My personal TOEFL experience

Now that I've already applied to all of my desirable colleges, it's time to look back at my experiences, identify mistakes that I've made and new things that I've found out.

I began my preparation for TOEFL long before, sometime after the summer of 2010. I used Longman's preparation book which is really extensive, but its main flaw is that it's unofficial and it doesn't even bearly represent the real hardness of the exam. Unfortunately, I found that out after I took the exam the first time in December. On the day of the exam, I entered an examination room with confidence, being quite sure that nothing could go wrong. I strove to at least a 100/120 result. However, texts in the exam were incomparably harder that those in my preparation book, and they were even longer. Also, many questions were ambiguous with a couple of nearly the same answers, so I had to guess answers to those questions. In the listening part I got the weakest score of all, which was totally unexpectable.

My final result of my first take was quite a disappointment for me (94/120) : Reading (25/30), Listening (21/30), Speaking (23/30), Writing (25/30).

So I decided to retake the test in January. In order to prepare myself better I lent an official study guide from ETS, used some time reading the passages, I worked on my speaking by speaking English in my non-English speaker family, which was rather awkward, but it was worth the effort. My second result was 9 points higher than the first one (103/120) which was very satisfying: Reading (26/30), Listening (27/30), Speaking (23/30), Writing (27/30).

To sum up, if I were to do it all over again, I wouldn't take so much time to prepare for the exam. I would take no more than a month and make an intense preparation, which has worked out for me on the second take of the exam. My advice is also to use that valuable time to prepare for the SAT, which certainly needs more time to prepare. Additionally, I would try to use an official study guide published by the ETS.

TOEFL is not a hard exam if you know how to prepare for it. Spending some money on the preparation courses isn't a bad idea at all. Taking a good, intense preparation course will surely be cost-effective, if you're not a fluent English speaker and if you need serious preparation. For example, in my case for taking the TOEFL twice, which is a result of bad and amateur preparation, I spent more than 450 $. Test fee is 180$, and additional reports to the colleges are 17$ each. A little bit of simple math and there's the cost. I hope that my experience is helpful.

L.

Step 3 - Determine whether you meet admission requirements

What are the most common admission requirements set up by US colleges?

• Your GPA (Grade Point Average) is an average assessment of your knowledge for a particular school year calculated from your grades. It ranges on a scale from 0.0-4.0. 
• Standardized testing includes TOEFL and SAT or ACT (not both of them) - maximum number of points for TOEFL (120 iBT), SAT (2400), ACT (36). A great deal of universities require two more SAT Subject Tests. e.g."When applying for admission to Princeton, you must submit official scores for either the SAT Reasoning Test or the ACT (with Writing, where available). All applicants must also take two SAT Subject Tests."
• Most of the colleges commonly require a TOEFL score of 80/120 iBT or higher.
• extracuricullar activities - social activity, membership in clubs, doing sports, anything you find useful to mention.
• Just to mention 12 years of education so far.

All colleges and universities have different admissions requirements. The best way to compare your credentials to the requirements is to consider average SAT scores of the last-year enrolled students and acceptance rate.
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Step 1 - Start preparing for the TOEFL and the SAT

You should start your preparation immediately unless you speak English fluently. The TOEFL (Test Of English As Foreign Language) examination is one of your passes for entering U.S. university. TOEFL test-taking is usually offered by the advising center in your country. The test is offered in two formats: iBT (internet-based) and PBT (paper-based). IBT format is more convenient because it's offered 30-40 times a year and in 4,500 authorized test centers across the world. The cost of the test ranges from 150-200$.

To find out what is the closest location where you can take the test visit