TOEFL Listen and Choose a Response Practice: Travel Information
This TOEFL Listen and Choose a Response travel practice lesson offers eight original mock questions with audio, set around journeys and travel services.
You’ll learn travel and transportation vocabulary for journeys, schedules, and services, expressions of place and time with at and in, and a Test Tip for spotting replies that sound relevant but answer a different question. Finally, you will complete eight simulated test questions in a practice video.
This focused lesson keeps all eight questions within travel information to build useful vocabulary. On the TOEFL, the questions change subjects from one item to the next.
VOCABULARY
Travel and transportation vocabulary
These ten words describe journeys, schedules, and services.
platform (noun)
The raised area beside a railway track where passengers wait. Synonyms: track side, boarding area
Commuters waited under the shelter on the crowded platform.
terminal (noun)
A building where journeys begin and end. Synonyms: station building, depot
The newer terminal has a large play area for children.
to depart (verb)
To leave, especially at a scheduled time. Synonyms: to leave, to set off
The delegation will depart immediately after the closing speech.
to board (verb)
To get onto a vehicle for a journey. Synonyms: to get on, to embark
Passengers with small children may board first.
to transfer (verb)
To move from one service, line, or place to another. Synonyms: to switch, to move
She transferred from the evening class to the morning group.
delay (noun)
A period of waiting caused by a problem. Synonyms: hold-up, setback
Heavy rain caused a two-week delay in the building work.
fare (noun)
The money paid for a journey. Synonyms: ticket price, charge
A single fare costs less if you buy it in advance.
nearby (adjective)
A short distance away. Synonyms: close, not far
We ate at a nearby café while the technician finished.
to run (verb)
To operate on a regular schedule. Synonyms: to operate, to go
The clinic runs a walk-in service on Saturday mornings.
connection (noun)
A second service you take to complete a journey. Synonyms: link, onward service
Bad weather meant we missed our connection and stayed overnight.
GRAMMAR FOCUS
Saying where and when in English
Choose a Response messages often ask where and when, and this grammar focus supplies the two familiar prepositions that carry those answers but still cause English learners headaches. Use at with times and places treated as points. Use in to locate something within a period, space, or area, or to say how far into the future something will happen.
At
at [time expression] / at [noun phrase naming a location]
Use at with clock times, named times, and points in an event or a person’s life. For place, use it when treating a location as a point where people meet or an activity happens.
- Identify a time, such as clock times, named times, mealtimes, points in an event, and ages.
The online seminar starts at six o’clock.
She does her best writing at night.
We check the equipment at the beginning of each shift.
He started his first business at the age of twenty.
- Identify a location or event, such as specific points, addresses, places associated with an activity, and events.
Meet the nurse at reception.
The workshop is at 25 Oak Street.
She left her phone at work.
We met at a photography exhibition.
In
in [noun phrase naming a period] / in [noun phrase naming a space or area]
Use in to locate an event within a period, to say how far into the future it will happen, or to locate something within a space or area.
- Place an event in time, such as months, years, seasons, parts of the day, decades and centuries, and periods of life.
Her training begins in September.
They grow tomatoes in the summer.
I answer personal emails in the evening.
That band was popular in the 90s.
- Locate something within a space or area, such as containers, rooms, buildings, outdoor areas, neighborhoods, cities, regions, and countries.
The spare batteries are in the kitchen drawer.
We keep the spare chairs in the basement.
They practice tai chi in the park.
She lives in Japan.
TEST TIP
A relevant detail can still answer the wrong question
In Choose a Response, a wrong answer choice can trap you by using a related detail from the question while answering a different point. Before choosing, ask: Does this reply address exactly what was asked, or does it just sound relevant?
Spotting the related-detail trap
How soon will the replacement arrive?
Tempting
We’ll send it out within two working days.
When it leaves the sender, not when it reaches you.
Fitting
Allow up to five working days for it to reach you.
Do we pay the deposit before they confirm the order?
Tempting
The balance isn’t due until the order is confirmed.
When the remaining payment is due, not the deposit.
Fitting
They won’t confirm it until they’ve received the deposit.
How much extra time does the extension give us?
Tempting
We now have six weeks altogether.
The total time available, not the extra time added.
Fitting
It adds two weeks to the original deadline.
How long does the ferry crossing take?
Tempting
There’s a departure every hour.
The departure frequency.
Fitting
About forty minutes.
TASK PRACTICE
TOEFL Listen and Choose a Response practice
Play the complete eight-question video and record one answer letter for each item. The travel exchanges include questions, updates, and concerns, with direct and less direct replies.
Exam format
Hear each prompt once and choose from four written options. This lesson uses a 15-second EE practice window beginning when the prompt starts; that is a practice setting, not an official universal time limit, but within the window recommended by study.com, ETS’s official study guide partner. Keep playing until all eight items are complete.
Review your response
After completing the set, replay each prompt and compare your choice with the answer and explanation. Use these checks to find which part of the exchange you understood well and what to practice next.
After your TOEFL travel information response practice
In this lesson you practiced eight TOEFL Listen and Choose a Response questions, checking which reply addressed the complete message, including updates, concerns, assumptions, and time limits.
You learned how to use at and in for place and time. Finally, you practiced staying mindful of related details that answer a different question.
Next, practice interpreting answers without an explicit yes or no in Customer Service.
For the complete task format and more practice routes, see the Listen and Choose a Response guide.
Browse all current lessons in the TOEFL practice index.
CONTINUE PRACTICING
Continue with the slide collection
Turn this lesson into a class-ready sequence with a warm-up, guided travel and transportation vocabulary practice, activities for using at and in with place and time expressions, examples comparing fitting replies with tempting related details, and worked response analysis.
Explore the lesson deck →