TOEFL iBT Listening Practice Set 3 (Lecture)

Below, you will find examples of how to take notes from a Lecture and Answer the

Questions. We are big believer in using authentic material and believe you should as well. So, if

you would like to follow along with the conversations and lectures we are using, please go to the

following link:

http://www.ets.org/c/17722/index.html. We are doing Volume 3 (PDF with transcripts and MP3

audio files); Listening Practice Set 3: Lecture and Questions. Paste the link into your browser and follow

along!!!

Prior to reviewing our notes and answers below, please make an attempt to take notes on

your own and then compare them to our notes. Following an explanation for our note taking, we

will review the answer choices and reveal the traps used for the wrong answers. These are my

actual notes taken from the lecture based upon an authentic TOEFL iBT practice exam.

Before we review the actual questions, let quickly make note of the Answering Process

we explained to you earlier and please find below a review of the traps that are contained in the

incorrect answers. To do well, you must be good at spotting wrong answers, since 75% of the

answers are incorrect.

Answering Process

1. Read the question and note the keywords in the questions. These key words direct

you where to look in your notes for the answer. Recall the questions go in

chronological order, so Question 1 will be found in the beginning of your notes.

2. Look in your notes and read the information following the key words located in the

question. This information will have the actual answer to the question.

3. Find the matching answer. Keep in mind the entire trap answers that ETS uses to fool

and trick students. Review our section we have on trap answers.

When trying to use a process of elimination, keep a look out for the following trap answers:

● Not Mentioned: this trap answer choice contains information that is not contained in the
keyword sentence in the paragraph.

● Extreme: this trap answer contains words that are considered extreme, such as never, always,
impossible, entirely, similar, only.

● Qualifiers/Quantifiers: this trap answer will often have exact language from the passage and
some form of qualifier to make it wrong, such as (mostly, equal to, necessary, less than, more
than, must, likely, alone less, most, similar

● Wrong Verb: another trap answer choice not often cited is when ETS includes a wrong verb
to make a choice wrong. This trap is very tricky as the examiners will use a lot of exact language
to draw you in and then place a wrong verb to make a choice wrong.

● Exact Language: as stated earlier, synonyms are a great tester of English proficiency and so a
popular trap answer is the use of exact language. Very often ETS will use exact language from
one of the sentences surrounding the keyword sentence and then change the verb, use extreme
language or use a qualifier to make it a bad choice.

● Right Answer, Wrong Question: this particular trap answer occurs when ETS picks an
answer choice from a sentence other than the keyword sentence. The answer choice is correct,
but it does not derive from the keyword sentence, so it is wrong.

● Altered Information: this trap answer is also very tricky due to the fact ETS often uses exact
language and then alters either (1) changes in time, (2) changes in place, (3) changes in order, (4)
changes in person [name], (5) change in number or extremity or (6) change in the subject and
object.

● Too Broad: this trap answer choice happens when an answer choice is beyond the scope of the
keyword sentence or the entire main point of the passage.

● Too Narrow: this trap answer occurs when an answer choice does not contain necessary
information or leaves our part of the answer. Half right is wrong!
Lecture 2 (Note and Question Analysis)

If you would like to follow along with the conversations and lectures we are using, please

go to the following link:

http://www.ets.org/c/17722/index.html. We are doing Volume 3 (PDF with transcripts and MP3

audio files); Listening Practice Set 2: Lecture and Questions. Paste the link into your browser and follow

along!!!

Listening Practice Set 3: Lecture and Questions Play Track 5 (Track 6 if for Replay Question)

 Track 5 (MP3)
 Track 6 (MP3)

Lecture Notes

Main Idea: no perfect vision, ^ reading , ^ eyeglasses, changes attitude toward eyeglasses

I. Vision correction

What people do b/f glasses

Different ways, (houses dark, use candles)

Ex: wealthy had others read

II. Another Ex: Reading Stone

A. Clear rock put on material, magnified words, used quartz

B.

III. But not cheap

 A. Quartz expen. Made read stones from clear glass, glasses evolved from this,
glasses made late 1200s (Question 13 source and Answer)

B.

IV. But not clear invented first (Question 14 source and Answer below)

A. Made in Eur and China same time, independent discovery (diff. parts, same
time), but not unusual (look in back of textbook)

B.

