Hey guys! Welcome back to my channel!
My name is Cana!
If you're about to take the TOEFL test
you'd probably know that
ETS has made some updates to the TOEFL test
The changes were announced on the official website
However, I felt like it wasn't very clear
So just to be on the safe side
I decided to retake the TOEFL test
and share with you guys what I think the modifications
Fortunately, I did see some changes that weren't mentioned
or talked a lot on the Internet
So I'm going to share with you guys today
Hopefully, it would help you prepare for the test
Remember to turn on the subtitles by clicking on the icon below!
If you interested in knowing the differences
between the new and the old TOEFL test
Let's get started
Okie dokie!
So before we start to talk about the differences
between the new and the old TOEFL test
I want to tell you guys
the ridiculous test-taking experience
that happened to me last week
Now if you follow me on Instagram
You'd prolly get an idea of what happened
So this is what happened
I often register the TOEFL test for my students
so I'm quite familiar with the whole
registering process
but when I was registering for my own test in July
I became overly confident
so when I was registering for the test
As many of you may probably know
the address of the test centers
are all translated into English
so when I was picking my test center
I only focused on "keywords" in the address
and the keyword that caught my attention was "Dongmen"
because I live in Taipei, Taiwan
You probably can get there around...
forty minutes or so
so it's quite near where I live
Now during the whole month between July and August
I should've checked where exactly was my test center
that could've also allowed my to plan my transportation on the test day.
but I'm a serious procrastinator
and this time...
I really got into trouble.
so what happened was
That night before the test
at one o'clock in the morning.
was the time when I FINALLY decided to look up
where exactly my test center was
and when I clicked open the map on the TOEFL site
I saw this map that didn't look at all like the map I was familiar with
Where was the Taipei Metro Railway lines?!
so I though maybe the map was outdated
or BROKEN
and don't ask me why I came up with that ridiculous conclusion
Anyway, so I copied the address on the site
and pasted it on Google map
Then the very second I pressed enter
I saw the freaking map
ZOOM TF out of my city (Taipei)
and zoomed into another city called Hsin Chu
I was like "This can not be happening to me!!!"
So I had to wake up at 5:30am
Take the Taiwan High Speed Rail to Hsin Chu High speed Rail Station
AND THEN take a taxi to Hsin Chu Train Station
to finally get to the test center
OH MY GOD GUYS...
by the time I got to the test center
I was already sooooo exhausted
it's definitely not something you want to go through
before your TOEFL test
The lesson to be learned here is that
When you're taking the TOEFL test
when you're registering for the TOEFL test
please read each test center address carefully
because the English address can sometimes be a bit confusing
Another thing that I'd like to remind you guys is
if you need to reschedule or cancel your test
Remember to do this FOUR DAYS BEFORE the test
You'll also be charged $60USD for the modification
So if you're on a budget
please double check on your test center
don't make the same mistake I did.
or else you might need to pay
hefty price to complete the test.
Okay!
So now that I'm done with my ridiculous story
Let's take a look at all the differences
in the new TOEFL test
Let's start with the reading section
The total number of questions per passage
has been cut down from 14 to 10 questions
Now, to be honest
I don't feel like there's that much of a change
the reason is because
you still get the same amount of passages
which is about 3 to 4 passages.
Moreover, they didn't omitted the experimental questions.
If you're new to the TOEFL test
you might not be familiar with what "experimental questions" are.
ETS needs to periodically come up with
brand new test sets
and they need to make sure these tests
can adequately reflect each test taker's English proficiency
so the answers given by the test taker's
are used as future reference and not scored.
However, your answers will be used to evaluate
whether the experimental questions are adequately designed.
so whenever you take the TOEFL test
you will either get a set of reading "experimental questions"
or you will get an extra set of listening
so it will lengthen your test a lot
Reading-wise, in regards of the test length
there isn't much change actually
Now the second thing that I would discuss with you guys
is whether there were any adjustments
regarding the subjects/topics in the reading passage.
and the answer is no.
Reading topics are highly repetitive in the TOEFL test
If you've seen my video on how I got 119 on my TOEFL test (eng version available too!)
