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Preparing for the TOEFL iBT reading section

February 12th, 2012 | Posted by glenn in English Exams - (0 Comments)

What to expect in the TOEFL iBT reading

The TOEFL iBT reading section tests your ability to read and understand academic texts in English.  The passages are taken directly from real university textbooks.  The purpose is to ensure that prospective students are capable of coping in the university environment.

The skills that are tested are reading to find information, basic comprehension and reading to learn.

There are 3-5 texts and each one is about 700 words in length.  Each text is followed by 12-14 questions.  The first passage alone is 20 minutes and the second and third passages are 40 minutes for reading and answering the questions.

How should I prepare for the TOEFL iBT reading?

As mentioned above, the passages are taken directly from university textbooks in all areas so the first and most important piece of advice you can get is to read a wide range of academic subjects.

Read critically.  What is the reason this writer wrote this text.  What are they really saying?  Are they trying to explain, convince, or resolve a problem?

Take notes.  Note-taking will help you to remember facts and details that will assist you in answering the questions faster.  Write your notes in blocks that represent the paragraphs on the screen so that you can easily find that information again.
Skim first.  Skimming the text will help you to understand what it is you are about to read.  Skimming is not a substitute for reading but it will make reading faster and more thorough.

Read carefully.  When you read the text, identify the passage type – classification, problem and solution, cause and effect, compare and contrast, etc.

 

Remember that a solid understanding is built like a house.  First you need a good foundation, then you build the framing and then you fill in the walls with bricks.  When you are reading, you need to make an impression of what you will read from the title and skimming the introduction and looking at the writing style and the purpose.  Then, you frame the text by taking the main point from each of the paragraphs.  Then you fill in the framing with the sentences that give you the details.  The brick by itself is not a useful tool; just as a sentence without context is not useful.

If you need to prepare the TOEFL iBT, our certified native-English teachers can help you! Check out how you can learn English by Skype with Live-English.net.

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TOEFL iBT grammar

January 29th, 2012 | Posted by glenn in English Exams - (0 Comments)

One of the things that can help you to get a better score with the grammar in the TOEFL iBT  is understanding that it only tests American grammar.  This means that if you have been exposed to both American and British English dialects, it would help to know some of the differences.

There is no TOEFL iBT grammar section

Where the old Paper-Based Test (PBT) had a grammar section, the iBT does not.  The grammar is evaluated through the speaking and writing questions.

Here is a summary of some of the common differences between British English grammar and American English grammar to help you with the difference.

Differences in Tenses

  1. Americans tend to use past simple over present perfect more than the British.  This is true with words like yet, already and just.
    • AE- Did you eat breakfast yet?
    • BE- Have you eaten breakfast yet?
  1. Americans tend to use have more than have got and have to more than have got to.
  2. Americans use subjunctive mood (they recommended he go) where British use other forms such as (they recommended that he should go).

Other differences

  1. American English uses toward and forward as opposed to towards and forwards.
  2. American English adds an s to morning, day, night, evening, weekend etc to talk about activities that you do regularly at this time.
  3. American English tends to avoid adding –er to sports to talk about the people who play that sport.  Where BE speakers would say a footballer, an AE speaker would say a football player.
  4. Shall is used less in American English.
  5. When naming rivers, the word river usually follows the name in AE (Colorado River) but precedes it in BE (the River Thames)
  6. Americans use sat, seated and sitting where the British use sat in most cases (the bride’s family are sat (seated) next to the groom’s/I’ve been sat (sitting) here for 3 hours)

This list is to help you to get an idea of the kind of differences you will face.  If you know any more, feel free to add them in the comments below.

 
Grammar is part of learning a language. If you want to learn it informally, try our Spoken English course

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Mastering the TOEFL iBT listening test

January 8th, 2012 | Posted by glenn in English Exams - (0 Comments)

Improving your listening skills will help your ability to have a fun and effective conversation but it is especially important if you plan to undertake the challenge of a listening test like the TOEFL iBT listening test.  The secret to improving your listening skills is active listening and comprehension.

Comprehension

Communication is the sharing of ideas between two people and this goes through three steps.  The first is identifying the sounds into units that you understand.  When you listen, you are hearing sounds and connecting these sounds with words that are already in your vocabulary.  This means that if a word is not in your vocabulary, it is much harder to identify. 

