5 effective techniques for Part 3

Hi there!

I hope you enjoy practicing for the TOEIC test. We have talked about Listening Parts 1 and 2 which are still quite simple (in my opinion) as you only have to listen to short questions and statements.

Now, in Part 3 it will get a bit harder, but don’t worry as I’ll explain exactly what to do. You will hear 10 conversations between two people and answer three questions for each of them. All questions and choices are printed in the test booklet. It means that you have to listen and read the questions at the same time. The techniques for this part can vary. If you are good at listening, you might want to listen and read the questions and then decide on the answers later. However, it is a bit risky as you might not be able to capture all information the speakers say in the conversation, or sometimes, you might get the wrong information that doesn’t help you answer the questions.

So, this is what I suggest:

1.   Preview the questions

Read the questions before each conversation starts. For example, while the instruction of Part 3 is spoken, you should spend this time having a quick look at questions 41-43. Underline some keywords in each question which can help you capture the relevant information in the conversation. It might sound like a simple strategy, but it can make a huge difference!

Suppose this is the conversation you will have to listen to:

Woman:	It looks like I will have to take a plane to the annual general meeting next week.
Man:	Why? You normally take the train. It’s not that far, and I thought you were afraid of flying.
Woman:	I am a little, yes, but I should get over my fear! They have changed the venue of the meeting this year. It’s at a hotel just next to Aberdeen airport, so it makes more sense to fly.
Man:	True. And it means only one-hour travelling, instead of seven on the train!

Before the conversation starts, you should read the questions first and underline keywords as follows:

41. Why is the woman going to Aberdeen?

(A) To go to a meeting.

(B) To get over her fear of flying.

(C) To go on a holiday.

(D) To go shopping.

42. How will she get there?

(A) By car

(B) By train

(C) By airplane

(D) By taxi

43. What is different about the annual meeting this year?

(A) You have to fly there this time.

(B) The hotel where the meeting takes place is now near the train station.

(C) The duration of the meeting.

(D) The venue has changed.

2.   Focus on the keywords

When the conversation starts, listen to it carefully while reading the questions and focusing on the underlined keywords.

You will see that the answer to the question 41 is (A) from the statement “It looks like I will have to take a plane to the annual general meeting next week.”

The answer to question 42 is (C) from the same statement as for questions 41: “It looks like I will have to take a plane to the annual general meeting next week.”

The answer to question 43 is (D) from the statement "They have changed the venue of the meeting this year.”

3.   Mark the answers on the test booklet then on the answer sheet

Once you get the answer to each question, tick them on the test booklet until you complete all of the three questions. Then, mark them on your answer sheet. The reason why I suggest that you mark the answers to all three questions in the test booklet before marking them on the answer sheet is to prevent you from spending too much time on marking the answers one by one and miss the rest of the information.

4.   Pay attention to the order of the questions

You can see that the order of the questions follow the order of the conversation. However, it is not always like that. Reading the questions first is the best way to prepare your for effective listening.

5.   Keep topic and context of the conversation in mind

You will answer some main idea or inference questions. The answers to this kind of questions are not stated explicitly or obtained by keywords. Examples of this type of question are:

·      What are the speakers discussing?

·      What is the conversation about?

·      What can you infer from the conversation?

·      Where are the speakers?

·      Where does this conversation take place?

·      Who are the speakers?

·      Who is the man/woman?

To answer the above questions, you need to understand overall conversations in terms of what the topic of the conversation is, who should be discussing this kind of topic, where should this topic be talked about, and who (occupation) should talk about it.

These are some effective techniques for Part 3. I hope you find them helpful. Next time I will talk about the last Listening part. See you then!

Tips for the Listening Part 2

Hello again!

How is your TOEIC preparation going? In our last post titled 6 Tips to help you in the Listening Part 1, we had a look at some very useful tips for Listening Part 1 and I hope that you enjoyed and found it helpful. Today, we’ll continue with Part 2: Questions – Responses.

We are still in the Listening section, and this part is testing your pure listening skill. Why do I say “pure”? In Part 1, you have pictures as hints to help you guess the words that make the correct statements, and in the next two parts (Listening Parts 3 and 4) you have questions and answers printed in the test booklets for you to read. However, in this part, you have to listen to both questions and answers and decide on what you hear without reading or seeing anything.

Let’s look at an example first. You will hear the question:

Q: How long do you think it will take us to get there?

Then you will hear three responses:

a) About ten miles.

b) We will arrive on time.

c) About half an hour if the traffic isn’t too bad.

Which one do you think is the correct answer?

If you guessed c), you are right! Response c) is the correct answer. As the question asked about a period of time using “How long”, the answer should be “an hour”, which is a period or amount of time.

It’s going to be easier to guess the answers if you know the first word of each question, and that’s the one crucial technique for this part.

1. Remember that the objective of this part is to find the “best” answer to the question. This means you have to understand the question in order to choose the most concordant answer to it.

2. Choose informative answers to Wh-questions.

Note that there are two types of questions in English: questions requiring informative answers and questions requiring acceptance or refusal. In other words, we are talking about wh- questions and yes/no questions.

Wh-questions are used to solicit information, so the correct answers should be informative statements.

If you hear the questions starting with “what”, “when”, “where”, “why”, “how”, and “who”, the answers shouldn’t be “yes” or “no”.

·      “Who” is used to ask about people.

