sanview

What are your answers, or your guess?

good point. Let's convert it later.

Maybe my english is too poor, but shouldn't there be an "it" after "that" in the topic "Some people believe that is very important to make large amounts of money, while others are satisfied to earn a comfortable living” like "Some people believe that IT is very important ..."?

I guess you had a wrong assuption. Not everyone comes here to help. Some just come to make trouble or block people to see the questions, I believe. And some people do not have common sense.

I suggest we convert this forum to TSE (TOEFL SPEAKING EASE, or if somebody can think of a better interpretation) after celebrating(for those who eventually pass the test) and crying (for those who don't). This is a great forum. People here helped each other by providing information, answering questions, encouraging each other, and posting possible test questions. I hope everybody will pass the test in June, but the reality is that some of us have to continue the journey and take the challenge of TOEFL iBT. So I suggest we continue this forum with the same name and spiriture, but different interpretation. It would be a great loss for those who have to continue if this forum ends. Even though Knok has posted a goodbye message, I would request her to continue lead the forum. Any supporters?

Is there a problem in the topic itself?

To the people who got 50 already: could some of you give your opinion? Is this good enough to get 50 (in your opinion, of course)? In addition, if you were asked to answer this question, how would you do it? I guess I would like to know if this style is good (pick a point and then discuss the point, the only point), or should we list a bounch of points and give a (little) explanation to each of the points? Thanks, Sanview

Could you post the address, including street number? Thanks, Sanview

Does any of you know the address of the center in West Los Angeles? Thanks, Sanview

Hi Beata, Nothing said is against you. It's all ETS's fault. As I said you may very well be right. I just don't want people be discouraged or feel guilty about knowing the topic in advance. If it is a fair game, ya, we should follow the rules and be fair, but it isn't, and nothing we can do about it. So everyone should do whatever is right for him/her. Sanview

beata might be well right because once you know the topic and prepare it, you will probably try to recall the answer during the test and this might make your answer choppy and with a lot of ‘um’, therefore make your answer not sound good, but I agree with Crystalclear on that different people have different strategy. With regarding to getting the topic before the test, ya, you can call it cheating in some sense, but I wouldn't feel guilty about it. Why? because the test itself is problematic and not fair. There are a couple of reasons (I am practise TSE now :p). First, the most ridiculous thing is that it does not give you any preparation time for some of the questions. You might say that the content is not important but your presentation is. This is probably true (even that I am not sure), but without proper content, it is hard to give a good presentation. For opinion, adv/disadv, and hypothetic questions, there should be one minute preparation time. Second, among the tests given by ETS, TSE is the worst in terms of feedback and rating standard. When you get your TOEFL score, you at least know how you performed in each section, and you know which part is your weak point and you know where to spend your time when you prepare for the next test, and overtime you can tell your progress you made. With TSE, you get nothing, only one number – 45. You don’t know whether it is because adv/disadv was not done well or store telling or something else. So you never know what is right or wrong and you learned nothing from the test. Who get benefit from it? ETS, because you now have to take the test again and again, and they just sit there and collect money while you keep guessing how you should play this game. So in some sense, ETS is cheating by keeping you in the dark. There might be third reason, any volunteer?

85%? how did you get this number?

Thank you, Yesgirl. Here is the URL: http://www.www.urch.com/forums/tse/48235-questions-may-13-a.html

These are all good suggestions. I especially agree with point 5 - practice with materials, not other test takers, however, I would exclude the following CDs: ESL Seminars IELTS Huge Kit and ESL Seminars TSE Preparation "Video Huge Kit" If anybody recommands any of these two to you, call him/her liar. Why? because they are garbage. Sanview

Just curious. what is your tse for? Most people here are aiming at 50. Also worth mentioning, if your score meets the requirement already, don't ask for rescoring, because rescoring may lower your score.