Notes are the only thing you keep from a TOEFL lecture, and they are used twice: once for the Listening questions and again in the integrated Speaking and Writing tasks. Good notes record relationships — cause, contrast, example — not sentences. These 40 items train a layout and a set of symbols you can use at speaking speed.
Topic line at the top, a wide left margin, and a vertical line down the middle if it is a conversation. Ten seconds of setup saves a minute of hunting.
The professor announces it early. That line is the answer to the main idea question and the anchor for everything below it.
An arrow for cause and effect, ↑ and ↓ for increase and decrease, ≠ for a contrast, a question mark for the professor’s doubt.
Claim on the left, example indented under it. The indentation records the link, and the link is what the questions test.
No articles, no prepositions, no complete sentences. Three or four words a line is the target.
A gap in the notes costs one question. Chasing a lost phrase costs the next three.
When the professor shifts topic, draw a line across the page. The organisation question later is answered from those divisions.
Lecturers restate the point at the end. Even if you have fallen behind, catch that line; it is the cleanest summary you will get.
Not thisWriting “The eruption lowered global temperatures for about three years.”
ThisWriting “erupt → global temp ↓ ~3 yrs”.
The full sentence takes four times as long and the professor has moved on by the time you finish.
Not thisListing three causes with no heading.
ThisWriting “canal profitable b/c: 1 … 2 … 3 …”.
Without the heading you can still recite the list but cannot answer what it explains.
Not thisStopping to work out how a technical term is spelled.
ThisWriting it as it sounds and moving on.
Spelling is never tested in Listening, and the sentence you lose while spelling often is.
Not thisTranslating into your first language as you write.
ThisNoting in English or in symbols.
Translation runs at half the speed of the lecture and drops the second half of every sentence.
Not thisRecording only the claims.
ThisRecording the qualifications too.
‘Mostly, but not in cold years’ is where detail questions are built, and the hedge is the part candidates leave out.
Not thisRewriting messy notes neatly while the lecture continues.
ThisLeaving them messy.
Nobody reads your notes. Time spent tidying is time not spent listening.
40 original questions. The first 10 are open to everyone. Answers are checked in your browser and never sent to us, so you can share this page with a class as it is.
2Complete with one noun beginning with a.
5Complete with one noun beginning with m.
6Write notes for: “Three things made the canal profitable: cheap labor, a short route and a government subsidy.”
One good answer
canal profit b/c: 1 cheap labor 2 short route 3 gov’t subsidy
7Complete with one noun beginning with e.
11Complete with one plural noun beginning with c.
13Complete with one plural noun beginning with n.
15Complete with one word beginning with b.
16Give two abbreviations worth preparing in advance and say what each stands for.
One good answer
“gov’t” for government and “cent.” for century: both come up constantly in history and social science lectures and each saves several strokes every time.
17Complete with one plural noun beginning with d.
19Complete with one noun beginning with c.
21Complete with one noun beginning with c.
25Complete with one adjective beginning with m.
27Complete with one adjective beginning with l.
29Complete with one verb beginning with t.
30Turn this into notes: “Unlike the earlier survey, the 2019 study found no difference between the two groups.”
One good answer
2019 study: NO diff betw groups ≠ earlier survey
31Complete with one adjective beginning with s.
33Complete with one ordinal beginning with s.
35Complete with one noun beginning with l.
39Complete with one adjective beginning with s.
40Explain in one sentence why notes matter even more in the integrated speaking and writing tasks.
One good answer
In those tasks you have to report what the lecture said and set it against a reading, so your notes are the only record of the very points you are scored on.
Note
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Yes, and you should, in every section including Reading. Paper is provided at the test centre and the same notes carry you into the integrated Speaking and Writing tasks.
Any layout works if you can search it in seconds. What matters is a topic line, indented examples and a symbol for cause and contrast, not the name of the method.
Slow the writing, not the listening: fewer words per line rather than neater letters. Three legible words beat a full sentence you cannot decipher afterwards.
Take notes on a five-minute academic talk daily, then close the notes and speak for a minute from them. If you cannot rebuild the talk, the notes recorded words rather than structure.
A little. Two or three words per paragraph give you a map for the prose summary at the end, which is the one Reading question that asks about the whole passage.