The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is a standardized test that—according to the creators—measures a student’s aptitude for reading, listening, speaking, and writing English in an academic setting. However, I would argue that it’s not a test of English proficiency, it’s not a test of on-the-spot thinking, and it’s not a test of academic aptitude. It’s a test of your preparation for taking the TOEFL. As such, it is imperative that any TOEFL taker has a strategy.
As an English language teacher, I spent two years teaching TOEFL prep six days a week to students in South Korea. During this time, I had the opportunity to take the TOEFL myself and it really helped learn which teaching strategies were effective and which fell short. In this blog post, I will walk you through some of them for all four sections of the test.
What is the TOEFL?
The TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is a standardized test intended to measure English proficiency for non-native speakers. It’s widely accepted by universities in English-speaking countries as part of admissions, but not always required, so it’s important to check each school’s admissions requirements.
The TOEFL is available in two formats: the TOEFL iBT (Internet-Based Test) and the TOEFL PBT (Paper-Based Test), with the iBT being more common. Scores are valid for two years and demonstrate readiness for academic studies.
TOEFL Sections Explained
The TOEFL is divided into four sections—reading, listening, writing, and speaking—each purported to test a particular skill. These skills are evaluated in order to predict college readiness—both academic and social—among test takers. As a result, the materials you will see in these sections will generally be a combination of academic readings and lectures paired with a variety of campus materials (new bulletins, conversations between students, etc.).
Reading and Listening
Are you likely to know a lot about the topics presented to you in the reading or listening sections? Maybe. Maybe not. Frankly, it doesn’t matter.
For both the reading and the listening section, the most important piece of advice that I can give you is this: pretend you didn’t know anything about the topic before you started. The questions will all be based on the information presented in the text or in the lecture. They don’t require any background information or prior knowledge. Answer the questions according to only what you are given in the passage. This will help prevent you from tricking yourself into choosing an answer that you know to be correct but that was not specifically mentioned in the source material.
Speaking
The TOEFL speaking section has four questions broken into two distinct question types: independent speaking and integrated speaking.
The independent speaking test requires you to complete what is commonly referred to as a paired choice question. You have 15 seconds to prepare your response (unless you’re on the ball and begin preparing your response while the speaker is still speaking, which can absolutely buy you a few precious seconds).
Next, you will speak for 45 seconds about “your opinion.” The reason I put “your opinion” in quotes is because, while you’re asked to choose an opinion from two choices, which choice you choose is irrelevant. When you see the question, ask yourself: which will be EASIER to talk about? The opinion police are not coming to your house to talk to you about why you made the choice you did. The TOEFL rater is going to listen to your answer and evaluate how well you completed the task. That’s all.
There are three integrated speaking questions that will test your ability to combine information from a written passage and a listening passage to speak for 60 seconds on a topic. One of these questions will be about a campus situation, one will be a textbook reading and a related academic lecture, and one will be an academic lecture you are required to summarize.
Take good notes. You will not have access to the source material while you are speaking. Have a script. There is nothing worse than watching the timer count down and you haven’t said anything because you don’t know where to start. Sixty seconds can either be a very short time or a VERY long time if you’re not well prepared.
Writing
The writing section of the TOEFL consists of two questions, an integrated writing question in which you will again be asked to combine information from a written passage and a lecture to summarize the main point(s) and state their relationship. Just like in the speaking section, a script will help you with your writing. ETS, the organization who administers the test, states that an effective response is generally 150–225 words. In my opinion, it’s probably about 150 words that came from the source material and a skeleton script of about 75 words that are transition words and phrases that vary only slightly with each TOEFL written response.
The second written, again, it is all about having a strategy. In this case, a professor will ask you to create a post to be part of a class discussion thread. You will be able to see the question and at least one post from another student that you can comment on as part of your response. Just remember, this comment must only be a part of your response. You still have to be sure to answer the professor’s question yourself.
If you do choose to include a comment on a fellow poster, make sure that you are summarizing their points, not just repeating them verbatim. Also, and I cannot stress this part enough, you have only 10 minutes to write your response. Do not start with commenting on other posts. Write your response first, this is, after all, what you are being asked to do in this task.
Tips for Taking the TOEFL
The TOEFL can seem daunting, but it isn’t hard and it isn’t tricky. It’s straightforward, and it’s repetitive. Having the right tools in your tool box can help students to bring up low scores, students with good scores to be great, and students with great scores to be perfect.
Practice, Practice, PRACTICE
Each section of the test requires a different strategy, but the underpinning to all of them is practice. Remember, this is a test of your ability to take the test. The only way you can practice is to do practice questions. And the only way to effectively do practice questions is to have a strategy. Don’t just practice, practice properly. Perfect practice makes perfect.
Ben Franklin has been quoted as saying, “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” This piece of wisdom can be applied to many circumstances we encounter in life, and the TOEFL is absolutely one of them.
Using Your Practice on Test Day
The only prior knowledge you need to bring in with you is your scripts for responses. When I sat down at my computer, I didn’t read through or listen to the directions—I already knew them. Instead, I took this time to write down all of my scripts for my speaking and writing responses. They’re formulaic. Write out your formulas. If you don’t know the formulas yet, I’m happy to help you learn them. Reach out to HelloCollege for a free consultation to learn more.
A Brief Note About Notes
Note-taking can be cumbersome. In the reading sections and the integrated writing section, you will see the passage while you answer the questions. That doesn’t mean you don’t need to read it during the allotted reading time, but it does mean that you don’t have to take copious notes. Instead, use the time to identify themes in the writing and familiarize yourself enough that when you’re listening to the associated lecture, you can make connections between what you have read and what you’re hearing. This way, when you are listening to the lecture (which you will hear only once) you are prepared to make connections.
Side note: If your notes are all words and no drawings, you’re doing it wrong.
Conclusion
The TOEFL is simpler than you think. The answers to the questions are all there. You don’t need to bring in any outside information. Clear your mind. Ask yourself, “What is this question asking of me?” And then rock it.
