NoteFull

Stator, I'm happy that you wrote in and that everything was clarified in later posts. Good luck with the test and if you have any other questions, I'll do my best to keep an eye on this thread. Also, manishme, wow. Congratulations on your score and on knowing your material so well.

Joseph, this is Joseph from NoteFull. I can imagine your frustration. It's tough to improve; I know. Many students get stuck in a 24. I promise you that you know everything that you need to in order to get a 26 or 28 in the speaking section. Of course, your natural question is why aren't I getting it. My first suggestion is to follow one program, whatever it may be. Jumping around too much is just going to confuse you. You need one person, group, or program to stick with until you succeed. Think about always switching personal trainers when you're trying to lose weight or constructing a new kitchen in your home and before it's complete, you switch to a new company to continue the work over and over again. Any program followed with discipline will help you. I do have my bias with NoteFull, but I want you to remember that we're always here to help and any good instructor will be too. If you can hit a 24, you can hit a 28. It's just the way it works. I want to give you a solid perspective on succeeding at this point. On my youtube channel, you'll see that many students say, "Wow! I studied your videos for two days and hit a 29 on the speaking. I couldn't have done it without you." Those are great students and I appreciate their comments, but to succeed so quickly, they had an incredible base that needed a little bit of guidance. One of my students needed a 28 from a 22 and it took her a year and a half. I have many students with a 24 who are still with me after months of work. Each person is different and has a different schedule. My goal is to help you as quickly and efficiently as humanly possible, but it still takes time. One-on-one tutoring at this point is the only option that can produce results. It would be great to work with you one-on-one, but, regardless, choose who you feel is best and stick with that person. Forget your friends successes or failures, your score is the only one that matters. Be patient. You will succeed. I promise each of my students that: you never give up and we'll never give up and success is guaranteed. We always here about the success and often don't hear about the struggle. Your 26 is coming. Good luck!

If vocabulary is one of your weaknesses, it's definitely a good idea to begin reviewing. I would recommend doing the following: 1) Read articles and/or books and keep a log of new vocabulary words (probably no more than 10 per day). For TOEFL-level vocabulary I'd recommend Scientific American or National Geographic online. 2) I would also recommend writing down the whole sentence for context. 3) When you're finished, you can look these words up. I recommend writing down the meanings as well. 4) Finally, to really memorize the words and how to use them, I suggest creating your own sentences. Following these steps will help you build your vocabulary little by little each day.

As an instructor, I would recommend studying with one or more of the following TOEFL preparation texts: Delta, Barron's, or Cambridge. Also, make sure that you understand that the speaking and writing sections of the exam are not exactly as described in these books. You can find lessons to help you with this on YouTube. Get free practice by searching for "ouliogroove speaking" or "ouliogroove writing" that's close to the exam on YouTube(though not exact, it's better than all of those books). Also, get free lessons by searching for "notefulldotcom" on YouTube.

I do not have the test materials on hand to check if you content is accurate, but I have a couple suggestions to help you improve your structure. First, it seems that you're including a lot of information from the reading. The graders definitely want to see that you understood the article, but they really aren't looking for a lot of details. It would be best to state the article's claim very simply and in one sentence. You'll want to include 2-4 sentences discussing the lecture and the professor's claim. This is the most important part. Secondly, if you are unsure about where to find the article's claim, there is a simple formula: In the first paragraph, the claim is in the last sentence. However, in the second, third, and fourth paragraphs, you'll find the claim in the first sentence. Lastly, I think it would be great if you provided clearer transition sentences. Because you are discussing two opposing points, including a brief sentence between them would make your essay clearer to understand and more fluid. It should be something simple like: "However, the professor refutes this point..." or "The lecture opposes this point by saying that..." I hope this helps. Good luck!

Hi there! Taking the TOEFL can be a confusing and difficult process. Sometimes it's difficult to find a way to get consistent scores on each attempt. While grammar is extremely important, I find it best to start by setting up structure that can be followed for each test. I will focus on the question 2 essay. For all of my students, I encourage them to follow a very simply formula for structure. That is as follows: Paragraph 1 - State the importance of topic. Then explain why it's important. Next, restate the question. And, finally, state your own thesis/answer. (e.g. "In my opinion, I prefer _____ for two reasons.") Paragraphs 2 & 3 - First state your reason and briefly connect your reason to your answer. Next, provide an example of support. Lastly, include a conclusion sentence to sum up the idea of the paragraph. Paragraph 4 - First you will restate your answer. In the next sentence, you'll restate the 2 reasons (no more!) that you mentioned in the body paragraphs. And, lastly, include a final, general suggestion. Following this structure is simple and easy to follow. It helps you to organize your essay in a clear and fluid way every time.

