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TOEFL

A Pharmacist from Ukraine

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I am a foreign pharmacist and I passed the TOEFL exam this month, with 29 points in the Speaking section !

I took the exam 4 times because I had problems with speaking – I was stuck at 23. After my third try, I realized I needed to find a teacher who can evaluate my speaking and help me. So, I contacted Danijela. She identified my problems and taught me how to fix them. WE PRACTICED A LOT. It was important that we worked under the real time conditions, with different types of questions, including the less common ones. After a couple of months of our work I passed TOEFL and my speaking score was 29!

At the moment, I am waiting for my paperwork from NABP, and I hope to find an internship and a good job. Getting my target score on TOEFL has enabled me to continue pursuing my licence and my career in the US.

Irene B. –  Pharmacist, Nevada

The many versions of TOEFL exam

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There is a lot of confusion surrounding the various versions of TOEFL exam. Let’s look at them chronologically.

TOEFL PBT

The Paper Based TOEFL  exam is the oldest version of the test. It had served well for over 40 years, before being replaced by the newer versions (TOEFL  CBT, iBT and ITP). Although ETS stopped administering TOEFL PBT, if you took this version of the test less than two years ago, your score might still be valid.

TOEFL PBT had the following sections: Reading, Listening, Structure (grammar) and optional Writing (known as TWE)

In my experience, a few non-English speaking countries have adapted parts of TOEFL PBT and used them for their own evaluation, in the recent past.

 TOEFL CBT

The Computer Based TOEFL exam was  a relatively short-lived version of the test. This was the first computerized TOEFL exam. It was used in the late 1990s and early 2000s, for the same purposes we use TOEFL iBT  today.

TOEFL CBT had the following sections: Reading, Listening, Structure (the adaptive Grammar section) and Writing (independent essay only).

Not too many people know about this version of TOEFL (except for those who took it during its short life span, and those who used to teach test preparation)

TOEFL iBT

Most TOEFL takers today are required to take TOEFL iBT, if they are planning to study or work as Professionals, in North America and some English Speaking countries outside of North America

TOEFL  iBT  was introduced in 2005-2006. It was the first version of the TOEFL exam to contain the Speaking section and the mandatory, two-part, Writing section. Up until then, Speaking was not among the skills tested.

The need for assessing the Speaking  and Writing skills was brought about by  the rapid globalization of Higher Education and increased mobility of International Professionals.

After decades of research and thousands of ESL students who have ‘fallen through the cracks” of the North American Higher Education system, it became obvious that the older versions of TOEFL  did not measure these productive skills.  The passive skills ( Reading , Listening and Structure) were not enough, when students had to attend academic lectures, participate in projects and discussions , and produce academic papers.  Thus TOEFL  iBT was born. The universities and other academic institutions finally had a tool they could use to evaluate international students’  Functional Academic English.

From the technical standpoint, the spread of the Internet was definitely what contributed the most to establishing TOEFL iBT as we know it. It enabled the creation of standardized Official Testing Sites, all over the world, while keeping the scoring objective (not dependent on  individual local examiners)

TOEFL ITP

Although it is, in essence, the revamped version of the PBT, this version of the TOEFL exam was based on the need to have a credible ESL assessment  for Academic institutions in non-English speaking countries, where English has become the language of Academic studies.  According to the ETS Official Site, it is mostly used for placement, progress monitoring, exit testing and admissions to certain programs in some non-English speaking countries. You can find more details here.

TOEFL ITP has the following sections:  Listening Comprehension, Structure and Written Expression and Reading Comprehension. You can get more information on the content here.

This version of TOEFL is a traditional, paper-based, multiple choice test. Because it can be taken at schools and other institutions and administered by local staff, it is more affordable than TOEFL iBT. If you would like to learn more about the Administration and Scoring for the TOEFL ITP, read this.

Since this version of TOEFL  relatively new, there are few preparation resources. You can find the list of available resources here.

TOEFL Paper-delivered Test

This is the latest revision of the pen-and-paper version of TOEFL exam.  It is administered in parts of the world where testing via the Internet is not possible.

This version of TOEFL  has the following sections: Reading, Listening and Writing. Yes, you read that right, no Speaking section. Other than that, it is very similar to TOEFL iBT. You can get more information about the TOEFL Paper-delivered Test here.

 

 

TOEFL Independent Speaking

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Do you dread the TOEFL Independent Speaking question?

