TOEIC Listening Overview

TOEIC Listening Format

The Listening section of the classic and new TOEIC Listening and Reading Test is paper-and-pencil based, and lasts about 45 minutes. It contains 100 questions, divided into four parts:

Part	Content	Old Test	New Test
1	Photographs	20 questions	10 questions
2	Question-Response	30 questions	30 questions
3	Short Conversations	30 questions (30 conv., 1 question each)	30 questions (10 conv., 3 questions each)
4	Short Talks	20 items (6-9 talks, 3-4 questions each)	30 questions (10 talks, 3 questions each)

Remember also that in the listening section of the New TOEIC Listening and Reading Test, you will hear a variety of accents – American, Canadian, Australian and British – so you must practice listening to and understanding all of these.

Photographs

In this part, you see a photograph and hear four statements about it. The photo itself may portray people, things, actions and locations. You must select the sentence which best describes what you see in the picture. You hear the sentences only once, and must make your choice immediately after that, or else you'll miss hearing information related to the next picture.

Question-Response

In this part, you may be asked a question about almost any subject related to people, events, location, time, emotions, reasons, opinions or activities. You need to choose the answer that makes sense.

Short Conversation

In this part, you hear a short dialogue, followed by a brief general question about the conversation. You then must choose from four possible answers, which may be related to an activity, location, relationship, or emotion of the speakers.

Short Talks

In this part, you hear a short monologue such as a weather forecast, announcement or bulletin. You then need to choose an answer related to the speaker, location, time, reason, or event.