TOEFL Speaking · Task 3

TOEFL Speaking Task 3 — Academic Reading and Lecture

Task 3 gives you a short academic passage defining a concept, then a lecture excerpt in which a professor illustrates that concept with one or two examples. You get 30 seconds to prepare and 60 seconds to explain the concept using the examples from the lecture.
  • A passage and a lecture, then 30 seconds to prepare and 60 to speak.
  • Integrated
  • Free delivery check

Record your prepared summary.

Ready·TOEFL TASK 3

Explain a concept you have prepared: define it in one sentence, then use the lecture's example to show how it works. Sixty seconds.

00:0060s

Press record, answer out loud, then press again.

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The format

What the task gives you

Stimulus
A textbook-style passage defining a term, then a lecture that exemplifies it.
Preparation
30 seconds
Speaking
60 seconds
Marked on
Delivery, language use and topic development

What this page can and cannot practise

The stimulus is not ours to give. What sayit measures on a Task 3 rehearsal is the delivery: whether you can explain a definition and an example for a full minute without the pace collapsing, and whether academic vocabulary survives being said quickly. An estimate from fluency and pronunciation only — not an official band, and not a mark for vocabulary or grammar.
Strategy

How to answer Task 3

  1. 1

    Define in one sentence, then go to the example

    The reading gives you the definition; the lecture gives you the evidence. A minute is roughly fifteen seconds of definition and forty-five of example.

  2. 2

    Use the professor's example, not your own

    Substituting your own illustration is the most frequent Task 3 error, and it removes exactly the content the task is testing.

  3. 3

    Say the technical term clearly the first time

    If the key term is mispronounced on its first appearance, everything after it is harder to follow. Practise the term alone before the run.

Questions

Straight answers

How much of the reading should I repeat?

One sentence of definition, in your own words. The rest of the minute belongs to the lecture's examples.

What can I practise here?

The spoken minute. Prepare a concept and an example from any TOEFL practice set, record it under the clock, and use the analysis on pace, pausing and pronunciation of the technical vocabulary.

Practise this question

Practise the clock, not the content

Delivery is the third of the score you can actually drill. Record under the real timings and read back pace, pauses, fillers and every sound.