To make this practice more like the TOEFL, close each question while you are listening to the audio. You may take notes, and you may use your notes to help you answer the question. When you hear the question, you may look at it and begin preparing your response. Record your response for each exercise.

The audio transcripts are below. At the real TOEFL iBT test, you do not have access to the transcripts. We’re including them here so you can learn from them, but you should look at them after you complete the tasks.

Exercise 3.8.A

For this task, you will listen to a conversation. You will then be asked to talk about the information in the conversation and to give your opinion about the ideas presented. After you hear the question, you have 20 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak.

Click for question

Briefly summarize the problem the speakers are discussing. Then state which solution you would recommend. Explain the reasons for your recommendation.

Preparation Time – 20 seconds
Response Time – 60 seconds

Exercise 3.8.B

For this task, you will listen to a conversation. You will then be asked to talk about the information in the conversation and to give your opinion about the ideas presented. After you hear the question, you have 20 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak.

Click for question

Preparation Time – 20 seconds
Response Time – 60 seconds

Exercise 3.8.C

For this task, you will listen to a conversation. You will then be asked to talk about the information in the conversation and to give your opinion about the ideas presented. After you hear the question, you have 20 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak.

Click for question

Preparation Time – 20 seconds
Response Time – 60 seconds

Exercise 3.8.D

For this task, you will listen to a conversation. You will then be asked to talk about the information in the conversation and to give your opinion about the ideas presented. After you hear the question, you have 20 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak.

Click for question

Preparation Time – 20 seconds
Response Time – 60 seconds

Exercise 3.8.E

For this task, you will listen to a conversation. You will then be asked to talk about the information in the conversation and to give your opinion about the ideas presented. After you hear the question, you have 20 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak.

Click for question

Preparation Time – 20 seconds
Response Time – 60 seconds

Do not look at the transcripts until after you finish the tasks.

Transcript for Exercise 3.8.A

Transcript for Exercise 3.8.B

Transcript for Exercise 3.8.C

Transcript for Exercise 3.8.D

Transcript for Exercise 3.8.E

Extension

1

Listen again to the conversations in Exercises 3.8.A through 3.8.E. As you listen, fill in the missing information on the blank lines in the scripts. Do not try to write down every word. Take brief notes about only the key information. Check your notes with the audio scripts above.

CONVERSATION 3.8.A

W: Is something wrong with ____________________?

M: Not really, it’s just that ________________________________________. It’s been _________________ lately. I think ________________.

W: That’s too bad. Why don’t you _________________________________?

M: Oh, it’s not that bad. It’s just ______________________________.

W: But you’re _____________________________________ in a funny way. You should _________________________________________________. You could _______________. We’re heading toward the _____________ right now.

M: I don’t have the time to ___________________________________________. I have _______________________________________.

W: Baseball practice! You shouldn’t ________________________________!

M: I can’t afford to ____________________________________. I’ve missed too much already, and _________________________________. He said ___________________________________________________________________________________. I don’t want that to happen. Baseball is important to me. I can’t let the team down.

W: Then you’d better _________________________________, but be sure to ________________________________________________. Tell him you ____________. You need to ___________________________________. You could make it a lot worse if ________________________________.

CONVERSATION 3.8.B

W: I need help with ________________________________________.

M: Okay. What kind of help?

W: I still need to ________________________________________________, so I need _______________________________, but it doesn’t look like anything will ________________________________________________.

M: Hmm. I see what you mean. You’ve already got a full schedule. But I’m sure we can ___________________________________. Aaaah… well … you could __________________________________________________. There are lots of _____________________________________________ for Winter Quarter.

W: An evening course. I ___________________________________. It makes the day so long.

M: Well, with your schedule, this may be your best choice for Winter Quarter. Another possibility, of course, is to _______________________________ and________________________________________________________. Can you do that—____________________________________________?

W: I’m doing ______________________________________________ in the spring. That will be full–time, and I’m not sure I can handle another course on top of that. I expect________________________________________. And then I hope to ____________________________________. So this is kind of a problem for me.

CONVERSATION 3.8.C

W: How are your classes going?

M: All right mostly, well, that is, except for ____________________________________. The class is fine, but _____________________________________________________.

W: That’s not good. You need to ________________________________________. You can’t _________________________________. You need to __________________________________________. He has to take responsibility for his part of the project.

M: That’s for sure. He’s hard to get a hold of, too. I’ve left several messages on his answering machine.

W: You’d better _____________________________________________________. Maybe __________________________________________________________.

M: It’s kind of late for that. Besides, ________________________________________________________________.

W: You never know. Maybe you could __________________________________. But I would_________________________________________.

CONVERSATION 3.8.D

M: Hi, Nicole. How’s it going?

W: My classes are going well. ___________________________________________.

M: What’s wrong with your __________?

W: I’m not sure, exactly. It just _______________________________. It gave me a lot of trouble this morning. It __________________________________________________________. I need to have it checked out, but___________________________________________________.

M: You could ________________________________________________________. They have _______________________________________________.

W: But I’m not _________________________________________________.

M: Check it out anyway. Maybe you don’t have to be ____________________________________________________________. Just tell them you’re a student.

W: Well, maybe.

M: Another place you could try is _______________________________________. People sometimes advertise services like this. Maybe you can ___________________________________________________________________.

W: Hmm. Maybe. Thanks for the tips.

M: No problem. Good luck.

CONVERSATION 3.8.E

M: Professor Fisher, I’m __________________________________________, so I’ll___________________. I was wondering if _____________________________.

W: Well, you know my policy is not to _____________________________. If you___________________, then you can try to ______________________________________________________________. But … haven’t you already __________________________?

M: Um … yeah, I ___________________ a few weeks ago.

W: Then try not to ____________________, and try to do well on it too. Your test scores so far have not been strong. You could be ____________________________________________________________________.

M: Do you mean I might __________?

W: At this point, you need to ____________________________________________. Why don’t you _________________________________, or ____________________________________________________________________?

M: Well, I guess I could. But, to tell the truth, I don’t have ___________________________________________________________________________________.

W: Then, in that case, you need to _________________________________________________________________________. If you’re too busy to ______________________________, you should ______________________________.

2.

Listen to your recorded response to one of the speaking tasks in Exercise 3.8.A through 3.8.E. Analyze and evaluate your response by answering the following questions:

a. Does my response accurately convey information about the problem?

b. Does my response clearly recommend a solution to the problem? What reasons are given in my response to support the recommended solution?

c. Is my response coherent? Would it be easily understood by other listeners?

d. Does my response answer the question effectively? Why or why not?

e. How can I improve my responses for this type of question in the future?



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