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Kunal Guha, First let me sincerely congratulate you for your outstanding score. Even as a native speaker, a perfect TOEFL score is quite an achievement since many native speakers don't get such high score. Now, about your question, in my personal experience I've found that most colleges and Universities are somewhat relaxed about getting the TOEFL scores. The most important thing is to apply before the deadline. I mean that you have to make sure your documents and the application fee will be on time. If the college is going to receive the scores a little bit later then I recommend you to apologize for it and explain them that your scores won't late very much. It will be up to the college to determine if they can (or not) wait for your scores. But as I said before, if your scores can be by the following two weeks after the deadline, then your chances of being still considered for admission are high. I know that Germans are used to be very strict and disciplined, but let’s keep the fingers crossed for you and hope they may grant you a time extension. Maybe if you mention your excellent preliminary score you can increase their interest on you, don't you think? Regards.

Thaiva, Thank you and best wishes for you too. So you're planning to take both GMAT and GRE? What graduate program are you looking for? I guess you might be planning to apply by the next year, aren't you? I assume you're looking for an american/canadian University since you'll take American tests; moreover, most american/canadian universities have deadlines on December-may, that's why I suppose you could be thinking on 2005. Regards.

Thaiva, I'm concurrently applying for a MSc. in Computer Science to McMaster, Ottawa, Concordia and British Columbia Universities, all of them in Canada. I hope at least one may pay attention to my humble existence. Why? What about you? Regards.

Desertrose and Joyyoj, Thank you very much for your compliments, and yes you're right *sigh*, now the next hindrance I have to get thru is the application itself. Here are some pieces of advice for the RC section of the test. (a) Manage to mollify yourself; in other words take it easy. The RC section of the test has the most available time to answer the test by far. When I finished the RC section I still had 50 minutes left in the clock! I wish I could have spent that time in the TWE, but as you know the TOEFL is not precisely about complacencies (doh!). (b) Read a lot (in English, of course). The more you read, the better. There are 5 passages in the TWE that you have to read. I've found 2 out of 5 having some sort of complex vocabulary. The other 3 are quite easy, so you won't be needed to have a (very) strong background to manage thru this section. © When you start a passage first skim through it, then read it thoroughly. If you find a word you don't know, try to figure out its meaning from the context. If this fails too, then skip it and move on. Don't spend too much time trying to understand a word or a phrase, it's not worth. Unless you are required to answer a question that refers to the unknown word or phrase, you can just ignore it, but first check if it doesn't seem to compromise the overall idea of the passage. (d) Remember that in this section of the test, you can go back and forth the questions, so you may leave for the end the hardest questions of each passage. Hope this can help. Regards.

Thaiva, Thank you very much for your kind words. *Thumbs up for you too* Regards.

Ben-hur, After reading the message from Yang, I did an exhaustive research and I got the following results: (a) The calculation rule I used to estimate your final Structure/Writing score is not wrong at all; nevertheless there is a problem. The problem with it is that I used it incorrectly. I didn't realize that for an accurate estimation of the final score you have to use an adequate correspondences table. Such table depends on the number of questions in the Structure Section and the percentage that the TWE covers. So, we cannot exactly determine your final score. (b) Although we cannot infer what TWE score you need to get your 250 points goal, there is the possibility of estimating it just as Yang did. © I cannot "guarantee" that you will get at least 250 points with a 4.0 Essay, but as a result of the recent research I conjecture you have great chances to easily get it; in other words, congratulations, you may remain peaceful while waiting for your official results. In the worst case scenario you'll be still able to blame Yang and me for giving false expectations.

sunXcat, Thank you very much. Keep it up you too! *thumbs up for sunXcat* Regards.