V. Social Attitudes

A. first showed wisdom and intelligence, Europe in paintings, In China also

showed affluence (big glasses – big wealth)

B.

VI. Printing Press

A. Books for more people, demand more affordable glasses, could purchase easily
from peddler.

Before we go forward with answering the questions, let’s take a look at how I knew to

recognize important information to write down and when to separate from one section of notes to

another. Recall, from our previous lesson that by following the Real Talk Dialogue and

Common Key Words, a note-taker can know exactly when it is time to take notes. Common

Key Words include transitions, question words (what, who, where, how), and sign post words.

Below, is the list of transitions/signal phrases from the lecture that gave clues to the pertinent

information:

Real Talk Dialogue and Common Key Words From Lecture

 1. Digression (we’ve been talking about the Printing Press), so the previous discussion is
mentioned before going into the actual main idea.
2. But first let me………..
3. For example………
4. Another solution was……..
5. But not cheap……
6. But not clear…….
7. So, now let’s……
8. Now let’s get back to…….

While listening to the lecture, if you write down whatever comes after this language, you will

have all of the necessary notes. It is imperative that you memorize the common key words and

recognize Real Talk signals when you hear them.

Lesson: Go back and listen to the lecture again. Pay close attention to the signal words

listed above, so that you can get used to listening out for them when self-practicing and on the

actual TOEFL iBT exam.

Lecture Question Analysis

Here is a repeat of the notes taken from the lecture that will be used to answer the questions. We

will of course use the Answering Process, Question Strategies and Traps Knowledge noted above

and in earlier lessons. Also, you should have the entire question strategies memorized. If you

don’t have the strategies memorized, you will make very simple, silly mistakes.

MEMORIZE the question strategies!!!!!!

Main Idea: no perfect vision, ^ reading , ^ eyeglasses, changes attitude toward eyeglasses

J. Vision correction

What people do b/f glasses

Different ways, (houses dark, use candles)

Ex: wealthy had others read

VII. Another Ex: Reading Stone

A. Clear rock put on material, magnified words, used quartz

B.

VIII. But not cheap

B. Quartz expen. Made read stones from clear glass, glasses evolved from this,
glasses made late 1200s (Question 13 source and Answer)

B.

IX. But not clear invented first (Question 14 source and Answer below)

A. Made in Eur and China same time, independent discovery (diff. parts, same
time), but not unusual (look in back of textbook)

B.

X. Social Attitudes

A. first showed wisdom and intelligence, Europe in paintings, In China also

showed affluence (big glasses – big wealth)

B.
 XI. Printing Press

B. Books for more people, demand more affordable glasses, could purchase easily
from peddler.

Question and Answer Analysis

21. What is the lecture mainly about? This is a Main Idea, so we must focus on the word
“Mainly”, the central idea or primary focus of the writing is the goal. So, the strategy is to look
at the Introduction notes and the Main Points made. Our notes say the following: “no perfect
vision, ^ reading , ^ eyeglasses, changes attitude toward eyeglasses, vision correction, another
ex, but not cheap, but not clear first, social attitudes, printing press”

(A) Political events that led to the invention of eyeglasses

(B) A comparison of attitudes toward vision correction in Europe and China

(C) The relationship between the printing press and literacy

(D) An overview of vision correction over time

D, is the correct answer as the discussion through different forms of eyeglasses from ancient
eyeglasses and ended with the printing press effect on eye glasses.

A, is incorrect due to the trap Not Mentioned, there is not mention of “Political Events”

B, is incorrect due to trap of Too Narrow, since Europe and China was mentioned at the end of
the discussion and not main discussion.

C, in incorrect due to Not Mentioned and also Irrelevant, as there is no mention of relating
printing press and literacy (whether people can read)
22. According to the professor, what was an advantage of using clear glass instead of quartz to
make reading stones? This is a Details question, so we need to first find the key words in the
question (see underlined) and then locate those words in the notes: “Quartz expen. Made
read stones from clear glass, glasses evolved from this, glasses made 1200s” Now, we simply
need to find the match in meaning from the answer choices.

(A) Clear glass was easier to find than quartz.

(B) Clear glass was easier to cut to the appropriate size.

