SKILL 15: LISTEN FOR UNTRUE CONDITIONS

Conditional sentences are something like wishes. In unreal conditional sentences, the implication is that the opposite of the condition is true.

Example:

On the recording, you hear:

(man) Do you think that you’ll be able to go to the party?

(woman) If I had time, I would go.

(narrator) What does the woman say about the party?

Possible answers:

(A) Maybe she’ll go.

(B) She has time, so she’ll go.

(C) She is going even if she doesn’t have time.

(D) It’s impossible to go.

In this question, the condition If I had time implies that the opposite is true: The woman does not have time for the party, so it’s impossible to go. Therefore, the best answer to this question is answer (D).

An unreal condition with a past tense verb is talking about something that’s not true in the present.

If she were at home, she could help us.

·         She’s not at home now, and she can’t help us now.

We could invite him if he didn’t have class today.

·         We can’t invite him now because he has class today (now).

An unreal condition with a past perfect tense verb is talking about something that wasn’t true in the past.

I would have helped you if I’d know you needed me.

·         I didn’t help you, and I didn’t know you needed me (past).

If we hadn’t gotten lost, we would have been here earlier.

·         We got lost, so we weren’t here earlier (past).

If you want to learn more about this skill watch the following Video about conditionals: WATCH THE VIDEO 

SKILL 16: LISTEN FOR TWO-AND THREE-PART VERBS

Many questions in Part A contain phrasal verbs (two- or three-part verbs, like get up, call off, or put up with). 

For example:

On the recording, you hear:

(man) What time does the meeting start?

(woman) Didn’t you hear that it was called off by the director?

(narrator) What does the woman say about the meeting?

In your test book, you read:

(A) The director called a meeting.

(B) The director phoned her about the meeting.

(C) The director called the meeting to order.

(D) The director canceled the meeting.

The correct answer is (D) because call off means cancel. The wrong answers try to fool us with other meanings of call.

If you want to practice more about this skill watch the following Video: CLIC HERE FOR WATCHING

SKILL 17: LISTEN FOR IDIOMS

There are questions that contain idioms whose meaning is hard to predict (like a piece of cake, which means it’s easy.) We can’t predict that just by knowing the meanings of piece and cake. For example:

(Man) I have to take Advanced Biology next semester.

(Woman) Don’t worry about it. It’s a piece of cake.

(Question) What does the woman mean?

In your test book, you read:

(A) The man should eat a piece of cake.

(B) The man should worry about the course.

(C) The man shouldn’t take part in the course.

(D) The course is easy.

As long as we know that a piece of cake means it’s easy, we know that the correct answer is (D). Even if we didn’t know this idiom, we could guess that (A) is incorrect because it has nothing to do with a biology class. It’s obviously a trick answer.

Look at this example:

On the recording, you hear:

(man) Tom is full-time student and is holding down a full-time job.

(woman) He’s really burning the candle at both ends.

(narrator) What does the woman say about Tom?

In your test book, you read:

(A) He’s lighting a candle.

(B) He’s holding the candle at the top and the bottom.

(C) He’s doing too much.

(D) He’s working as a firefighter.

This idiom is an expression that is used in a situation when someone is trying to do more than he or she really can do; after all, a candle usually only burns at one end, so a candle that burns at two ends is doing too much. Therefore, the best answer to the question above is answer (C).

If you want to practice more about this skill watch the following Video: CLIC HERE FOR WATCHING

SKILL 18: ANTICIPATE THE TOPICS

It is exceptionally useful for your general appreciation if you understand what topics to anticipate in the long discussions. You should thus try to wait for the topics you will hear. 

For example, are the conversations about some aspect of school life, or some type of social issue, or a trip someone is planning? A helpful strategy is therefore to look briefly at the answers in the test book, before you actually hear the conversations on the recording, and try to determine the topics of the conversations that you will hear.

Take a gander at the responses to the five questions, together, and try to anticipate the topic of the conversation for those five questions. (Of course, you cannot always determine exactly what the topic is, but you often can get a general idea). Question 1 through 5 have been answered for you.

1.    (A) Find work on campus.

(B) Work in the employment office.

(C) Help students find jobs.

(D) Ask the woman questions.

2.     (A) In the library.

(B) In a classroom.

(C) In a campus office.

(D) In an apartment.

3.    (A) No more than ten.

(B) At least twenty.

(C) Not more than twenty.

(D) Up to ten

4.    (A) Every morning.

(B) Afternoons and weekends.

(C) When he’s in class.

(D) Weekdays.

