PART 6

TOEFL Note-Taking Tips for Listening, Speaking and Writing

🧧How to Take Notes in TOEFL Listening Section

3️⃣Figure Out the Style of Organization

If you’re listening to a lecture,
it’s helpful to know what kind of organizational style you’re dealing with so that you can prepare your notes accordingly.

According to ETS,
there are four main organizational styles of lectures:

(1)Theory and evidence
The professor introduces a theory and provides various pieces of evidence to support it.

(2)Cause and effect
 This type of lecture focuses on the cause of something
(such as an event, discovery, or scientific phenomenon) and its different effects

(3)Steps of a process
In this style, the professor introduces a process and
the chronological steps involved in it
(usually using transitions such as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc.).

(4)Comparison of two things
 A lecture that focuses on two different concepts’ similarities and differences.

Each of these styles can be understood fairly early on in an audio clip by listening for key words, phrases, and descriptions given by the professor

4️⃣Note Important Terms and Concepts

In lectures, you’ll often hear a professor mention a particular term or concept, which will usually be accompanied by an image of the word or phrase written out on a blackboard.

In these cases, always take care to write down the term or concept in your notes.

And don’t forget to note its definition, too, once the professor explains what it means.

Chances are at least one of the questions on Listening will ask you about how the professor explains a particular word or phrase and what it means in the context of the lecture.

So it’s extremely important you’re able to recall exactly what these concepts and their definitions are.