Fix these COMMON mistakes BEFORE you take your TOEFL Exam! Typical Problems Students Face on TOEFL

Summary

In this TOEFL preparation video, the host shares insights from student experiences and offers valuable tips to excel in the exam. Highlighting the importance of ETS's free practice tests, the host discusses common issues like academic vocabulary and question strategy. Personal coaching and TOEFL prep courses are recommended for improvement. The video also addresses test-day strategies, emphasizing the impact of mindset and focus, and provides specific advice for the speaking and writing sections to achieve high scores.

Takeaways

• 📚 The instructor offers 30-minute consultations and one-on-one TOEFL preparation sessions, providing insights into common and unique student challenges.
• 🎯 One student benefited from encountering practice questions from the ETS website during the actual test, highlighting the value of using official resources.
• 🌐 The ETS has launched the TOEFL Test Ready platform, which includes a free practice test and other resources for additional practice.
• 📈 A student aiming for a US master's program in finance improved their TOEFL score from 79 to the required 90-95 by addressing issues in reading, speaking, and writing.
• 📚 The importance of academic vocabulary was emphasized, with strategies to learn and apply it effectively in the context of the TOEFL exam.
• 🔍 The instructor uses a platform for students to match words with synonyms to enhance vocabulary acquisition, crucial for understanding academic texts.
• 🗣️ For the speaking section, the instructor advises staying focused and positive, sharing a story where a student's mindset affected their performance.
• ✍️ The writing section was a struggle for one student, with tips provided on structuring responses and avoiding common pitfalls like overloading with advanced vocabulary.
• 📉 A student's repeated score of 24 on writing was addressed by focusing on clear progression of ideas and structure rather than multiple reasons.
• 🏆 The video concludes with encouragement and a reminder that achieving a high TOEFL score is about attention to detail and the small, consistent efforts made in preparation.

Q & A

What is the purpose of the TOEFL preparation series mentioned in the script?

The purpose of the TOEFL preparation series is to share experiences of students who have taken the TOEFL test and to provide valuable tips and tricks to help viewers prepare effectively for the exam.

What is the significance of the ETS free practice test mentioned in the script?

The ETS free practice test is significant because it offers an opportunity for test takers to familiarize themselves with the test format and content. The script highlights a unique case where a student encountered questions from this practice test in a real TOEFL exam, which is an unusual occurrence.

What is the TOEFL Test Ready platform and how can it benefit TOEFL test takers?

The TOEFL Test Ready platform is a resource launched by ETS that offers several tools for test preparation, including a free practice test, an activity of the day, a section test sampler, and a section practice sampler. These resources can benefit test takers by providing extra practice and familiarization with the test format.

Why is academic vocabulary important for the TOEFL test?

Academic vocabulary is important for the TOEFL test because it enables test takers to understand texts and lectures on complex topics that are commonly found in academic settings. A robust academic vocabulary is crucial for comprehending and performing well in the reading, listening, and speaking sections of the test.

What are the three types of academic vocabulary mentioned in the script?

The three types of academic vocabulary mentioned in the script are general words, non-general academic words, and technical terms. General words are familiar to most students, non-general academic words come from the academic word list, and technical terms are specific to certain disciplines or fields of study.

How can test takers improve their reading scores on the TOEFL test?

Test takers can improve their reading scores by enhancing their academic vocabulary and mastering question type strategies. The script suggests using a platform to match words with their synonyms and practicing reading tests under time pressure to nail down strategies effectively.

What is the importance of staying focused and thinking positively during TOEFL preparation?

Staying focused and thinking positively during TOEFL preparation is crucial because a negative mindset or dwelling on perceived mistakes can lead to a loss of concentration and lower scores in subsequent sections of the test. Maintaining a positive attitude and focusing on the task at hand can help prevent this.

What advice is given to TOEFL test takers regarding the speaking section on test day?

