For TOEFL class we listened to two portions of the first practice test. The first one was easy, but the second one was difficult.
Most of the time we talked about the problems you can face in the test. Here are some of them:
- Speed of the speaker;
- The speaker’s accent;
- Vocabulary;
- Outside noise;
- Other environmental problems;
- You can’t control the test (you can’t go back);
- Strange subject material
- Taking notes;
- And a lot of others.
A lot of others, really. There were really only two suggestions for solving these problems.
- Take time and listen to many different native speakers, and learn new vocabulary. The more you practice, the easier this part will be. You can’t prepare for a lot of this test, but remember that it’s a test of your ability, so try to gain experience listening. Even if you don’t reply, listen to radio news in English, television programs and talk to friends. It will help a lot.
- Take really good notes. It’s very difficult, but you can solve some of these problems by taking good notes. I don’t understand a lot of these questions too, but if I take some notes I can try to learn a little, very quickly, and maybe get a question right.
The last thing we mentioned was the time problem — you get very, very little time to answer all the questions. But remember: One question out of the group will be a multiple-point question. You want to focus on that question. So try to answer the easier questions quickly, so you have time to spend on the big one.
Next week we’ll try more Listening exercises and see if we can overcome these obstacles. 
