iBT TOEFL Speaking question 4 - Online practice activity

Below you will find a set of materials that replicates the style of the 4th question in the iBT TOEFL speaking section. While not precisely within the format of the actual iBT, it is very close in terms of its inputs in reading and listening, and what it asks for in terms of a spoken response.

 

You can try out this task just for your own personal practice, or submit a recorded response using the speaking recorder applet that follows the reading and listening materials. Responses will be posted on this page in the near future for people to listen to and compare.

 

 

READING:

Look at the following academic article about the extinction of the woolly mammoth. Use no more than 1 minute to read the notice and take any notes.

 

The relatively sudden disappearance of a notable species like the woolly mammoth has long intrigued scientific researchers. The woolly mammoth went from being a prosperous and widespread species in the northern latitudes of North America and Eurasia to an extinct species around 13,000 years ago. Several theories have been put forward to account for this, chief among them the idea that retreating glacial ice at the time caused widespread massive floods and created bogs, swamps and forests where before there had been sweeping steppes and grasslands. According to this theory, many of the larger animals like the woolly mammoth would have drowned, become mired in bogs, and/or had their food supply disrupted by thick forests where they could not move about and forage. Another theory is that the arrival of humans in North America at around about this time resulted in the woolly mammoths being hunted to extinction. A relatively far-fetched alternative theory has been that a major impact event – like the explosive impact of a comet or asteroid – caused the extinction. Many scientists have been quick to criticize this theory as nonsense, saying that such an impact event would have to have left a major impression in the earth’s crust as well as a debris pattern. No such evidence has been discovered anywhere in North America, and the absence of a large crater or impression in particular has led most scientists to ignore the theory as implausible.

 

 

LISTENING:

Now watch an actual video report from National Geographic. Take notes while you listen to the story.

 

 

 

Speaking Prompt:

Discuss the content presented in the documentary and explain how it challenges the essential information presented in the reading passage.

 

Responses so far:

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Comments

[Jason]

Some good responses to the task here.

Does anyone care to comment?

:-)

- J

[Rebeca]

Hi Jason,

First of all, I would like to thank you for this amazing work you have been doing!! I will be taking TOEFL in two weeks from now and without your tips and help I would be completely lost! In my opinion the 4th question is the hardest one in the speaking section of TOEFL and I would appreciate if you could give me some tips on how to take effective notes from both reading passage and listening! I always get lost in selecting the essencial information!!
Also I recoredered my answer to this practice activity and It would be grat if you could take a look at it!!
Thanks for everything and keep up the good work
Rebecca

[Jason Renshaw]

Hi Rebeca,

Thanks for your comment here.

Unfortunately, you've come across a pretty 'ancient' post here and I am no longer accepting or responding to recordings for it.

For practice of this nature - plus GREAT tips for taking effective notes for reading and listening, I highly recommend my TOEFL Speaking Mentor course - you can find and enroll in it here (if you haven't already, that is!):

http://www.english-itutor.com/TOEFL_Speaking_Mentor.html

Thanks again for visiting and all the best to you in your TOEFL test prep!

~ Jason