Boorz

I still think the correct answer is A.

Today (07/08/05) at 9:00 am local time I did the CBT exam. Listening: 26 Structure: 13-30 Reading: 28 Total: 223-280 About the test: Listening: very similar to PP regarding of sound quality and speed of the talks. Too bad I was swamped in double choice questions. At least five of them. There were even two of them in a row in a same single lecture! Once again I panicked in the listening part. My heart was in my throat but I managed to keep my concentration. I was sure I would get something between 26 and 28 and I did. I got frustrated when I realized I had missed a wild guess question. The next question told me the right answer. No killer idiom was used although the questions were very close to each other and in many cases, very difficult to realize what the correct answers were. Preparation for the Listening part: all PBT tests from the acezh Chinese web page. Dozens of native listening material: The National from CBC.ca and fox news from my friends cable TV. I also went through every single question from PP. TIP: during the test, try to relax (haha, easier to say than to do!!) and maintain your attention to the talks. Pretend you are in the classroom listening to the professor and imagine the subject, try to understand it, live it. Structure: Very similar as powerprep. Perhaps slightly more difficult since I was running out of time due to some tricky questions. Damn! I did not get a single inversion question! I was expecting a 13-29 score, but not a perfect one. Preparation: all TM structure questions, Power toefl 3000 (a program I downloaded from the internet, indeed, very useful), Every PP structure questions and PBT tests form 1998-2004, besides both the ETS study material and Barrons CD (without the book and the explanations). I posted the most critical questions just here and got nice explanations for most of them. Too bad the toefl next generation will wipe out this part. BTW, I do not agree with it. Reading: More difficult than PP. I almost exceeded the time for this section! It took me 20 minutes to finish the first passage. I finished the entire section with 8 minutes left. More black boxes than in pp. Vocabulary questions with answer choices very close to one another. Preparation: All reading texts from ETS study material. PBT from 2000 to 2003. All passages from PP test 1. I was expecting a 27-29 score but I thought it to be easier. TIP: READ carefully the entire passage first. If there is something you did not understand well. Come back to the beginning of the para and read it again. After doing it, read CAREFULLY the following questions and return to the text in order to look for the answes. It takes me 5 minutes to read a passage well, I will have other 11 minutes to answer the questions. Essay: “When famous people such as actors, athletes and rock stars give their opinions, many people listen. Do you think we should pay attention to these opinions? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.” Well, I really do not know what grade I will get. Perhaps a 4,5. I found out the scratch paper very useful. Unfortunately, I did not have any brilliant ideas. My essay was kind of short, just two body paragraphs. Preparation: TM forum, practiced around fifteen official topics under real test conditions. I basically used Erin’s tips. For a 5 essay. When it comes to think in a short time and stressful situation I am not good at doing so. I have difficulty to get good ideas. QUESTION: I do need a reliable score for the following essay grades: 4-4,5 and 5. I still do not understand how to do it. Special thanks: All TM forum users (especially the ones in the structure part), Erin Billy for the wonderful site.

hahahaha Were to addequate conditions be taken into account we should have a lot of extra back ground like the professor's face, lips, permission to take notes, etc... I do not agree with the sound quality of PP because it does not reflect the real speech that is by far better than that of PP. Anyway, the voice of a professor during a lecture in a university (a real one) should be clear and noise around should not bother.

http://acezh.jijing.org/download.htm I have found this web page just here in TM forum, so it is not any new. It is a very useful page, there are a lot of pbt official tests as well as the scripts and answers for Powerprep. I strongly recommend everyone who is taking toefl to go through this material. BTW, any information about the ''DOWNDOWN" web page material tests?

GOSH! I have done one of the "down, down"listening material. It acts like official toefl tests but the questions are so difficult That I doubt they are real. I have done all the official pbt tests from 2000 to middle 2004. Unfortunately that files did not contained any information. could any of you give one, like whether or not they are official tests and if so, the dates when they were applied.

