TOEIC Strategies: Photographs

The first part of  of the listening section for TOEIC is photographs. You will hear four sentences and must choose which sentence is best for the question.

Let's practice with the photo below:

If you're going to write the paper test, the best thing to do is arrive early, and look at the questions (but don't start the set time). This will help you make better choices when you're are writing the exam.

The options you will hear in this section are usually very basic sentences. Look at the photo. Note the possible nouns (people, places, and things), verbs (actions), and prepositions (in, on, under, etc).

Now, read the four sentences below, and choose the best answer.

a) The student is studying for a test
b) The student is reading a book
c) The library doesn't have any tables
d) There's a memo on the wall.

  Continue reading for the answer.


Correct answer is b. 

a is a good answer, but, it's not the best answer. It's possible the student is studying for a test, but we don't know that 100%. TOEIC has a lot of these "good answer" options. Be careful.

c is incorrect because only the book shelves are in the photo

d is incorrect because there's no memo in the photo.

 To prepare for the photographs section, it's a good idea to find a photo; write as many nouns, verbs, and preposition as you can for the photos. Then make as many sentences as possible. This will help you remember vocabulary, and grammar.

Below is a practice exercise that you can use for practice. Readers may put their answers in the comments section of this post.

(SORRY, the file is a jpeg. To download, right-click and save, then print)

Here's the photographs section from the practice test at examenglish.com if you'd like to practice under test conditions.