For the speaking section on test day, the advice given is to prepare in advance and automate responses. Test takers should aim for longer sentences to provide more detail in less time and break down challenging questions into practice steps to approach them automatically without worry or panic.

What are some strategies to improve writing scores in the TOEFL test's academic discussion section?

Strategies to improve writing scores in the academic discussion section include not necessarily responding to other students' opinions, avoiding using the same reasons as the students in the task, not overloading the post with advanced vocabulary, providing one well-explained reason instead of multiple reasons, and maintaining a clear progression of ideas with a structured post.

How can TOEFL test takers ensure they are not interrupted during the home-based TOEFL test?

TOEFL test takers can ensure they are not interrupted during the home-based test by asking the proctor not to interrupt them during the test. It's also advised to have the proctor double-check everything before the test begins to minimize disruptions.

Outlines

00:00

📚 TOEFL Preparation Insights and Strategies

The speaker shares experiences from their students' TOEFL test preparations and offers valuable tips. They mention conducting 30-minute consultations and one-on-one sessions, which provide insights into common and unique challenges faced by students. The speaker highlights a student who took the TOEFL 20 times, emphasizing both typical and unique issues. They recommend the ETS free practice test and the TOEFL Test Ready platform for additional resources. The speaker also discusses a student's unusual experience of encountering practice questions in the actual test, suggesting that the listening section now includes two conversations and three lectures.

05:01

📈 Tackling TOEFL Reading and Speaking Sections

The speaker discusses a student's journey to improve TOEFL scores for a US master's program in finance. The student initially scored 79 out of 120 and needed a score between 90 and 95. The student faced challenges in all sections but particularly struggled with reading, speaking, and writing. The speaker identifies two main issues in reading: a lack of academic vocabulary and difficulty applying question type strategies. To address these, the speaker introduces a platform for vocabulary learning and emphasizes the importance of academic vocabulary for understanding complex texts and lectures. The speaker also discusses the types of academic vocabulary, including general words, non-general academic words, and technical terms, and provides examples. They mention their TOEFL prep course and personal coaching services, and share a story about the importance of focus and positivity during preparation, illustrating how a student's mindset affected their performance.

10:01

🖋️ Mastering TOEFL Writing and Test Day Tips

The speaker shares strategies for improving TOEFL writing scores, focusing on a student who struggled to score above 24 despite multiple attempts. They provide key tips for the academic discussion writing task, such as not necessarily responding to other students' opinions, avoiding repetition of reasons, and not overloading the post with advanced vocabulary. The speaker emphasizes the importance of a clear progression of ideas and well-structured posts. They also offer advice for test day, such as requesting the proctor not to interrupt during the test and preparing automated responses for the speaking section. The speaker concludes with encouragement, stating that scoring 100 plus on the TOEFL is achievable through attention to detail and the right preparation strategies.

Keywords

💡TOEFL

The TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is a standardized test that measures the English language proficiency of non-native speakers wishing to enroll in English-speaking universities. In the video, the TOEFL is the central theme as the speaker discusses strategies and experiences related to acing the exam, including tips for improving scores in reading, listening, speaking, and writing sections.

💡Academic Vocabulary

Academic vocabulary refers to words and phrases commonly used in academic texts and lectures, often specific to certain disciplines. In the context of the video, academic vocabulary is crucial for understanding TOEFL reading and listening passages, particularly on specialized topics. The speaker emphasizes the importance of learning academic vocabulary to improve comprehension and scores.

💡Question Type Strategies

These are specific approaches or techniques used to tackle different types of questions in the TOEFL exam. The video mentions that the speaker helps students apply question type strategies to improve their reading scores, indicating that understanding how to approach various question formats is key to performing well on the test.

💡Test Ready Platform

The TOEFL Test Ready platform is a resource mentioned in the video that offers free practice tests and other materials to help prepare for the TOEFL exam. The platform is highlighted as a valuable tool for additional practice, suggesting that utilizing official resources can be beneficial for test preparation.

