Take an Interview – Description
The second part of the TOEFL speaking section is a simulated interview. You’ll see an interviewer (in a short looping video), who will ask you four questions about a topic connected to everyday life. You will have 45 seconds to respond to each question. You must answer the questions immediately after they have been asked. The topics are about everyday life – things like exercise, traveling, shopping, reading habits, traveling, etc. You probably won’t be surprised by something weird or unexpected.
There is no preparation time. You must speak immediately after the question is finished. There will be a timer on the screen as you talk.
Remember that you can only hear the questions. You cannot read them.
It seems like there are three styles of questions. You could get any combination of them… even the same one four times!
- State your opinion or preference about something.
- Describe some aspect of your life.
- Describe a specific event or time in your life.
We have a large collection of sample questions available.
Take an Interview – Sample Question Set
Here’s a set of sample interview questions. On the real test you will first hear the introduction, and then you will answer each question one at a time. I’ve also included a sample answer after each question. To read transcripts of the questions and answers, click here.
Introduction:
You have agreed to take part in a research study about your social media usage. You will have a short online interview with a researcher. The researcher will ask you some questions.
Question 1:
Answer for Question 1:
Question 2:
Answer for Question 2:
Question 3:
Answer for Question 3:
Question 4:
Answer for Question 4:
Take an Interview – More Sample Questions and Answers
- Practice 1: Remote Work
- Practice 2: Celebrations
- Practice 3: Shopping
- Practice 4: Language Learning
- Practice 5: Smartphones
- Practice 6: Housework
- Practice 7: Exercise
- Practice 8: Current Events
- Practice 9: Education
- Practice 10: Reading Habits
- Practice 11: Social Media
- Practice 12: Working
- Practice 13: Personal Finances
Take an Interview – Strategies
- Start by reading the scoring rubrics from ETS to see what they expect. Note that to get a high score your grammar should be close to perfect.
- As soon as you see the topic of the interview, start thinking about examples from your life that relate to it. You will probably be able to use some of them in your responses. For example, if you see that the topic is travel start thinking about your travel experiences right away!
- Maintain a natural speaking pace. Don’t go too slow or too fast.
- Avoid long pauses.
- Use a variety of grammatical forms. Include a mix of simple, compound and complex sentences.
- Avoid repeating words too many times.
- Your vocabulary doesn’t need to be fancy, but it should be wide ranging.
- Basic transitions like “moreover” and “as a result” will give your answer more structure.
- Avoid including long lists of things. Those will always get a low score.
Take an Interview – Templates
State an Opinion or Preference
- Personally, I strongly believe that …
- I feel this way because…
- For instance…
- That’s why I feel that…
Describe an Event in Your Life
- I remember a time when…
- It happened…
- It was meaningful because…
Describe an Aspect of Your Life
- Personally, I…
- Moreover…
- That’s how I…
Take an Interview – The End!
The interview questions are the last part of the TOEFL. But don’t rush to leave the test center (or to terminate your at-home test). Instead, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. There are a few buttons you must push to ensure that your scores are reported, and if you rush you might push the wrong ones.