Toefl

TOEFL® Exam Information

If you are an international student that is considering studying in the United States, at some point you are going to be required to take a TOEFL exam. On this page, U.S. Education Guides will explain to you what the TOEFL exam entails, where you can go to register for your TOEFL exam, and more.

What is the TOEFL Exam?

TOEFL is an abbreviation for Test of English as a Foreign Language™, a term that is trademarked by the company ETS. ETS (Educational Testing Service) is U.S.-based, nonprofit corporation that provides entrance testing for educational institutions in the United States and around the world. Used in more than 100 countries, the TOEFL exam is an educational industry norm and the most widely used test in the world for gauging students’ English-language skills.

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Writing

Tips for the TOEFL Writing Section

1. Use present tense

For facts and observations

Cars are essential for life in the U.S.
Most people can benefit from higher education.

Opinions

I think (that) . . .
I believe (that) . . .
In my opinion . . .

2. Use past tense

To describe previous experiences

When I was in high school, . . .
My brother worked in a factory.

3. Use modals correctly

Guns should be banned from campus.
Cars can cause serious problems.

4. Check S - V relationship

Most of the people who live in Utah need cars for their everyday lives.

I lived on campus, and it was easy to get around without a car.

5. Check plurals and articles

Cars are important to most Americans.

The used car I bought was a bad investment.

6. Give details and examples to support your opinions

When I moved off campus, I had to buy a car. Whenever I left my house to go shopping or run errands, I had to travel a great distance. My car was the only means of transportation because I lived too far from the bus stop.

TOEFL

Tips for TOEFL Speaking Section

Record yourself to speak better
When practicing for the Speaking task of the TOEFL test pay close attention to natural speaking patterns. Listen and make note of how words are pronounced and stressed, as well as the speaker's intonation patterns and pauses. Try making a recording of your own speaking effort and play it back to evaluate it. Ask yourself these questions: Did I speak clearly? Did I make grammatical errors? Did I use words correctly?

Preparing for the integrated Speaking tasks
You can practice for the integrated Speaking tasks on the TOEFL test by doing the following: select a topic or an assigned reading and then find listening material that covers the same topic. (You can find these on the Internet or the library.) Create an outline to summarize both materials. This task will help you to synthesize what you read with what you hear.

How to practice speaking English without a listener
If you find yourself without the opportunity to practice speaking with a native speaker of English, try one of these independent tasks in English: Describe a familiar place. Recount a personal experience. State a personal opinion about something that is going on in your community or the world. Do these independent tasks alone, and then try them with a native speaker of English.

Find a friend that speaks English
You have probably heard that the best way to practice speaking the English language is with a native speaker of English. But finding one may be challenging. In some countries, there are English-speaking tutors or assistants who help students with conversation skills and overall communication skills. It is critical to find them and speak with them as often as possible. You can also link up with an English club and join the members in English-language conversations about movies, music and travel.

Scoring better on TOEFL Speaking test
To improve your English language learning and reading skills, try to read English-language publications on a regular basis. Focus on university textbooks or other materials that cover a variety of subject areas, such as science, arts, social sciences and business. You can find many academic texts on the Internet, as well as in magazines and journals.

Tips for TOEFL Listening Section

Practice listening to English to connect and synthesize ideas
Sometimes, a lecture is organized so that he or she builds a "point of view" or "claims a position" about a particular topic. Other lectures are organized to express many ideas or different points of view. When you listen to a lecture, try to listen for words that tell you which structure the lecture is building. You can even write down words that indicate certain relationships in the lecture, such as cause/effect, compare/contrast or the steps of a process.

It's important to understand a speaker's tone
No matter the language, we all use tone or inflection to emphasize our communication. Noticing a speaker's tone is essential to understanding what the speaker is trying to accomplish. Next time you are listening to an English-language conversation or lecture, focus on the speaker's tone. Is he using formal or casual language? Is her voice calm or emotional? What does the speaker's tone of voice say?

Why watching MORE TV can help you score well
There are different ways to build your English-language listening skills, which are very important for success on the TOEFL test. Of course, listening to CDs and audiotapes of lectures are terrific ways to hear the English language spoken, especially on academic topics. Try watching TV, movies and listening to the radio to improve your listening skills on news and cultural topics. Even the Internet is a great source for listening material. Try http://www.npr.org/ or www.bbc.co.uk/radio

Tips for TOEFL Reading Section

Why paraphrasing is important
Did you know that the READING section of the TOEFL test measures your ability to recognize a proper paraphrase? Paraphrasing is restating a sentence or a passage into your own words without changing the meaning or context. Knowing how to paraphrase is also important for the integrated tasks of WRITING and SPEAKING. For example, if you hear a conversation, you may not be able to repeat it exactly, but you may be able to paraphrase, or convey the gist of the conversation. Practice your ability to paraphrase after reading your assignments. Ask someone to listen and evaluate.