You'd know that
I absolutely recommend you all
to practice through TPO sets
and if you have enough time
I would recommend that you start from TPO 1
Yes, you heard me right. The first TPO set
and then work your way up to the 54th set
for the reading section
If you familiarize yourself with every reading set
you will notice some patterns within the test
For example
topics on the Jurassic period
topics on mass extinction
topics on organisms and evolution
the Renaissance period and the industrialization
these are recurring themes
that pop up a lot in the test
So if you are very familiar with every single reading passage from the TPO
You might be able recognize themes
when actually taking the test
You might even feel like you've done something similar before
This will allow you to feel less apprenhensive during the test
so definitely remember
The preparation strategy remains the same for the reading section
Familiarize yourself with ALL TPO reading passages
This third thing that I'd like to discuss with you guys is
your answering speed.
I would suggest that when you're preping your test
if you've just started
and you're familiar with the test yet
don't start using a timer
and force yourself to finish mock tests.
Your initial goal should be
to REALLY comprehend the reading passage
then try to obseve
some patterns in the passages
for instance
What are the recurring question types?
Are there any recurring extreme words?
Are you able to quickly pinpoint these things?
Also
Do you spot any recurring words?
If you actively observe your reading mock tests
you'd be able to
build a solid foundation.
After some time
when you're sufficiently familiar with the test
then you work on your answering speed
That's how you make sure you're fully prepared
You'll also feel less frustrated during the whole process
so definitely remember
Yes, use a timer.
but use a timer after
you've accumulated a solid foundation
Now let's move on to the listening section
The most important thing
that I'd like to share with you is
I don't think ETS hasn't mentioned this on their site
and I haven't heard anyone mention this either.
I noticed that the listening test is no longer given
only in American accent
It now also consists of lectures given
in VERY Britishy accent.
During the lecture,
you could really tell the lecturer was British.
I really needed to concentrate
to get every detail in the lecture
and in a situation where I can be a bit nervous
it took more effort for me
to jot down every detail from the lecture.
so it definitely wasn't as easy as dealing with
lecture delivered with only American accents.
so if your not familiar with
the British accent
Please remember to take time
and listen to advance academic content
that is spoken in the British accent
and one of the best way you can do this is by
is to find yourselves some UK radio stations
or
as I have recommended to you guys before
BBC Earth
or anything from the BBC network XD
Because the lectures in the TOEFL test
can be quite lengthy
if you're not accustomed to the British accent
there's a fat chance you might miss details
and this is bound to
negatively impact your test performance.
so I think this is one of the things
that is so important for you to understand
before you take the test
Now the second thing that I'd like to adress to you guys
is the listening topics.
Now luckily,
listening topics are similar to reading topics
they're quite repetitive
therefore, my friends,
please take time and listen to all TPO lectures
as many times as you can
Many may ask
what if I run out of mock sets?
Don't worry.
You can actually listen to the lectures
for more than five times
of course, you don't need to listen to the conversations for that many times
They should be your bedtime stories during your preparation (LOL)
Listen to the lectures until
you're familiar with all the main themes
This way, when you finally take your test
if you happen to encounter similar topics
You'd be more confident
Not only so, you might even be able
to anticipate what possible topic will be discussed
so that is something that I recommend to you guys
The third thing that I'd like to discuss
is the length of the listening section
As many of you already know
ETS has shortened the test.
The new TOEFL listening
will not take up 90 minutes.
You should be able to finish it within 54 minutes.
What you will get is
is a short set and a long set of questions.
The long set consists of
one dialogue and two lectures.
and the short set of question consists of
one dialogue and one lecture
to be honest
I don't feel like this has mad much difference
and the reason is
there's still the "experimental question" factor
and the experimental sets are always 11 question in total
So I give it F (for fail)
for their effort to make the test less tedious XD (Brutal me)
because I still think
the listening section is SO TIRING!
Now moving on to the speaking section
which is the section where I think
has been modified the most.
Now sadly,
ETS has omitted the first and the fifth question.
When I first read about this on the Internet,
I didn't want to believe it!
I thought to myself,
"Maybe it's just rumors!"
but, yes indeed,
the first and the fifth questions are longer tested
and I'm super sad because
these are two of my favorite questions.
Whenever I'm teaching my students the fifth question
I always think it's extra fun
because I get to ask my students to speak really quickly
and I can also work with them on
how to ace this question through acting.
So we had the most fun with this one,
or maybe I had the most fun with this one?