The second step is being able to catch the rhythm of the speech and, in English, the rhythm is created not only by the breaks in between words and parts of sentences but also by the stress that we put on words.  This tells us which parts of the sentence are really important and which parts are just there to satisfy grammatical rules. 

The breaks help us to create blocks of language that are easier to understand than a lot of individual words.  When you do a jigsaw puzzle, it is easier to imagine where the pieces go if you focus on one area (a corner for example) rather than just finding the piece that goes next to this one.

The third part of comprehension is attaching the connotations and context to the words.  When we hear a group of words we bring to our interpretation of those words our thoughts, opinions, feelings and culture.  The same group of words can mean different things to different people.  

Also we need to apply the words that we hear to the situation in order to completely understand it.  The words “it’s your shot” have a completely different meaning if you are standing in front of a pool table than if you are standing in front of a gun.

How this helps with TOEFL iBT listening

If you are studying well already, this should all confirm what you are already doing.  If you are listening to different accents and listening for new vocabulary when you practice, you are helping to build your comprehension. 

If you listen and imitate the rhythm that people use when they speak including the breaks and the stresses, this will help you think in blocks rather than words.

If you understand that words can mean different things and that we need to understand the situation (and sometimes detect what that situation is when there are no visual clues), this will help you to avoid costly misunderstandings that lead to confusion.

Remember, in the TOEFL iBT listening test, you will be listening to identify the situation as well as get the meaning of the words and if you can do this in blocks, it will be much easier for you.  For tips on listening sections for IELTS and TOEIC, click these links.

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Top 3 tips for the TOEFL iBT speaking section

December 4th, 2011 | Posted by glenn in English Exams - (0 Comments)

To get the best score possible in the test, you should know a bit about how it will be evaluated.  So, here are the top three tips from ETS.

Know how the TOEFL iBT speaking section works

The speaking section of the TOEFL iBT includes six tasks.  You will wear headphones and speak into a microphone. Your responses will be recorded and sent to examiners who will mark them using Rubrics (see below).

To ensure that your test is marked objectively, ETS will get three to six certified ETS raters to evaluate your responses.  They will give you a rating on a scale of 0 to 4. Your average rating will then be converted to a scaled score of 0 to 30.

Become familiar with parts of the iBT test (check out the TOEFL iBT website for more information).  This will help you to know what to expect and to face the test calmly.

Look at the TOEFL iBT speaking rubrics

A rubric is a scoring sheet that examiners use to grade a piece of writing or a speaking performance.  Knowing how they grade your performance will help you keep realistic goals and help you achieve the score that you want.  You can see the rubrics here (page 44).

Speak naturally

During the test, try to focus on speaking loudly and clearly.  Ensure that you use intonation to sound natural.  Imagine a mind-map in your head with the different points and each point has sub-points.  This will help you to gather your thoughts and speak in “thought groups”.

Take a pause in between thoughts.  Try to show your emotions in the way that you speak.

 

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TOEIC vs TOEFL Which test should I take?

November 19th, 2011 | Posted by glenn in English Exams - (0 Comments)

What is the difference?  Which one should I take?  Thousands of people scour the web for information to answer these questions each and every week.

Background

TOEIC and TOEFL are both English language tests that test your ability to produce and understand t he English language.  Both are produced by ETS which is why people are now starting to wonder why they would bother to make two similar tests.

TOEIC vs TOEFL

What is the difference between the TOEIC and the TOEFL?

The TOEFL test is designed to indicate your level of English for the purpose of further academic study.  It is mostly used for admission into universities, colleges, scholarships, exchange programs, basically all your academic endeavors.

The TOEIC test on the other hand, is designed to test your level of English for the purpose of helping employers to understand your abilities and decide whether you meet their expectations or not.  It is used in making decisions about recruitment, promotion and evaluating corporate training programs.

Which one should I take?

Simple, are you going to study or work?

In order to avoid disappointment, it is always wise to check with the institution you are aiming for if you have already made concrete plans for the future but since most people want a little flexibility, or they want to both study and work, you may want to choose the one that you think is most appropriate and try to get by on that one.

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