I would definitely recommend studying with a TOEFL preparation book, such as those by Delta, Barron's, or Cambridge. Also, make sure that you understand that the speaking and writing sections of the exam are not exactly as described in these books. You can find lessons to help you with this on YouTube. Get free practice by searching for "ouliogroove speaking" or "ouliogroove writing" that's close to the exam on YouTube(though not exact, it's better than all of those books). Also, get free lessons by searching for "notefulldotcom" on YouTube. I'm Joseph from NoteFull, so if you have any specific questions, don't hesitate to ask; I'm here to help and good luck with your studies!

For this essay, let's look back at the question. It's asks "Do you agree or disagree?" I mention this because the question you answered was "What are the advantages and disadvantages?" The first step to finding success on the writing section, independent reading is to make sure you understand the question and are, in fact, answering the question begin asked. Therefore, I'd recommend that you choose one side and then write two paragraphs including two different reasons and supporting examples. Also, I noticed that your word count is a bit too low. You can improve this by adding more specific detail to your supporting examples. Think of an actual story you can tell to support your argument and then consider the questions who, what, when, where, why, and how. If you answer all of those questions, you will most certainly expand your word count and strengthen your argument overall. https://NoteFull.com

We just finished the class a short time ago. It was great. I'm happy that some of you were able to make it.

Hello everyone. I'm sorry for the short notice, but I'll be holding a free online speaking class tomorrow focusing on what it takes to deliver answers that will earn a high rating on questions 1 and 2 of the TOEFL. The class will start at 6 AM Pacific Standard Time and run for 60 minutes. I wanted to give students from abroad and who work a chance to participate (which is why the time is so early). We'll focus on developing strategies and techniques to make these questions more comfortable. After that, we'll go over a few student example answers to see what we can do to improve. At the end, I'll take general questions and do my best to answer them to make you as prepared as possible to succeed. You don't have to be shooting for a 26 to benefit from the class. I titled the post that way to let you know that we'll be learning what it takes to score high. I hope you'll attend! To register, simply visit our FaceBook page. NoteFull Toefl Help - Education - Pasadena, California | Facebook We have the event descriptions there. (You'll just have to send us an email and then we'll send you an email back to join the class with a link to click on to join 30 minutes before it starts). I hope to see you there and good luck with your studies. You can do it! If you have any questions about the class or the TOEFL speaking in general, let me know. Joseph

I wish you great luck. I know it's tough to improve quickly. Be patient with yourself and your studies. You'll get there. Your deadline is a challenge and if you have any questions through your studies, post them here and I'll check in periodically to offer the help that I can.

For writing: write at least one essay a day. It can be for question 1 or 2 of the TOEFL. Also, check your writing against example essays. Your book should have some. In addition, try taking "dictation" on a perfect example essay from your TOEFL book. Read a sentence from the example and then write it down. Compare to make sure that they're exact; fix any errors in your sentence. Do this for the whole essay. Do this once every other day and you should notice improvements. I hope that this helps give you a good start since many people here said they were struggling in all sections. Ask your general or specific questions and I'll do my best to help. Good luck!

For speaking: this is tough because I don't feel that there's a lot of good practice out there, but with the questions that you have available practice and record your answers. Then, listen to your recording and take notes on what you didn't do well. Then, compare your answers to the book answers (if they have any). After that, keep recording until you make your answers perfect. As time goes by, you should be noticing that the notes on your mistakes are becoming fewer and fewer.

For listening: practice 15 minutes of dictation everyday (this is where you listen to audio as many times as you need to to write down every single word that you hear). This is a powerful way to develop spelling and listening comprehension. When you finish, check your dictation with the transcript. And, of course, practice at least 3 listenings at a time. After you practice, review the questions you missed while listening again and looking at the lecture. Highlight the tough sentences that you didn't understand and review them daily.

I noticed in the posts in this group that it seems that you're struggling. I'd love to offer my advice and contribute in making this a powerful and focused study group. I'm open to answering any of your questions and to improve will offer some basic advice. For reading: do an example TOEFL reading. Check your answers and review the ones that were incorrect. Highlight the questions and sentences that are tough for you to understand. Then, write down every word that you don't know in the reading. Master 50% of these words at least and review the sentences and tough questions everyday. With this kind of focus, you'll notice improvement within about two weeks. To be continued. . .

