I got my score for March 13,2009.

[mydan]

I just checked and got my result for March 9 exam online. It is Total of 100

R 27
L 22
S 26
W 25

I am so excited that I got what I need. Especially I was so afraid of the speaking section as most of my friends couldn't make it. I was also not happy about the reading section after the exam. By the way, it is my first attempt. I used Barron's book (TOEFL iBT Internet-Based Test, 2007) with the Audio CD and CD Rom. I also used Longman (Preparation Course for the TOEFL Test) mostly the CD Rom.

I want to thank all of you who were posting some useful informtion on this forum. your advices,support and resources were very so valuable.

Thanks

[pina]

Great score!! congrates,,Can you give us some advise on speaking part? I took test 5 times and ended up getting around 23-24.

Thanks,

[bahar222]

do you know if we can request rescoring for the listening part? mylistening part was very good but I got a very low score.

[mydan]

Hi pina

I spent a lot of time for speaking section preparation. Because I needed a score of 26 which was very hard to acheive for most of my friends. Here are some of the things I followed. I hope it will help you.

1. Relaxed in listening section: I was a bit distracted in the beginning of the test while doing my reading section. Because people were checking their mic and it was also my first time to take the test. But later I felt comfortable. I was so relaxed on my listening section eventhough it was the long format. I would say that I saved most of my energy for the speaking and writing section because I only needed a score of 18 in listening. So why would I waste much enery and concentration.

2. Covered useful materials twice: I have covered the model tests and practices on Barron's (TOEFL iBT Internet-Based Test, 2007).To say it again I'v also did Longman (Preparation Course for the TOEFL Test) mostly the CD Rom. For the speaking parts in all the materials I did it twice.

2. Recorded my practice answers: I have been recording all my answers and checking my improvements from time to time. I have also put all my speaking materials in my i-pod so that I can hear it everytime I am moving around especially while commuting to work.

3. Listened to the Radio: I have also been listening to National Public Radio (NPR) and the member service in Washington DC (WAMU) almost daily on my i-pod and computer. The link is NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts. This has helped me a lot to familiarize myself with the American accent and learn some unique speaking styles and even vocabularies.

4. Followed useful sites: I have followed the advices of Rensahw "TOEFL speakink Tips" and developed my template for speaking on all sections. Though I had sometimes a problem of following the template strictly. Here is the link for this useful website [ TOEFL Speaking Tips ] Renshaw Internet School of English. I am so grateful for him.

5. More practices: I have practiced and recorded my answers for the speaking question in the same website mentioned above. About 40 topics on question 1 TOEFL iBT Speaking Independent Topic List (Open Choice Question 1 on the test) and another 40 topics on question 2 TOEFL iBT Speaking Independent Topic List (Paired Choice Question 2 on the test). For some of the topics I just studied and prepared reasons to support my arguments because of lack of time. I was sometimes googling the topics to find best argumnets for them.

I would say that I studied so hard for this test as I was so afraid of it. I wish all the best for all of you in achieving the desired scores.

Don't give up friends!

[pina]

Hello friend,
you really deserved such great score.And your advice and tips are so great.I'm taking my exam on 9 th may and I also need 26 in speaking.
Again thanks for your valuable input.And good luck for bright future...

[bahar222]

Hello friend,
you really deserved such great score.And your advice and tips are so great.I'm taking my exam on 9 th may and I also need 26 in speaking.
Again thanks for your valuable input.And good luck for bright future...

hi pina,
i am also taking the test on 09th. of may. where are you from.

[jayvinth1977]

hi there iam taking the exam may 09th in UK..please lemme know is anyone taking exam on the same date in australia/india...email me jayvinth@gmail.com
thnx

jay

[pina]

hi bahar222,
I'm in Michigan,US.and in May I am taking my exam in michigan.Last time I got 105 but couldn't manage to get 26 in speaking.

[scarygirl]

Mydan,
I just send you a PM. Anyway, everybody was talking about listening to the Radio and watching TV. I do understand Radio and TV perfectly but that doesn't prevent me from having repeatedly 20 in speaking. What's wrong with me. It's true that during the 15 or 30 seconds of preparation, I could not come up with any outline, and ideas just flowed while I was talking. How do you cope with that and how do you take notes during the listening part ie was you able to organize and paraphrase your notes immediately while listening or did you just try to take as much notes as you could. For me, until now it was impossible for me to paraphrase my notes right away.
Hoping this discussion will be profitable to all our members, Scarygirl

[mydan]

Hi Scarygirl

If I understand correctly most of us have a problem of organizing our speech in that section. Since we have very little time to prepare, we need to know what we can do in that limited time.

For questions 1 and 2 I just followed the advices in many websites and books. In the preparation time of 15 sec we only have time to put 2 reasons to support our speech and include 1 or 2 examples in them. We shouldn’t try to write a sentence for each idea as we don’t really have time to do that. Instead we should probably jot down 2 or 3 key words just to remember the idea when we start speaking.

Then just follow the time structure set in your mind for each reason. For example some suggest structuring your speech for Q1 as: state the topic (5 sec), description (10-15 sec), reason 1 (15 sec), reason 2 (15 sec). Especially be cautious of how much time you are left with before you start your second reason. I would say if you start your second reason when you have 15-20 seconds you would definitely be able to finish your talk on time without leaving any of your ideas out.

In the integrated part I suggest we need to take note from the reading passages after we quickly read them. On the listening passage we should take as many notes as possible while they speak as it could sometimes be difficult to identify their main ideas without they finish talking. Then, in the preparation time we just need to sort out the important or main ideas from our not. I would suggest to circle or make any kind of marks on those ideas rather that trying to rewrite or paraphrase them.

I am not sure if addressed all your questions and if these strategies could work for you guys. You are very welcome to come up with alternatives which could benefit the group.

Good Luck!