The TOEFL-Test
Created | Updated Aug 29, 2003
Most native speakers of English will never have heard of the TOEFL-Test. That is not surprising as TOEFL stands for "Test Of English as a Foreign Language"1. The test is offered by TOEFL and developed by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). The questions are tailored to provide English proficiency testing.
Now, who needs it, what is it about and how to prepare for it?
Who needs it?
Starting in 1963-64 the TOEFL has developed into the most well-known measure of English language proficiency. A large number of organisations and institutions accept a TOFEL score as an indicator of that ability.
Consequently, the test is mainly taken by pupils or students who want to study in an English-speaking country. Schools and universities often pose a certain degree of familiarity with the English language as an entry requirement. The idea behind this is that exchange students would have a hard time both in class and in social life if they would lack the ability to communicate with their peers and their teachers.
What is it about?
Following from this aim is the setup of the test.
The test consists of four parts2
Listening
Structure
Reading
Writing
You will be placed in front of a computer fitted with headphones. Put on the headphones and be treated to an introductory sequence. Here you will be taught "how to click" with your mouse and similar stuff. This introduction cannot be skipped.3 After you have learned the important features of modern data processing the actual test will start.
Each of the sections comes with its own time-frame. Thus hurrying through one will not give you an advantage later. Keep that in mind and work with a steady pace.
Listening
The Test starts off with testing your ability to understand spoken English. You will have to answer 30 to 49 questions within 15 to 25 minutes respectively. The time you spend listening to the conversations will not be counted; thus, it will take up to an hour to complete this part. Now, if you did not prepare with an audio CD you will be surprised to learn that English in this context means "American English". While the speakers speak clearly, they will use American idioms. This might be difficult to adapt to; especially, you may have difficulty understanding American English if you are used to the idioms of non-American English. Be sure to be familiar with the American usage.
The first part of the listening section will be taken up by short conversations, consisting of a statement and a reply. One will be by a woman while the other will be by a man. The questions following each listening section run along the lines of "What does the man/woman mean?". You will be presented with four possible answers of which you are to chose one.
The length of the conversations will increase as will the number of questions asked about the particular exchange. Each conversation will only be played once, so listen closely.
The Computer-Based TOEFL-Test is adaptive, i.e. the difficulty of the questions is varied according to your performance.
Structure
The Structure part of the Test will pose 20 to 25 questions relating to sentence construction and grammar. These are to be answered in 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the number. The questions will either ask you to select the word or part of a sentence which correctly completes the sentence. Or they will ask you to identify the incorrect word or part of the sentence. You will not have to type the answer but to choose one of the four possibilities.
Reading
In this part of the test you'll be faced with a text and questions relating to the text. You can expect the text to be about half an A4 page in length. You will generally start off with a question along the lines of "What is this text mainly about?". Again, four answers are at your disposal. It is advisable not to try to memorise the whole text as you can see it when you answer the questions. Rather, read to get an overview so that you know the structure of the text. This will enable you to go to the paragraph the question relates to. Read it again, keeping the question in mind to answer it. There are eleven questions for each text and a total of 44-55 questions to be answered in 70 to 90 minutes.
Writing
This part is optional with the paper-based test and mandatory when taking the computer-based one. The computer will randomly choose a subject for you to write about. The subject will be politically correct. It will not, for example, touch on religious matters. Thus, the aim is not necessarily to present your own opinion. Just write a nice, logical and error-free essay of around 300 words. For this you are given 30 minutes. You may choose between typing the text on the computer or writing it by hand.
Scoring
For each part the maximum score is 30 points. You will be given your score right after finishing the test.
For the purpose of scoring the Structure and Writing parts are combined. As the written section is scored by two humans rather than the computer a final score for the Structure/Writing part will not be available to you at that time. Instead you are given a score range based on 0 points and full points for the essay. This means that when your highest possible score for the Structure/Writing part is 30 points, you made no mistakes in the Structure section.
You will also be given a total score, which is indicated as a range depending on the quality of your essay.
The organisation or institution demanding the TOEFL will indicate what they consider a passing score. The TOEFL itself cannot be failed. For post-graduate courses offered by universities, for example, you can expect to need 267 out of 300 points.4
How do I prepare for it?
First of all, download a copy of the current official Information Bulletin. It should inform you about the latest changes and procedures.
A lot of people make a lot of money from selling preparatory material for the TOEFL, including the TOEFL organisation itself. If money is not a concern for you, go and buy a recent copy of any of the books offered. Make sure that a CD-ROM containing some simulated tests comes with the book. Also, take a look at the book itself; is it written in a style that you like and can understand easily? Does it use the same names for grammatical constructions as you?
A slightly cheaper way is to have a look at your local testing centre as people who took the test recently may offer to sell their study materials there. Another way would be to get a book or two from your library.
Take a couple of weeks to study the material and keep in mind that it is highly unlikely that you will be asked these specific questions. Rather, familiarise yourself with the different kinds of questions and how to answer them. This will save a lot of time during the actual test, as you will not have to read through the instructions, but can recognise the type of question by its layout.
Taking a closer look at the UK/US Dictionary thread
and the British English - The sequel thread will be of help, too.
Now, good luck with the test and remember not to panic.
1Thus, it should be called the TOEFL, rather than the TOEFL-Test.2The following description considers the Computer-Based TOEFL-Test. This is by now the most common, having replaced the Paper-Based Test in most testing locations.3One feels that lawyers might be responsible for that. If one cannot skip the intro one cannot claim to have had no idea of how to use the programme.4For the 2001 Test and Score Data Summary see this PDF file.
