6 Test Taking Tactics for TOEIC Listening Success

1. Be prepared
You should make sure that you are well rested and mentally prepared when taking the TOEIC. You should have enough rest and eat a good breakfast on the day of the exam. Make sure you feel like you have given yourself enough time to prepare for the TOEIC. By feeling prepared you avoid that the stress will get the best of you on exam day. Wear comfortable clothes and we also recommend that you have a watch on you when taking the TOEIC.

2. Answer all the questions
Do not waste time overthinking a question, if you are unsure about the answer just guess. The same goes for finishing the exam, always answer the questions even if you have to guess the remaining questions. Ideally you should always try to leave a couple of minutes before turning the test in to review your answers. Those extra minutes allow you to check your answers and see if you missed a question. This also helps with double check everything.

3. Photographs
The first part of the TOEIC listening section asks you to look at pictures and choose a statement that is most closely related to the image. Focus on the image then ask yourself these three questions: who, why and where.

4. Question-Response
The second part of the TOEIC listening test is Question and Responses. The most crucial factor in this section is that you are focused when listening since you will only hear the statement once.

5. Conversations
The TOEIC conversation section requires you to listen to ten different regular conversations then answer questions based on these conversations. Be aware of traps, test-takers often lose concentration when the conversations are a little longer which makes you more vulnerable. Also, you should pay extra attention to details like dates and numbers.

6. Short Talks
Test-takers often think this is the hardest section of the TOEIC listening section due to speed of the recordings and talks. It’s easy to fall behind; however, you already know this and should be well prepared for it when taking the test. Just remember to pay close attention to the tone of the person speaking.

More about the TOEIC listening test.