Learn to recognize a pronoun instantly
Do you know what a pronoun is? These words take the place of the real noun in the sentence. Words like he, him, she, her, they, them, etc. are pronouns. A pronoun can substitute for first names like John or Mary or for descriptions like my brother, our neighbor and your parents. Read through some English-language passages and identify all pronouns. Then connect each pronoun with the actual noun it is replacing.

Expand your English vocabulary
To expand your English vocabulary, identify unfamiliar words in a reading passage and try and guess their meaning from the surrounding sentences. After several guesses, look up each word in a dictionary to see how close you came to determining their meaning. You can also make flashcards of these words to use for study aids.

You can improve your reading comprehension
To improve your reading comprehension when learning the English language, try this technique: practice skimming a paragraph or passage quickly to get a general impression of the main idea, instead of carefully reading each word and each sentence. Be sure to also write down the main idea, important facts, and several details and persuasive arguments that convey that idea.

For more information on TOEFL visit TOEFL Official Website:
http://www.toefl.org/

TOEFL

Tips for TOEFL Speaking Section

Record yourself to speak better
When practicing for the Speaking task of the TOEFL test pay close attention to natural speaking patterns. Listen and make note of how words are pronounced and stressed, as well as the speaker's intonation patterns and pauses. Try making a recording of your own speaking effort and play it back to evaluate it. Ask yourself these questions: Did I speak clearly? Did I make grammatical errors? Did I use words correctly?

Preparing for the integrated Speaking tasks
You can practice for the integrated Speaking tasks on the TOEFL test by doing the following: select a topic or an assigned reading and then find listening material that covers the same topic. (You can find these on the Internet or the library.) Create an outline to summarize both materials. This task will help you to synthesize what you read with what you hear.

How to practice speaking English without a listener
If you find yourself without the opportunity to practice speaking with a native speaker of English, try one of these independent tasks in English: Describe a familiar place. Recount a personal experience. State a personal opinion about something that is going on in your community or the world. Do these independent tasks alone, and then try them with a native speaker of English.

Find a friend that speaks English
You have probably heard that the best way to practice speaking the English language is with a native speaker of English. But finding one may be challenging. In some countries, there are English-speaking tutors or assistants who help students with conversation skills and overall communication skills. It is critical to find them and speak with them as often as possible. You can also link up with an English club and join the members in English-language conversations about movies, music and travel.

Scoring better on TOEFL Speaking test
To improve your English language learning and reading skills, try to read English-language publications on a regular basis. Focus on university textbooks or other materials that cover a variety of subject areas, such as science, arts, social sciences and business. You can find many academic texts on the Internet, as well as in magazines and journals.

Tips for TOEFL Listening Section

Practice listening to English to connect and synthesize ideas
Sometimes, a lecture is organized so that he or she builds a "point of view" or "claims a position" about a particular topic. Other lectures are organized to express many ideas or different points of view. When you listen to a lecture, try to listen for words that tell you which structure the lecture is building. You can even write down words that indicate certain relationships in the lecture, such as cause/effect, compare/contrast or the steps of a process.

It's important to understand a speaker's tone
No matter the language, we all use tone or inflection to emphasize our communication. Noticing a speaker's tone is essential to understanding what the speaker is trying to accomplish. Next time you are listening to an English-language conversation or lecture, focus on the speaker's tone. Is he using formal or casual language? Is her voice calm or emotional? What does the speaker's tone of voice say?

Why watching MORE TV can help you score well
There are different ways to build your English-language listening skills, which are very important for success on the TOEFL test. Of course, listening to CDs and audiotapes of lectures are terrific ways to hear the English language spoken, especially on academic topics. Try watching TV, movies and listening to the radio to improve your listening skills on news and cultural topics. Even the Internet is a great source for listening material. Try http://www.npr.org/ or www.bbc.co.uk/radio

Tips for TOEFL Reading Section

Why paraphrasing is important
Did you know that the READING section of the TOEFL test measures your ability to recognize a proper paraphrase? Paraphrasing is restating a sentence or a passage into your own words without changing the meaning or context. Knowing how to paraphrase is also important for the integrated tasks of WRITING and SPEAKING. For example, if you hear a conversation, you may not be able to repeat it exactly, but you may be able to paraphrase, or convey the gist of the conversation. Practice your ability to paraphrase after reading your assignments. Ask someone to listen and evaluate.