(C) Clear glass magnified the letters more than quartz did.

(D) Clear glass was less expensive than quartz.

D, is clearly the correct choice as it is directly referenced in the notes “quartz expensive”

A, is incorrect and we have the trap of Not Mentioned since no mention of “easier to find”

B, is incorrect and we have the trap Not Mentioned since there is no mention of “cut to
appropriate size.”

C, is incorrect as it plays on the trap Exact Language (clear glass) to draw you in and also it
references information contained in a separate section of note “magnified” and uses a Qualifier
trap of “more”. So this one answer is wrong on many levels you should spot.
23. What does the professor imply about the invention of eyeglasses? This is an Inference
Question Inferences are not stated explicitly in the passage. Rather, inference questions
require you to draw conclusions from the factual knowledge or evidence presented. The
key word language from the question is “invention of eyeglasses”, so we need to find this
information in the notes and we see it in section IV “but not clear invented first” and now
we read the information connected to this and make our logical conclusion based on only
the evidence stated. The relevant information says: “Made in Eur and China same time,
independent discovery (diff. parts, same time), but not unusual”

(A) Its historical records are more detailed than those of other inventions.

(B) It had little impact on social attitudes toward vision correction.

(C) Its occurrence in different places at approximately the same time is not unusual.

(D) It contributed to a substantial increase in the number of literate people.

C, is the correct answer as it is comes directly out of the notes “independent discovery” and “not
unusual”

A, is incorrect as it is clearly Not Mentioned in regards to historical records and uses a

Qualifier/Quantifier “more” that we should recognized as a trap.

B, is incorrect as the language “social attitudes” is not mentioned in this section of notes and is
actually found in another part of the notes, so we know it’s wrong.

D, is incorrect as it uses a Quantifier/Qualifier “substantial” that is not used in the notes above
and gives information Not Mentioned “number of literate people.”

24. Which sentence best describes eyeglasses before the invention of the printing press? This
question is a well-disguised Inference Question. The key words in the question are “ before
printing press” and we can see this language is mentioned in the final notes section. The
language we are making the inference from is “books for more people, demand more
affordable glasses, could purchase easily from peddler.” Now, we must decide which answer
choice logically connects to this information.

(A) They were available to everyone.

(B) They were a symbol of wealth and wisdom.

(C) They could not correct vision accurately.

(D) They could be bought only from traveling peddlers.

B, is the correct answer because if after the printing press they were affordable for more people
than before the printing press only the rich could afford them.

A, is incorrect as it goes towards what happened after the printing press, not before the printing
press.

C, is incorrect as this is not directly connected the information of after printing press glasses
were affordable to everyone. This a maybe or possible answer, but it is not logically connected to
the evidence given in the notes and is thus wrong.

D, is incorrect as it uses Extreme Language “only.” This choice is dangerous and many students
pick this answer because it uses Exact Language “peddlers” which a lot of memory answer
pickers would choose.

25. Put the events in the order that they happened. This is a Categorize/Organize question
which measures your understanding of the relationships among ideas in the passage. Here, we
simply need to look back in our notes and place the answer choices in the order in which we find
the information in our notes. So, by looking back in the notes, we can see the order is as follows:

1. B

2. D

3. C

4. A

Answer Choices

(A) Inexpensive eyeglasses became available.

(B) The first eyeglasses were made.

(C) The number of people interested in reading increased.

(D) The printing press was invented.

26. Listen to Track 6. This is a Replay Question and as you know, we advise taking notes

from the replay so that you can have in front of you the language said: “easy solution if you

can afford it” Remember, we are trying to determine the FUNCTION of the language, not a

literal translation. This question often tests you understanding of the nuances of English.

(A) She is impressed by the solution.

(B) The solution she describes is obvious.

(C) The solution was not a common practice.

(D) The solution was not particularly expensive.

C, is the correct answer, as the function of the language “easy solution if you can afford it”
suggest you had to be wealthy to have it and therefore not a common practice.

A, is incorrect as this language has no function of suggesting being impressed or blown away.

B, is incorrect as this is more of a literal translation of the words, but not the function, there are
no words connecting to the aspect of “obvious.”

D, is in correct as it is the opposite of the language function since “easy solution if you can
afford it” says it is expensive, not inexpensive as this answer states.