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!