Learn to recognize a pronoun instantly
Do you know what a pronoun is? These words take the place of the real noun in the sentence. Words like he, him, she, her, they, them, etc. are pronouns. A pronoun can substitute for first names like John or Mary or for descriptions like my brother, our neighbor and your parents. Read through some English-language passages and identify all pronouns. Then connect each pronoun with the actual noun it is replacing.

Expand your English vocabulary
To expand your English vocabulary, identify unfamiliar words in a reading passage and try and guess their meaning from the surrounding sentences. After several guesses, look up each word in a dictionary to see how close you came to determining their meaning. You can also make flashcards of these words to use for study aids.

You can improve your reading comprehension
To improve your reading comprehension when learning the English language, try this technique: practice skimming a paragraph or passage quickly to get a general impression of the main idea, instead of carefully reading each word and each sentence.

TOEFL Test Tips and Techniques

Test Tactics and Sectional Strategies for the TOEFL

The information offered in this Tactics and Strategies Report is intended for general educational purposes only. No warranty is either expressed or implied about the benefits to be obtained from using this information as a study aid for the TOEFL.
These tips should only be used as an adjunct mechanism for preparing to take the TOEFL and obtain the best possible score. Students should also practice speaking English, listening to English, and reading printed materials in English. Further, you should study vocabulary words, as well as the fundamentals of English language word construction (prefixes, roots, and suffixes).

OVERALL TEST TACTICS:

1. Learn the section directions now. Use the time saved during the test to work on questions.
2. Successful answers to the earliest questions in computer adaptive versions of the test 
   will lead to higher scores.
3. Do not write on any test booklet or materials.
4. Use the process of elimination to decide which answers are wrong.
5. In the computer adaptive section, Double check your work and answer before you click on the screen bubble. You cannot skip any question and you cannot go back after you've answered a question.
6. Answer every question, making educated guesses if you have to. Just try to eliminate one or more choices before guessing.
7. Don't spend too much time on any one question. You should spend only seconds on the easiest questions, and hesitate to spend more than 1/2 minute on even the hardest ones.
8. Practice, practice, practice!
9. Bring a watch to the test center. You can't be guaranteed that there'll be a working clock there.
10. Bring a couple of IDs to the test center. Make sure at least one of the pictures actually looks like you. Also bring any authorization voucher you may have received from the Educational Testing Service.

 

 

 

SPECIFIC SECTIONAL STRATEGIES

SENTENCE COMPLETION:

1. If there is no main verb, you should first identify the 'subject' of the sentence. 
   Then, you can eliminate any choice that does not contain a conjugated verb. 
   Further, any selected conjugated verb must agree with the subject (in number and tense).
2. If there is no main subject, you should identify what the verb in the sentence is. 
   Then plug in the choices and verify that the one you select agrees with the verb.
3. Eliminate choices that contain extra words, especially pronouns, verbs, or modifiers.
4. If the sentence contains a main subject and a main verb, you should eliminate any choice
   that is an incorrect part of speech, or does not agree in form, number, or tense 
   with the rest of the sentence.
5. If the sentence contains neither a main subject nor a main verb, you can eliminate any 
   choice that does not provide both a subject and a verb, and does not agree completely
   with the remainder of the sentence.

WRITTEN EXPRESSION:

1. Learn about verb tense and agreement. Each verb must agree (in tense, form, number) 
   with the noun it references.
2. Observe whether a noun is singular or plural. Learn the most common 'collective' nouns (such as money, or audience, or amount) that refer to a group or quantity of things or people. 
3. Learn about pronouns. They must agree with the noun they replace in number, case, and gender.
4. Recognize when a pronoun is required in a sentence. 
   Missing pronouns are a common error that may be seen in questions.
5. Learn also when a pronoun is not necessary. 
   Extra pronouns are often added after a noun in a sentence, as they sometimes are in other languages.
6. Be wary of questions that use a noun in place of a verb form; many words look very close to one another.
7. Be wary of questions that confuse an adjective for an adverb, or a noun for an adjective.
8. Items in a list or series must be in the same grammatical form. 
   This usually appears as a series of sentence elements separated by commas.
9. When a sentence indicates a quantity of a countable noun, you should use words like fewer or many or number.
10. When a sentence indicates a quantity of a noncountable noun, you should use words like much, amount, or less.
11. When comparing two items, use the -er ending for comparisons.
12. When comparing three or more items, use the -est ending for comparisons.

"Every artist was at first an amateur." - Ralph W. Emerson

TOEFL

Tips for TOEFL Speaking Section

Record yourself to speak better
When practicing for the Speaking task of the TOEFL test pay close attention to natural speaking patterns. Listen and make note of how words are pronounced and stressed, as well as the speaker's intonation patterns and pauses. Try making a recording of your own speaking effort and play it back to evaluate it. Ask yourself these questions: Did I speak clearly? Did I make grammatical errors? Did I use words correctly?

