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TOEIC Part 4 short talks: announcements and voicemail

B1Listening40 questionsUpdated

TOEIC Listening Part 4 gives you a single speaker — a voicemail, a store announcement, a tour introduction, a meeting opener — and three printed questions. Because nobody interrupts, the structure is predictable: the speaker states the purpose, gives the detail, then asks the listener to do something. This page trains you to hear those three moves and to place each question against them.

What this task tests

  • Identifying the speaker and the audience from the opening line alone.
  • Purpose questions: what the announcement is mainly about, why the speaker is calling.
  • Detail questions attached to a time, a location, a department or a policy.
  • The closing request: what listeners are asked to do, what the caller wants the listener to do.
  • Recognising the signposts a monologue uses: first of all, please note, in the meantime, before you go.
  • Genre recognition from the first line: store announcement, voicemail, tour, broadcast, meeting opener.
  • Reason clauses, which carry the answer to *why* questions: due to, because of, on account of.
  • Changes and exceptions — one time replaced by another, one department excluded from a rule.
  • Questions about speaker intention: what the speaker means by a particular remark.
  • Sustained attention through a monologue with no turn-taking to break it up.

How to do it

  1. Step 1:

    Decide the genre from the first line

    *Attention, shoppers* is a store announcement; *Hi, this is Dana from Quill Legal* is a voicemail; *Welcome to the Riverside plant* is a tour. Each genre has a fixed shape you can then predict.

  2. Step 2:

    Expect purpose, detail, request in that order

    Question one usually takes the purpose from the opening sentences, question two a detail from the middle, question three the request from the closing lines.

  3. Step 3:

    Listen through the signposts

    *Please note*, *one more thing*, *in the meantime* mark the information the questions want. When you hear one, your pencil should already be moving.

  4. Step 4:

    Catch the closing instruction verbatim

    *Press two*, *bring your badge*, *use the rear entrance*. The final ten seconds decide the last question, so do not start reading ahead until the speaker stops.

  5. Step 5:

    Handle the graphic before the audio

    When a schedule or floor plan is printed, read the column headings first. The speaker will give you one value and you must return the other.

  6. Step 6:

    Hold the exception, not just the rule

    *All departments keep regular hours except the garden center.* The exception is what gets asked about, so it is the part worth a pencil mark.

  7. Step 7:

    Track *why* with the reason connector

    Due to, because of, since, owing to. When one arrives, the clause after it is almost certainly a printed answer option in paraphrase.

  8. Step 8:

    Separate the old fact from the new one

    Talks routinely announce a change. Write both values with an arrow — *2 → 4* — so that whichever the question asks for is still available.

  9. Step 9:

    Use the closing formula as a cue to focus

    *Before you go*, *one last thing*, *in the meantime* signal the final request. Treat any of them as an instruction to stop reading ahead and listen.

Mistakes that cost marks

  • Not thisAnswering *Who is the speaker?* with the company the speaker is calling.

    ThisAnswering with the speaker's own role or employer.

    A voicemail names two organisations within seconds. The speaker identifies themselves first: *This is Dana from Quill Legal, calling about your order with Harbor Supply.*

  • Not thisChoosing the first time you hear in an announcement.

    ThisWaiting for the time that matches the question's event.

    Announcements routinely give an old time then a new one: *originally scheduled for two, now moved to four.* The question asks about one of them specifically.

  • Not thisStopping listening once you have answered the third question.

    ThisListening to the end of the talk.

    The request often comes after what sounds like a conclusion, introduced by *before you go* or *one last thing*, and that is what the last question tests.

  • Not thisReading the graphic's data rows before the audio.

    ThisReading the headings and the shape of the graphic.

    You cannot hold eight rows in memory. Knowing that the columns are *time* and *room* is enough to look up the answer as soon as you hear either one.

  • Not thisAnswering *What are listeners asked to do?* with something the speaker will do.

    ThisAnswering with the instruction addressed to *you*.

    Monologues mix both. Only the imperative or the *please* clause is aimed at the audience; the speaker's own plans belong to a different question.

  • Not thisTreating an exception as the general rule.

    ThisKeeping the rule and its exception apart.

    *All flights are on time except the service to Halifax* produces two questions with opposite answers, and candidates who heard only *on time* lose both.

  • Not thisTaking *We appreciate your patience* as a detail worth noting.

    ThisIgnoring the courtesy formulas and noting the fact beside them.

    Politeness fillers are padding that gives your brain time to write down the number that came just before them.

Language this task keeps reusing

Attention, shoppers
A standard opening for a store-wide announcement.
on behalf of
Representing someone: I'm calling on behalf of Dr Keel.
in the meantime
Until then; while waiting.
be advised
Formal *please note*, common in transport and building announcements.
temporarily out of service
Not working for now: the north elevator is temporarily out of service.
proceed to
Go to: passengers should proceed to gate eleven.
at your earliest convenience
As soon as you reasonably can.
regarding
About; concerning. Common in the first line of a voicemail.
reminder
A message about something already announced.
pick up (an order)
To collect something you have ordered.
due to
Because of. Introduces the reason a *why* question is asking about.
effective immediately
Starting now, with no notice period.
with the exception of
Except for. Marks the detail that will be tested.
undergo maintenance
To be worked on or serviced, usually while out of use.
turnout
The number of people who attend an event.
kick off
To begin: the session kicks off at nine sharp.

Practice: short talks and announcements

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.

"Attention, shoppers. The garden center will close thirty minutes early today while we install new lighting. All other departments keep regular hours." What is the purpose of the announcement?

2Complete with one word: *Please be ___* is a formal way to say *please note*.

"Please bethat the north elevator is out of service until Thursday."
"Hi, this is Dana Ruiz from Quill Legal, calling about the invoice you sent on the fourth." Who most likely is the speaker?
Decide whether each statement about TOEIC Part 4 is true or false.
  • Part 4 talks have a single speaker.
  • Some Part 4 items include a printed graphic such as a schedule or a floor plan.
  • The questions are read aloud before the talk begins.
3 to go

5Complete with the past participle of *move*.

"The workshop was originally set for two o'clock, but it has beento four."
In the announcement above, what time will the workshop now begin?

7Complete with one noun to finish a phrase meaning *as soon as you reasonably can*.

"Please return the signed form at your earliest."

8A voicemail begins: *This is Marc Feld at Ridgeline Printing, calling on behalf of our accounts team about purchase order 3-1-9.* Write the answer to *What is the call about?* in one short phrase.

"Before you go, please remember to badge out at the side door; the main lobby reader is being replaced." What are listeners asked to do?

10Complete with one formal verb meaning *go*.

"Passengers for the eleven-forty service shouldto gate twelve."

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Frequently asked questions

How long is each Part 4 talk?

Roughly half a minute to a minute of continuous speech with three questions attached, which is why the purpose, detail and request pattern is so reliable.

Should I take notes during the talk?

Only numbers, days and names. Writing prose means you stop listening, and the answer options will do most of the remembering for you.

What if the graphic and the audio seem to disagree?

They do not. The speaker supplies one half of the pair and the graphic the other; the question asks for the half you were not told directly.

How do I stay focused with no second speaker to break up the audio?

Chunk the talk by its three moves — purpose, detail, request — and physically tick each question as its move goes past. The structure gives you something to do rather than merely listen.

Do intention questions really need me to hear the exact sentence?

Yes, and they usually quote it in the question stem, so read those stems first. Knowing the line in advance turns a hard inference into a narrow listening task.