hoangluong

====> Here the word IS just before EXAMINED is redundant, thus to make the sentence grammatically correct, IS must be dropped. In other words, the sentence is like this: "..... in the object (that is) examined". YOu see, the relative clause that begins with THAT/WHICH is REDUCED, therefore IS must be dropped together with THAT/WHICH.

Hey, there's no problem at all, just a bit of a surprise! The PBT I took in Hanoi in October last year also had as many as 70 questions, 20 of which must be experimental ones that ETS used for their purposes of some kind. Aside from the Listening, I had also 70 questions on Reading that day. You needn't worry at all about that.

One more word I forgot to post in the preceding message: Aside from ETS Test Prep. Kit, you should also use PowerPrep, no matter whether you're comptemplating CBT or PBT. One clear advantage of the PowerPrep, as I see it, is that it contains so hard listening material. Thus if you're feeling more confident with it as you prepare, you'll find PBT listening comfortable. That said, I don't mean you should depend on the PowerPrep for the PBT. What I do mean is you complement your PBT test preparation books with the PowerPrep. Many guys say PowerPrep is even harder than the actual CBT or PBT test, so I do believe you'll surely get so much from it. thansk

Hi friends, I've received the score from the ETS just recently. I had a total score of 633 and a TWE score of 5. Listening: 61 Grammar: 68 Reading: 61 1) Before Test Preparation: Before attempting to study for the test, I had assessed my own pre-test level of English by taking a practice test from the ETS which at the time was completely new to me. I did it under strict time conditions, just like the real test, and got approx. 593. Thus I decided that I'd not attend any course available here and that I would devote my energy to self-study. 2) Test Preparation: I stuck to Erin's recommendations about books to buy, such as Test Preparation Kit 1&2, M-W Dictionary, and about which radio to tune in to prepare for listening on a day-to-day basis like CNN, etc. I decided for myself at the time that Listening was my biggest problems that needed special attention. Thus I spent roughly half an hour everyday listening to the likes of CNN or BBC. For Grammar, I don't think the books taught a lot more than this great website. Before sitting down to do all of the practice tests from the ETS Test Preparation Kit, I had visited this website so frequently largely to learn from others in Grammar questions. We shared lots of answers and grammar points and I undoubtedly got so much from that. For Reading, I actually didn't prepare much for that except that I did virtually all of the practice tests from the ETS Official Test Prep. Kit just to imagine what the reading was like and how to time myself. The reading passages from the books are surprisingly very close to the actual test in terms of length and level of difficulty, etc. For Writing, I didn't spend much time on it but just went over some of the excellent essays posted by other TMians and copied the way they organized the thought, ideas and examples, such as 5-paragraph essay. 3) Actual Test: Since I prepared psychologically for the test quite well, I had no problems such as feeling nervous, etc. I always told myself in my mind to attempt the test just as if I were doing it in my bedroom when I was doing the practice tests. In Listening, when told to open the test book-let I always looked ahead for questions of that section just to expect what sort of topic it would be for those questions and this was like quick scanning, i.e running your eyes on answer choices quickly from top to bottom of the page. In Grammar, it was just a piece of cake because we did a lot more difficult grammar questions posted on this forum. This worked so well on the actual test as every question looked very easy to me in relation to those that we together worked on Grammar Discssuon of this forum. In a word, if you think you need to study English further beforing beginning test preparation, just do so until you're confident you're at a level of English that is strong enough to absorb tips given on the forum. You'd better assess your own English to see where you are, then schedule your study appropriately. Especially for Grammar, visit this TestMagic forum because you'll see that it offers much harder questions than the actually test and so you'll definitely get so much out of that. Lastly, a tons of thanks to Mr. Erin for offering these free online resources and to my TMian friends for sharing their answers and providing explanations to hard grammar questions. Thanks and wishing you top scores!

Congratulations on an awesome score!!! Honestly, a Vietnamese with that high TOEFL score is really hard to find for the time being, at least among those who do not major in English! I wish I will do as well on the test as you did. Once again, muaxuan68, I can't help but to congratulate you truthfully on your feat!

Thanks a lot, vuhl74! My final word to give is Congratulations! Your score is awesome. As far as I know, no one in Vietnam whose doesn't major in English has ever got that high score, 'cause when I refered to the table comparing between PBT and CBT scores, I saw that your 280 equals something in the region of 660-667! Incredible, yes incredible. You really aced it, nicely and in style! BTW, best wishes for your on-going studies there!

Congratulations! Hey VUHL, where did you take the CBT? You must have taken it outside Vietnam, mustn't you??? Perhaps in the UK or the USA? "Cause the CBT is no longer available in Vietnam, which is a good news 'cause it's harder than the PBT.

These guys are already visiting the best of the best TOEFL free prep websites but still keep on asking which is the best free! How come?

Thanks a million, Diep!!!, for a quick reply! No, not at all. I mean TOEFL Institutional administered by IIE as requested by the Government of US for all of the applicants of Fulbright Program in Vietnam. It was given exactly as the real TOEFL, i.e TOEFL International, in terms of test procedures, test supervisors (these are from IIE and also appear as supervisors for TOEFL Int'l in Hanoi), test center (Hanoi Hilton Operal Hotel in Hanoi), test regulations, etc. What is a minor difference between them is while TOEFL In'tl is administered for adminission purposes, hence its test-takers' scores officially endorsed, TOEFL Institutional is for evaluation purposes only and its examinees' scores are not recognized as globally official. You can't present your TOEFL Institutional scores when applying for a scholarship, simply because they don't trust your scores. WHAT I JUST WANT TO ASK about is a difference between the TWO tests, TOEFL In'tl and TOEFL Institutional, in terms of level of difficulty, types of questions, etc. Because I'm going to take TOEFL Int'l soon while I haven't taken it anytime before, I just want to know the rough comparison of the two tests, so I can plan for a preparation that suits me most (if it's harder, I'll put more time into it, if it's easier than TOEFL Preparation Kit, I won't at all. If you choose to do sth, you'll have less time for others).

