English Language Tests

Hi guys,

I just received my TOEFL scores and would like to share my experience with the test which may be helpful for my successors. This forum helped me a lot, so I also hope to give smth. back by writing this post. This will be a brief post, but if you have any questions just ask me and I will try to answer them.

1. Things I read + books I used: Some forum posts discussing areas which I regarded to be my weaknesses
The Official Guide to the TOEFL iBT + Barron's TOEFL iBT 12Ed
2. Time I spent on preparation: 1 week. However, I was preparing for the GMAT beforehand, so you may see this as an additional preparation time.
3. Most important things you have to consider:
- find out what your weakness(es) is/are and work on them: First, I had problems with the speaking section. So I spent most of my time focussing on this section. It doesn't make any sense trying to perfect your strenghts, since you can't get more than 30 points per section.
- don't focus too much on any specific content, but try to rather familiarize yourself with the test structur: Don't waste too much time on trying to answer any question in the books you bought to prepare for the test. Rather try to get an overview of the overall concepts needed and the structur of the test.
- you don't need any extraordinary skills to get a good result: Neither am I a native-speaker, nor am I considering myself being extraordinary smart. In fact, I think that being too creative may harm your test performance, since it's a standardized test.
- always consider the time pressure and work on your stamina
- YOUR STRUCTUR IS (ALWAYS) MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR CONTENT: I deeply believe that this impression is not subjective but rather a fact.Whether you see this as an advantage or a dissadavantage, doesn't matter. The important takeawy is that you should be aware of this fact and use it to your advantage. Always try to structure your response (using a clear introduction and (most of the time) a brief conclusion, introducing your ideas with such words as "first", "however", "furthermore"...)

I wish you all the best for your TOEFL.

Best,
saitek

Congrats on a great score

Good to know you performed well. God Bless You