Today on Inside the TOEFL Test,

we're going inside the TOEFL iBT Listening section.

Specifically, the Organization questions.

Organization questions ask you to show understanding

of how a lecture is structured.

You can recognize organization questions

because they often include phrases

such as "Why does the professor mention...?"

or "Why does the professor discuss...?"

These kinds of phrases show that organization questions

are often asked about the examples in a lecture,

so it helps to listen for examples,

and think about why the professor is using them.

Now let's look at a sample question.

The question is from a literature lecture about

detective novels, including one titled The Moonstone.

The passage focuses on an important character

from The Moonstone named Sergeant Cuff

who is trying to solve a crime.

Here is an excerpt from the lecture:

PROFESSOR: So, now Cuff arrives.

Uh, Cuff is the man who's coming to solve the mystery,

and-and again he has a lot of the characteristics that

future detectives throughout the history of this genre will have.

Um, He's eccentric.

Um, He has a hobby that he's obsessive about-in this ...

uh, in this case, it's the love of roses.

He's a fanatic about the breeding of roses;

and here think of Nero Wolfe and his orchids,

uh Sherlock Holmes and his violin,

uh a lot of those later classic detective heroes

have this kind of outside interest that they uh ...

they go to as a kind of antidote to the evil

and misery they encounter in their daily lives.

Now, um, these detective heroes .. um..

they have this characteristic of being smart, incredibly smart,

but of not appearing to be smart.

And uh most importantly,

from uh a kind of existential point of view,

these detectives see things that other people do not see.

And that's why the detective is such an important figure,

I think, in our modern imagination.

Um, In the case of The Moonstone-

um I don't want to say too much here and spoil it for you-

but the clue that's key to ...

the solving of the crime is a smeared bit of paint

in a doorway.

Um, of course, the regular police have missed this paint

smear or made some sort of unwarranted assumption about it.

Cuff sees this smear of paint-um this paint,

the place where the paint is smeared-

and realizes that from this one smear of paint

you can actually deduce the whole situation ...

um, the whole world.

And-And that's what the hero in a detective novel like this ...

brings to it that the other characters don't-

it's um it's this ability to see meaning

where others see no meaning

and to bring order ... to where uh it seems there is no order.

MICHAEL: Here's an example of an organization question:

Why does the professor mention a smeared bit of paint

in a doorway in The Moonstone?

Let's look at the answer choices one at a time.

Choice A can be ruled out

because the professor directly states

that noticing the smeared paint is the key

to solving the crime, not a mistake.

For option B to be correct, there would have been a pattern

of discussing details from the crime scene.

But the smeared paint is the only visual detail

from the crime scene that is mentioned.

So option B is not correct.

Option D can be eliminated because the professor states

that the police officers didn't notice the smeared paint.

Option C is the best answer because the professor talks

about hero detectives in mystery novels

and the characteristics they have in common.

The professor indicates that there is a pattern

when he says this:

PROFESSOR: These detectives see things

that other people do not see.

MICHAEL: Here's a listening tip that can help you understand

how a lecture is organized: Listen for the signal words

that indicate the introduction, major ideas,

examples and the conclusion or summary.

These might be sequence words like "first," "next" and "then."

Or they might indicate time or a chronology,

like "before," "during" or "since."

Or they could show cause and effect,

like "accordingly" or "as a result."

These signal words are good cues for when to take notes.

There are lots of ways to improve your English skills.

Whatever you do, keep practicing.

And good luck on your TOEFL test.