Do you know how easier the TOEFL Institutional is than TOEFL International? I'm asking 'cause I have just taken the former but haven't received a score yet. From what the test was like at the test center, I would say that the test is so similar to TOEFL Preparation Kit's practice tests in terms of level of difficulty and types of questions. It is even harder. What do you think??? Share your knowledge and experience here, please!

Hi there, I see a typo in your question. "The laws states"?? It has to be either "The laws state" or "The law states". And yes, I agree with HoangLuong, "neither" must be left out. In my humble opinion, the best correction of the sentence would be"The law states that the IRS can may conduct audits when necessary, paying no heed (to neither the) complaints they hear nor to the financial records the client thinks are important." Just my 2 cents:) IMHO, it can be corrected like this: The laws states that the IRS can conduct audits when necessary, paying no heed (to [/size]either[/size] the) complaints they hear [/size]or[/size] the financial records (THAT) the client thinks are important

hint: (which is) standed in the driveway, the house...... Therefore, "standing" should be changed to "standed" Hey, what about the part highlighted??? I just think [/size]ago[/size] is used mainly in simple past tense, e.g He left school 8 years ago, or in this kind of structures, e.g He [/size]has/had left [/size]school [/size]since[/size] 8 years [/size]ago[/size]

Completely correct, despite it looking a bit strange. If you would refer to a classic grammar book, say, the one by Michael Swan, you would be interested in the rule for rare usage such as the above structure. We the learners often think that the main verb in both clauses should share the same subject, such as "Looking out the window, she felt a bit sad". In this sentence, the subject of the verb "to look" in the subordinate clause is just the same as that of the verb "to feel" in the main clause. However, this grammar books points to other exceptions, the most notable of which are given below as examples: - Without much money to spend on night-time karaoke, there was virtually nothing he could do to idle away his leisure time. - Faced with financial troubles, there was little he wanted to do to proceed with the plan. Of course, there are a handful of other exceptions you may ask other TM to provide. HTH

I posted my own explanations to the Q below but somehow I lost them all. Now I have to start all over. 6. It was once thought that Homer had never lived and that the poems ascribed to him were of composing authorship. IMHO, composing authorship should be a composer's authorship 7. It is important for this venture to be adequately capitalized and financed if a satisfactory conclusion is to be achieved. Pretty clear here! to capitalize and to finance are interchangeable or, put differently, are synonymous. So we cannot use both in this part of the sentence and we must eliminate either one of them. 8. The laws states that the IRS can conduct audits when necessary, paying no heed (to neither the) complaints they hear nor the financial records the client thinks are important. I explained this from my point of view in the earlier message. 9. Today¡¯s announcement is definitley very bad news of Hanscom Air Force Base and the army¡¯s Natick (Research Lab ) and very promisimng news for the Knight Naval Air Station. Well, actually I don't know why I chose it. Also, I'm wondering if we should add a piece of just before news. For example, a piece of news/information/etc..... Pls correct me as necessary.

Yes, I did. I received an e-mail message confirming the receipt just as I'd sent the registration. However, the ETS didn't receive the money because of the transaction problems with the credit card company. As a result, no USD 110 has been charged to the account of the ETS. Until I realized the problem, it was too late. I hope I won't miss the August 28th test as well. Anyway it isn't a big problem since I'm taking it not for study purposes but for employment purposes. Thanks! Hope you get to the score of your wish!

Hi vvaann, muaxuan68 and maliciousHUT, thanks a million for your info. Just about 10 days before the test date, I got in touch with both the ETS in the US and IIE in Hanoi. They said I blew it! Because the online registration I submitted didn't work somehow, I wasn't included in the list of candidates for the May 10th TOEFL test in Hanoi. What a pity! I will have to register, this time by mail to be on the safe side, for the test of the coming August 28th in Hanoi. Thanks!

Hi, My choice is D: Leave out "are"; It is superfluous. Hi Muaxuan again, this time I'd just like to explain why I chose C over D. See below: First, it is all correct to say either of the following: I think it difficult, , or I think it IS difficult So you see how it applies to our sentence? Second, it seems there is a double negative in the sentence. Once we use the negative, in this case NO in paying No Heed (like: NOT paying ANY heed), we should not keep NEITHER anymore. Instead, we should replace it with EITHER.... OR. Just my IMHO, pls correct me if I'm wrong!

[quote hoangluong: 1) A ] Hi, My choice is D: "everyone" --->> "anyone else" Hi Mua Xuan, thanks for your input. Your answer really helped me recognize my mistake. However, I don't completely agree with you on the correction. If I were given a chance again to correct the sentence, I would make it read "EVERYONE ELSE"!

Sorry I mistyped the answer to Q 7. My choice is actually C instead of B as posted.

1) D 2) C 3) D 4) B 5) A 6) D 7) B 8) B 9) D

1) A 2) B 3) A 4) A 5) B 6) A 5 minutes has passed. Now is time for explanation of the answer choices: 1) Because of ===> Despite/In spite of 2) Had been surprised ===> Was surprised 3) ... vehicles to customers made in Japan ===> Japanese-made vehicles 4) Inflammatory ===> Inflammation 5) As the result of ===> As a result of 6) AN useful....===> A useful....

1) C.===> ...book ARGUING 4. 2) D====> WAS washed away 3) A=====> essentiaLLY 4) B=====> SUGAR! 5) C.