How To ... Survive the TOEFL

No matter which study abroad program you chose, you will have to take an exam to prove your knowledge of English is sufficient. There are a number of tests out there, for example the MELAB (Michigan English Language Assessment Battery) and the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). Depending on which program you chose or which university you want to attend, a particular test will be required. The advantage of the MELAB (I haven’t actually taken this one) is that it is way cheaper than the TOEFL and it is offered about twice a year at the University of Salzburg (for those who study here). Since I have only taken the TOEFL, and my results were good enough for “The-one-that-shall-remain-nameless” and “The-one-that-will-hopefully-work-out”, I will concentrate on this particular one and try to give some advice on how to prepare best for this wicked test.

One obstacle (for a student at the University of Salzburg) is that the test is hardly ever offered in Salzburg. You’ll probably have to go to Munich or Vienna. So, in addition to the $ 225 one has to pay to simply take the test (crazy, right?), traveling to the test location adds to the amount of money one will end up spending for an exchange year. Luckily, there was one exam date in Salzburg at the time when I had planned on taking the test. I was especially lucky to check out exam dates when I did, because within one or two days, the date in Salzburg was completely booked.
Okay, so I had registered for the exam and paid the (unreasonable) fee. Next point on my list was preparation for the exam. To be honest, at first I took it quite lightly, assuming that I would have no problem “passing” the exam (there is no real passing or failing because each university or program simply requires a different score) considering that I am studying English anyway. Boy, was I wrong. After talking to the coordinator of the ISEP program (at that time I still had not decided what I wanted to do) and my brother, who also had to take the TOEFL when applying for a Master’s program in Sweden, I realized that it wouldn’t be as easy as I’d hoped.

The nice company behind the TOEFL had a solution to my problem. For only $ 45 one can purchase the TOEFL Practice Online (that way one is able practice online in test-like situations) and for about $ 29 one can purchase The Official Guide to the TOEFL Test (offers two full-length tests and lots of valuable tips for the exam). Great deal! Well, not really, and after paying $ 225 for the exam I started to feel stingy and I simply refused to spend even more money on the TOEFL. How did I prepare then? I started with checking out the library of the Department of English – remember the library? I found The Official Guide to the TOEFL Test on the reserve shelf. And after about ten minutes of flipping through the book, I already felt a lot better prepared for the big day.

I also have to thank my lucky stars for the preparation material my older brother sent me. Like brother, like sister, he had also refused to pay for the prep material but still managed to get, uhm, completely legal copies. And, good brother as he is, he passed them along to me. With these I could finally really start preparing for the TOEFL. And so I did, for about four hours combined, which is really not a lot. The part of the material that fascinated me the most, and which I mainly used for my preparation, were the “400 must-have words for the TOEFL”. Sometimes it can be fun to cram vocabulary. Don’t get me wrong, I also had a look at the structure of the test. That’s probably the most important aspect one should familiarize oneself with before taking the exam. There is a reading, listening, speaking, and writing section.

The TOEFL – Judgment Day

Reading was definitely the most challenging part. Which weirded me out a little. But the texts are often really difficult to understand (even for an English student) and a couple of fellow sufferers, who had also taken the exam, agreed. It might be the one part people take lightly, because really, how difficult can it be to read a text? More difficult than one might expect.

The listening part is designed to find out if the person taking the test is able to understand basic conversations that could happen at a university, for example in a classroom or in the dorm. The main problem here is to listen, scribble down a couple of key words, and not miss out on the important message, or at least the part the designers of the test consider important.

Speaking is similar to listening. The main topic is everyday university life. However, even this part isn’t without its obstacles. For example, after reading the instructions, one has about one minute to prepare the topic and then one has to speak for 30 to 45 seconds. This does not sound like a lot but it can be, and it is difficult to time your answers correctly. And short or long answers will lose you some essential points.

Finally, the writing part should not be too difficult for an English student (theoretically). One has to write two essays on two different topics. Here it is important to have a clear structure and a coherent and cohesive line of argument. Again, not that easy, especially without practice.

When Judgment Day arrives, prepare yourself for a long, exhausting day. The test usually starts in the morning and one is expected to be there half an hour before it starts. One reason is to see who showed up (and who didn’t), and to take a fabulous picture that is going to accompany your test score in the future (they put it on all the test score sheets for ID purposes). Nowadays, the TOEFL is usually internet based, that means you’ll spend about four hours sitting in front of a computer in a room full of students who all talk to invisible people – which is of course part of the test. There is one designated break for each student (if I remember correctly it was only 15 minutes) where you can use the bathroom and eat something. After about three and a half hours I was so annoyed by the computer, the test, and the constant mumbling surrounding me that I left as soon as I had finished (and quickly revised) my final essay. I almost ran out of the room and couldn’t wait to get some fresh air. For the rest of the day I was unable to do anything constructive since my batteries were simply empty.

The TOEFL results in my inbox were kind of my Christmas present last year – and it was fabulous.

Yours truly,

Lemon