I think speak26 offers some great advice. Grammar is an important element in your score. Here are some quick tips to make sure that you prepare for precision and fluency in writing. For question 1, don't paraphrase. Write exactly what the professor states using the same words and using them in the exact same order. When students paraphrase, they use synonyms that don't carry the same meaning and change the logical flow of the professor's statements. Unfortunately, this is destructive to your score. A lot of students say they don't feel comfortable not paraphrasing. I tested this format and it succeeds and it's what my students do and they succeed as well, so don't worry too much about that. With respect to grammar, I also suggest using a perfect example essay - something written in a TOEFL book, perhaps; it would be great if you find a good example of an answer to question 2 - and then do the following: read one sentence from the essay and then write that sentence in your word processing software. After that, check to make sure that your sentence is exactly the same. Do this for the whole essay. If you do this once a day or at least every other day and focus 100% while you do it, you'll notice strong improvement in your grammar, punctuation, and spelling as the week goes by. You'll also notice an improvement in your writing ability. For question 2, I suggest that you focus on your examples in your body paragraphs. Make them strong and avoid repetition. Fill them with details. Get your word count up, too. Get to 400 words plus. Though they say 300 is a good word count, that's unfortunately nothing less than a lie. It's next to if not impossible to earn a perfect score with a 300 word count, so if you want a higher score, shoot for a higher word count. I hope that helps. Keep the questions coming and congrats again speak26. With hard work, MSMW and stnj09, you'll hit similar scores. Good luck!

It's great to know that you've already studied the information. Here are some pieces of advice. I know they may sound strange but with the students I tutor they make a world of difference. Every time that you practice, record your answer. Then, listen to it for ums and uhs (among other things if you're trying to improve). If you count more than 3, try the question again and again until you get it to 0. In the beginning, this will be frustrating and a challenge, but if you do this at least once every day until your exam, you'll feel the difference. Slow down, think of the next word, avoid ums, uhs, and repetition; they're score killers. For not having enough time to prepare, this sounds the most unorthodox (non-traditional), but eliminate the prep time when you practice: no 15s, no 30s, and no 20s. After a few tries, you'll realize that you can do it and then the time will go from being too short to a welcome help. It's not perfect advice but it'll get you there.

MSMW, it's clear that the speaking section could help you the most and I'm actually Joseph the creator of the NoteFullDotCom videos on YouTube that user speak26 referred you to (thanks speak26). I just created a new blog post titled "how to get a 26 in the TOEFL speaking section." I know you don't need that but the post teaches you the details of how you're scored and how to maximize your points in this section. There are videos there, too, and if you follow what you learn, you'll definitely improve. I'm also here to help, so if you have any questions, let me know. Good luck to you and everyone out there. And, congratulations to you speak 26; great job. Don't worry; MSMW, there's a lot of help for you out there and I know you'll hit your score soon.

goldin157, here's a super important tip. You have to pass not only the FPGEE but also the TOEFL to earn your license. You’re required scores on one exam are: Reading 21, Listening 18, Speaking 26, and writing 24. If you don't within 2 years of passing the FPGEE, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) could close your account IF YOU DON'T COMMUNICATE WITH THEM. I actually called the NABP and spoke with an agent. Here’s what I learned. When you take the TOEFL, send the NABP your score report. Its TOEFL institution code is 9103. As long as they get your reports and see that you're active, your account will remain open whether you need 2 years or 5 years. Also, when you take the TOEFL, earning a 26 in speaking is a challenge. I created a blog post titled “how to get a 26 in the TOEFL speaking section.” If you have any questions, let me know. Good luck!

i.k.u I think actually teaching you how to get a 26 in one forum post would be a little tough. But, I just posted a blog titled, "how to get a 26 in the TOEFL speaking section" that I think will help. It's very detailed and explains not only how to answer the questions with video tutorials but also explains how you're graded and what you need to do to earn 4 ratings from graders rather than 3s to earn your score. I've been a TOEFL speaking instructor for years and in this post I go over the common mistakes students make and what you must do. I also link you to other free resources online there. Check it out and let me know what you think or if you have any questions. Who knows? These might have been the videos that you've already seen, but there's more information in the post that I think you'll find helpful and remember, it takes time to master and improve; the speaking section is tough. Good luck!