<p>Im aiming top 20 in engineering. I got a 103 on my TOEFL iBT that I took Feb 27th. Is that good enough? Sad thing is that I lived in Canada for the past 8 years. Its just that the TOEFL was sooo freakin hard (seriously, even for normal english speakers. I consider english to be my primary language since I think in english! darn it Ive lived most of my life in an english country!). I was always on the top 5 in my english classes, teacher favourite in terms of academic achievement especially in english and social studies (writing intensive)!!!!</p>
<p>I dont think the TOEFL is very accurate, IMO.</p>
<p>SO is a 103 good enough? I think they wont even consider it since I lived and studied in an english country for so long. But I could be wrong. EITHERWAY, please interpret for a top 20 school chance.</p>
<p>I’m American citizen, but I had to take TOEFL since my primary language was Korean. (spoken at home). I got 114 IBT, and I didn’t really find it particularly difficult.</p>
<p>Usually, grade above 100 is considered ‘good.’ I do not believe your TOEFL score will affect your admission. This is especially true since your academic achievements at your school is clearly indicated. Besides, engineering schools tend to expect lower TOEFL grades for foreigners, or non-natives for English.</p>
<p>So my advice is, CHILL OUT, enjoy your last moments of senior year!</p>
<p>Well, I’m not native English speaker but I personally found the TOEFL quite ok, nothing too out of the world. I got a 110 and would say that anything over a 100 will be enough. TOEFL is not that important since it’s a language measurement test, and most applicants to North American universities speak English so it does not make you any more competitive.</p>
<p>What should be important is the SAT/ACT score.</p>
<p>But answering your question, yes, 103 is enough.</p>
<p>Man, nobody cares about TOEFL score if you have fulfilled the minimum requirement. SAT is quite more important cuz it’s the measure for your academic potential. From this point of view, having outstanding TOEFL score and mediocre SAT scores can do you a bad favor. For example, I had a friend from my country that scored 97 on TOEFL first tame, retook it because “it’s an exam” (exact quote from her), but had a little over 2000 on SAT, also taken a few times, so there was discrepancy between exam scores and now she is studying in England, guess why.
My point is that you really don’t need to worry about it. Good luck!</p>
<p>It’s surprising that you got 103 after having lived in an English-speaking country for 8 years; however, TOEFL is not much taken into account in decision making after you meet the requirement because it’s only a language requirement. Many stupid people get high scores on TOEFL and many clever people get bad scores.</p>
<p>Thanks. It was just a real shocker to me. I can clearly communicate and english. People think I was born in Canada! seriously though, how accurate is this anyways?</p>
The SAT is not an accurate measure of academic potential for International Students. FULLSTOP. It may be slightly better, relatively, for US students but I doubt that it would say a lot.</p>
<p>I scored very well on the Math section. I don’t think it would have been hard for me to train someone to get > 750. At the same time, I got < 600 on the other two sections before I retook the test. Nothing changed between the two tests except the book I used to prepare myself, and the overall improvement in these two sections was > 100 points. I really can’t see myself becoming more intelligent by practicing with different books.</p>
<p>BTW, I didn’t read all that theory about how to take the test, I just wanted practice, and took only the practice tests.</p>
<p>I got just above 2000 on the SAT I, 1600/1600 on the subject tests. I strongly believe I can train any reasonably capable person to score VERY high on the Math sections, and if I had a chance to work with someone who had a > 750 score on the CR and W sections, I could have done it myself. It’s silly, the test, but that’s the system and we can’t do anything about it (except apply to Bates/ConnColl/etc SAT-optional colleges, which isn’t always an option, especially because that’s not likely to be what you look for in a school and you have to hunt for colleges that offer financial aid for internationals)</p>
<p>Well, what books do you reccomend?I bought the Princeton Review one. Poor quality. Barron’s (a lot of people told me, on forums and friends) is said to be pretty flat. Kaplan maybe?</p>
<p>CollegeBoard’s is the best, IMO. They steal more money from you, but they’re the most accurate. Kaplan is the closest. All others just don’t feel like the real SAT.</p>
<p>Okay! Those books are good for practice tests, but are they also good for materials review aswell (I need it for geometry and angles, moving around cities and countries all the time pretty much made me almost illeterate in that subject area)?</p>
<p>Sorry, can’t help you there. Temporarily abandoning all modesty, I’ll tell you that I scored less than 730 on Math only twice in all my practice tests. I don’t even know what the review material looks like. ;)</p>
<p>That said, I’ve heard Kaplan is pretty good.</p>
<p>Practice from every book you can get. I took practice tests from any source, internet included. I started from Barron’s, then on to Princeton review and then Collegeboard. Math section just requires a lot of practice. And i did well in Maths.
and Yes, 103 is a good score.</p>