You will listen to two or three sets of listening material. Each set includes either one conversation and two lectures (long set) or one conversation and one lecture (short set) (short set). Then you’ll be asked questions about what you’ve heard. The more correct answers you provide, the higher your score.
LISTENING PURPOSE
Basic comprehension includes understanding the main idea, key points, structure, purpose, conclusion, important facts, and relevant details.
To learn from listening, such as understanding various relationships between ideas (e.g., compare-and-contrast, cause-and-effect, agree-and-disagree, or steps in a process) and tracing the development of ideas or events across recordings.
LISTENING SECTION FORMAT
The listening section of the exam requires the test taker to respond to questions based on two types of listening activities: lectures and conversations. There are two or three sets of listening material. Each set includes either one conversation and two lectures (long set) or one conversation and one lecture (short set) (short set). If you are given three sets, the third one will be a short set
- Long Set: 17 questions to solve in 10 minutes.
- Short Set: 11 questions to solve in 6.5 minutes.
This section contains 40+ questions and takes about 40 minutes to complete.
LISTENING TYPES OF RECORDING
- Lectures – Note that one lecture per test is spoken with a British or Australian accent.
- A monologue by a professor
- An interactive lecture with one or two students asking
- Conversations in an academic setting. Examples include:
- During an office hour between a student and a professor or teaching assistant
- Between a student and a registrar, housing director, residence assistant, librarian, bookstore employee, departmental secretary, etc.)