Academic English preparation Listen and Repeat: Say It Exactly
Listen and Repeat opens TOEFL Speaking: hear 7 sentences once and repeat them accurately, with each response scored 0–5. Learn the rubric, chunking and prosody techniques, then practise with 21 original sentences and a recording checklist.
9 min read · Updated 10/23/2026
Contents
What Listen and Repeat Is
Listen and Repeat is the first TOEFL iBT Speaking task, followed by Take an Interview. According to official ETS documents:
- A scenario places you in a campus or academic setting. A picture appears on screen, moving to relevant areas as the sentences progress.
- You hear 7 sentences. After each, there is a short pause before you repeat exactly what you heard. Each sentence plays once, and you repeat it once; the ETS sample directions say Repeat only once.
- Sentences become longer and more complex as the task progresses.
- The maximum response time is 8–12 seconds per sentence, according to the 2026 overview.
- Each repetition receives 0–5 points. Speaking has 11 scored items (7 + 4) and an approximate base time of 8 minutes.
- ETS uses AI systems and human scoring, according to the Technical Manual.
What is measured? The task tests your ability to process spoken English and repeat it accurately and intelligibly. The Technical Manual identifies three areas in automated scoring: fluency, including pace, pauses and hesitation; intelligibility, including pronunciation, rhythm and stress; and repeat accuracy, or the words repeated correctly.
You do not need creative ideas. The challenge is to remember the sentence and reproduce it clearly, so preparation focuses on memory and pronunciation.
How the 0–5 Score Works
This is our abridged summary of the ETS rubric in Technical Manual Appendix A:
| Score | ETS description (summary) |
|---|---|
| 5 | Repeats the sentence exactly and is clearly intelligible |
| 4 | Preserves the meaning but is not an exact repetition: minor word or grammar changes, such as one or two function words omitted or changed, a tense or number marker lost, or two words reordered; one or two content words may be unclear because of pronunciation; self-correction is possible, but the response is completed successfully |
| 3 | Is nearly complete but does not preserve the meaning accurately: most content words remain, but several function words change or one or more content words are missing or changed; intelligibility is sometimes affected |
| 2 | Omits and/or inaccurately repeats much of the sentence; the response is a fragment rather than a complete sentence |
| 1 | Contains very little of the sentence or is mostly unintelligible |
| 0 | No response, unintelligible speech, a response in another language or only a statement such as I don’t know |
Our illustration. Target sentence: Group study rooms must be booked at least a day in advance. These examples illustrate the rubric; they are not official scores:
| Repetition | What changed? | Rubric comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Group study rooms must be booked at least a day in advance. | Exact repetition | Consistent with 5 |
| Group study rooms must be booked at least one day in advance. | a → one: a small function-word change, with meaning preserved | Consistent with 4 |
Chunking: Hold Meaning, Not Words
Trying to memorise a long sentence word by word can make you lose the ending. Instead, divide it into meaningful chunks and hold each as a unit.
Three steps:
- Hear the chunks as you listen. A sentence often has 2–4 parts: who / does what / where or when / why.
- Remember the structure, such as subject + verb + object + place. Use the pattern to organise memory rather than storing isolated words.
- Keep the rhythm. Remember the sound: stressed words and pauses often help you retrieve the sentence.
Example (16 words):
Chemicals must be returned to the cabinet, / and every container / needs a label / with its contents.
- First chunk: Chemicals must be returned to the cabinet: what must happen, in a passive structure.
- Second chunk: and every container: the new subject.
- The remaining idea: needs a label with its contents: what is needed.
Avoid these habits:
- Do not keep whispering the opening words while listening: it prevents you from hearing what follows.
- Do not translate into your first language. Translation adds a memory burden and disrupts the rhythm.
- Do not accelerate. A natural pace, with pauses between meaningful parts, supports accurate repetition.
Prosody: Stress, Rhythm and Intonation
Model answers and detailed strategies are included with Pro access. Tests are purchased separately.
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