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TOEFL iBT 2026 · Listening task guide

TOEFL Listen to an Announcement: how it works and how to do well

Listen to an Announcement plays a short message from a teacher or someone at a school event, about 40 to 85 words long, and then asks questions about it. It’s one of four Listening tasks on the TOEFL iBT since January 2026, and it checks whether you catch what matters: what’s happening, what’s changed and what you need to do.

Words in an announcement
40–85
Questions in a test
6–10
You hear each one
Once
For each question
1 point

How Listen to an Announcement works

You hear one person speaking to a group, in a classroom or at a school event, either in person or as a broadcast message. Announcements are short, about 40 to 85 words, and cover things like schedules, directions, rules, or something students have achieved. You hear it once, with a picture of the speaker on screen, and the words aren’t shown.

Then you answer questions about it, one at a time. They can ask you to:

  • say what the announcement is mainly about, or why the speaker is making it
  • pick out an important detail, like a time, a place or something to bring
  • understand informal phrases and idioms
  • work out something the speaker suggests but doesn’t say
  • predict what will happen next, or what listeners should do

There are 6 to 10 of these questions in a Listening test. You can take notes, and you can’t go back to the first module once you’re in the second.

How it’s scored. Each question is worth one point, right or wrong. A wrong answer costs you nothing more than that point, so always choose an answer.

Worked example

This announcement was written for this guide in the same format as the real task. Play it once, as you would on the test, then answer the questions. On the test you never see it written, but here the transcript is behind a toggle if you need it.

You hear

Listen to an announcement in a classroom.

Show the transcript
Woman

Before we start, some good news. Three students from this class, Ana, Kenji and Ruth, won first prize at the regional science fair last weekend for their project on cleaning river water with sand filters. Their poster will be on display in the library lobby until the end of the month. They’ll also give a short talk about it next Thursday at four in the main lecture hall. Come along if you can, and bring your questions. They’ve promised it’ll be short.

  1. Question 1

    Why is the speaker making the announcement?

    • A. To share news about some students’ success
    • B. To ask students to enter a science fair
    • C. To explain how sand filters clean water
    • D. To change the room for a class
    Show the answer

    A. To share news about some students’ success. She opens with “some good news”: three classmates won a prize. The poster and the talk are details that follow from that news, and the project itself is only named, not explained.

  2. Question 2

    What does the speaker imply about the talk on Thursday?

    • A. It won’t take long
    • B. Only science students may attend
    • C. It will be held in the library lobby
    • D. Students must send their questions in advance
    Show the answer

    A. It won’t take long. Her last line, “They’ve promised it’ll be short”, tells you so without saying it outright. The library lobby is where the poster is, not the talk, which is in the main lecture hall.

How to do well

  1. Catch the first sentence. Speakers usually say why they’re talking straight away: a change, a reminder, an invitation, some news. That’s your answer to the purpose question, and the frame for everything after it.

  2. Note the numbers and names. Times, dates, places and things to bring are what detail questions ask about. Jot them down as you hear them: “poster – library lobby; talk – Thu 4:00, Rm 210”.

  3. Keep similar details apart. Announcements often give two places, two times, or an old plan and a new one. Note each with what it belongs to, so you don’t mix up where the poster is and where the talk is.

  4. Ask what listeners should do. Many announcements end with an action: come along, bring something, see the speaker. Questions about what happens next usually come from those last lines.

Try Listen to an Announcement in a real-format test

Listening Practice Test 1 has all four Listening tasks, timed and scored on the 1.0–6.0 band scale, with every recording played once. Free, with no account needed. Headphones help.

Start Listening Practice Test 1