Hello, guys!
Today I'm with a friend once again, Vlad.
Do you recognize him?
Hi, how are you doing?
So today we are going to talk about
TOEFL examination.
A very strange environment for such a topic, don't you think?
Well that's because in Russia you pass this exam in the forest!
Oh, this is a joke!
of course we do not do it.
So first of all I'm going to tell you about this exam in general.
and then Vlad will share his experience, his opinion.
Anyway, let's start.
So TOEFL is 'Test of English as a foreign language'.
So it has four basic categories:
reading, listening, speaking and writing.
There are two types of such a test:
an internet-based test and a paper-based test.
So they are a little bit different.
Of course if we talk about the internet-based test,
which Vlad by the way passed,
It's a very strange one. Well, OK
First of all I will quickly tell about the duration and so on.
So reading consists of three to five passages,
each contain twelve to fourteen questions.
And the duration is 60 to 100 minutes.
Now listening: 6 to 9 passages,
each contain 5 to 6 questions.
And here the duration is about 60 to 90 minutes.
Then there's a mandatory break,
so you have to wait for 10 minutes.
Yeah, but you need this break, because, you know,
you are getting very nervous,
you start to feel hungry or just you know
to have a cup of tea. I think it's necessary.
Of course, that's why it's mandatory.
Then speaking - six tasks, for twenty minutes.
And writing - two tasks, for fifty minutes.
OK now, Vlad, tell me. How was it?
So what's your experience?
First of all my purpose to pass this examination was
because I was going to enter the university,
a foreign university in Europe.
And one of the requirements was
to have a certificate of the English language,
that you are quite capable to speak it.
I had to acquire about 95 points.
And my result was 102, so I passed it.
But this examination is quite strange,
because it's an internet-based examination.
and you do not speak with any real person.
All the process is with the computer.
So all the speaking part you speak with the computer,
And, you know, if for example the equipment doesn't work,
you never know whether it works or not.
You will know it when they send you the notes.
Zero for speaking.
Because sometimes, you know, everything can happen,
because this is just equipment,
this is electronics and sometimes it fails.
And you never know. Well.
And psychologically it's very difficult,
because when you speak with a real person,
you can react on the mimicry,
on the face expressions. There's feedback.
There's feedback, and, you know,
if you are doing well, you can feel it.
If you are not doing well, you can also... you can improve.
But in this case you just speak to the screen, to the microphone,
and you know...
You feel stupid.
It feels stupid, it really feels stupid.
And the other thing that for me was difficult,
is that in the reading part they put a lot of vocabulary,
very strange vocabulary, very strange words,
you have never seen in your life.
And you know to analyze this text... it's quite complicated,
'cause you are very short of time,
and you know, just sometimes you have to do it like... whatever!
I think that if a native speaker would have to pass this exam,
he would not have the highest score.
Because you can't... yeah, you can't know all these words,
this ornate language is just impossible.
The texts are ridiculous sometimes.
And moreover there are a lot of tricky questions, you know?
When they... the reading part
there are questions that you have to answer.
And, you know, sometimes there are like... questions
that are very similar to each other.
You mean variants?
The variants, it's like the difference is in logic,
because, you know, it's not the question of language capabilities,
it's the question of logic.
Because, you know, some people are not just strong in their logic.
And... but they can speak English, you know, perfectly.
So this is just not... you know... quite a standard examination in this case.
Well, actually it happens in quite many tests.
And in listening too.
When the variants are very close
when people are talking about some topic,
and then there's one tiny...
They mention something for a very brief period of time,
and this is what you are looking for.
So the whole conversation was nothing,
it was just in vain!
You didn't have to listen to the complete conversation.
So sometimes it's very tricky.
Yeah, and another disadvantage of TOEFL
is that it's only valid for two years. Yeah!
I think that they made it on purpose.
Because, you know, all the other official examinations
on other foreign languages, such as Spanish, German, Russian,
they are valid through all your life.
You don't have to pass it like every two years.
But with TOEFL you have to pay every two years,
and this examination is not cheap, I mean
when I passed it, it was 2012, and it cost me 8000 roubles.
I don't know how much it costs now,
and I don't wanna know it.
Well the point is that they just converted
all the English language studying and examination into industry.
In business! And this is not a good point.
Well a lot of people earn good money!
And that's why...
By anyway it's possible to pass TOEFL, if you prepare.
And you have to prepare, you have to use a lot of programs,
because this examination is tricky.
It's tricky because of its format.
So if it's internet-based TOEFL
you have to speak with the computer.
So start training with the computer,
otherwise you will feel very awkward in the examination
It can result in the negative notes.
Yeah, I agree with you one hundred percent,
because if you do not have this practice,
if you do not practice with this particular test,
these assignments and tasks,
then you won't be perfect.
You can speak English wonderfully,
you can be a profound speaker,
but the problem is that some particular tasks
can be tricky and you need to train these tasks exactly.
So you need to do the test for many times
to get used to it or something like this.
so you need to practice and then you'll be able to pass it really well.
And one more thing, that in the vocabulary part they check
academic English. I mean,
all the tasks, they will be connected with academic English,
especially listening. So
if you really into passing this examination
you have to train also your academic vocabulary.
So buy some books on academic English,
study some you know typical phrases
from academic journals, scientific publications and so on.
This will help a lot.
And by the way I have trained quite many students of mine
to pass this exact exam.
And we used a lot of materials,
books included, and some... well sample tests,
if I may put it like this.
It is a very long and difficult route.
But you can train yourself.
It's possible, why not? There are tons of materials nowadays.
So it's easy to find them and to practice.
Yeah, it's really possible to have good notes with TOEFL,
good points.
And one more thing is that when you prepare for TOEFL
you have to have a system, I mean just you need to
prepare every day, you know, during one or two months
just to have a system, not to let it go.
You have to be organized.
You can't be very creative hear, you have to be persistent.
Yes, and it also depends on what purpose it serves.
For example if you are going to enter a university
and your major in the humanities,
they will ask for higher points.
I mean, it starts from 110.
And if it's like engineering or something else,
they can be a little bit lower, so with 95, 90
You can already do it.
Ok, yeah, I see.
The TOEFL paper-based test
also know as TOEFL PBT,
is available in limited areas. And that's the problem!
Although it's scores are valid for two years after the test date too.
As for the structure, take a look at it, it's a little bit different.
OK, good, I guess enough for one class.
We told you a little bit about this exam, TOEFL.
We are going to continue talking about this exam,
about some particular tasks and so on.
But that's it for today. We hope that you liked this video,
if you did, please, press the button, subscribe to my YouTube channel,
and see you in my next class.
So say goodbye to Vlad! Good bye!