TOEFL- All There is to Know

TOEFL, or Test of English as a Foreign Language, is a test of an individual’s capacity to use and understand English in an academic setting. Designed and administered by ETS (Educational Testing Service), it was designed to provide a common framework to test a person’s English using ability. Initially designed only for the USA, it has slowly grown and is now accepted in almost any country in the world (as obvious by their tagline-‘Go Anywhere’).

The TOEFL exam can be given as a Paper-Based or Internet-Based. Both the score are valid for 2 years from the date of exam, and contain the following 4 sections-

      1.  Listening

      2.  Reading

      3.  Speaking

      4.  Writing

The Listening section consists of six passages 3–5 minutes in length and questions about the passages. These passages include two student conversations and four academic lectures or discussions. A conversation involves two speakers, a student and either a professor or a campus service provider. Test-takers may take notes while they listen and they may refer to their notes when they answer the questions. Each conversation is associated with five questions and each lecture with six. The questions are meant to measure the ability to understand main ideas, important details, implications, relationships between ideas, organization of information, speaker purpose and speaker attitude.

The Reading section consists of 3–5 passages, each approximately 700 words in length and questions about the passages. The passages are on academic topics. Students answer questions about main ideas, details, inferences, essential information, sentence insertion, vocabulary, rhetorical purpose and overall ideas. New types of questions in the TOEFL iBT test require filling out tables or completing summaries.

The Speaking section consists of six tasks: two independent tasks and four integrated tasks. In the two independent tasks, test-takers answer opinion questions on familiar topics (like school, holiday, friends, etc). They are evaluated on their ability to speak spontaneously and convey their ideas clearly and coherently. The more the number of examples a speaker provides to consolidate his ideas, the better it is.

In two of the integrated tasks, test-takers read a short passage, listen to an academic course lecture or a conversation about campus life and answer a question by combining appropriate information from the text and the talk. In the two remaining integrated tasks, test-takers listen to an academic course lecture or a conversation about campus life and then respond to a question about what they heard. In the integrated tasks, test-takers are evaluated on their ability to appropriately synthesize and effectively convey information from the reading and listening material.

Test-takers may take notes as they read and listen and may use their notes to help prepare their responses. Test-takers are given a short preparation time (Six to ten seconds only) before they have to begin speaking. The responses are digitally recorded, sent to ETS’s Online Scoring Network (OSN) and evaluated by three to six raters.

NOTE- Speaking is the section most people lose marks in, though it is the easiest. A little practice will help you familiarize with the pattern. Also, NO need to use ‘difficult’ words or language, as the TOEFL is testing only clarity of ideas and speech. Use the language pattern you are most confident in, and try and speak loudly and clearly.

The Writing section measures a test taker's ability to write in an academic setting and consists of two tasks: one integrated task and one independent task. In the integrated task, test-takers read a passage on an academic topic and then listen to a speaker discuss the same topic. The test-taker will then write a summary about the important points in the listening passage and explain how these relate to the key points of the reading passage. In the independent task, the test-taker must write an essay that states, explains, and supports their opinion on an issue, supporting their opinions or choices, rather than simply listing personal preferences or choices. Responses are sent to the ETS and evaluated by four raters.

Take 5 minutes before you start writing and simply jot down the points you are going to write, and in what order. It may seem like wasting time, but actually helps in organizing ideas which ultimately result in faster typing and hence, more marks.

As a thumb rule, remember this-“the more you quote, the more you score”. But make sure the quotes fit well into the text, and don’t seem unneeded. Especially good to end your essays with a short poem (you can even create a short poem yourself if possible. Just sound a little vague and deep), if you have time. Just 4 lines would do a lot to boost your scores.

So, finally-

• The TOEFL iBT test is scored on a scale of 0 to 120 points.
• Each of the four sections (Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing) receives a scaled score from 0 to 30. The scaled scores from the four sections are added together to determine the total score.
• Each speaking question is initially given a score of 0 to 4, and each writing question is initially given a score of 0 to 5. These scores are converted to scaled scores of 0 to 30.

Points to Remember

1. TOEFL English is much easier than GRE, but still you need to prepare separately. The fact that it is not as difficult as GRE does not mean it is the same in format. They test for very different knowledge than GRE does.
2. Look out for the pattern very carefully. Most of the marks are scored and can be lost only due to familiarity with the pattern.
3. Essays asked in TOEFL are very different than GRE, and the testing parameters are different too. Read lots of essays for good scores.
4. For reading section, it will be much easier for you if you read many novels. Infact, if you have read lots of novels, you need not prepare at all. But if you don’t read novels, read as many passages as possible. Also, critical reasoning can be very helpful.
5. In TOEFL, the biggest problem is time management, as the time provided will be far too less to properly answer any question. This is by design, and hence one needs to circumvent it carefully. Try sample papers to get a general idea.
6. Most people lose most of their marks in SPEAKING section. Once you get nervous, your flow stops. Do not let that happen. Remember, every question is marked separately by separate evaluators, and your performance in the previous question will not be considered in the current one.
7. Again, speaking section is the most important, and where most students lose marks. Do NOT panic if something goes wrong. Listen to as many sample questions before the test as possible, as it will help a lot.
8. There might be a lot of noise at the center, as many students give the speaking test simultaneously. Wear your headphones at all times to avoid being distracted.

Everyone feels he/she did badly in TOEFL, but the scores come out decent eventually. They are literally finding ways to give marks, not cut them. So do not worry after the exam too. Treat yourself instead!

Wish you all the best.