How do I prepare for the TOEFL listening test?
TOEFL listening is academic English. You hear short clips from class and campus life, each one played once, and you can take notes as you listen. Since January 2026 it is scored on a 1 to 6 band, and most university targets sit around band 4 to 5.
The best free way to get ready is to listen to a lot of real academic English at your level. The free pack below is grouped from easier to harder, so you can start where you are and work up.
Curated and reviewed by an expert
English teacher, 12 years · exam coach
Curated by Roman, an English teacher who has spent 12 years helping learners build the listening skills these academic exams test.
Why this level
Why do people take TOEFL?
People commonly take TOEFL for:
University admission, especially in the United States and Canada, where many programs ask for it
Graduate school, where programs often set a higher score than they ask of undergraduates
Scholarships, student visas and exchange programs that want proof of academic English
What band do I need?
Real band requirements
How high you need to go depends on the program, and each university sets its own bar. In 2026 TOEFL moved to a 1 to 6 band, and for two years your report also shows the old 0 to 120 score, so you will see both. Most academic programs land around band 4 to 5. Here are real examples, with their sources:
Graduate school, common minimum (USA)
Harvard (Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences)
Many programs also set a minimum for each section, and the most competitive ask for more than their stated minimum. Requirements change often, so always confirm the current number on the program's own page. The 1 to 6 bands line up with the old 0 to 120 scores through the official ETS table.
Free · 100 videos · 4 hours 48 minutes
Your free TOEFL listening pack
Here are 100 short videos by real native speakers, grouped from easier to harder, so you can start at your level and work up. They are spoken at a speed close to the test (around 182 words a minute). Most clips are short and lean academic, like the campus talks and class lectures the test is built from. Most of the words are inside the 95% most common spoken English words, so they match the kind of language the test uses. Together they are about 4 hours 48 minutes of listening practice for the TOEFL iBT. They are all free to watch below.
Play the whole pack in the appWhat is in the pack · 100 videos in 3 bands
Warm-up · around CEFR B1
33 videos
Core university target · around CEFR B2
50 videos
Top scores · around CEFR C1
17 videos
All 100 videos are below, grouped by band from TOEFL 3-3.5 to TOEFL 5-5.5, so you can start at your level and work up.
Warm-up · around CEFR B1
How A TV News Story Is Made
Meditation lab for stressed university students
Walking Tour Of Sofia’s Highlights And Hidden History
Elementary Students Graduate From Gang Prevention Program
How Stress And Habits Affect Your Sleep
Star Wars Meets Malaysian Shadow Puppetry
The Last Traditional Tattoo Artist Of Kalinga
Why You Should Visit Huahine In Tahiti
How To Manage Your Dog’s Prey Drive
How To Make Friends As An Adult
My dream to play in the marching band
Top 10 Places To Visit In Kuala Lumpur
Why I Love Learning So Many Languages
Teen Walks And Takes Bus To Graduation
Xi hosts Trump at Zhongnanhai and exchanges gifts
Kids Theater Camp In Friend, Nebraska
How To Make Coffee With A French Press
Filipino fast-food favorite Jollibee opens in Orlando
Family Thai Restaurant Story On Friday Flavor
Birmingham seniors graduate after starting high school in pandemic
Essential Tire Tips Every Driver Should Know
Teen Accepted To 115 Colleges With Record Scholarships
How To Play Uno No Mercy Edition
Journalist reacts to inspiring TEDx Tokyo first session
18 Questions With A Howard Theatre Arts Student
One Minute Review Of Atomic Habits
Building Confidence For Your First Solo Trip
COVID Update And Delay To My Live Lessons
Five Simple Ways To Strengthen Your Relationship In 24 Hours
Reviewing ‘The Night Circus’ And Its Magical Story
How I’d Start Over With Just $5,000
When Do You Really Lose Money Investing?
Cutting Your Budget On Baby Step Two
Core university target · around CEFR B2
Human Minds Awaken in Blombos Cave
Taino myth of Deminan and the origin of the sea
How Black Holes Change Your Experience Of Time
How Gender Stereotypes Shape Education And Careers
What Staying Up All Night Does To Your Brain
How Hats Evolved From Ancient Symbols To Streetwear
Cutting Food Waste With A Neat Marketplace Idea
China’s New Era Of Inherited Wealth And Inequality
The Story And Restoration Of Rembrandt’s ‘The Mill’
How herpes infects your body and treatments explained
Appreciating The Places We Love Before They’re Gone
How Movies Can Strengthen Your Marriage
The Rise And Fall Of Southern Cafeterias
Are We Too Obsessed With Perfect Sleep?
