<p>My son is applying to some of the top engineering schools in the country. Although he is a US citizen who has been schooled in the US since he was in 3rd grade (nobody can tell by his English he is a non native) many of the colleges he is interested in require the TOEFL...go figure. Anyway, he is taking the TOEFL for the first time next week.His SAT I was 2100, he got 600 in reading and 700 in reading (planning to retake it in October to improve these scores). If his TOEFL scores is as not as good as he wants, he is planning to retake it in September too. Does anyone know if TOEFL section scores can be combined like SAT I scores for some colleges?</p>
<p>Each college sets its own policy about the TOEFL. You really have to ask them. It is very unusual for a college/university to require the TOEFL if the student has been in schools where English is the medium of instruction for more than five years. Your son should double-check the policies at each of the institutions on his list. Often there is an SAT or ACT score that will exempt a student from the TOEFL.</p>
<p>The TOEFL iBT covers very specific vocabulary and situations. It is designed to determine whether or not a student can cope with typical college activities including conversations with an advisor, taking notes during a lecture, etc. Your son really needs to do some prep work for it, or he will be very surprised by the content and testing style. I haven’t taught TOEFL prep for the iBT so I can’t recommend anything in particular, but one of my friends uses Cambridge Preparation for the TOEFL Test (Book & CD-ROM) with her students.</p>
<p>Thanks happymomof1.
It is quite confusing. He has attended several information sessions in which they said regardless of citizenship and number of years in the US, he needs to take TOEFL (eg: Carneggie Melon). Some schools say it is possible to ask for a waiver, but since he feels his reading and writing scores were not so high (at least for the type of school he is looking into), he decided to go with the TOEFL and has been preparing for it.
Thanks for the tips for the iBT!!</p>
<p>Different colleges have different policies regarding the toefl test, and who is required to take it. Students can always take the test multiple times, and submit thier highest score, but scores usually can’t be combined so he’d have to just submit his best overall score. Some colleges want to see specific scores in certain sections of the test - usually the speaking section, and that is very college specific. In that case you’d want to submit the test with the highest score in that section. As he’s been here most of his life, his English should be at a level that he won’t have too much trouble with it, in general, but the TOEFL is a test that it really does help to practice for as even fully native speakers don’t always get a top score simply because they weren’t prepared for the structure of it. There are a number of good (but generally dry) books out there for this, the most common is put out by the testing service itself (ETS) and is their official guide (Official Guide to the TOEFL). One book I also recommend to my students is “Cracking the TOEFL” as I feel it helps with ideas and skills for taking the test that the official guide doesn’t get into. These and several others can be found on Amazon. He may actually be fine just doing some research online and taking at least one practice test (can also be purchased from ETS - or found online). Actually what I would recommend is that he take a practice test and then if he needs to raise his score on any of the sections (the TOEFL ibt is split into Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing) to focus on that section in his study, and then try another practice test. Unless he’s choking up (on the speaking section - which can take a little practice), has trouble with technical English comprehension, or needs prep for writing a good essay, he should do fine just doing these steps on his own. (I am a toefl tutor and have a free informational website that could help him with tips and the scores and requirements posted by different universities at [Toefl</a> ibt tips](<a href=“http://www.toeflibttutor.com%5DToefl”>http://www.toeflibttutor.com))</p>