The Listening Section has been designed with purpose to test the candidates integrated "visuals and reading <<??>> skills." This Section has two parts to it; Short Conversations and Long Conversations with 2-3 questions per conversation. This section is computer adaptive.
Part A: Dialogues and Short Conversations
(11 to 17 dialogues-- 1 question each) (from 2-3 Short Conversations--2 or 3 Questions each)
In this section, the student sees a picture on the computer screen, hears a short conversation while looking at the picture, sees and reads a question about the conversation, and then chooses the correct answer choice.
Part B: Long Conversation and Mini-Talks (from 4-6 long conversations and/or Mini-Talks: 3-6 questions each)
This section contains at long academic conversation, and a number of mini-talks. The long academic conversation has a professor talking to a class. The professor will discuss a subject and answer questions about the subject. The conversation has multiple speakers- usually the professor and 1 or 2 students.
While the conversation is being played, students will typically see a picture of the professor on the screen, followed by pictures of students as they ask questions. A picture related to the subject being discussed may be displayed on the computer screen.
Each minitalk consists of a professor lecturing to a class. Before the minitalk, students will see a screen on which is written the subject area of the minitalk. While the minitalk is being played, students will see a picture of the person speaking on the screen, followed by a secondary picture related to the subject being discussed.
SECTION 2: STRUCTURE
20-25 Questions: 15-20 minutes long
This section contains a mixture of "fill in the blank with the correct answer" questions and "identify the incorrect underlined part of a sentence" questions. This section requires a balanced knowledge of English Grammar and an effective vocabulary.
SECTION 3: READING COMPREHENSION
The Reading Comprehension Section contains questions based on passages. These passages are of varying interest and faculties. This section aims at testing the “understanding the language” capability of the candidate.
There are 8-10questions per passage. The questions are typically “specific detailed” type along with some new types of questions that ask the student to insert a sentence into an appropriate place in a paragraph.
This section is NOT computer-adaptive
SECTION 4: WRITING
In this section, you have to write an essay. You may type your essay, or handwrite it in 30 minutes. The topics are of varied nature ranging from a simple “My favorite Class” to “ the Impact of Music and Culture on Today’s Society”.