For everyone that needs to do the TOEFL test

Heeeej people from all over the world! What’s up?
Today I decided to give you more tips base on my personal experiences (like almost every post I write here haha). But this time, I will focus on the TOEFL test, something that a few of you might have to do in order to apply for a swedish university. There are other English profiency tests that you can do, but that’s the one I did, so haha I will tell you a little bit about how it was for me and what I did so everything went ok.

The Test Of English as a Foreign Language is a way for you to prove that you have good English skills to not only survive, but understand and live a normal life speaking English in an academic level. In the test, you will answer questions about a lecture (after listening to it), about a conversation between students and university employees and other situations. Everything to make sure you can live life as a student speaking English. There are two types of tests, the internet based and the paper based, but since I only did the first one I can only talk about that. So you have four skills that will be analyzed here: reading, listening, speaking and writing. The required grades can vary between the universities, so pay attention to see exactly how many points you need and aim for that!

I was super nervous for my test, but took some measures so I would not have any surprise, like really studied for the test, got there early enough and things like that. Everything went ok and got the grade I needed in the first try!

My tips for the test are:

  • You can and should do a preparation course for the TOEFL. That’s what I did. It is, of course, an English test, but at the same time, you need to know HOW to do the test and what questions you might have to answer for example.
  • You should definitely practice for the test, because above all of the pressure you have, you still have to deal with TIME. Yes, the test is all about time (you will have one hour to do each of the four skills), so practice so you know you are managing your precious minutes wisely.
  • Don’t leave it for the last minute 1. You have to take the test, they will take a while to give your grade and they also need to send your grade to the university. So do it at least three months before the application deadline.
  • Don’t leave it for the last minute 2. The test is quite expensive (I know) but you can always retake the test. But to do that, you should have extra time before the application deadline is over, right? So I STRONGLY recommend you to do it as soon as you can.

So that was it. The test can be quite stressful and demanding, but I can guarantee that if you work really hard, practice and study, there’s only one result that can come out of that: SUCCESS MUAHAHA. Good luck to anyone that needs to do the test! If you have any questions about it, don’t hesitate on leaving a comment here! 😀

Marina

Written by Marina

27 Feb 2016