Preparing for the integrated Speaking tasks
You can practice for the integrated Speaking tasks on the TOEFL test by doing the following: select a topic or an assigned reading and then find listening material that covers the same topic. (You can find these on the Internet or the library.) Create an outline to summarize both materials. This task will help you to synthesize what you read with what you hear.

How to practice speaking English without a listener
If you find yourself without the opportunity to practice speaking with a native speaker of English, try one of these independent tasks in English: Describe a familiar place. Recount a personal experience. State a personal opinion about something that is going on in your community or the world. Do these independent tasks alone, and then try them with a native speaker of English.

Find a friend that speaks English
You have probably heard that the best way to practice speaking the English language is with a native speaker of English. But finding one may be challenging. In some countries, there are English-speaking tutors or assistants who help students with conversation skills and overall communication skills. It is critical to find them and speak with them as often as possible. You can also link up with an English club and join the members in English-language conversations about movies, music and travel.

Scoring better on TOEFL Speaking test
To improve your English language learning and reading skills, try to read English-language publications on a regular basis. Focus on university textbooks or other materials that cover a variety of subject areas, such as science, arts, social sciences and business. You can find many academic texts on the Internet, as well as in magazines and journals.

Tips for TOEFL Listening Section

Practice listening to English to connect and synthesize ideas
Sometimes, a lecture is organized so that he or she builds a "point of view" or "claims a position" about a particular topic. Other lectures are organized to express many ideas or different points of view. When you listen to a lecture, try to listen for words that tell you which structure the lecture is building. You can even write down words that indicate certain relationships in the lecture, such as cause/effect, compare/contrast or the steps of a process.

It's important to understand a speaker's tone
No matter the language, we all use tone or inflection to emphasize our communication. Noticing a speaker's tone is essential to understanding what the speaker is trying to accomplish. Next time you are listening to an English-language conversation or lecture, focus on the speaker's tone. Is he using formal or casual language? Is her voice calm or emotional? What does the speaker's tone of voice say?

Why watching MORE TV can help you score well
There are different ways to build your English-language listening skills, which are very important for success on the TOEFL test. Of course, listening to CDs and audiotapes of lectures are terrific ways to hear the English language spoken, especially on academic topics. Try watching TV, movies and listening to the radio to improve your listening skills on news and cultural topics. Even the Internet is a great source for listening material. Try http://www.npr.org/ or www.bbc.co.uk/radio

Tips for TOEFL Reading Section

Why paraphrasing is important
Did you know that the READING section of the TOEFL test measures your ability to recognize a proper paraphrase? Paraphrasing is restating a sentence or a passage into your own words without changing the meaning or context. Knowing how to paraphrase is also important for the integrated tasks of WRITING and SPEAKING. For example, if you hear a conversation, you may not be able to repeat it exactly, but you may be able to paraphrase, or convey the gist of the conversation. Practice your ability to paraphrase after reading your assignments. Ask someone to listen and evaluate.

Learn to recognize a pronoun instantly
Do you know what a pronoun is? These words take the place of the real noun in the sentence. Words like he, him, she, her, they, them, etc. are pronouns. A pronoun can substitute for first names like John or Mary or for descriptions like my brother, our neighbor and your parents. Read through some English-language passages and identify all pronouns. Then connect each pronoun with the actual noun it is replacing.

Expand your English vocabulary
To expand your English vocabulary, identify unfamiliar words in a reading passage and try and guess their meaning from the surrounding sentences. After several guesses, look up each word in a dictionary to see how close you came to determining their meaning. You can also make flashcards of these words to use for study aids.

You can improve your reading comprehension
To improve your reading comprehension when learning the English language, try this technique: practice skimming a paragraph or passage quickly to get a general impression of the main idea, instead of carefully reading each word and each sentence. Be sure to also write down the main idea, important facts, and several details and persuasive arguments that convey that idea.

 

Learning is never done without erros and defeat.

Vladimir Lenin

 

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TOEFL

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (or TOEFLs, pronounced "toe-full" or sometimes "toffle") evaluates the potential success of an individual to use and understand Standard American English at a college level. It is required for non-native applicants at many English-speaking colleges and universities. Additionally, institutions such as government agencies, businesses, or scholarship programs may require this test. A TOEFL score is valid for two years and then is deleted from the official database. Colleges and universities usually consider only the most recent score.

The TOEFL test is a registered trademark of Educational Testing Service (ETS) and is administered worldwide. The test was first administered 1964 and has since been taken by nearly 20 million students.

 

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