💡Section Sampler

A section sampler refers to a subset of questions or tasks from a particular section of the TOEFL exam, designed to give students a taste of what to expect in that section. The video script mentions that the Test Ready platform offers a section sampler, which can help students familiarize themselves with the test format and content.

💡Mock Speaking Test

A mock speaking test is a practice session that simulates the speaking section of the TOEFL exam. In the video, the speaker uses a mock speaking test to review strategies with a student, emphasizing the importance of staying focused and maintaining a positive mindset during test preparation and the actual exam.

💡Automate Responses

To automate responses means to prepare and practice answers to common test questions to the point where they can be executed quickly and efficiently without much conscious thought. The speaker advises students to automate their responses for the speaking section to reduce stress and improve performance on test day.

💡Integrated Essay

The integrated essay is a task in the TOEFL writing section where students must combine information from a reading passage and a listening lecture to write a response. The video script notes that some students may find the integrated essay less challenging compared to the academic discussion task, suggesting that different writing tasks require different strategies.

💡Academic Discussion

An academic discussion in the context of the TOEFL writing section involves expressing and supporting an opinion on a given topic, often in response to viewpoints presented by others. The video discusses strategies for this task, such as avoiding overloading the response with too many advanced words and ensuring a clear progression of ideas.

💡Proctor

A proctor is an individual who supervises an exam to ensure that testing rules are followed. In the video, the speaker advises TOEFL test-takers to communicate with their proctor before the exam to minimize interruptions, highlighting the importance of a smooth testing environment for performance.

Highlights

Introduction to TOEFL preparation series and sharing student experiences.

Offering 30-minute consultations and one-on-one TOEFL preparation sessions.

Discussing both unique cases and typical problems faced by TOEFL test takers.

A student's unusual experience of encountering practice test questions on the real TOEFL exam.

Recommendation to try the free ETS practice test for potential real test questions.

Introduction of the TOEFL Test Ready platform and its resources for extra practice.

A student's struggle to score well on the TOEFL for a US master's program admission.

Addressing common issues in Reading such as academic vocabulary and question strategy.

Importance of academic vocabulary for understanding complex TOEFL texts and lectures.

Using a platform to match words with synonyms for effective vocabulary learning.

Explanation of different levels of academic vocabulary: general, non-general, and technical terms.

Offering TOEFL prep bundles to improve language skills and refine grammar and vocabulary.

Strategies to improve speaking scores and the importance of staying focused during preparation.

The impact of a student's mindset on their TOEFL performance and the need to let go of doubts.

Advice for test day: ensuring minimal interruptions during the home-based TOEFL test.

Techniques to reduce stress during the speaking test by automating responses.

Key tips for improving writing scores on the TOEFL, including structuring responses well.

Encouragement and the message that achieving a high TOEFL score is possible with the right approach.