5.    (A) Fill out form.

(B) Give her some additional information.

(C) Tell her some news.

(D) Phone her.

What is the topic of the conversation for questions 1 through 5?

Looking for a job on campus

You can guess this because of the following clues:

Work on campus

Employment office

Students

Jobs

6. (A) Just before a vacation.

(B) Just after the end of a school semester.

(C) At the end of the summer.

(D) Just after a break from school.

7. (A) A trip to visit the Eskimos.

(B) A trip the woman is planning to take.

(C) A trip the man has already taken.

(D) A camping trip the man and the woman took.

8. (A) Three hours.

(B) Three complete days.

(C) Three classes.

(D) Three weeks.

9. (A) Sleeping outside on the ground.

(B) Spending time in a sauna or hot tub.

(C) Relaxing at the lodge.

(D) Enjoying excellent food.

10. (A) She’d be scared, but she’d like to try.

(B) She can’t wait.

(C) It would be quite exciting for her.

(D) She’d prefer not to try.

What is the topic of the conversation for questions 6 through 10?

If you want to know more about this skill watch the following Video: CLIC HERE FOR WATCHING

SKILL 19: ANTICIPATE THE QUESTIONS

It is very helpful for your capacity to answer singular inquiries with long discussions in the event that you can suspect what the inquiries will be and listen particularly to the responses to those inquiries.

Example

In your test book, you read:

(A) In the airport

(B) In the library

(C) In the dormitory

(D) In the travel agent’s office

You try to anticipate the question:

Where does the conversation probably take place?

In this example, you can be sure that one of the questions will be about where the conversation takes place. As you are sure that this is one of the questions, you can listen carefully to the clues that will give you the answer. This example shows that a useful strategy, therefore is to look briefly at the answers in the test book, before listening to the conversations in the recording, and try to determine the questions that you will be asked to answer.

        1. Question: What does (someone) want to

do ?_____

(A) Find work on campus

(B) Work in the employment office

(C) Help students find jobs

(D) Ask the woman questions

2. Question:__________

(A) In the library

(B) In a classroom

(C) In a campus office

(D) In an apartment

3. Question:___________

(A) No more than ten

(B) At least twenty

(C) Not more than twenty

(D) Up to ten

4. Question:___________

(A) Every morning

(B) Afternoons and weekends

(C) When he’s in class

(D) weekdays

5. Question:

(A) Fill out a form

(B) Give her some additional

information

(C) Tell her some news

(D) Phone her

If you want to practice more about this skill watch the following Video:

CLIC HER FOR WATCHING

SKILL 20: DETERMINE THE TOPIC

This skill talks about when you think about the main idea of the long conversation or it can be about the topic in this case the Subject. From the first or the two sentences in general, give the subject, you should ask yourself what is the theme while they are listening carefully to the first part of the conversation.

 Once you identify the topic, you can more easily determine the conversation’s topic.

Topic is another word for subject. It answers the question, “Who or what is the paragraph (or article) about?” The topic is stated as a single word or phrase-not a complete sentence.

Example:

On the recording, you hear:

(narrator) Listen to the conversation between two students.

(man) You can’t believe what I just got!

(woman) I bet you got that new car you’ve always wanted.

(man) Now, how in the world did you figure that out?

You think:

The topic of conversation is: the new car that the man just got.

Now you can identify what is the main topic in long conversations following this easy example.

If you want to practice more about this skill watch the following Video: CLIC HERE FOR WATCHING

WELCOME TO THE STRUCTURE PART

On the paper TOEFL Test, the second section is called Structure and Written Expression. This section consists of forty questions (though some tests may be longer). You have twenty-five minutes to complete the forty questions in this section.

There are two types of questions in the Structure and Written Expression section of the paper TOEFL Test:

1. Structure (question 1 -15) consists of fifteen sentences in which part of each sentence has been replaced with a blank. Each sentence is followed by four answer choices. You must choose the answer that completes the sentence in a grammatically correct way.

2. Written Expression (questions 16 – 40). Consists of 25 sentences in which four words or groups of words have been underlined. You must choose the underlined word or group of words that is not correct.

STRATEGIES FOR THE STRUCTURE QUESTIONS

1. First study the sentence. Your purpose is to determine what is needed to complete the sentence correctly.

2. Then study each answer based on how well it completes the sentence.

Eliminate answers that do not complete the sentence correctly.

3. Do not try to eliminate incorrect answers by looking only at the answers.

The incorrect answers are generally correct by themselves.

LET'S PRACTICE FOR THE TOEFL. !!!!!