TOEFL iBT® Listening questions and practice for the 2026 test

• Questions and time: 47 questions in about 29 minutes. ETS notes that, because the section adapts, the time and the number of questions can vary.
• Two stages: everyone takes the same first stage. Your answers there decide whether the second stage is easier or harder. Your score is based on both stages.
• Four task types: Listen and Choose a Response, Listen to a Conversation, Listen to an Announcement and Listen to an Academic Talk.
• Each recording plays once. You cannot replay it, so take notes while you listen. Note-taking is allowed on test day.
• What you see: a picture of the speaker or speakers while the recording plays, then printed questions with four options.
• Recordings: from a single short sentence up to a talk of about 250 words, with a mix of accents such as US, Canadian, Australian and British English.

See the full test format for all four sections.

What it tests: whether you understand a short spoken sentence and know what a natural reply sounds like.

What you see: nothing to read at first. You hear one sentence, which is not printed, and then choose the best of four written replies.

Six more worked items, one for each kind of sentence you may hear, are in the full Listen and Choose a Response guide.

What it tests: whether you can follow a short conversation between two people, often on campus, and understand the problem, the information and the solution.

What you see: a picture of the two speakers while the conversation plays, then the questions one at a time.

For five kinds of questions and three more worked conversations, read the full Listen to a Conversation guide.

What it tests: whether you can understand a campus or class announcement: what is happening, what has changed, and what listeners should do.

What you see: a picture of the speaker while the announcement plays, then the questions.

For the four kinds of announcements and a worked example of each, read the full Listen to an Announcement guide.

What it tests: whether you can follow part of a lecture: the main idea, the details, why the speaker mentions something, and what the speaker implies.

What you see: a picture of the speaker while the talk plays, then the questions. In Prepiva’s tests, each talk has four questions; this sample shows two.

For a note-taking method and a fully worked talk with its script and sample notes, read the full Academic Talk guide.

These tips come from Prepiva’s Listening guides:

• Note why people are talking. Conversations usually move from a problem to information to a solution. The first question often asks for the purpose.
• Listen for changes of plan. Words such as “actually”, “unfortunately” or “not … as I said” often signal the key detail.
• Write each example next to its point. “Why does the professor mention X?” asks which point the example supports.
• Keep notes short. Key words and arrows are enough. Listening well matters more than writing everything down.
• Be careful with echoes. In Listen and Choose a Response, an option that repeats a word you heard often answers a different question.
• Check tense and person. A question about the future cannot be answered with a past event.

Your Listening score is a band from 1 to 6, in half steps. Each scored question is worth one point. ETS bases the score on the number of questions you answer correctly across both stages and on how difficult those questions are. See how the 1–6 band scale works, with the CEFR level and the comparable 0–120 range for each band.

On Prepiva, your Listening band is a practice estimate. How we estimate bands explains the method and its limits.

Prepiva has three Listening practice sets with their own recordings. They are free with a Prepiva account, and after each set you can review your answers. Then take the full practice test to get a band for all four sections, or go back to the Reading questions. Listening skills also help in Speaking, whose first task, Listen and Repeat, asks you to repeat sentences you hear once.