托福口语考试的时间为20分钟，题型有三大类，六道题，每种题型的口语表达时间均不超过六十秒，准备时间在15～20秒之间，这样算下来，整个口语考试由考生进行口语表达的时间不到六分钟，相比于阅读，听力和写作三部分的考试时间，口语考试可以说是转瞬即逝，但恰恰就是这短短的时间让很多同学都纠结无比，因为不到六分钟的答题时间对应的分数在iBT120分体系中举足轻重。
纵观整个口语考试，有三个非常明显的特点：一、考试中没有与考官的交流，二、考试过程中允许笔记，三、考试题型相当固定。第三点提到的考试题型固定，不光指每个题目的类型固定，而且出题的方式也是固定的。接下来我们将通过Task 5 来进行举例说明。
Task 5 是一道校园情景的综合任务题，在听完一段对话后，其准备时间为20秒，答题时间为60秒。 和Task 3，4不同，Task 5没有阅读部分，对有些同学来说，缺少了阅读作为铺垫，直接进行听力使之难度有所提高。尽管没有阅读部分作为引入铺垫，我们依然可以通过固定的出题方式来分析这道题。

下面是以2011年5月14日的Task 5.（新托福口语真经-3）来进行分析：
其听力部分的对话内容如下：
W: Hey, Mark, you look worried, I can tell by the look on your face. What’s wrong?

M: well, this is tough, I’ve just been informed that my audition time for the play Hamlet has been changed from next week to tomorrow. The worst thing is that I’ve promised my roommate I would help tutor him for physics test tonight, leaving me no time to prepare for the audition.

W: Ouch, sounds like you have almost no time! What is your plan?

M: I don’t know, I really need to prepare for my audition tonight.

W: Hmmm, maybe you could ask someone else to help your roommate out. I am sure your roommate will understand.

M: No, I can’t just renege on my promise by not showing up. I have promise him to help him prepare for his test. I worry he won’t be happy.

W: Ah, I see, then I guess you could just help him first, and then prepare your audition. How’s that?

M: Right, but then I might not have enough time to do all the preparation for the auditon next day.

W: Hmmm, well, my friend, I don’t know what to tell you.
对于Task 5 这样的校园情景题，通常对话都是由一男一女来完成，其中一个人会描述一个自己现在遇到的问题（Problem），而对话的另一方则在随后的对话中会提出两个解决方案（Solutions），遇到问题的一方将会分别对这两个解决方案进行评价或分析是否可行。那么，到这里，听力部分就结束了。

我们来总结一下听力部分的固定出题模式: Problem-Solutions。在上文的例子中，我们可以看到对话中的男生的问题为：His audition for the play Hamlet has been changed to tomorrow, but he has to tutor his roommate for physics test tonight, which leaves him no time for the audition。 对话中的女生提供了两个解决方案：The first one is to ask someone else to help his roommate; the other is to prepare for his audition after he finishes tutoring his roommate.

接下来我们看看问题：Describe the problem and the two solutions, then state which of the two solutions you prefer and explain why. 我们注意到，和其他综合任务题有所区别，Task 5不光需要总结复述听力的内容，而且是一道需要表达自己观点的综合任务题，所以我们的回答中，不仅需要描述Problem, Solutions, 同时还需要解释自己的Preference。

至此，我们已经可以非常明确的总结出Task 5 的出题方式及答题模式，即 Problem-Solutions-Preference（PSP）。 对于Preference部分的答题，我们可以参考Task 2 的答题方式，因为Task 2通常给我们提供的两个选项让我们进行个人偏好的选择。我们可以用以下句型来开始preference部分的回答：
I think the man should take the first option….
In my opinion, I think the first choice is better..
From my point of view, I believe the first suggestion is better…
From my perspective, I prefer the first solution…

另外需要指出的是，如果同学们想说“如果我是这个男生，我会选择…”, 请注意使用虚拟语气，即“If I were the man, I would….”
根据我们上文说总结的PSP的答题模式，下面给出这道题的一个sample response.
The man is having a problem: his audition for the play Hamlet has been changed to tomorrow, but he has to tutor his roommate for physics test tonight, which leaves him no time for the audition.
The woman offers the man two possible solutions: the first one is to ask someone else to help his roommate; the other is to prepare for the audition after he finishes tutoring his roommate.
From my perspective, I think the first choice is better. This is because if he tutors his roommate will take a lot of time, which will leave him quite limited time to prepare for the audition next day. In addition, even though he would be able to finish both of the tutoring roommate and preparation for the audition, probably he wouldn’t have enough hours to sleep, which might making him too tired to perform well. Therefore, I believe the man should ask someone else to tutor his roommate instead of him.

综上所述，托福的口语考试的出题题型是相当固定的，备考阶段，建议同学们在熟悉题型及出题方式的前提下，进行充分的练习以及准备。这样在不到六分钟的口语答题时间内，我们可以充分利用时间，完成每个题目的要求，make every second count!