Listening Section at a Glance
This section measures your ability to understand spoken English in academic contexts. You will listen to conversations and lectures and then answer questions about them.
Total Audio Clips
5
2 Conversations, 3 Lectures
Total Questions
28
5 per conversation, 6 per lecture
Total Time
36
minutes for the section
Key Skills Assessed
Success depends on your ability to process information in real time. The test evaluates several core listening skills.
Basic Comprehension:
- Understanding the main idea (gist)
- Identifying important details
Pragmatic Understanding:
- Determining a speaker's purpose or attitude
- Making inferences from the conversation
Interactive Task Walkthroughs
Select an audio type below to begin a step-by-step interactive guide. You'll learn about the structure of the audio, the types of questions asked, and see a complete example.
Essential Skills & Strategies
High scores are built on a foundation of strong skills. Focus on mastering note-taking and active listening to excel in this section.
The Art of Note-Taking
You cannot listen to the audio again, so effective note-taking is your most critical skill. Your goal is not to write everything, but to capture main ideas, key details, and relationships.
Common Traps to Avoid
- ✗Getting Stuck on One Word: If you miss a word, don't panic. Focus on the rest of the sentence to understand the context. Dwelling on the missed word will cause you to miss even more information.
- ✗Ignoring Tone and Attitude: The way something is said is often as important as what is said. Listen for sarcasm, doubt, or excitement, as these are often tested in "Attitude" or "Function" questions.
- ✗Choosing an Answer with "Tempting" Keywords: A wrong answer choice will often use exact words you heard in the audio but state an incorrect idea. Always make sure the entire meaning of the answer choice is correct.