Are We Really Designed To Nap During The Day?
Why Meditation Might Be The Next Health Revolution
Why CBT-I Is Better Than Sleeping Pills For Insomnia
Should Lottery Winners Take Annuity Or Lump Sum?
How Ice Skating Transformed His Life At 71
Why Some English Words Sound More Beautiful
Saving Gorillas One Sip At A Time
The Future Of Learning And Online Education
Why Geneva Is Paying For The G7 Summit
Renaming PCOS To PMOS And What It Changes
Dodge Ends Gas Muscle Cars, Shifts To Electric Future
Why British pubs have such quirky names
When Hospitals Feel Like Home For Children
Psychology major, campus leadership, and future career plans
From Child Soldier To Doctor In South Sudan
Avoiding Costly Mistakes In Home Renovations
How Women Are Changing Sports Media Coverage
Eating Local To Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
Driverless Semi Trucks Coming To Oklahoma Roads
Why European Tech Startups Struggle Against The US
Hungary’s Opposition Challenges Viktor Orban’s Grip On Power
Understanding Personal Boundaries And Relationship Red Flags
Design, science and identity in sustainable objects
Toxic chemicals in Shein clothes sold in Europe
Escaping The Job Investment Trap And Changing Careers
Why Meditation Is So Powerful For Your Brain
Pentagon Releases Decades Of UFO And UAP Files
Malaysia Restarts Search For Missing Flight MH370
Jane Goodall’s Unforgettable Hug With A Rescued Chimp
Choosing Culture Over Money For A First Big Job
Being Seen vs. Being Truly Heard
A tattoo artist talks style, stereotypes and conscious clients
How To Succeed In Your First Week At Work
Finding Yourself After A Breakup Or Divorce
From Family Loss To Nursing At Marian University
From Me To We: The Power Of Shared Ideas
Top scores · around CEFR C1
How Mount Everest Can Kill Even Experienced Climbers
Napoleon’s Battle Tactics Explained By A Historian
How Dual-Sex Animals Like Gynandromorph Butterflies Develop
Are Words Really Arbitrary? Sound Symbolism Explained
How Carbon Markets Can Drive Real Climate Action
Can Virtual Reality Replace Commuting To Work?
How You Perceive Time Changes Your Personality
The Battle Of The Coral Sea Explained
Dialect Vs Language: Power, Politics And Identity
How Impossible Is Quantum Tunneling Your Hand Through A Table?
Why Leaving The WHO Risks A Global Health Disaster
Why Temu Can Sell Products So Cheaply
U.S.–Iran Ceasefire And Control Of Strait Of Hormuz
Science, Security And The Truth About UAPs
Inside Trump’s State Visit To China
Senate Parliamentarian Blocks Trump Ballroom Security Funding
Vance Discusses Progress On U.S.–Iran Deal And Ceasefire
The test
What does the TOEFL listening test look like?
The listening section was redesigned on 21 January 2026. It now has about 47 short questions and takes around 29 minutes. The clips are short and focused, not the long lectures the old test used. There are four kinds of listening task, named here the way ETS names them:
Listen and Choose a Response
You hear a short line from a conversation and pick the best reply.
Once
Listen to a Conversation
A short conversation, often between a student and a member of staff on campus.
Once
Listen to an Announcement
A short announcement or message, like the kind a college sends to its students.
Once
Listen to an Academic Talk
A short part of a class talk or lecture on a general academic subject.
Once
Each clip plays once. There is no replay, so you need to follow real speech the first time you hear it, and you can take notes while you listen.
The reading and listening sections now adapt to you. How you do on the first set of questions decides whether the next set is easier or harder. The easier path tops out at band 4, and only the harder path can reach band 5 or 6. So if you are aiming high, it helps to practise above your comfort level.
Most voices are North American, but the test also uses British, Australian and New Zealand accents.
