How to Breeze Through TOEFL iBT

Like everyone who wants to seek an education in America, I had to take the TOEFL and GRE test and I took them. I passed TOEFL with nearly a full mark in very early days, in fact, too early. My first TOEFL score would have expired by the time I send applications to American graduate schools and thus I get to take it again. This time, however, it is the new format, TOEFL iBT (iBT below for short) that faces me.

To be honest, I think I have already reached an English ability level that is somewhat beyond the testing range of TOEFL. So I focused on my lab research work in biology and did not set about preparing for iBT until less than two weeks before the test. Several days of intense preparation confirmed my confidence and the slightest uneasiness about the test, thereafter, ceased. I feel like sharing some tips about how to beat iBT which daunted so many.

The more I learned about iBT, the more I appreciate it in its ingenious design and its incomparable capacity of effectively measuring test takers’ language ability. I would say that no standardized test so far more accurately reflect an English learner’s overall language qualification than iBT does. To beat iBT, so to speak, is largely to beat English. Only those who virtually excel in linguistic ability could expect to get a high score out of iBT. And two tips on how to achieve it are offered below for your consideration.

Read the Materials You Have Read Before

There is a Chinese saying that goes as, I just paraphrase, a good horse never grazes back on a trodden pasture. I always revered the wisdom carried in this saying and consulted it when making serious decisions in life. But when it comes to reading in a second language, I believe in deliberate repetition.

While it is primarily knowledge, information or mental experience that is sought when we read in mother language, English reading, on the other hand, is largely intended for its own sake. This is why I do not go through most Chinese books for a second time but read English books over and over again. I invariably found that I could put more in mind the second time I read any materials. It is the nature of language that necessitates repetition. Although constant revision in vocabulary building has long been emphasized, recurrent reading is only sparingly mentioned. Thus I would strongly recommend you to read all your English books at least twice, which is bound to be highly beneficial.

Directly Relate English to the Thoughts

Have you ever listened to an English conversation, understood every single word, but still could not make sense of the sentences as a whole? Many learners do! And I think I know why. I’ve been a family tutor for many high school students seeking financial independence from my parents. In most cases, I taught English. Through the numerous talks I made with my students, I found that most of them were impeded in listening and speaking by inserting Chinese between English and thoughts.

Using mother language, few of us have any trouble with expressing thoughts fluently or comprehending others’ thoughts when spoken to. I attribute this not only to skillfulness in and familiarity with Chinese but also to that we directly linked Chinese with thoughts. In other words, we speak what we think when using Chinese and that is simple and good. English, however, is used by many learners in a more complicated way. Most of my students and quite a lot of my schoolmates told me that (1) when they want to say something in English, they first construct the thought in Chinese and then translate it into English; (2) when they hear something in English, they first translate word by word and then comprehend what they heard through organizing the fragmentary Chinese words they produced.

This extra and unnecessary round of mental activity would certainly hinder expression and comprehension in a second language. Try to think in English, and express your thoughts in the form as they are generated; this would be much faster and inherently fluent. Try to relate English to the real tangible world. For example, when you hear the word apple, refrain from thinking of its Chinese translation but try to come up with an image of a red round edible sphere! As for the more abstract concepts such as commercial, embarrassment, curious, hostile, and many more, you could just feel the meaning of them but carefully avoid emergence of Chinese translation in mind.    

TOEFL iBT would be much less difficult if it were not for its emphasis on listening ability. And the newly introduced speaking section only added to the challenge. But if you could directly relate your second language to thoughts and not via Chinese, you would breeze through iBT!!