TV shows for TOEFL prep: campus life and lectures

TOEFL tests whether you can live and study in English at a North American university: handle things on campus, follow a class, discuss with classmates, and write to a professor. So the most useful shows for TOEFL are about campus and academic life, not just whatever is popular. Everyday shows train campus conversations and speaking, documentaries and academic animations train lecture listening, and shows with real discussions give ideas for writing.

The short answer: for campus and everyday conversations, watch Young Sheldon and Abbott Elementary. For answering questions in speaking, watch Modern Family. For academic lectures, watch Crash Course, TED-Ed, and Cosmos. For ideas in academic discussion writing, watch The Good Place.

TOEFL changed in January 2026, with new task types and a new scoring scale. This post follows the direction of the new tasks. Check the ETS website for exact numbers of questions and timing.

What TOEFL tests, and where shows help

• Listening: campus conversations, campus announcements, and academic talks, plus tasks where you hear one line and choose the best response. Recordings are mostly North American, with some other accents.
• Speaking: listening to a sentence and repeating it, and a simulated interview with questions about your experiences and views.
• Writing: building sentences, writing an email, and joining an academic discussion with your own view.
• Reading: completing words, reading everyday texts, and reading academic passages. Shows help least here.

Shows help listening and speaking the most. For the email and the academic discussion, they mainly give situations and ideas.

Campus conversations and announcements: school and workplace shows

1. Young Sheldon. American pronunciation, with narration and moderate speed. Lots of school, teachers, and science, so it is a good way to get used to campus language.
2. Abbott Elementary. American pronunciation, with colleagues at a school making requests, arranging times, and solving problems. These match the situations in campus conversations and emails.
3. Community. Set at a community college, with class registration, group projects, and visits to professors. It is fast and full of jokes, so it fits learners who already have a base.

How to practice: in each episode, pick one conversation where someone comes to get something done, such as a student asking a teacher to move a deadline. Afterwards, say who had what problem, what the other person suggested, and how it was solved. TOEFL campus conversations test exactly these three points.

Speaking: answer questions quickly

In the new speaking section, the simulated interview asks you to answer right after hearing a question, with a clear view and a reason. That is very close to sitcom scenes where a character talks straight to the camera.

• Modern Family, The Office, and Abbott Elementary all have many of these: one person speaks to the camera about what they think and why.

How to practice:

1. Watch one to-camera moment and note how it opens, gives a reason, and gives an example.
2. Ask yourself the same question, answer within about 45 seconds, record it, and listen back.
3. For the repeat task, use short lines from the show: hear one line, pause, and say it exactly, paying attention to linking and stress.

Academic lectures: documentaries and academic animations

Lectures are the hardest part of TOEFL listening. Topics can be biology, astronomy, history, or psychology, with dense information and many technical terms.

• Crash Course. Short lectures grouped by subject. Fast but clearly structured, and the closest thing to TOEFL lectures.
• TED-Ed. Academic animations of a few minutes, a good way to start short.
• Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. Astronomy, physics, and the history of science, with American narration at a slow pace.
• Our Planet and Planet Earth. British narration, with many biology and environment topics, which are also common lecture subjects.

How to practice: listen without watching and take notes on the topic, definitions, examples, and contrasts. Afterwards, sum up the talk in two or three sentences, then check with subtitles.

Writing: the email and the academic discussion

• Email: Abbott Elementary and The Office are full of requests, apologies, and arrangements. After a scene, write the same situation as an email: explain the situation, make the request, and give a time.
• Academic discussion: in The Good Place, the philosophy teacher Chidi often discusses ethical questions, such as whether a white lie is OK. After an episode, write about 100 words responding to one character's view: do you agree, and why?
• Technology and society: Black Mirror and Silicon Valley help you think through common topics like the pros and cons of technology.

Do not put lines from a show straight into your writing. Use the show to work out a view and an example, then write them in your own words.

How to plan the prep period

More than three months before the exam:

• 20 to 30 minutes a day, alternating between campus shows and academic lectures, one kind per day.
• Speaking practice three times a week, using to-camera moments to copy how people answer questions.
• One episode of The Good Place or Black Mirror a week, followed by a short opinion paragraph.

One to two months before the exam:

• Official practice tasks and mock tests come first. Shows drop to 10 to 15 minutes a day as a listening warm-up.
• Keep one campus show and one lecture series. Do not start anything new.
• When a mock test lecture on some subject goes badly, find a Crash Course video on the same subject to fill in background knowledge.

How to watch one clip

1. First pass with no subtitles, for the general idea.
2. Second pass with English subtitles. Pick 3 to 5 expressions you could use in speaking and writing.
3. Third pass with subtitles off. Repeat them, then use them to answer a question about yourself.

For lecture material, change the steps: take notes on the first pass, fill in the notes with subtitles on the second, and retell it aloud without notes on the third.

Choices that don't fit TOEFL prep

• Friends and How I Met Your Mother are fine for relaxing, but they are mostly about friends hanging out, far from campus and academic life.
• Legal and medical dramas, such as Suits and Grey's Anatomy, have many specialist terms tied to one field. They help TOEFL very little.
• Shows only, no lectures: lectures are the hardest part of TOEFL listening, and everyday shows do not train them.

FAQ

American or British shows for TOEFL?

Mostly American. TOEFL recordings are mainly North American, and campus situations follow North American universities. British documentaries can stay as academic material.

After the 2026 changes, are shows still useful?

Yes. The new test still has campus conversations, announcements, lectures, and interview-style speaking. Shows train listening and expression in these situations, which does not clash with the new task types. Check the ETS website for exact tasks and scoring.

Should subtitles be on?

Off for the first pass, to practice real listening. English subtitles on for the second pass, to catch expressions. Use first-language subtitles only now and then, when you cannot follow at all.

I'm aiming for a high score. What should I watch?

Spend more time on lectures like Crash Course, listening without watching and taking notes. In speaking, practice timed answers. In writing, use opinion-heavy shows to practice counterarguments and examples.

Next step

Today, pick one episode of Young Sheldon and one Crash Course video. Watch both once without subtitles. If campus conversation is harder, start with campus shows. If the lecture is harder, start with documentaries and academic animations.