TOEFL iBT tips

Got my TOEFL scores a few days back. Managed a 111. Now quite a lot of people have asked me about the material I used for my preparation for TOEFL and the minimum time required for preparation.So I thought why not write a post here so that it would help others with similar queries.

For those you have no idea what TOEFL is all about, you can start here.

Well, I used the Barron’s TOEFL iBT CD for my TOEFL preparation. Thats it! I must say that giving GRE before TOEFL made things a little simpler for two sections in particular : Reading and Writing. But even otherwise, the reading and listening sections should be a cakewalk for anyone with decent english. The writing section is not that hard. But it might require a little practice for those of you who aren’t used to writing a lot. The speaking section, in my opinion, is relatively more harder than the rest of the sections. Unfortunately, the Barron’s CD does not provide you with a utility through which they can judge your speaking ability. Therefore, judging your speaking ability can be a little difficult as you have no idea as to what is classified as a poor/decent/excellent response. In such a scenario, it is better to use the sample responses that are available on the ETS – TOEFL site and use that as a benchmark to rate your responses. This will also give you a fair idea as to what the evaluators are looking for while they hear your response.

Now with regard to the minimum time required for preparation, I gave myself one week ( I used to work during the day and prepare for about three hours in the evening). It might sound a little less for some of you. But it depends. I took my GRE before my TOEFL and I thought that because the reading and the writing sections on the GRE are relatively harder, I could spend more time preparing for the speaking and listening sections. The choice is yours!

Well thats about it! All the best to all TOEFL takers! Ping me if you have any queries.

Tips for GRE takers

Ever since I have finsihed giving my GRE, a lot of queries have come my way regarding the exam. Hence this post. Use this post like a FAQ document. Hope it helps!

How much time do I need to prepare for GRE?

I think this is one of the most common questions. It really depends. I think the first question you need to ask yourself is: what kind of source are you looking for?  This inturn depends on the universities you would want to apply to eventually for the course that you are looking at. Given a choice, everybody would want a 1600! But is that really required ? Is the time and effort that you put into this really worth it? These are questions that you need answer to. Quite a few of us have other responsibilities too while we are preparing for the test. Some of us work. Some of us are still doing our graduation. So its important to see how one can effeciently dedicate time for this purpose.

I got a 1330. According to me, it is not a great score. But it is good enough to work with. I gave myself just a month’s time to prepare for the exam. This while I was also battling some deadlines at work.

Wordlists are a pain! Is it really worth dedicating so much time to them?

This is a key question because this is where most people get it wrong. I am not really sure if covering all the wordlists at you disposal is really going to help you maximise your score in the antonyms & analogies sections of the GRE. The most common approach that most people take is to start with the Barron’s word list. I really dont think it is worth all the effort. Instead, I think it is important to develop the habit of making ‘educated guesses’ as to what the word might mean in the context it is being used and then answering the questions that follow. Negative/Positive connotations , Elimination, Is the word a noun/verb/adjective ? , building strong bridges in analogies etc. These are more important than mugging up day in and day out. I found Kaplan’s workbook excellent in developing these habits. I am sure there are other equally good alternatives. Another useful resource are the set of audio files for Barron’s word list which I used to listen to while at work. You can find them here.

RCs, Quant…

I think these are the two important sections in the GRE. The quant section is easy. I have also heard that the sums have become a little calculation intensive. But honestly, it still seems pretty easy to score. If you are looking at doing your masters in engineering, you MUST get a 750 even if it is a horrible day for you at the test. I would say this is the par score.

The reason why RCs (reading comprehension) requires some practice is because for some, it may not be an easy task to read off the computer screen. Especially long passages. Sometimes your eyes start hurting and you are not able to concentrate. Sometimes, it hard to maintain sync in terms of continuity i.e you might get lost when moving from one line to another. Therefore practising as much as possible is important. Also, try and practice on the computer instead of a book. It makes a huge difference ! Buy/Beg/Borrow/steal a computer from some place if you dont have one with you.

AWA

Do not disregard the writing section. In the heat of preparing for the other sections, sometimes, we tend to forget about this section completely. Try and practice atleast one or two times. After that developing key ideas for any argument/issue topic can be done mentally. If you blog a lot, I think you will have an advantage here. If not, it is still not that much of an issue really.

Test preparation materials

This is confusing. With so many test preparation materials around, it can get hard to know which one suits you the best. In my opinion, the following materials are great :

1. GRE powerprep : Especially the practice tests. From what I have seen and heard, your final scores will hover around your scores in these practice tests. I suggest you to save one of these tests for someday close to the test. The writing section in this s/f is also great. It gives you an idea as to what the test evaluators are actually looking for in your passage.
2. Kaplan : I think the verbal tests in Kaplan are harder than what is eventually going to appear on the test. The quant section is of the same difficulty level. I liked the feedback they give on how you performed in your tests. In particular, it tells you which areas are your weak points and how much time you spent on each question versus the recommended amount of time that you ought to have spent on those questions. Get hold of this software. It is pretty useful.
3. Big Book : Quite a few guys advised me to go through the big book atleast once before giving the test. I did not go through it eventually because I had ran out of time for preparation (and I was also terribly bored with going through the same routine over and over). Moreover, the big book was available to me as a part of several pdf files. I was somehow not comfortable with the whole idea of using that as an indicator to how good my preparation was.

There are lot many more options available apart from these. The likes of barron’s, cambridge, nova etc etc. But I suggest you to stick to these ones. They are good and they are tough and ,consequenlty, they will give you the true picture of how well you are prepared rather than giving you false impression.

I will keep adding information here as when I remember them. All the best to all GRE takers!

Update : One of the readers of this post called Raghu requested me to put up this link here so that it might help out some GRE aspirants. Raghu, if you are reading this, thanks for sharing this link with us !