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What about toefl


Hobaboba

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  • 1 month later...

Hey,

 

I decided to start with the TOEFL, as the GRE is more complicated. I haven't studied for a long time, so I need to start with something easier.

 

I just registered for the test. I'm going to take it in three weeks. I purchased Kaplan's TOEFL iBT book. It has 4 practice tests on CD. Also I found a lot of good lessons on YouTube. My plan is to write two essays a day and to record myself while I am talking, so that I can hear my weak points and try to improve them, if possible, within these three weeks. I hope I can make it!  :)

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Hey,

 

I decided to start with the TOEFL, as the GRE is more complicated. I haven't studied for a long time, so I need to start with something easier.

 Because of this reason, I started with GRE. I devoted more time and money to GRE because it's more difficult. TOEFL is a piece of cake after GRE. I only took two classes! I practised the week before and that was it. And I got an 116. :D

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Andean Pat,

 

at first, I also thought that I would start with the GRE. Although, I can't motivate myself to begin preparing for it. It seems to be so difficult now  :) , as I haven't studied for 8 years. That's why I changed my plan. If I pass the TOEFL, it will give me some positive thinking about myself  :rolleyes:  . Also, the TOEFL results should be no older than two years when you are applying. Knowing that will stimulate me to study for the GRE hard and quick.  :)

 

Good job on your TOEFL!

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  • 5 weeks later...

I took my TOEFL ibt test last week, and I am still waiting for my score. I decided to write about my experience just to let my anxiety go away.

I spent two weeks preparing for the test, 1-2 hours daily. I used the ETS site and Kaplan's book with 4 online tests for my preparation. As I mentioned before, I found some YouTube lessons on how to prepare for the speaking section of the test, as well.

On the test day my performance wasn't as good as I hoped it would be. When I started my reading section, a lot of the test takers were screaming "Describe the city you live in" to adjust their microphone volume, and one of the girls had already started her speaking section. So, I had some difficulty in concentrating. Also, I thought that there would be separate timers for the first reading passage and the following 2 or 4 passages. It made me nervous to realize that I had just one timer while I wasn't sure how many passages I would have as I skipped the instructions. All in all, the passages were not very difficult, and I had only four of them, but they were very long. Because of that, I decided just to scan them, instead of reading. While preparing for the test at home, I always was able to read the passages and to make some notes. The questions were tricky, and I have no idea how I performed on the reading section because very often I wasn't 100% sure when I was selecting my answers. I was very nervous, couldn't concentrate, that's why I have a bad feeling about my reading score.

The listening section was all right. I took a lot of notes and, finally, was able to calm down. I think I had 4 lectures and 2 conversations, but I might be wrong.

The speaking section wasn't too bad, but I know that I made two mistakes that I'm aware of. I corrected myself, but, of course, it might spoil all the impression. I didn't manage to give a final statement in some of the tasks too. Also, as I was anxious, I was speaking too fast, and I'm worried now that it might lower my score.

I think that my performance on the writing section was just average. I followed the structure, the word count in both of the essays was higher than needed, but I made some mistakes in spelling, and I used a British variant of the spelling in one word. On top of that, my ideas in the independent essay were not so bright.  :unsure: 

I need a score of 100 and higher. I feel really upset that I didn't prepare enough for the test, and that I will, more likely, need to retake it. The scores will be released only in a week. I know that I need to let it go, as I can't change anything now, but it's not easy to do so. The good part is that this experience has spurred me to study hard for the GRE.   :)

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