TOEFL speaking score 18, is it possible to get teacher assistant ship

[monjuri]

I have completed my GRE and TOEFL and I will start applying into US universities very soon. And now at this moment I am stuck with one news that I have heard from a current student of a US university.

 

My TOEFL score is 93, listening : 25, reading : 25, writing : 25, speaking : 18. I have come to know that with a score of 18 in speaking section, it is not possible to get TA ship.

I have been suggested to appeared for TOEFL exam again.

 

My ques is do I need to get better in speaking section now.

I have done IELTS where I got 7 in speaking. I have sit for IELTS in August, 2009. Can I use it in my admission application for Fall 2011?

 

 

 

Please help me.

 

Thanks,

monjuri

[TOEFL Corey]

I am quite surprised that you (or this other student -- I can't quite tell from your posting) was able to get band 7.0 on the IELTS speaking but only an 18 on the TOEFL speaking. I would expect anybody at level 7 on IELTS to score at least a 23/30 (a raw score of 3 on each of the six tasks) if not higher.

 

I don't think any university would allow someone with an 18/30 on speaking to be a T.A., but I might be wrong. The best thing to do would be to contact the specific university (or universities) that you are considering and find out their requirements. Perhaps the IELTS score will be accepted (or maybe another attempt at the TOEFL will be necessary).

 

If you were able to get a 7 on the IETLS speaking, I certainly think you can do much better on TOEFL speaking the second time around. Best of luck to you.