·      “What” is used to ask about things, animals, ideas, or actions as in “What is he doing?”

·      “When” is used to ask about a point of time.

·      “Where” is used to ask about locations or directions.

·      “Why” is used to ask about the reasons.

·      “How” is used to ask about methods or quality.

·      “Whose” is used to ask about the owner of something.

3. Choose the answers expressing “acceptance” or “refusal” to Yes/No questions.

Usually, Yes/No questions start with auxiliary verbs, which are

·      “Be” – is, am, are, was were

o   For example, “Are you hungry?” or “Were you here yesterday?”

·      “Do” – do, does, did

o   For example, “Do you like spicy food?”  or “Did you enjoy the party?”

·      “Have” – have, has, had

o   For example, “Have we met before?”

·      Modals – can, could, will, would, shall, should, may

o   For example, “Can you swim?” or “May I ask you a question?”

These questions require you to “accept” or “refuse”, not to give information.

4. Choose the answers expressing “acceptance” or “refusal” to the statements ending with question tags.

Apart from the questions started with auxiliary verbs, you might hear another type of Yes/No questions in the test, which use “question tags”. Let’s look at these examples:

Q: You will go to the party, won’t you?

A: Of course, I will. I’ve been looking forward to it.

And

Q: Allen isn’t here today, is she?

A: No, she’s on vacation in Hawaii.

The question tags at the end of the previous two questions are “won’t you?” and “is she?”, which make the preceding statements become sort of Yes/No questions. The responses are either acceptance or refusal.

Sometimes you might hear an affirmative statement instead of a question. Anyway, what you have to do is the same. Choose the proper response to the preceding statement. For instance:

S: Take an umbrella with you.

R1: Is it raining?

R2: I have one in my bag.

You can see that possible responses in the example can be a question in R1 or an affirmative statement in R2, both of which respond to the statement “Take an umbrella with you.”

5. Beware of similar or identical sounding words (just like what you will find in Part 1). Identical sounding words are commonly used in this part to trick you as you might think that the statement with the identical (sounding) word you have heard in the question is the answer to it. For example:

Q: When shall we meet?

(A) Any time after 6.

(B) Meet me in my office.

(C) We don’t eat meat.              

The correct answer is obviously “(A) Any time after 6”. Imagine if you just hear them without reading, you might find it a bit hard not to link “meet” in the question, with “meet” in Statement (B), and “meat” in Statement (C). However, the question is “when”, so the corresponding answer should be “Any time after 6”.

Not too difficult, isn’t it? (I’m using a question tag here J). See you next time with more useful tips for the next part. Make sure to read my 6 Tips to help you in the Listening Part 1 (if you haven’t done so already). Bye for now!

6 Tips to help you in the Listening Part 1

Are you preparing to take the TOEIC test soon but don’t know where to start? Let me share my experience and simple techniques. Like you, I have been in the situation of having to prepare for the test. I’ve taken the test several times and finally have achieved the score I needed.  First of all, don’t think that the test is too hard to deal with. Nothing is too difficult if you tell yourself you can do it. Be confident! If millions of people around the globe can do it, you can too!

To make it easy for you to follow, I’ll go through each part of the test, starting from Listening Part 1 - Photograph.

In this part, you will see 10 photographs in this part and 4 possible statements spoken for each. Only one statement is correct. For example, you will see this photo:

You will hear the following 4 statements:

(A) They are running with the horses.

(B) They are chasing the horses.

(C) They are next to the horses.

(D) They are riding the horses.

The correct statement is (D) “They are riding the horses.”

When you first look at it, it looks straightforward as you are given clear photos and simple statements. However, it is not all that simple. What you need to know is that there are some traps you have to be aware of. Here are 6 tips to help you avoid being tricked and succeed in doing this part:

1. Preview the pictures

When you enter the test room, sit down and are allowed to open the test book, the audio does not start playing the statements for Picture 1 right away. The proctors will have the audio played for almost one minute for sound checking, and that’s your chance to flip through the first 10 pages in your test book to see the 10 pictures. Use this time to scan for details (who, what, where, etc.)! It may sound like simple advice, but it can make a difference as you will be able to anticipate what is coming.

2. Think of the words that represent what you see in each picture.

 Do it as fast you can. 3-4 words for each will do. You should think of:

- nouns (people, man, woman, children, dogs, motorcycles)

- pronouns (he, she, they)

- verbs (riding, eating, talking, smiling)

- prepositions (on, opposite, under)

3. Take notes or remember those words!

If you want, you can write these words down beside the pictures (personally, I think it’s easier just to keep them in mind).

4. Listen, scan and match

When the audio starts with Picture 1, turn to the first page. Listen carefully, scan the picture again, and match the words you have thought of with the statements you are listening to.

5. Remember that the correct statement must describe only what is in the picture!

Any statements consisting of anything or anyone that is not in the context of the picture are incorrect.

6. Don’t be tricked

Beware of common traps as similar or identical sounding words (e.g. horse – course, share – chair). Try to practice to distinguish pairs of these words. I recommend that you use an online dictionary where the pronunciation of a word is available for you to click and hear. List pairs of words which are similar or identical in sounds and check with the dictionary. Regular practice will help you improve your skill. Trust me, it will make a big difference!

I hope you get some useful techniques here. Make sure to read my tips about Listening Part 2. Stay tuned for what’s coming up next!