It is interesting. Many people complain about the sound quality of the powerprep, other say its ok. I do think it is awful. Nothing can be worse and were we supposed to have a sound quality like a 128kbps mp3 our score would be certainly around 2 points higher. What is more, many test takers report that the sound quality of their tests was even worse than that of pp. A few say that it is better. Le me tell you what I am doing: A friend of mine who has cable tv records the fox news or cnn (although I prefer the former) records on a vhs videotape in slp mode, that gives me a 6 hour lenght of real english material in a poor quality sound. Other important thing is to go through http://acezh.jijing.org/download.htm and do all the pbt toefl tests there many listening records are really bad (although most of them are better than powerprep software)

I am fed up with with ETS. This is just more one "MISS QUESTION" in the real rush of a test. I agree it is letter A. arjensteve vbmenu_register("postmenu_172919", true); has pointed out. "though" refers to the the legislative. Company would fit well but then "though" should be "and or besides", I think. If we pay attention to the word carefull we will incline to company since the state have absolute power and do not need to be carefull in doing smt. Of course this is my humble opinion I am not that good in interpreting texts.

There is nothing wrong with the question. I have double checked the sources. The key did say it is letter A. But It may be wrong. I think "that" cannot be ommited here because comes is a verb. Though I am not sure. Anyway, thanks for your help.

Really impressive.

5.5 in the essay. This is pretty high. In case you need to retake the test, please be sure to know the 185 topics and have structured ideas for them. Also read the essays samples here in TM. You will learn a lot. I am really sorry but, No pain no gain. BTW what was your range in the structure to get a 23 with a 4.5 essay?

Thanks very much. BTW, I do not agree they are messy. They are pretty legible and well organized aren't they?

The pioneer in this move was the state of Pennsylvania, which chartered a company in 1792 to construct a turnpike, a road for the use of which a toll, or payment, is collected, from Philadelphia to Lancaster. The legislature gave the company the authority to erect tollgates at points along the road where payment would be collected, though it carefully regulated the rates. (The states had unquestioned authority to regulate private business in this period.) 37. The word "it" in line 11 refers to A. legislature B. company C. authority D. payment The answer is A. Why not B?

I think The main (smt) INCLUDES.... though I am not really sure. No, because in my opinion it refers to all individuals. "publishes" shluld be publishments... :rolleyes:

plan is a count noun and therefore should have a determiner. if it does not, then it must be plural: plans clustering means aggrouping together. It is fine to me.

In 1932, a traveler could have cruised around the world on an ocean liner in first class accommodations for _____ $914 on the Cunard White Star Line. As few as As many as As much as As little as Correct is D. Power Toefl 3000. We can count dollars can’t we? Anyway, could anyone explain me why it is only letter D the correct and not the other options? 14. Today _____A____ little fossil ivory remains comes from Alaska. (A) what (B) which © there is (D) where ==== Toefl 98-10 I did not get this one. I have never seen such a thing. 9.The United States Constitution provides for a count of the population ____ a census, every ten years. (A) that it is called (B) when called © called (D) as called KEY：C === Toefl 98-10 Is letter C possible here? Or we have a typo, and it should be letter A, something like “what is called a census”. 24.Because of their [rapidly]changing [economically]fortunes, many frontier towns of the American West [underwent]spectacular fluctuations in [population]in the nineteenth century. I do not know the answer for this question. I think is something between A and B. But why, and what should it be? 20.In general, novels are thought of extended works of prose fiction depicting the inner and outer lives of their characters. Answer is A. For me it looks perfectly well. Perhaps “thought to be” Toefl PBT 2004-04. Thanks in advance.

Hi Brian. I did send you some of my doubts remeber? But you never made them.

I think it is a question of order. It should be: Will probably not happen // or probably will not happen. Will not happen probably does not sound good at least to me.

Very good explanations. Thank you very much. I agree with you in number 40. From now and on I will start to study PP structure questions, I have all the answers but no explanations for those. So, in the near future I 'll post the most difficult ones here.

