Practice these TOEFL iBT listening tests to help you score high in the TOEFL Listening Section. Check the correct answers and audio transcripts below. This video is in the series of NEW TOEFL iBT Tests 2015.
Male Student: I can’t believe it! Professor Blake gave me a C on my biology test.
Female Student: Of course he did. You only answered 80 percent of the questions right. Next time, maybe you should consider studying without the television on.
MS: But I wasn’t watching it! I really was paying attention to my notes and the book and stuff; I’m just the sort of person who needs white noise in the background in order to concentrate—I mean, I’m usually good at biology.
FS: Oh? My sister says she’s like that.
MS: Okay, so you know what I mean? If I’m in the middle of a quiet room, every little
noise is distracting. It’s like it’s magnified...! mean, amplified...whatever. If the radiator starts making little noises—
FS: Boy, how old is the heating system in these old dorm rooms, anyway, huh?
MS: Yeah, really? Or someone’s having a conversation in the hall and it comes in through the door. I just start fixating on it.
FS: I get that, but is it a good idea to use the television for white noise? Don’t you get distracted if something funny comes on...you know, or interesting?
MS: Sometimes, I guess. But most of the time, I can focus just fine. I think.
FS: Uh, all right. But, you know, though, um, you can use other things to drown out noises. Like, my sister—I’m not making this up—she had an old fan, and it made kind of a hum when she ran it.
MS: Those old fans do.
FS: Right? A steady sound, rhythmic...not loud...and it turned out that if she put it on, it was soft enough that she could think, and loud enough that the little distracting stuff in the background, like, she couldn’t hear that.
MS: I just bought my fan new this year; it’s the quiet kind.
FS: Well, sure...I was, you know, just giving an example. In our psychology course last year, didn’t they say that tuning the radio in to static is okay too? For people who need white noise, I mean?
MS: Static on the radio? You know the hissing sound that makes! I’ll never get any work done!
FS: That’s if you have it at normal volume. With trial and error, you might be able to make it softer so it doesn’t annoy you but loud enough to drown out other stuff—
MS: Uh-huh.
FS: —like my sister’s fan.
MS: I guess.
FS: It has to be better than the television. Just look at that biology score again.
MS: Don’t make me, please. Yeah, I mean, you may be right. I’ll see how it works studying without the television.
FS: Ooh, something else I just thought of.
MS: What?
FS: Well, you were talking about the radiator, and I think...I don’t remember which class it was, but we were told that people find it harder to concentrate when they’re in a warm room. It helps if the temperature’s a little on the cool side. Sharpens your concentration.
MS: I do get drowsy when the radiator’s on full blast, but the radiators in our rooms aren’t very easy to, uh, control. It’s not surprising after they’ve been used so many years, but—
FS: I’m with you there. You could always try cracking the window, though. Or maybe wearing fewer layers of clothing. It might be a little uncomfortable, but it’s your grades we’re talking about, after all.
Correct Answers:
1. C
2. C
3. B
4. D
5. B