(AWKWARD SILENCE PRAY FOR CANA'S POOR PUPILS)
But anyway,
so these are my favorite questions
and they're sadly gone forever from the TOEFL test.
the second question is now the first.
Now the second thing that I'd like to share with you guys
is about the new first question
formerly the second.
In this question,
you will need need to give your opinon on a statement
I have bad news for you guys
it is now a lot harder than before.
I was so taken aback when I took the test.
With the old version
the questions usually look like...
for instance
(refer to the question above)
past question like these
are usually common topics
that don't require a lot of analyzing
or reasoning
and you'll mostly be able to come up with something
but sadly that is not the case anymore.
Now what you'll get is
is something like...for example,
(refer to the question above)
You'd probably be like "wtf?!"
This ain't something that a person would think about.
You cant prepare for questions like these
by randomly coming up with benefits of blinds
or talking about advantages of doors.
it now require more advanced practices.
So you definitely want to work on your reasoning
You need to work on this right when you start preparing TOEFL
and one of the best way to do this
I would recommend to you guys
is to go look for some
English books about reasoning.
or
go check out debate.org
This is a website
filled with all kinds of debate topics
with people posting their opinions
There's even a voting system on the each page.
If you try to read more about other people opinion
it might allow you to
share thoughts
that contain more advance content
So I firmly believe
The test item discrimination has def been raised.
and you'll need to work even harder when preparing for this question.
Now the third thing that I'd like to share with you guys
is the interface
This is also something that wasn't mentioned
on the official website
What I noticed was
the interface looked a bit different than before
I don't know if it's me or...
has it always been like this?
but when I took the test last week,
I felt like the spacing was different
the font felt thinner than usual
so when I was taking the test
I noticed that the questions
weren't very easy to read.
I found it hard to skim through the questions
before the speaker "FINOOSH" reading
LOL I said "Finoosh" instead of finish, didn't I.
I wasn't able to start thinking before the speaker finish the question.
I was only able to finish skimming
around the same time the reader finished.
so that was definitely something
that was really challenging that I noticed.
so in terms of the font,
you might want to take not on this.
if you're practicing with another mock test version
and you notice the font is clearer
or bigger than the official version
Then you might feel the difference
when you're taking the test.
another change on the interface
is the timer below each question
Previously,
if you've taken the test before,
the timer used to look like this.
You'll see the blue bar receding when you answer.
It will receding gradually.
kind of like when you're playing for video games
Now ETS changed it into a countdown timer
so if you rely heavily on
the familiarity of the interface
If you're familiar with the old version
I would recommend
start practicing
with a countdown timer that looks like this one
That way,
you'll less likely be affected
by these minor changes on the interface
Now the last thing that I'd like to share with you guys
regarding the change in the speaking section
is the wording adjusting for question 6
If you've taken TOEFL courses
or done some research online
you might know that
when you're answering question 6
you can simply read off the question prompt to start
to start your answer
for example
if the lecture is about a professor
introducing two adaptations made
by the dessert hare.
The prompt used to look like this:
(refer to prompt above)
Now in the old TOEFL version
you could simply read the prompt
You could simply utilize the prompt,
then move to your notes,
and voila!
BUT NOW...
HMM...
I'm guessing they probably noticed
many students using this method to get around the test.
so what they did was
they adjusted the wording in the prompt
in a way that
if you didnt fully understand the lecture
there would be no way for you to
answer adequately.
for example
the new TOEFL question 6 would probably look like this
(refer to question above)
If you noticed
they omitted the word"adaptation"
so if you didn't know the lecture was about
adaptations
You might not be able to answer accordingly.
The second thing omitted was its purpose.
which is "to survive"
So if you didn't catch that in the listening,
you might also fail to mention this in your answer.
If you reply on the prompt
to start your answer
when answering Question 6
You need to stop relying on the prompts
Try only answering with your notes instead.
This will prevent you from getting stuck on Q6
during the actual test.
Okay! So that is all I have for you guys today.
I hope it gives you a clearer idea of what to expect
in the new TOEFL test.
Now if you have any other questions.
feel free to leave a comment down below.
Oh! I also have a question for you guys!
Now since I'm going to be traveling abroad very soon
I'm thinking about making a video on
A STATIONERY HAUL!!!
Would you guys be interested
in seeing which kinds of stationery I'll be brining to Canada?
and if you are
Leave a comment down below and let me know!