A 4.0 in a PBT essay is good. The mean in the PBT essay is 3,7 (3,5, if we round it)whereas the mean in CBT is 4. Great score! Congratulations.

A 600 score PBT is the same as a 250 in CBT. Too bad I'm not good at calculating essays and scores. But I think you can make it with a 4 or 4,5. Could you make any coments about your test. like sound quality, use of idioms. Reading texts, structure questions.. heheheh. Best of luck.

40. Collagen, a strong rubbery protein, supports the earflaps and the tip of nose in humans. Key：D humansàhuman This question was taken from a chinese source. According to it that is a TOEFL 99-10 question. What I do no understand is why humans is wrong here. ======== “Medea”, _________ play written by any of the ancient Greek playwrights, was an attempt by Euripides to articulate human ambivalence and malevolence. A) a modern B) the most modern Another killer one. Answer is B, why not A as well? Taken From Power Toefl 3000 Test 125. ================= 3- Willa Cather,_____, gained recognition for her books concerning the American frontier. A. a novelist and Pulitzer prizewinning B.a Pulitzer prizewinning novelist C.a Pulitzer prizewinning novelist who D.was a PUlitzer prizewinning novelist It is B. Why not A? TOEFL PBT 02-09 ============= 21- Bacteria and [similar] one-celled organisms reproduce by cell division, each of the daughter [cell] then [beginning] a new life [as a] distinct organism. This question is strange because the answer is B. According to the explanation it should be "cells". But how can it be. Sometimes "each of" is followed by a singular noun, other times by a plural noun. What is the key to understand this pattern? Another point I did not get, the verb begin in the gerund “beginning” form indicates a present action in progress, therefore, letter C does not fit here in my opinion. Is it possible? And what should letter B be? Toefl 2002 – 05. Thanks in Advance.

Long essay, I have never written more than 330 words in one. (Generally between 260 and 300 words) Try not to repeat so many times words like "broaden" and "on the other side". I really have no experience in rating essays but I would grade it as a 4,5.

Very good explanations Wasleys, as always. Thanks a lot. And the question 25 was copied correctly but it is incorrectly. The original is [mammal]. Very nice to count on you guys. I've had other tough questions as well but I'll post them in another topic next week.

13. According to some critics, the novels of William Burroughs demonstrate the major hazard of absurd literature, _____ tendency toward overembellishment and incoherence. (A) notwithstanding (B) besides © is a (D) its Answer key is D. I have no idea why. I do think this one is wrong. I thought it would be "B" because the statement doesn't show contrast. Taken from ETS preparation test H. ======================== 25. In human beings, as in other [mammals], hairs [around] the eyes are ears and in the nose [prevent] dust, insects, and other matter from [entering] these organs. Answer is A. This is a very strange sentence. It's exactly as in the ETS Structure A. I thought it sould be "...[they prevent] dust,..." By the way the does the word hair exist in plural? ========================= 36. [One of the problems] of United States agriculture that has persisted [during the] 1920’s until the present day is the tendency of farm income to lag [behind] the costs of [production]. Answer is B. This one is killer. A native portuguese simply can't answer a question like this. Taken from ETS Structure B ======================= 26- [Among the] symptons of measles, which takes about twelve days [to] incubate, [are] a high fever, swelling of glands in the neck, a cough, and [sensitive] to light. I thought it should be D, "sensibility" could take place but the key is C. Taken from the TOEFL PBT October 2000. ====================== 13- ________ 1810, water-powered textile manufacturing arrived in New Hampshire with the founding of a company in Manchester that manufactured cotton and wool. A) Early B) In the early C) As early as D) When early Answer is C, but I think B also fits here. Taken from PBT TOEFL 2000-10. ===========================

Congratulations!!! What did the sound quality look like? A six essay will give you the maximum score, therefore 270. But unfortunately I don't know exactly how it's calculated.