Transcripts

hello and welcome back to our TOEFL

preparation Series today I'd like to

share with you the experience my

students have had with the TOEFL test

and give you some valuable tips and

tricks to help you Ace this exam as you

may know I offer 30-minute consultations

after our TOEFL course in which I

evaluate students speaking and writing I

also conduct one-on-one toal preparation

sessions these give me a comprehensive

view of the full range of problems

students face as they prepare for the

exam there are many students who have

typical issues when it comes to toal

preparation that can be easily solved in

just a few lessons there are also those

whose situations are unique like the

student I told you about in this video

who took his toal test 20 times so today

I decided to talk about both unique

cases and typical problems the toal test

takers have when preparing for the test

let's dive in the first story one of my

students recently had an unusual

experience on her test day she got two

listening tasks from the ETS free

practice test imagine knowing all the

correct answers to an entire lecture and

conversation for a context the toal

listening section now includes two

conversations and three lectures so this

was a significant portion of the test in

my experience tol has never used

practice questions from the ETS website

in real tests so if you haven't tried

the free ETS practice test I highly

recommend checking it out you can

complete the reading listening and

speaking sections with me in these three

videos or you can take the test on your

own whichever works best for you a quick

tip for future TOEFL takers the ETS has

launched the TOEFL test ready platform

which offers several resources including

the free practice test I just mentioned

they also offer a free activity of the

day a section test sampler and a section

practice sampler these resources are

great for extra practice I'm considering

covering some of these tasks in future

videos let me know if that would be

helpful let's talk about another story

and discuss some more toal tips one of

my students needed to prepare for the

TOEFL to get into a US master's program

in finance when he first came to me he

had taken the test several times and

scored 79 out of 120 on his last attempt

he needed to score between 90 and 95 to

get into the program he struggled with

every section of the test but the

reading speaking and writing sections

were the most challenging in Reading he

had two major issues a lack of academic

vocabulary and difficulty applying

question type Strat IES you need

academic vocabulary to understand texts

and lectures on topics such as

radiocarbon dating ancient pottery and

plant Evolution for example you don't

need to know every single word in

passages and lectures but words like

occur decline terrestrial Escalade and

decade should definitely be part of your

vocabulary so we started with these

words I use a platform where students

can match words with their synonyms this

helps them learn new words words quickly

and effectively which is crucial for the

TOEFL test remember you don't need to

know the exact translation of each word

in your native language just learn a

simpler English synonym for example

pivotal crucial essential Paramount key

and vital all mean very important in my

student's case after we reviewed

academic vocabulary his reading scores

improved because he could better

understand the passages and lectures for

those unfamiliar with academic

vocabulary it includes General words

non-general academic words and Technical

terms General words are often familiar

to most students even though they're

used in academic context you don't need

to focus on them unless your level is

very low non-general academic words come

from the academic word list which

contains 570 words commonly found in

academic texts some examples of such

words are Prin iple variables research

Ur legislation transfer primary conduct

consent core pursue and hypothesis you

can find some of these words in this

video where I discuss 157 words that

appear frequently on the TOEFL test if

you've already watched the video please

let me know in the comments below which

of these words you see most often on tol

reading and listening tests my students

usually site emerge decade decline

Prosperity threat Decay impact and

depletion as the most common ones by the

way the next video will be about

idiomatic vocabulary for the speaking

section so don't forget to subscribe to

the channel and click the Bell icon to

make sure you don't miss it finally

technical words are specific to certain

disciplines or fields of study for

example in biology you might need to

know words such as photosynthesis

cells ecosystem habitat species and

mutation in astronomy terms like

constellation asteroid Milky Way orbit

nebula red giant Stellar Wind and lunar

are common these words by the way were

the most challenging for my students but

since I usually create visuals and fall

explanations for each discipline we

Master them pretty quickly if you have

trouble with this kind of vocabul

check out theology website it explains

difficult Concepts in a fun and easy to

understand way we also covered question

types and did many reading tests

together to really nail down the

strategies under time pressure we do

something similar in our toal prep

course so if you're preparing for the

test feel free to sign up for those of

you who feel you need to improve your

language skills first we offer two TOEFL

prep bundles one includes our TOEFL Prep

course and an intermediate to Advanced

course to help you refine your grammar

and vocabulary the other combines the

toal prep course with the advanced to

proficiency course I designed this

course with tol test takers in mind so

it's an excellent resource to boost your

skills for the test for example in the

course we'll have a lecture on Advanced

articles which is the most common