After looking several posts on this Forum I realize we've got a pattern here... First of all, I'd like to thank God I got a higher score than the expected. T H A N K Y O U L O R D Now, let me explain why I am saying I've got a pattern here: Let's take for example, the case of MoizManji. He said he was expecting to get a higher score in the reading section, but for some reason he didn't. He also did not expect such a high score on the listening section, but he actually got it. Coincidence? I don't think so, but it is just that the same thing happened to me!! When I did the PowerPrep test TOEFL I did it poorly (about 24, 25, 25). I took it ONE DAY before I did the real TOEFL!!! YES, the real TOEFL has several strange, inconsistent issues that make me suspicious about it. I consider that my strongest is the Reading. I felt I did it outstanding since I was 100% sure of all my answers, nonetheless my score was 28. On the other hand I consider my weakest is Listening. I felt I didn't do it very well (in fact I was sure my score would be about 25-27), but what a nice surprise I got a score of 28!!. The funny part of all this is that a friend of mine that took the exam one week ago also got a higher score than he expected. All the tests he took, including PowerPrep, Kaplan and David A. Pyle (Cliff's) resulted in lower scores, above all in the listening section. Interesting... isn't it? What can we conclude of all this? First: Though the Reading section of the TOEFL seems to be damn' easy don't get surprised if you get a 28 !! Second: No matter how poorly you think you did it in the listening section, you'll score a little bit higher, believe me. Third: You will never run out of time in the reading section. There is just too much time allotted for this section. Fourth: Unless you are a professional writer, 30 minutes won't be enough to refine your essay so it satisfies you 100% (ETS people should consider granting more time, such as 45 minutes or so) (This conclusion applies to people who took some preparation for the test (i.e. bought a book, took a course), because if you don't get prepared then you will mess it up in all sections of the exam) Now let me give you some pieces of advice to all you who are planning to do the TOEFL. (1) Please, adjust the volume level as high as you can stand for. I found the sound quality during the test not good. There was a short talk where a woman with a twangy lengthy voice appeared and I just didn't get a single word what she was saying. I just wanted to kill her!!! On contrary another woman (in the same short talk) spoke like an angel, and although she used a complex vocabulary, I was able to infer from the context the meaning of her words. I encourage ETS people to check the sound quality of their recordings because some of them drive you crazy. (2) Ignore as much as you can the scenes that appear during the Listening section of the test, because they may distract you. I realized that if I close my eyes and focus all my attention on my ears I can have a better overall understanding. Note: some times pictures are useful, so keep an eye on them from time to time. (3) Never blindly guess in the structure section. Although you can guess on the reading section of the test, doing so in the structure sections can severely lower your score. (4) Plan very carefully your time in the TWE section of the test. Spend at least the last 4-5 minutes proofreading your essay, because I guarantee you will find errors on it. I strongly recommend you to keep an eye on the clock so you won't get surprised that there are only 4 minutes left and your essay is still in the developing stage!! Very careful with that!! (5) On the whole, the TOEFL test ain't so difficult. Be aware it is not like playing Solitaire but do not be afraid of it either. With some study, TOEFL can be handled. (6) Material I recommend to get prepared for the test??? Well, "CBT TOEFL Test" from David A. Pyle (Cliff's) is an outstanding book. It has the best structure section by far. I also recommend to download the PowerPrep software. It gives you an accurate picture about what you will encounter in the real TOEFL. Good luck!

Let's see Ben-hur, let's see... If you scored 4.0 on the TWE then you will likely get 9 score points. So, if you scored 12 in the Structure section then we add 9 resulting in 21 points. (23 + 21 + 29) * (10/3) = 243 points. In order to get 250 points you need at least to get a 5.0 in the TWE, resulting in 11 score points: (23 + 23 + 29) * (10/3) = 250 points.

Look Rhyme, I'm going to be honest: On the whole, the structure section of the TOEFL ain't so difficult. Yes, it has some really difficult questions, but good news is that only about 10% has such difficulty. About 60%-70% of questions are from easy to average. If you have taken a regular preparation curse (wheteher buying a book and studying by yourself or attending a class) then you will probably succeed in the test.