In this question, you'll listen to part of a conversation or a lecture. You will then be asked a question about what you have heard. Your response will be scored on your ability to speak clearly and coherently and on your ability to accurately convey information about what you heard. You'll have 20 seconds to prepare your answer and 60 seconds to speak.
You may take notes while you read and while you listen to the conversations and lectures. You may use your notes to help prepare your response.
We recommend you practice taking notes with a pen and paper like you will during your TOEFL exam.
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Recorder will be available after subscribing.Listen to a lecture
Prepare your answer
Question:
Using the main point and examples from the lecture, describe two practices that humans can do to help prevent soil erosion and depletion.
Record your answer
Your Answer
Your Review
THIS IS NOT YOUR REVIEW!
It's an example of what you can expect from our speaking reviews
Review Summary (Sample) | |
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Score | 2 / 4 |
Feedback |
Each speaking review includes detailed audio feedback.
Audio feedback (Sample) |
How we review your speaking response | Our TOEFL certified instructors will review your speaking response based on the following criteria:
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Task Fulfillment (Sample) | ||||||||||||
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Criteria Description | Score | |||||||||||
Task fulfillment is about how well you respond to the question you are given. TOEFL raters are looking for a response that answers the question directly, with relevant ideas that are fully developed. Fulfilling the task means answering all parts of the question completely. |
Score: 2 / 4 |
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Pronunciation & Intonation (Sample) | ||||||||||||
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Criteria Description | Score | |||||||||||
Pronunciation and intonation is about how you form English sounds and how you use natural English intonation. Your pronunciation and intonation can damage your score if it is difficult for the raters to understand what you are saying. |
Score: 2 / 4 |
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Flow & Speech (Sample) | ||||||||||||
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Criteria Description | Score | |||||||||||
Flow and speech is about how quickly you can speak and how much pausing and hesitation you use. You don’t have to speak quickly, but just quickly enough to sound natural and explain all of your ideas. Raters want to hear natural rhythm and flow. |
Score: 2 / 4 |
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Correct Grammar Usage (Sample) | ||||||||||||
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Criteria Description | Score | |||||||||||
Correct grammar usage is about how you use English grammar and sentence structure. Raters want to see that you can use what you know correctly. Your grammar doesn’t have to be perfect to score high, but mistakes shouldn’t interfere with your meaning. |
Score: 2 / 4 |
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Vocabulary Usage (Appropriacy and Range) (Sample) | ||||||||||||
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Criteria Description | Score | |||||||||||
Vocabulary usage is about how you use English words. Raters are looking for responses that use different words correctly and accurately, and that use a wide range of words that help listeners understand. |
Score: 2 / 4 |
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Support & Development (Sample) | ||||||||||||
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Criteria Description | Score | |||||||||||
Support and development is about the content of your speaking response. Your content should be related directly to the topic, and you should have several main ideas that support your opinion or position. These ideas should be persuasive or compelling. |
Score: 2 / 4 |
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Connections & Coherence (Sample) | ||||||||||||
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Criteria Description | Score | |||||||||||
connections and coherence are about how you put your ideas together and link different sentences to each other. Raters want to see speaking that flows naturally from idea to idea without confusing the listener. |
Score: 2 / 4 |
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Sample Answer
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Video Answer Explanation
TOEFL Speaking 4 Tips for Success
Answer structure
- Using the main point and examples from the lecture, describe the two ways of discovering an invention.
- Describe two adaptations that the Arctic butterfly has developed for cold climates.
- Describe slump and creep.
- Describe two negative impacts of logos.
In this case, your response should include the following:
2. The first example or the first concept
3. The second example or the second concept
4. A conclusion
There are some questions that ask you to explain the concept mentioned in the lecture together with the two examples provided by the professor. For example:
- Using two examples from the lecture, describe camouflage.
- Using two examples from the lecture, describe ecological succession.
- Using two examples from the lecture, describe the relationship between Biodiversity and ecosystem restoration.
In this case, you can use the following template to form your response.
The professor uses two examples to demonstrate ______
In the first example, ______
In the second example, ______
In summary/Therefore/Ultimately, ______
Note-taking tips
There are certain keywords or sentence patterns that professors use to introduce new academic concepts:
2. X occurs when/where ________________________________
3. A concept/idea/situation________ that/who/which ___________ is referred to as/known as/called X
4. X refers to the idea/concept that ____ or X___ refers to the situation/circumstance where ____
Examples:
Verbal communication is a type of communication that uses words and language.
VC occurs when we use language and speak to each other
The style of communication that uses words and language is referred to as VC.
