<p>I'm an international student whose native language is not English, but I've attended English-speaking schools my entire life. I'd say that I can read, comprehend, write, and speak English better than any language I know, including my "native" one.</p>
<p>So how hard's this baby gonna be? </p>
<p>Please be honest and thanks for the help!</p>
<p>I had only attended an English-speaking school for one year before I took the TOEFL but I did really well without any preparation. If you can have an everyday conversation and write academic papers in English, you are all set for the test.</p>
<p>Which colleges are you applying to that require you to take the TOEFL? Many colleges will waive the TOEFL requirement if you attended an English-speaking high school.</p>
<p>What schools waive the TOEFL if one attends an English speaking high school? I attended an English speaking school and had a +700 CR, and still many schools required the TOEFL from me. I took the iBT and it is easy, but it is really long so you might get tired. Make sure to check what types of question they ask, just to know what to expect. Apart from that it should be fairly easy. Oh and personal recommendation, take it in the morning and skip school. I was really fresh, and if I had taken it after school at 5 or so, I think I would have been to tired to do well.</p>
<p>thanks for the info! i'm applying to some pretty selective schools, but i'll take the test even if i get a 700+ on CR. I've heard the test is also useful for some scholarship/job applications so i'll save myself the stress of finding out which schools need it by just taking the test.</p>
<p>TOEFL is ridiculously easy. I arrived at the test center a bit late, but still got out earlier than most. Judging by your stats, you'll probably be bored during the test, so just be careful not to be tooooo bored lol.</p>
<p>I think the test is valid only for two years though.</p>
<p>eh i scored perfect for every section except essay when i was 10....</p>
<p>(on my mom's practice exams)</p>
<p>On the new TOEFL version, iBT, people get perfect scores. It is kind of easy.</p>
<p>Saying that since people get perfect scores on the iBT, then it is easy is totally false. It is like saying that the SAT is easy because some guy scored a 2400. The REAL average, not CC average, is about 500 in each section of the SAT. Not 700 or 750 CC makes it believe.</p>
<p>I've heard that the iBT is more difficult than the computer based test and the paper based test. Another thing that is difficult when you do the test, is the speaking part. Since everyone is speaking it is harder for you to concentrate on whatever part of the test you are doing, even more so speaking in my personal experience. Supposedly I was speaking very loud in the test, and the test proctor told me to lower my voice haha. Friends complained that they were not able to do well on that section because they couldn't concentrate because of me.</p>
<p>^^ Hahaha
That's is so true. The people beside me had very thick Asian accents that kind of annoyed me. It wasn't a big deal though because I did the reading part pretty fast and started and finished the speaking part a little before they started talking.
Well, I think that if you can score more than 600 on the SATs (English sections) than it must be no problem to get above 110 in the iBT. I didn't prepare for the test, didn't even know what it was going to be like, but got a 116 (still disappointed because I got too sleepy, but still), don't even be worried about it.</p>
<p>I agree with Danhernan. My Korean friend was always fretting over TOEFL iBT test since she found them to be the hardest because of the speaking part. </p>
<p>I also got really tired after three hours of constant staring at the computer screen. I thought the lowered concentration will affect my score a lot, but I am glad I got the score I did. Only advantage I had is that the first time I took the test, there was some mess up in the network, so my test could not be scored. So they let me take it the second time with no additional fees (besides travel costs), so I was better prepared about the test format.</p>
<p>Headphones at my test center were quite good, I didn't hear the other people too much.</p>
<p>They seriously have to rethink the implementation of the speaking section.</p>
<p>I took my time on the first few sections of the exam and stayed in the room during the 10-minute break to listen to other students' speaking responses. (We were allowed but not required to leave the room.) I heard enough responses to guess the questions and write out my answers before my speaking section began. During the actual speaking section you only get 20 or 30 seconds to prepare your response...</p>
<p>Yeah and sometimes its not like you don't speak English, but that you don't know what to say lol. Not sure if they take away points if you don't take the entire time.</p>
<p>Some schools (I cite Boston U) are a ***** and they want you to take the TOEFL even if you're good enough. As for the test itself, I personally found it to be a joke.</p>
<p>nice barium. you should have given me that idea before ;-) </p>
<p>Anyway if you have taken the SAT and and got above a 600 in both the english sections, you should be able to get a 100+ with ease.</p>
<p>
Yeah and sometimes its not like you don't speak English, but that you don't know what to say lol.
I agree completely! The first time I took it, I had no idea how to manage a response in 30 seconds. I had too much time left so I was just staring blankly at the screen for 20 seconds...
Next time I took it, I learned that I just had to speak whatever related to it so I was just repeating the question words a lot just to make my answers seem longer - "The best gift my friend has ever given me was <strong><em>. My friend gave me the best gift ever because _</em></strong>. ... And that is why it was the best gift my friend ever gave me." Or something along that line.</p>
<p>P.S. Clever thinking, b@r!um!</p>
<p>Hi there.I am planning to enroll in TOEFL program,as the only jobs offered to live,work,study or stay abroad seem to be of teaching nature.I got across many job ads,and almost all of ones I saw want to hire an American or other native to English speakers.I wanted to get a job in Korea,but the odds are small,so is the case in the rest of Asia too.If anyone knows does this TOEFL thing get you around any place or is it just another money taking prank and waste of time.Thanks for the answer ahead.</p>
<p>it depends on how well you understand english, really
if you like to talk/write in english you’ll definitely pass :)</p>
<p>i took the toefl after a 10-day course and i think that was enough lol and my score’s quite decent so yeah</p>
<p>Nice thread digging 
This thread is almost 4 years old, i guess OP already took the TOEFL a long time ago.</p>
<p>Haha I’m a native English speaker… But I kinda wanna take the TOEFL just to see how I would do (like how native Spanish speakers take the Spanish AP test and stuff).</p>