The topics are academic and campus life, like a science talk, a history class, or a student sorting something out at an office. The language is more formal than everyday chat.
Level and words
What level and how many words do I need?
Listening needs far fewer words than reading. Research shows that about 3,000 common words cover roughly 95% of normal speech, and the first 1,000 words cover most of what people say.
For TOEFL you also meet some academic words and topic words, like terms from a science or history talk. So you do not need a huge vocabulary. You need the common words, a set of academic words, and a lot of listening practice at your level. Video helps, because the pictures and the speaker give you clues to the meaning.
Watch videos with visual cues, on YouTube or here on Reelang.
Based on research
Nation (2006) About 3,000 common word families cover roughly 95% of everyday spoken English; reading needs far more.
Webb (2021) The most frequent 1,000 words alone cover most of what people say in speech.
Durbahn et al. (2024) Video is easier to understand at a given vocabulary size, because the pictures help you guess.
Ways to practice
Common ways people practice
There is no single right way. People use a mix of these, and the free pack above works as a companion to any of them.
A class or a teacher
Academic talks and short lectures, like TED-Ed or open university lectures
English news and documentaries, like the BBC or PBS
Watching real academic English videos at your level
Start watching now, no email needed
Explore every B1 English video in the catalog
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
How was this TOEFL pack chosen?
We did the searching for you. We check thousands of English videos and measure each one: its level, how fast it is spoken in words a minute, and how many of its words are common. For this pack we kept clear videos in clear standard English, at a speed close to the test (around 182 words a minute), where about 95% of the words are among the most common in spoken English. We split them into groups from easier to harder, so you can start at your level and work up. Then we read the transcripts by hand to keep the academic and campus-life topics the test uses, and we put the clearest, most visual videos first. About 3,000 common words already cover roughly 95% of normal speech (Nation 2006), so this kind of content matches the test well.
What kind of videos should I practice with for TOEFL listening?
Use real English spoken at a normal, real-time pace, the kind of clear academic and campus talk the test is built from. Pick the academic and campus-life topics the test uses, like health, history and culture, society and current affairs, science and nature, study and education and environment. You do not need rare words. About 3,000 common words cover most of normal speech (Nation 2006), so content built from the most common spoken words matches the test well. A good mix is a short conversation, an announcement, and a clear academic talk, because the new test is made of short clips like these. That is exactly how the free pack of 100 videos above was put together.
Does the TOEFL listening audio play once or twice?
Once. Each clip plays a single time and there is no replay, so the test rewards following real speech the first time. You can take notes while you listen. That is why practising with real video at a natural speed helps so much.
What TOEFL score do I need?
It depends on the program, and each university sets its own bar. Most academic programs land around band 4 to 5, which is about 80 to 100 on the old scale. The most competitive ask for more, and many also set a minimum for each section. The table above lists real examples with their sources. Always check the exact number with the place you are applying to, because requirements change.
What is my TOEFL score on the new 1 to 6 scale?
Since January 2026, each section is scored on a 1 to 6 band in half points, and the overall score is the average of the four sections. ETS aligns the bands to CEFR, so band 3 is about B1, band 4 is about B2, band 5 is about C1, and band 6 is C2. For two years your score report also shows the old 0 to 120 score, so you can compare the two. The official table is on the ETS site.
How does the adaptive listening test work?
The reading and listening sections now adapt to you. You answer a first set of questions, and how you do decides whether the next set is easier or harder. The easier path tops out at band 4, so only the harder path can reach band 5 or 6. If you are aiming high, that means you need to handle harder clips with confidence, which is why it helps to practise a little above your level.
Which accents are used in the TOEFL listening test?
Most voices are North American, but ETS also uses British, Australian and New Zealand accents. The free pack above is mostly North American with some other accents, so you hear the kind of voices the test uses.
Can I prepare for free?
Yes. A good free start is the official TOEFL iBT practice from ETS, where you can try the real listening tasks. After that, the best free thing you can do is listen to a lot of real academic English at your level. Start with the 100 videos above, or watch more on YouTube or here on Reelang.
Is video better than textbook audio?
For listening, yes. Textbook audio is often slow and very clear. Real video uses normal speed and real academic talks, which is closer to the test, and the pictures help you guess words you do not know yet.