VC refers to a style of communication where language and words are used
Pay attention to the following transition words that help you capture the main ideas and examples:
Type of connection | Transition words |
These words can help you show the order of ideas. |
First/Second/Third Firstly (or "First of all")/Secondly/Thirdly (or "Lastly") For one thing/For another thing/Finally (or "Lastly") In the first place/in the second place/Finally (or "Lastly") Instead of "First", "First of all" and "Firstly", we can use "To begin with", "To start with", or "For starters". We can also use "First and foremost" to state that the first key point is the most important one among all key points. Likewise, instead of "Finally" and "Lastly", we can use "Last but not least" to state that the final key point is just as important as the others, despite it being mentioned last. |
These words can help you add information | In addition, furthermore, additionally, also, next, moreover, what's more, on top of that |
These words can help you conclude or to summarize: | To sum up, in summary, in conclusion, to conclude, all in all, all things considered ,overall, taking everything into consideration, in a nutshell |
These words can help you demonstrate contrast | Conversely, on the contrary, by contrast, by way of contrast, on one hand/on the other hand |
These words can help you compare or demonstrate similarity | Similarly, likewise, by the same token, along similar lines |
These words can help you state a result. | As a result, as a consequence, consequently, therefore |
These words can help you state a generalization. | Generally, on the whole, in most cases, in general |
These words can help you clarify a point. | That is, in other words, to put it simply, That is to say, just to reiterate |
These words can help you give examples. | For example, for instance, take something, for example, to give a clear example |
These words can help you state an alternative. | Alternatively, as another possibility |
Examples:
Alright! For those of you who don’t know what a self-fulfilling prophecy is. Today’s lecture I am going to talk about self-fulfilling prophecy! So.. a self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when a person acts based on a false presupposition, forcing their thoughts to become the reality. I'll give you an example. A bank is run properly for many years, there are no problems whatsoever, and everybody's money is safe. One day, a large group of people came to the bank, the reason is unknown, and many of the customers falsely perceive this to mean the bank is in financial trouble, so they decide to withdraw their money so they do not incur any losses. Unfortunately for the bank, the rumor continued and more people began withdrawing their money and finally the bank did go into financial trouble and ended up going bankrupt. Therefore, the false rumor indirectly became true as a result of their actions.
Here are symbols you can use in your notes.
Symbol | Meaning | Examples |
= | refer to, occur, ..etc | A concept that people make choices to describe a situation in a positive or negative way is referred to as word framing Word framing = ppl describe a situation in ✓ or X way. |
∵ | Because, as a result of, due to, because, owing to | Due to the increasing popularity of e-books, there has been a fall in paper book sales.
∵↑e-books, paper books $↓ |
∴ | Therefore | Element 43 has radioactive decay, therefore element 43 doesn't last very long, which means if that ever had been present on earth,
it would have decayed ages ago. Elem43 has radioa. decay ∴ it ≠ last long |
=> | result in, lead to, contribute to, give rise to, cause | Carbon dioxide significantly contributes to global warming. CO => global warming |
≠ | isn't, doesn't, don't, can't etc. |
Element 43 has radioactive decay, therefore element 43 doesn't last very long, which means if that ever had been present on earth,
it would decayed ages ago. Elem43 has radioa. decay ∴ it ≠ last long |
+ | many, lots of, a great deal of, etc. | Because potatoes have the ability to provide abundant and extremely nutritious food crop, no other
crop grew in Northern Europe. As a result, the nutrition of the general population improved tremendously and population
soared in the early 1800s. ∵ potatoes /nutri crop/+vitamins => popul↑ in Europe 1800s |
++ | Comparatives |
Older and more experienced birds who nest in the high density shrub areas have significantly more offspring than those
in low density areas, which suggests the choice of where to nest does have an impact on the number of chicks they have.
older birds /nest in high shrub ++offsprings birds/nest in low shrub |
+++ | Superlatives | What was even more surprising were all the large
organisms that lived down there. The most distinctive of these was
something called the tube worm. Here, let me show you a picture.
The tube of the tube worm is really, really long. They can be up to one
and half meters long, and these tubes are attached to the ocean floor,
pretty weird looking, huh?
! +++special = tube warm /long/tubes attached to ocean floor |
- | Little, few, lack ,in short of/ be in shortage of, etc. | As I said the monsoon migrated itself, so there was less rain in the Sahara.
The land started to get drier, which in turn caused huge decreases in the amount of vegetation,
because vegetation doesn't grow as well in dry soil, right? And then, less vegetation means the soil can't hold water and
the soil loses its ability to retain water when it does rain. So then you have less moisture to help clouds form, nothing
to evaporate for cloud formation. - rain in Sahara land ++dry => vegetation↓ --vegetation => soil ≠ hold water => -water to form cloud |
! | Important, interesting | But what's particularly interesting about these volcanoes is that most of the volcanoes here on Earth are not shield volcanoes.
Instead, they are other volcano types, like strata volcanoes, for example, which are a result of tectonic plate movement. ! volcanoes on earth ≠ shield volcanoes = strata volcanoes tectonic plate => volcanoes on earth |
Other symbols:
Symbol | Meaning |
& | And, also, in addition, etc. |
~ | about/around, approximately, etc. |
... | And so on |
$ | Sales, money, cost |
e.g. | For example |
i.e. | That is |
x | Wrong, incorrect, bad, detrimental, negative, etc. |
✓ | Right, good, positive, etc. |