TOEFl (Test of English as a Foreign Language)

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In this post, I would talk about a test which is important for every student who is aiming to study in the best universities in the world.

TOEFL or Test of English as a Foreign Language is a standardized test which measures the English speaking ability of non native speakers. ETS (Education Testing Services) is the administrator of this test. TOEFL is usually of two types - 
  1. Paper Delivered test (Paper and pencil test)
  2. Internet based test (also known as TOEFL iBT)
Most of the students prefer to give TOEFL iBT. 

TOEFL iBT consists of four sections - 
  • Reading
  • Listening
  • Speaking
  • Writing
(A break is also given after the listening section)

About the four sections-
  • Reading - This section consists of three passages.You will get 60 minutes to complete this section.You may look back at a passage when answering the questions. You can also skip questions and go back to them later as long as there is time remaining. 
The passage are excerpts from university level textbooks and similar academic materials. In order to understand the type of questions asked, please see the sample passage given below-

This section is scoring. Your vocabulary should be good and  you should focus while attempting this section. Also try to practice this section as much as you can.
  • Listening - This section consists of six main audio clips.You will get 60 minutes to complete the section . In first clip, you would hear a conversation based on academic material and in second clip, you would hear a conversation on non academic material .Each conversation is followed by 5 questions related to that conversation.
 In next four clips, you will listen to four lectures on a variety of topics.In two lectures,only the professor speaks. In other two lectures, you will hear a conversation between professor and his/her students. The professor may ask questions to students or may answer students' questions.

Every clip is heard only once. In order to score well in this section, you should take notes while listening. This would help you to solve questions after hearing the clip. To understand the pattern of questions, please see the sample questions below - 

  • Speaking - This section consists of six questions.Question 1 would ask you to speak on a familiar topic like favourite book , enjoyable event etc. I request you to not learn the answers of these questions. Question 2 would ask you to give an opinion about a familiar topic. Explain your opinion confidently and also state the reasons for holding that opinion.Question 3 would ask you to read a passage first and  then listen to a conversation. You will be asked a question about both. You need to combine appropriate information from the passage and the conversation. Question 4 would be similar to question 3. In this question, you will read a short passage based on an academic subject and then you will hear a short conversation.You will then be asked a question about both. Question 5 will ask you to listen to a conversation about a campus related problem. You will then be asked to summarize the problem and and to state which solution from the conversation you prefer, and explain the reason for your preference.Question 6 would ask you to listen to a lecture. You will then be asked to covey information from the lecture. 
In order to score well in this passage, I request you to please use an audio recorder while practicing these questions at home. After speaking, listen to your response and find the weak points in your answer. 

Speaking responses are scored on the basis of following - delivery, language use, and topic development.You will get 20 minutes to complete this section.
  • Writing -  This section consists of two questions.In Question 1 , you will read a short passage and listen to a lecture. Then you will respond to a question about the relationship between the reading passage and the lecture. Your response should be of 150-225 words. Question 2 would ask you to give an opinion on an issue. Your response should be minimum of 300 words. You will get 50 minutes to complete this section.
I will suggest you to buy the following books for preparation - 
  1. Official TOEFL iBT tests by ETS
  2. TOEFL iBT Prep Plus by Kaplan
This test is of 120 marks (30 per section). A score above 100 is considered to be a good score by the universities. Still, I will prefer you to target a score above 110. This score would help you to make your profile strong. 

You should give your TOEFL test by October so that you can send your scores to your desired universities on time. 

All the best for your TOEFL exam. If you have any doubts, you can email me your doubts at-sharma.nimit@yahoo.in

Keep Learning :)

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