Hello everyone,
Yesterday I got the result of my TSE ‘September 18th’. It was my first time and thanks to all of you here for the help you offer. FPGEE requires 213 TOEFL & 50 TSE. I got 237 & 50 respectively.
Let me share with you some of my experience:
1- Please don’t listen (or consider) those who say the exam is difficult, the exam is really so simple and straightforward.
2- The tension and stress will let you hang on and more will act as a barrier between your thoughts and ability to express (speak), so relax .. I mean the word relax.
3- How to prepare: Easy, you don’t need to buy any kit (I know, some will not agree with me, yet its up to you to believe or not!) ... READ as much as can .. books, newspaper ...etc.
4- They run the test –as most of you know by now- over the phone … so consider it a normal telephone call. You will hear the instructions and read it at the same time. The voice and the pronunciation are clear and in a very simple language.
5- IMPORTANT: Don’t use any pre-prepared answer. Don’t try to memorize what you studied … just answer the same way as if you would be answering a normal telephone cal.
6- Don’t worry about doing mistakes, if you realize one, say excuse me I mean so and so.
7- Don’t expect to get a well organized story. The one I got didn’t make any sense to me. All what I did, I started by saying: Though the story doesn’t make any sense to me, yet what I see is …….!!!
8- Time is enough for each question … Yes I mean what I say. In most questions you will get like 15-30 seconds to think … they are enough. Don’t rush to start the answer immediately, if you need more seconds .. that is OK! Don’t give any impression that you have a ready answer to this question.
9- Work on your accent … yes, I think it matters a lot. Let me be honest without any offend here …. For Indians, Pakistani, Vietnamese, Japanese, Philippines you need to work on your accent. Sure we can’t by anyway have the same way of pronunciation like Americans … but at least, we can speak slowly and clearly to be easily understood.
10- In some questions I finished early .. too early, I took like 30 seconds out of 60 allocated for such questions … and it was OK. On the other hand, I couldn’t finish on time the last question … it doesn’t really matter as long as the evaluator got your message clearly.
11- Be simple, precise and to the point. Avoid words you have difficulty to pronounce. Don’t forget (TH) in English is not (S) … Thanks is not SANKS.
12- Relax …. Get enough sleep and don’t forget .. it is a 20 minutes exam
:) Good Luck:)
Excuse my English … but it shows you all, that you can DO IT !!