在听文章的时候，考生应该慢慢梳理出文章的框架和脉络，知道内哪里会出现比较重要的内容，而哪里又一般不是很重要。一般托福听力笔记左边为重要内容，右边则是细节内容，而且越是往右记越是细节，当然相对来说通常也越不是很重要。基本结构是：
Main idea
supporting idea
supporting idea
minor points, example, detail, etc.
Main idea
通过信号词找到重点句
因为篇章较长，很多考生往往坚持不到听完就放弃了，所以在训练时很重要的一个托福他技巧就是培养将文章变短变小的能力。通过确定信号词我们可以很快确定后面的内容是否重要，是否需要仔细倾听，是否可以不听，从而在避免长时间听力练习的疲劳想象。现将各种信号词分类如下：
直接提示观点、表递进关系的信号词
There are reason why
Firs... Second...Third
What I want to talk about is...
And most important,...
A major development...
Why it was so important...
A term for...
It can be defined in this way...
In other words...
In summary...
From this we see that...
We may draw the conclusion...
The thing about...
Remember that...
The important idea is that...
In addition
Moreover/furthermore/what's more
Equally important...
Next I want to mention...
That brings us to...
We'll be looking at a couple of ways to ...
