How do colleges use the TOEFL exam for international or even local students? Is it just a qualifying exam where you have to clear each college’s minimum pass score? Or is it actually taken into consideration for admission?
For example, I scored 780/800 in the SAT reasoning Math section, 800/800 in Math lvl 2, 780/800 in Physics and 750/800 in Chemistry SAT sub tests. But, My SAT Reason CR&W were 680 and 670 respectively. However, I scored 116 out of 120 in the TOEFL iBT(30/30 in speaking and Reading and 28/30 in listening and writing).
I know that all my scores, except SAT Reasoning CR&W, are competitive for top level schools such as the Ivies, MIT, Stanford, Duke etc. My CR&W scores on the other hand are around the 25th percentile for these schools.
So, will these schools look past my poor CR&W performance in lieu of my TOEFL scores.
TOEFL is used to measure English proficiency. Some schools require minimum 80. Some require 100. Some require 110. Some schools allow to substitute TOEFL with SAT CR 600 or higher. Some schools also require international students to take additional English classes when starting college.
TOEFL is not only required for undergraduate admission. It’s also required for graduate admission which does not require SAT (GRE is required).
TOEFL is used to see if you CAN communicate in English, On the other hand, SAT is supposed to test you reasoning skills.
I don[t know which schools you are applying to, but 680 is not a bad CR at all, even for native speakers. Have you called the schools? They might waive your TOEFL requirement
Unlike SAT, half of the TOEFL measures listening and speaking skills (important requirements for sitting in college classrooms). Some schools don’t waive TOEFL although you have SAT CR score because of that reason.
I think posters are misunderstanding him.
It seems to me that he is not looking to get his toefl waived. He wants to know whether his toefl scores can compensate for his Critical reading and writing scores on the SAT.
Your SAT scores are high enough that they won’t hold you back. Keep in mind that the top American universities are not admitting the applicants with the highest test scores. Instead, they are looking for applicants with “high enough” test scores who are outstanding in some other respect. In practice, many successful international applicants to universities like MIT or Stanford have awards from international competitions or political connections.
They require SAT no matter what. If you’ve scored above a particular mark on SAT CR they waive the toefl requirement, but recommend that you send it anyway.
Actually, schools are all over the board with who they require to submit TOEFL scores. Some accept high scores on CR in lieu of, and some don’t. Some don’t require TOEFL if the language of HS instruction was English, and some do. Always best to check individual college’s requirements.
To the OP, the schools that have a TOEFL requirement have a minimum threshold score, e.g. 100. Once you hit that score, you get no further benefit, apart from a sense of pride, for exceeding it. It’s similar to obtaining a drivers license in the US - as long as you passed, nobody, including the cop that will give you a ticket, cares if you passed with 80% or 100%,