<p>hi everybody. next year i am graduating, so a must apply to university. my last toefl was 550 and i must increase it to 650.. what should i do?
any ideas
thank you</p>
<p>What exactly does the TOEFL test? (I know it's a test in English proficiency, but I just want to know exactly what areas of the language it's testing) Also, what areas on the TOEFL are you having difficulty with?</p>
<p>If it's reading, then read more English books, newspapers, etc. Practice speaking whenever you get the chance. Also, practice writing in English, and try to get someone that is proficient in English to edit it and give you ideas on how to improve it.</p>
<p>thanks, the problem is listening. do you have any ideas or smth.</p>
<p>Do you know anyone that speaks fluent English? Also, do you have access to English book tapes/CDs, TV, radio, etc?</p>
<p>yes , there are many people that speak fluent English.i have access only to English books and now i am reading a lot. do you have any toefl programs. if yes, can you send it to <a href="mailto:alhimik24@gmail.com">alhimik24@gmail.com</a>
thanks</p>
<p>watch loads of movies(american), thats a sure fire way of understanding how they speak.plus its fun too:)</p>
<p>And stay away from British movies.</p>
<p>and why do you think so?</p>
<p>i read british use present perfect tense and americans use present tense. when i write essays which tense i should use?</p>
<p>the toefl isnt that big a deal. just remember to ALWAYS use the american way - even if it makes no big difference or seems silly. the essay grading is very lenient- you dont need killer ideas as long as your grammer is reasonable. since your talking abt 650 i guess you'll be taking the paper based test. for the Computer Based Test they sent a CD with a couple of practice tests, dont know if they do anything similar for the paper test.</p>
<p>for listening, i guess the best bet would be to watch american movies or tv programs... </p>
<p>which part of the world are you from?</p>
<p>One thing that might be helpful is if you can get a book tape/CD and an actual copy of the book. That way, you can follow along in the book as you listen.</p>
<p>the cd provided by ets is very accurate. the q's maybe different but the (irritating) instructions are word to word, picture to picture</p>
<p>Find as much as many CDs with CBT practice tests, and practice, practice, practice.
Listening: Learn how to adjust the sound before the test, seek situations that might confuse you in particular, and fix your problem.</p>
<p>Structure: You should also read books for SATII writing (I recommend Barron's). The book teaches about how to catch grammatical errors and provides lots of exercises. If you know some general patterns of structural errors you can win this part.</p>
<p>Reading: Read a lot and do practice exercises.</p>
<p>Writing: just keep everything grammatically correct and unified. State your thesis statement as early as possible and stick to it. Also, find 2 or more examples that support your thesis statement (whatever, examples need not be true).</p>
<p>I raised my scores from 237 to 263 by these methods last year.
You should definitely take the TOEFL before it changes to the new format some time in a few months.</p>
<p>thanks. valecollegorian changes?</p>
<p>Visit this website <a href="http://educationusa.state.gov/centers.htm%5B/url%5D">http://educationusa.state.gov/centers.htm</a> and I think you will find help for your TOEFL score. You can find there educational advising centres. I found there an advising center in my country and they helped me a lot. They are organazing preparations for TOEFL, SAT and they are offering free advice for anything you need (about studying in USA, of course). I do not know if these centres are the same in all countries, but I believe they are. It is certanly worth a try. Good luck.</p>
<p>Yeah ,one question abt reading skills.</p>
<p>My mother tongue language is not English!!!So when I read English books ,papers ,novels...(whatever in English) , do I need to translate it into my mother tongue in my head ? Thanks 4 your time.Hope your answer!</p>
<p>hajy, I don't understand your question. If you want my explanation on sth, pls elaborate your word "chances".</p>
<p>KhoaNguyen: my mother tongue is not English too. I recall my way of improving English skill. The first English book I read was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I read all the previous HP books in my language. but when it came to the 4th one, I could not wait till the translated version to be released, so I tried to read it in English. The book was about 8xx pages thick and took me 10 days (14 hours/day) to finish. After finishing HP 4th, my English improved significantly so that I began to read textbooks in Biology (my favorite subject), and other things that interested me. At first I had to translate English texts into my language in order to understand, but when I found writings that really interest me, the translation efforts was then replaced with common sense. However, even now when I read some very complex explanations in academics I still have to translate and reorganize the ideas in order to understand. I'm certain your English has reached the level that you don't need to translate. Whether you need to translate or not depends on yourself. If you can read normal texts then you don't need lots of effort for TOEFL, but you'll need lots of effort for SATI.</p>
<p>Oh,thanks valecollegorian,all of your posts are quite useful to me!!!</p>
<p>Oh my god ,after you talked abt HP ,I think I will have to come to the bookstore rightaway to buy HP.That 's too terrible when my school work never leaves me time to read a very thick book like HP.But is that right that reading HP is really difficult ?(cuz its language ,...incatation...)....My friends said and it 's the second factor that discourages me to read HP!!!Thanks again!!!</p>
<p>You won't know if it's very, moderately, or not difficult until you try reading it. Lots of SAT vocabs are in HP books (although sometimes I found it too annoying to seek them in dictionary when the story got more intense). Anyway, have fun with it as much as you can. If the thickness really blocks you, I'd recommend some books of Penguin Books. They are made specially for ESL students and most of them are less than 1 cm thick.</p>
<p>well, glad that many people enjoy reading HP. It's awesome! Actually, I don't mind the strange words while reading, I write them on a piece of paper and look them up after reading. I have just finished reading the latest book.(4 days and about 10 hours aday!!!) I daresay you will stick on it til the last page. Well, the plots, the twists and turns and many surprises... I'm studying for SAT and I found lots of words in SAT's word lists while reading. So happy to realize a word I've just learnt by heart in the 3500 Baron's list :D</p>