Let us guess:

  • You think that the TOEFL Independent Speaking question is no different than any other TOEFL Speaking question, so you keep practising them all together, and yet, your Speaking section score is never as high as you need it  to be;
  • You have taken the Official TOEFL exam more times than you can remember, and you still don’t have the required Speaking score;
  • You have seen all the templates and heard all the sample answers available online and offline;
  • You have taken TOEFL preparation courses, or had a private tutor, but none of it helped;
  • You’ve been practising  Independent Speaking questions with peers,  but  their English is not much better than yours;
  • You have managed to find a native English speaker, maybe even an ESL teacher to practise with, but s/he doesn’t specialize in test preparation, or has little experience in it;
  • When you hear other people answer Independent Speaking questions, you think to yourself: ‘That seems so easy for them!”;
  • But,  when it’s your turn, you freeze, and can’t think of a single thing to say;
  • You can answer familiar TOEFL Independent Speaking questions, but, you are stunned by the unexpected ones;
  • On top of the problems with the content, the strict timing makes you even more anxious….

If any, or all of the above sounds familiar, it might be time to try something else – our

TOEFL Independent Speaking Workshop

Poster for Independent Speaking Workshop post

  • We apply proven TOEFL Speaking practice methods, developed over more than a decade of teaching TOEFL preparation courses;
  • We practice with 100+  realistic TOEFL Independent Speaking questions, which include the ones, recently introduced to the Official TOEFL exam;
  • A lot of our questions are new to you – you wouldn’t have seen them before, even if you have already covered a lot of practice materials;
  • The groups are limited to 6 participants per workshop; that way everyone gets exposed to a lot of questions;
  • Every participant has the opportunity to answer a number of questions and offer peer feedback to other participants;
  • In addition to hands-on, timed practice in answering the questions, participants also learn to analyze their own and their peers’ answers:
  • Our experienced TOEFL preparation specialist is always there to provide professional feedback, correction, evaluation and advice;
  • Most importantly, we nurture the atmosphere of mutual respect – we judge nobody and help everybody in the group.

If you would like to join one or more of our TOEFL Independent Speaking Workshops, follow the link below:

https://professionalesltestprep.vipmembervault.com/products/courses/view/1061819

Academic Vocabulary and TOEFL

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In my many years of designing and teaching TOEFL preparation courses, I found that there is one underlying skill that all my high-scoring students had in common – strong Academic Vocabulary. Every section of the TOEFL test depends on it, directly or indirectly.

Academic Vocabulary and TOEFL Reading

In the Reading section, you actually have to answer a number of questions directly related to vocabulary. You need to pick synonyms for particular words, in the given context. These questions make up more than 20% of all the questions in the Reading section.

Knowing the most common or most widely used meaning of the word is often not enough.  You need to know more than that – other possible meanings, word forms and collocations. If you have done some TOEFL Reading practice , you’ve probably already discovered that the correct answer choice (for the vocabulary questions) is rarely the one that seems most obvious or most familiar.

Academic Vocabulary and TOEFL Listening

When it comes to the Listening section, the stronger your Academic Vocabulary, the easier time you’ll have following and understanding the lectures. These academic materials make up more than 1/2 half of the section; out of  six listening materials scored for you, only two are campus related conversations; the remaining four  are actual, grade 12 level, lectures. Consequently,  it’s impossible to score more than ten out of thirty points without the knowledge of the key terms.

Academic Vocabulary and TOEFL Speaking

As for the Integrated Speaking, you will not only better understand the reading and listening prompts, but you’ll also be able to produce a higher scoring answer, if you can use the appropriate Academic Vocabulary in your speech.

Prior to August 2019, the Academic Speaking questions used to comprise one third of the Speaking Section.  A good command of the Academic Vocabulary often meant the difference between scoring in low twenties , and getting more that 24 or 26 iBT points, which is a requirement for many Professionals in the Medical, Legal and some other fields.

Now that the Academic Speaking questions make up 1/2 of the Speaking Section, it is crucial to have advanced knowledge of the Academic Vocabulary.

Academic Vocabulary and TOEFL Writing

The same goes for the Integrated Writing. Remember that, although you do have access to the reading prompt the entire time you are writing your Integrated Essay, it’s not a good idea to copy directly.  Instead, you are encouraged to paraphrase the key points from this prompt, whenever possible.

The listening prompt is likely to be an even bigger challenge – you will only hear it once, and unless you can follow and take notes efficiently,  as well as show your understanding of the key concepts in a well written Integrated Essay, it will be near impossible to score high in the Writing Section (as this essay counts for 1/2 of the section score)

Academic Vocabulary and TOEFL – how to learn

First of all, it’s important to understand that no vocabulary can be learned over night. It takes time, repetition  and application to acquire new  vocabulary. Unfortunately, this is not likely to happen  when you rely on memorizing word lists or study using resources that don’t provide in-depth understanding of the Academic vocabulary. In addition, it is  of utmost importance to have a lot of practice in applying the newly acquired vocabulary to your speaking and writing.

