The study investigated the criterion-related validity of the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-based test (TOEFL iBT) Listening section by examining its relationship to a criterion measure designed to reflect language-use tasks that university students encounter in everyday academic life: listening to academic lectures. The design of the criterion measure was informed by students’ responses to a survey on the frequency and importance of various classroom tasks that require academic listening, and the relationship of these tasks to successful course completion. The criterion measure consisted of three videotaped lectures (in physics, history, and psychology) and included tasks created by content experts who are former university professors of the relevant content area. Moreover, the analysis of the mean scores on the criterion measure for different ability groups indicated that participants who scored at or above typical cut scores for international student admission to academic programs (i.e., TOEFL iBT Listening section score of 14 or above) scored, on average, nearly 50% or more on the criterion measure, demonstrating reasonable comprehension of the academic lectures.