r/ToeflAdvice

I took the exam at a test center yesterday, and today upon checking my ETS account, I saw this notification. What happened? Why?

Anybody who has the same experience? Did you receive your scores? How long did you wait?

I was stuck at 2.5 in TOEFL writing for a long time. I took the test multiple times, and even though my other sections improved, writing never changed. This time, I finally improved, and I think these things really helped and also thank you reddit community you all helped me alot.

For “build a sentence” section matters a lot — I couldn’t finish it before, but this time I completed all questions in about 4.5 minutes after practicing a lot .

better time management — my email wasn’t perfect, but I was able to finish it

using personal examples — in the academic task, I used my own experience instead of just general ideas

checking spelling and grammar — I realized I used to lose points on small mistakes, so I quickly reviewed at the end

my reading and speaking scores dropped a bit compared to last time, but I still met my requirement, so I’m happy

if you’re stuck like I was, don’t lose hope — it can improve.

Finally Got My Scores

Hey guys! I wanted to share my TOEFL experience because this thread helped me so much.

I took the test at a test center, not the at-home version, and I prepared for about two weeks.

**A few test-day notes first:**

* My test center was almost empty, so I did not run into the situation I was worried about, with everyone speaking at the same time.

* I arrived about an hour early, and they allowed me to start the test early instead of waiting.

* Make sure to check your equipment before starting. In my case, the microphone was not attached properly, and I had to adjust it.

* Also, be prepared for two Reading modules. The practice tests only had one, so that caught me off guard. Personally, I found the real Reading section harder than the practice tests.

I used a test prep website, and I found it very helpful, especially for Writing and Speaking. It had more practice material than I ever needed. I did not rely on their AI feedback, though. Instead, I used **ChatGPT for feedback**.

**For Speaking**, I would say my pronunciation is fairly strong, but I tend to freeze under pressure and sometimes pause for too long.

* At first, I scored quite low on the **Listen and Repeat section** during practice, but after doing a lot of repetition, it became much easier. I really focused on doing as well as possible there so I could afford to lose some marks in the Take an Interview section.

* For **Take an Interview**, my main strategy was to keep talking even when I felt like I had already answered the question. I also kept an eye on the timer so I could wrap up properly at the end, and I made sure to include an example every time. That said, I would not say my answers were always very organized. During my preps, ChatGPT was consistently giving me around 3.5 to 4.5 out of 5. It suggested that a 5 out of 6 band score was possible but not very likely, so I think that the real exam may be a bit more lenient than practice feedback suggests.

* Overall, for Speaking, I would recommend trying to do as well as possible in Listen and Repeat, because practice really helps with that part, and it can give you a cushion if you lose some marks in Take an Interview.

* When using ChatGPT for feedback, what helped me most was not just looking at the score, but comparing how it rewrote my sentences. I focused on questions like: How did it say this differently? What can I improve next time? I usually asked it to make a side-by-side table with three columns: my sentence, the corrected sentence, and what the mistake was.

**For Writing**, I am a fast typist, but the timing still felt intense. Seven minutes and ten minutes honestly seemed crazy to me. I wrote as much as I could, but I usually did not have time to review.

* During practice, I made sure I could finish on time. I used the test prep website for prompts and ChatGPT for feedback. ChatGPT usually scored my practice writing around 4 to 4.5 out of 6, but I ended up getting 6 out of 6 on the real test.

* Again, this made me feel that the actual exam may be a bit more forgiving than practice feedback.

* I also made my own template with ChatGPT instead of using the templates available online.

* Overall, the things I focused on most in the exam were keeping my tone formal, staying on topic, managing the timer carefully, and always giving a clear example when I could.

I did not really prepare for Reading or Listening because my practice test scores in those sections were already in the range I needed.

Happy to answer any questions.

Hope this helps anyone preparing for the new TOEFL format! Best of luck.

Took my exam on April 15th. And when I looked into my account, this status is showing. I read here somewhere that if this shows up, chances are your score could be 5+. Has anyone experienced this and got a score of 5+?

Hey guys!

I never post on reddit but I’ve been lurking this subreddit so much (and got some great tips!) that I figured I might as well share my experience, in case I can help someone else!

Background

I planned my TOEFL exam about 2 weeks out, because I learned pretty late that my university required me to get a test.

I had already completed a different English language test 4 years ago, scoring C2 there. So I figured I would be okay.

However, I was completely unfamiliar with TOEFL. When I did the first practice free run the short time limits made me a little worried. Mostly, the speaking was an issue for me. I’d always done speaking with a real person and I kept forgetting the ‘listen and repeat’ sentences halfway through.

Preparation

So, I started preparing, about a week in advance. I won’t say that’s the best advice (lol), but this is what I did:

- I wrote down every bit advice from the “unofficial TOEFL resources website” to understand the structure, and do a brief exercise per segment. That was great to see what I would need to focus on.

- Once I learned TOEFL is AI graded, I got a paid subscription for Prepex. This seemed to help me a lot at first - endless practice. However, I started realising certain practice exercises were way more complicated than the actual test would be. For example, listening or writing segments were always twice as long. Also, I at some point had ‘form a sentence’ exercises of like 23 words?!

- On Prepex I did poorly in the interview section, so I started focussing on that. I started watching YouTube videos for tips, which were helpful.

- Through there I got recommended MySpeakingScore, so I bought a handful of credits there too, just to be sure. To my surprise, on this website my speaking got graded the opposite of Prepex; interviews were great, repeat not so much.

*I think both Prepex and MySpeakingScore have free alternatives, I just needed things quick and scored so I did pay :’)

By then it was test time, so I figured we’d see what the real test would do. Make of this what you will about the usefulness of paid or AI practice.

Testing

During the test, I went through reading, listening, and writing quite fast.

I find the writing part to be very doable if you’re a university student, since it’s likely you have to write things like emails or discussions in your daily life.

Speaking was the toughest for sure. Because I was the first one in my entire exam room that had finished writing, I had to speak up first. I couldn’t pause to wait either. My nerves (I didn’t want to bother any other test takers!) definitely made me fumble some sentences in the listen and repeat section. The interviews did end up going alright.

I’m not sure if speaking with a group would have been preferable either, though. When we had to test our mics, the room got incredibly noisy. So keep that in mind. I saw someone write on here to practice speaking with distractions (like YouTube videos in the background); I wish I’d done that.

Scoring

My scores ended up being a day late; some administrative issue (‘scores unavailable’) that were pretty easily clarified after a quick email exchange with customer support.

Since I thought I butchered speaking (which was a problem, because I needed C2), I was surprised by the results.

Also; my 5.5 in listening (the score they gave me there) changed into a 6.0! So that can actually happen.

I guess I can reassure other former C2 speakers not to worry too much, then. But I do advise even fluent speakers to at least study the structure of the TOEFL test to know what you’re getting into.

Happy to answer any questions!