The good news is – a place where you can learn Academic Vocabulary efficiently, actually does exist. It’s our offline ACADEMIC  VOCABULARY  MASTERCLASS. (follow the link to find out more)

TOEFL Reading Section

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Reading section – the structure

As most of us in the world of TOEFL preparation know, the Reading section of the Official TOEFL iBT consists of 3 reading passages.  These passages typically deal with academic subjects – anything from natural and social sciences,  to  business and the arts . The materials in the Reading section are  at the first year of university level.  Each passage is 600-700 words long, and contains ALL the information needed to answer the 10 questions that follow. So, remember, you don’t need to have extra knowledge on the subject itself ; knowledge of academic subjects is not what TOEFL tests – it tests your ability to understand and use English in the academic environment.

Reading section – additional passages

Now,  you might ask , what about the 4th and maybe even the 5th passage that some test takers get on their Official TOEFL iBT?  These ‘extra’ passages are not scored for you – they are there to evaluate the new test materials. You are going to have additional 18 minutes for each extra passage, along with the usual questions.  It’s worth noting here that EVERY passage should be treated the same. You won’t know which one (or more) is the additional material (it could be ANY of the ones you get).  As your Official TOEFL  test is approaching, you might want to start building your stamina by practising with longer Reading sections.

Reading section – how to prepare

Preparing for the Reading section of the TOEFL exam shouldn’t be taken lightly.  It is NOT something that can be mastered in a short period of time. It takes time and a lot of CONSISTENT PRACTICE. In fact, if you start building your general reading skills early, when the time comes (to focus on TOEFL Reading Section strategies and practice),  you will find that part of your TOEFL preparation a lot more manageable.

If you are just starting your TOEFL preparation, it is best to refer to the official ETS website.  The website offers all the necessary information about TOEFL , including the list of useful resources (like “The Official Guide to the TOEFL iBT” series).  You can also read about the  Basic TOEFL reading techniques and strategies  here.

If you are already familiar with the basics of TOEFL Reading, the next step is to APPLY that theoretical knowledge to daily reading practice. You can start with one TOEFL Reading passage (the first few days),  but make sure you get used to the full length Reading section, as well as the ‘extended’ version, early on. This will prevent you from feeling overwhelmed on the official test day.

Finally, keep consistently practising TOEFL Reading, even if you have to focus on other sections of the test. It will help you avoid a very common mistake a lot of TOEFL takers make – they neglect the reading practice if they need to improve other TOEFL skills (like Speaking and Writing); as a result, many of them often get a lower score in Reading, when they take official test again.

TOEFL Reading – Basic techniques and strategies

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TOEFL Reading techniques

There are a few common reading techniques that TOEFL you might already be applying  to this section of the test.  If  you are a thorough reader, you probably spend most of the, on average, 18 minutes you are given, reading every single word, and trying to understand every detail of every sentence.  Unfortunately, that usually leaves little time to answer any questions. This ineffective technique could be the result of treating the TOEFL Reading section like your ‘closed book’ university exam, where you don’t have access to the study materials during the test. Fortunately, the Reading section on TOEFL iBT is more like an ‘open book’ exam – your reading material remains on screen for 18 minutes.

On the other hand, you might have been told that you shouldn’t waste time reading, at all. If  you choose to listen to that advice, you probably just scroll to the end of the passage and start answering the questions immediately. Granted, this technique might work for some questions (the ones that do not require the understanding of the entire passage). However,  you will probably find that you don’t even know where to look for the information needed to answer those more complex questions.

The third reading technique is the one that has proven to be most efficient. It combines the reading for gist (also known as ‘skimming’) with the more detailed reading of some of the paragraphs (also known as ‘scanning’). This technique involves a very quick reading (maximum 5 minutes) of the entire Introduction (the first paragraph), the Conclusion (the last paragraph) and the first sentence of each paragraph in between. The first sentence of these so called ‘Support paragraphs’, is known as the ‘Topic sentence’.  The reason this method works is the common structure that most passages have – the Introduction gives you the Subject/Topic and the Main Idea of the passage (in other words, tells you what it’s about); the Topic sentences introduce the key (most important) points; the Conclusion usually summarizes the whole passage.

TOEFL Reading – general strategies

Once you have these pieces of the puzzle,  you will be able to start tackling the questions with a lot more confidence. Remember that you can skip questions in the Reading section. You can also go back and change your answers (of course, within the 18 minutes you are given for the passage).  Here is where an old test taking trick still applies – answer the quick and easy questions  (like vocabulary, detail and reference ones) first, as they appear; skip the challenging ones (like inference, purpose, cohesion, summary ones) for now; once all the straightforward answers are in place, go back to the more difficult questions. By the time you have answered  the easy questions, you will have a better understanding of the entire passage, which should help you answer those complex questions towards the end of the passage.

So, next time you practise the TOEFL Reading section, try to remember and apply some of these reading techniques and strategies.