The TOEFL listening section includes up to six lectures, the lectures are followed up with six questions based on the lectures. The listening section also includes two or three listening conversations. The time for the listening part of the TOEFL is either 60 or 90 minutes long.

So what type of lectures and conversations can you expect from the TOEFL? Since the test is based on academic English you will mostly hear lectures and conversation between students and teachers.

The speakers in the listening section will simulate real lectures and conversations, this means that the speakers will occasionally make mistakes, pause or change topics. Like previously stated, the key is to stay on track during the lecture or conversation so that you may take good notes.

The questions between the listening comprehension and reading comprehension are very similar. Before starting the lecture or conversation you will be given hints on what the topic will cover. This will give you some time to prepare on what type of questions to expect.

Lectures: This is when a professor gives a lecture to a class. It will either be a straight 5 minutes lecture without interruptions or with students asking interrupting to ask questions. The lectures will be followed by six questions.

Conversations: In this part you will be listening to conversations between students and teachers or others within a university. The conversations lasts around three to five minutes and are followed by five questions.

Lectures are usually longer than conversations; you need to be more aware of details when listening to a lecture. The lectures also tend to cover more topics while the conversations are usually straight to the point.

Here are some tips for the TOEFL listening section.

1. If you feel lost during a lecture, don’t panic, the professor will often give examples to clarify what they are trying to teach.

2. Take good notes when listening to a lecture.

3. Be aware of the organizational structure of the lecture

4. Keep your notes short and to the point.

5. Listen to a couple lectures online when preparing for the test.

That’s it for our overview on the TOEFL listening section, for more TOEFL tips and tactics sign up with ePrepz! We wish you best of luck on the TOEFL test!

Today we are going to discuss the writing section of the TOEFL test and share some tips and tactics that might be useful when taking the exam.

The TOEFL writing section will ask you to write two essays, the first one is a summary of a lecture and article (integrated section). The other one is a more open-ended question (independent section) where you will share your opinion. Let’s dive deeper into the independent section.

TOEFL Independent Section
You should share something personal on the TOEFL independent section, for example a common question is: “Some people prefer to live in places that have the same weather or climate all year long. Others like to live in areas where the weather changes several times a year. Which do you prefer?” Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

This is a perfect question where you can share your personal experiences as an answer. You may live in a country where it’s mostly cold for most of the year and for that reason you might want to live in a country where the climate is constantly changing.

There are also writing questions where it’s better to write about knowledge you have about the topic rather than personal experiences. For example questions like, “Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Airplanes have made the world a better place to live.” Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

This is a perfect topic to write about pros (faster travel time) and cons (pollution). First thing you want to write down is your position on the question. After discussing the positive and negative affects of airplanes, finish the text up with a conclusion.

Tips on How to improve your TOEFL writing skills
A key component to improving your writing skills is having a good vocabulary. A great way to improve your vocabulary is to learn new words through flash cards. Other ways to improve your writing is obviously to practice writing essays and articles. The important thing after writing your practice essay is to seek feedback from someone else so you know which areas are good and which requires improvement.

Another way to improve your writing is to actually read articles in English. Write down words you don’t know and look it up in the dictionary.

These are few TOEFL writing tips and tactics that will help you be better prepared for exam. We wish you the best of luck on your TOEFL exam!

Each question in the TOEFL speaking section gives you a score on a scale of 0 - 4. 4 being the highest score for a question and 0 the lowest score. However, the only way to get a zero is to not answer or to ignore the questions and give a response on a different topic. You can also get scores with decimals such as 1.5, 2.5, 3.5 etc.

When recording your answer it’s easy to focus on giving a perfect response but it’s important to remember that your answer does not have to be perfect, just logical and coherent.

You are allowed to make a few mistakes as long as they do not change the overall meaning of your point. The key is to keep calm and to not stress.

When recording your answer keep it simple. You do not want to take unnecessary risks when giving your answer.

Always be aware of how much time you have. For independent questions you have 45 seconds to give a response and for the integrated speaking question types you will have 60 seconds to response. Make sure that you do not go over the time limits.

It’s easy to circle around your main point but with time restrictions in place make sure you go straight to your point. Remember that it’s better to finish a couple seconds early than going over a couple seconds past the time.

During the integrated part of the TOEFL speaking section you should greatly rely on your notes. It’s important to have organized notes so your response can be well organized and comprehensible.

Record yourself speaking prior to taking the TOEFL and listen to yourself to determine if you speak clearly and concisely. You will be surprised on how much you can improve by repeating this procedure over and over again.

Practice makes perfect, so continue practicing! We hope that these TOEFL speaking tips & tactics gives you an additional boost to practice for the TOEFL test!

One of our students at ePrepz (Luiz from Brazil) have compiled some interesting TOEFL test score statistics with an Infographic visualization. The data from 2012 gives us the average TOEFL scores for different countries and gender. The top TOEFL scoring country might be a surprise for you, it certainly surprised me.

Click on the image below to see a larger view:

No matter what section of the TOEFL (reading, listening, speaking and writing) you are on, you must keep an eye out for the time restriction. It’s important to be aware of the time limitations when you are practicing for the TOEFL. That’s when time management comes in.

To make sure you have plenty of time, finish all the questions while frequently watching the clock on your screen.

For example, on the reading section you will have 20 minutes to answer around 12 questions. So you should make sure that you don’t get stuck on one question for too long. Do not stress and panic if you cannot answer the question immediately, take your time. Review the text if you feel like the question will get you stuck, and move on and go back to the question when you have answered all the other questions.

Just keep an eye on the clock to make sure you will have time to go back to the questions that are more difficult. Also make sure to save some time to review the “easy questions” to make sure you didn’t miss any answers.

By taking on the TOEFL with clear strategy you will save some valuable time rather than just improvising on the spot. The Test requires around 4 and half hours.

TOEFL Test Time Overview

Section	Time Limit	Questions
Reading*	60–80 minutes	36–56 questions
Listening	60–90 minutes	34–51 questions
Break	10 minutes	—
Speaking	20 minutes	6 tasks
Writing	50 minutes	2 tasks

TOEFL Time Management Process 

I recommend the following time management strategy for the TOEFL.

1. Go over all the questions, give yourself 1 to 1.5 minutes to answer each question, skip the ones that take up too much time.
2. Go back and try to answer the ones that were time consuming
3. For the rest of the time, review all the questions to make sure you didn’t make any easy errors.

By following this strategy you make sure you are using the time you have been given efficiently.

Sign up with ePrepz TOEFL preparation to become familiar with the format of the TOEFL test and to practice answering questions that are time constraints.