July 12th 2008 toefl exam details...

[huzach]

hello everyone!

 

this forum has been really helpful both for my GRE and TOEFL exams. so i thought i should contribute by writing down my experience of TOEFL here so that others can benefit.

 

Starting with the preperation, i had gone through practice tests of Kaplan and Barrons. Kaplan's book was also very helpful, it had really effective guidelines and examples, so scanned through that book atleast once.

 

The test day dint turn out to be as perfect as i had imagined. my Test started an hour late because of some server problems at that centre. later also had many intermittent breaks because of server failure which made the entire test really exausting. the Administrator told us that its the problem with the backbone of internet in the entire country. Anyhow i dint give up like other students, who had their tests rescheduled and left, and completed my test.

 

Orite now the main part, if one practices from Kaplan like i did, then the real test really looks easy.

Reading part had 3 passages, wernt that difficult to answer although two of the passages very complex as in lots of dates and definitions etc.

In Listening part, i had 3 sections of 1 conversation and 2 lectures each (it included that unidentified experimental section). all the lectures and conversations were very easy to answer. i wudnt take nethin less then 28 or 29.

For the speaking section, again it wasnt somethin that made me speechless or out of ideas to say. every task was such that it cud easily be answred. But beware of the noise. because the noise created by other students answering this section really made me loose my concentration. and i couldnt completely answer 2 tasks, but made a gud start and all. but the disturbance really ruins ur focus in this section considering its limited timing.

writing was pretty easy, in both the tasks i dint have any problem at all.

 

waiting for my scores now. wud update here as soon as i get them.

would love to reply any queries.

good luck everyone.

[piyu]

hello huzach.

Thank you very much for sharing your TOEFL experience with us all. It really means a lot to us. I would like to know about the speaking and writing topic questions you faced and it would be great too if you could share your answering strategies with us.

All the best to all.............we can make history:)

[Egyptian Pharmacist]

Thank you so much huzach for your help but if you don't mind i would like to know more about the speaking topics you had in your exam as the speaking is the main obstacle facing me,

thanks again

[Egyptian Pharmacist]

Thanks so much huzach for your help but if you don't mind would you please share the speaking topics and how you answered because i think the speaking is the main obstacle facing us to pass the toefl.

thanks again

[huzach]

the speaking section does seem scary, one reason being that it is weird talkin to a computer and secondly the noise around really distracts alot.

 

for speaking, jus be simple, calm, and jus use one or max two examples. for example if ur asked to tell the person u like the most then jus tell one or 2 of their characteristics u admire with example as in how that made an impact on you. so you have to be concise yet be able to completely answer it.

 

for tasks 1 &2: jus describe a lil and use an example for each point u tell.

 

for lectures: just mention the key points

 

for Announcement & problem tasks: state the problem?Announcement briefly, state the 2 solutions, and which one u prefer.

 

As for writing, its pretty easy believe me. for Tas1, i was asked to write down points of lecture and how they contradicted form teh passage. i used paragraphs for diff points. started the para with wht was stated in the passage and then stated how it contradicts with what was said in the lecture.

 

so thats about it. hope i answered everything.

gud luk to all.

[khonz]

hi huzach! thanks for sharing all your experiences. It made me realize on what you said about the noises on the test center during the test...I believe it will play a slight problem on the test. If you stutter answering the questions would it affect your score? And another question, on both the writing questions (independent and integrated) do we need to have the 3parts like the INTRODUCTION, BODY AND CONCLUSION? Thanks so much!;)

[merfi_g]

thank you so much Huzach! I'm preparing for TOEFL also from Kaplan testing program. Was the real TOEFL IBT same as KAPLAN program?

[merfi_g]

And I'm going to take IBT on 3rd of August. Quite afraid of it.

[sea1859]

Hi Huzach

how many times did you take this test or it was your first attempt and also how long did you prepare for this test?

[huzach]

hi all!

apologies for late reply here, actually i was waiting for my scores to come and then comment better on the questions....

 

yeah i jus got my scores today and i got 104 :)

 

Reading: 27

Listening: 29

Speaking: 26 (2 good and 1 fair)

Writing: 22 (1 good and 1 fair; which i don agree with coz my writing went pretty well)

 

i was really worrying abt the speaking section partly because of the noise i faced and partly because the test got delayed so much that i was really exausted in the end. but anyhow it came out gud.

 

as for replies:

 

Khonz, fro speaking, yes i did stutter a bit too but i made sure to keep the pace and make my point clear and speak clearly. don worry abt stuttering a bit. whtever u say jus say it clearly and it shud make sense. for writin, yes its wise to do it like tht.

 

merfi_g, i found the real test easier then Kaplan, so ur on the rite track. don worry, jus be calm during the test.

 

sea1859, i gave it for the first time, i prepared for like a week or so. jus did barrons and Kaplan CD. took me this less time because i had already given my GRE so dint have to do vocab for this.

 

orite guys, good luk fro ur test

regards