mistake on the tol writing and speaking

sections cover Advanced grammar topics

such as inversion analyze a typical

essay and review grammar mistakes many

students make in the writing section

study complex sentence structures and

learn lots of synonyms for advanced

vocabulary you can view the course

syllabus by clicking on the link below

we also offer personal TOEFL coaching if

you need speaking and writing feedback

back to my student he also struggled

with the speaking section I won't go

into all the strategies we use to

improve his speaking score but I'll

share one example that shows how

important it is to stay focused and

think positively during your toal prep

during our last lesson we did a mock

speaking test to review everything we'd

learned my student gave great answers

and scored about 26 I usually grade all

speaking attempts and this time was no

different but instead of telling him he

got a 26 I told him he would get a 23 on

this attempt I'll explain why in a

moment he was disappointed because he

had worked hard and wanted a higher

score but he didn't say anything when we

got to the final practice reading test

he started making mistakes and couldn't

concentrate on even simple questions all

the types of questions we' mastered

before now took longer for him to answer

and he made many mistakes the problem

was that he was still thinking about his

speaking score after a few questions I

stopped him and said look your speaking

score isn't 23 it's actually 26 but

because you were so focused on that

failure you ended up messing up the

reading test if you don't change your

attitude this could happen on test day

I've seen this happen to many students

who are

perfectionists as soon as they think

they've made a mistake they lose focus

and start dwelling on it as a result

they score lower on the next section

because they're distracted interestingly

the section they're most worried about

often ends up being their highest score

while the following section suffers my

student understood the advice and end

end up scoring 26 on both the speaking

and writing tests which was much higher

than his previous score of 21 and more

than he needed for college I highly

recommend practicing this mindset stay

focused on the task at hand and learn to

let go of any doubts or worries remember

your toal score depends a lot on your

mood and concentration on test day

speaking of test day if you're taking

the homebased toe fold be sure to ask

the Proctor not to interrupt you during

the test I recently had a a student who

was asked several questions during her

reading and listening sections which

disrupted her Focus before the test

begins ask your Proctor to double check

everything so that you won't be

interrupted during the exam another way

to reduce stress during the speaking

test is to prepare in advance and

automate your responses during my

consultations I analyze students answers

and often see the same mistakes for

example in questions 3 and four many

students use short sentences to

summarize the lecture which causes them

to run out of time before they can cover

all the

details aim for longer sentences instead

practice using compound and complex

sentences in your answers so that you

can provide more detail in less time

also break down the most challenging

questions into a few practice steps so

that on test day you can approach them

automatically without worry or Panic for

example for question one there are three

three key steps to producing an

effective answer first you should start

with an introductory statement then give

one reason and then give a detailed

example illustrating your reason you

should drill each step independently and

then combine them to get the best result

recently one of my students scored 28

out of 30 on his speaking test on the

first try after we analyze the full

speaking test during the consultation

The Last Story I want to share with you

today is about a student who really

struggled with the writing section of

the TOEFL he took the test seven times

and still couldn't score above 24 his

main problem was not knowing exactly

what to write in the writing for an

academic discussion section he would

stuff his post with lots of advanced

words come up with three or even four

reasons to support his opinion and

address the opinions of the two students

in the prompt despite all this effort he

kept scoring 24 or low on his writing

attempts there is one thing I want you

to remember even though the writing for

an academic discussion task may seem

easy it's usually this task that lower

students score on the writing section

not the integrated essay here are a few

key tips to help you get a higher score

on this task one you don't always have

to respond to other students opinions

many people think they do but they don't

two avoid using the exact same reasons

for your opinion as one of the students

in the task it's important to show

original thinking three don't overload

your post with Advanced vocabulary if

your writing doesn't sound natural you

lose points think of it as writing an

email to a colleague you're friends with

keep the tone neutral not to formal or

informal four instead of giving three or

four reasons give one and explain it

well five avoid jumping from one idea to

another the student I told you about

often made this mistake instead aim for

a clear progression of ideas and

structure your post well I hope these

tips help you feel more confident on the

TOEFL test let me know if you enjoyed

this video I have so many more stories

to tell and feel free to share your own

TOEFL prep stories in the comments below

if you're currently preparing for the

test and want to check how ready you are

click on the link below to get your

writing and speaking scores and remember

scoring 100 plus on the toal isn't

rocket science it's the little things

you do that make all the difference as

always I wish you all a stellar toe full

score until next time