOEFL<\/a>. Then, take a look at the associated inference question below:<\/p>\n What can be inferred about the student?<\/strong><\/p>\n (A) He wants to stop getting notices from the college. Can you see what the correct answer is? You can check your work by looking at the text and video explanation for this question<\/a>. (And again, these example questions come from Magoosh TOEFL.)\n<\/p>\n<\/details>\n <\/a> Organization questions occur almost exclusively in lectures and are of three basic types. The first type will deal with the overall organization of the lecture; the second will ask you about the relationship between two (or more) parts of the lecture; and the third is similar to a function question, but deals with a whole sentence.<\/p>\n If you learn to notice how the information is organized automatically as you listen, then answering overall organization questions will be a breeze. When the overall organization is in question, these are some of the most likely ways that the lecture may have been organized.<\/p>\n There are others, too, and these structures can also be combined. For example, you might have a comparison structure, but one of the parts in the comparison is more important than others, so it has a general to specific structure within<\/em> the comparison structure. This makes it quite tricky, sometimes, to hear the main organization. Keep in mind that the overall organization should include all parts of the lecture: there may be a cause-and-effect relationship that doesn’t relate to the rest of the lecture, for example, and that would not be the main organization. <\/p>\n \nThe second kind of organization question is the one that deals with the relationships between various parts of the lecture. For example, the test may ask you, \u201cHow does the professor explain his theory about the causes of the war?\u201d To answer this question, you would need to look back at your notes and find the information that is relevant to that question. These questions are about the smaller relationships, rather than the overall structure.\n<\/p>\n<\/details>\n <\/p>\n \nFinally, we have the function-type organization questions. These will ask you about whole sentences that provide a clue to how the professor is structuring the lecture. For example, the professor will sometimes go off topic, give a personal example to clarify the information, or give information that is redundant. Often, s\/he will announce this by saying something like \u201cYou don\u2019t need to write this down\u201d or \u201cLet me show you what I mean.\u201d To answer the third type of organization question correctly, you need to pay attention to these cues. In particular, pay attention to any time the professor appears to be digressing (going off topic), as you may be asked about the digression later.\n<\/p>\n<\/details>\n <\/p>\n \nClick here to listen to a lecture from a psychology class.<\/a><\/p>\n Now, click here to view an organization question associated with the lecture.<\/a><\/p>\n And click here to check your answer and view the text and video answer explanations<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<\/details>\n <\/a> Attitude questions, like function questions, often deal with information that’s given not just by what <\/em>the speaker says, but also by how<\/em> they say it. They will ask you about the speaker\u2019s attitude\u2014that is, what information the speaker\u2019s intonation and word choice give you about the speaker\u2019s feelings and relationship toward the subject s\/he\u2019s discussing. Attitude questions may also ask you about feelings that are directly stated or strongly implied, as in the following example.<\/p>\n In this conversation, a professor and a student are discussing the student’s difficulties in his class, and what the student should do to succeed in the professor’s class. (NOTE:<\/em> This question comes from Magoosh TOEFL<\/a>. If you like what you see, consider subscribing, or check out our free trial<\/a> to see more. \ud83d\ude42 )<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\nThe 7 TOEFL Listening Question Types<\/h2>\n
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Example TOEFL Listening Questions and Answers<\/h2>\n
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\nExample question and answer (click to expand)<\/strong><\/summary>\n
\n(B) He received a notice that his payment was late.
\n(C) He forgot to pay tuition during a holiday week.
\n(D) He has been barred from attending classes.<\/em><\/p>\nAnswer and Explanation<\/h4>\n
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\n <\/p>\nMain Idea<\/h3>\n
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\nExample question (click to expand)<\/strong><\/summary>\n
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\n <\/p>\nInference<\/h3>\n
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\nExample question and answer (click to expand)<\/strong><\/summary>\n
\n(B) His primary concern is being allowed to attend classes.
\n(C) He wants to leave the tuition office quickly.
\n(D) He is worried about accidentally paying tuition twice.<\/em><\/p>\n
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\n <\/p>\nOrganization<\/h3>\n
\nClick here to learn more about the first question type (organization)<\/strong><\/summary>\n
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\n<\/details>\n\nClick here to learn more about the second question type (relationships)<\/strong><\/summary>\n
\nClick here to learn more about the third question type (whole sentence)<\/strong><\/summary>\n
\nExample question and answer (click to expand)<\/strong><\/summary>\n
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\n <\/p>\nAttitude<\/h3>\n
\nExample question and answer (click to expand)<\/strong><\/summary>\n
AUDIO OF THE RELEVANT PART OF THE CONVERSATION<\/h4>\n