English Language Tests

Well, I gave my second attempt on Sept 11th and got my scores today. Firstly, Hearty Congratulations to Vivek!!
I just read his post now and I'm happy to see him knock off the TOEFL completely. Unknowingly, we both wrote in the same test center and time.

On the day of the test, things did not begin favourably for me. Arrived at the test center at 9.30 AM with the test time at 10 AM. By then, I was shocked to hear that power went off in the center. I collected the form which needs to be filled up, borrowed a pen from a fellow test-taker and started filling the form in a dark room. Then I waited patiently for the power to turn up. Alas, the power came only at 10.15 AM but the test did not begin soon. They really took some time to setup the computers and finally, they began to usher the test-takers at 11.30 AM. However, I went only at 11.50 AM and started my test only at 12 PM. By then, I started to feel damn hungry. I had a very light breakfast at 9 AM thinking that I could start by 9.30 and finish by 1 PM. I carried with me some water and a nutri-bar. So, I started the test impatiently feeling damn hungry. I was kicking myself that I should have had a heavy breakfast. I finished the 1st passage quite well with forceful concetration. By the 2nd passage, my concentration really started to deteriorate. I didn't really know what I was answering the questions. Again, in the 3rd passage, I forced myself to concentrate hard and somewhat managed doing well. Listening went on normally.. Felt really impatient again during the 3rd lecture. Did not listen at all. Somehow managed to finish the section.

Rushed over to my bag during the break and gulped down the nutri-bar and some water. This made me feel much much better. I felt as if I successfully found a small water pond in a barren desert. Washed my face and went back to my place. Speaking and Writing sections went really well. I was able to concentrate quite easily after the break. I was then done with the exam with a little fear of bombing Reading and Listening sections. As a saving grace, Atleast I did not experience any system-related issues throughout my exam.

Today morning, I got an email from ETS saying that test scores are available. To my surprise, I have miserably failed in the speaking section.

100 - (Reading-25; Listening-24; Speaking-22; Writing-29)

My previous score was a 90 with the highest score of 26 in Speaking. I felt that I did much better in Speaking this time than how I did last time. I'm completely puzzled with the speaking score. I was expecting atleast a 26 if not more than 26.

Although I reached my target score of 100, I'm little worried about the split. I did not pass the minimum score of 25 in each section. Some universities impose this requirement for shortlisting applications.