Congrats all who scored high... You all deserved it!!!!
I have some reservations..... We have evidenced many people receiving great scores in late April & early May 2008. I am not going to disclose my scores here for personal reasons, but I think in the long run the great scores we are seeing right now are going to disappear. I'm trying to convince myself that ETS might have validated the scoring mechanism for TOEFLiBT, but my inner gut instinct guides me that this thing might not be long lasting as few days from now we will see people complaining about their results. I have been there and done that, so I understand what this is all about. To prove my point go to page 5 of ETS' score data report (link below) to get information about the realities on the ground. 89th percentile rank for the 26 speaking score is unbelievably high. This is a language test, not an Aerospace Engineering test.
Here's the link for ETS score data summary report for TOEFLiBT for the year 2007.
http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/71943_web.pdf
My personal experience with TOEFLiBT is that in order to be among the "blessed" 89th percentile, you need to attempt the test at the right time... How would you know that this is the right time? NOBODY KNOWS!!!!!. If you happen to attempt the test at the wrong time, you will never score high NO MATTER WHAT. To prove my point again, try to register for the test in July and see how much you're gonna score. This is a language test.. It shouldn't be handled this way.
FYI, TOEFLiBT is losing popularity. Many colleges & universities are now accepting
IELTS as an alternative english proficiency test. Check
IELTS website for info about the number of US institutions that have accepted
IELTS for this year alone.. You will not believe your eyes
Stay tuned for more news regarding the sudden death of TOEFLiBT....