TOEFL

TOEFL(Test of English as a Foreign Language)

Introduction

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is an international standardized test designed to measure the language proficiency of people (non-native speakers) who want to study or work where English is the language of communication. Not to mention that, the test is taken by lakhs of students in India Ā and abroad every year.

The TOEFL IBT (Internet Based Test) uses a 0-120 range to clearly identify levels of proficiency . AndĀ  the TOEFL PBT (Paper Based Test) uses a range of 310-677 in the same fashion.

It is one of the major English-language tests in the world, others being the IELTS, PTE, etc. It was established in 1964.

TEST OVERVIEW

Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā  There are two modes for test-takers of the TOEFL:

  1. iBT(Internet Based Test) ā€“ The TOEFL iBT test measures the ability of the test-taker to use and understand English at the university level. In addition to that, it evaluates how well you combine your reading, listening, speaking and writing skills to perform academic tasks.
  2. Revised PBT(Paper-delivered Test) ā€“is just recently launched by TOEFL in 2017 . It is a paperā€“pencil test in the same fashion as the online testĀ .The earlier TOEFL PBT test is no longer administered .

People who prefer paper-based test more than the online test take this .

  • The test is divided into 4 sections- reading, listening, speaking and writing. You will do the four sections in the same order. The time for each section is as follows:

Reading: 60-80 minutes

Listening: 60-90 minutes

Speaking: 20 minutes.

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Writing: 50 minutes,

Total Time : 3 hours 10 minutes-4 hours

  • The Listening and Speaking sections use aĀ range of native-speaker accents (North American, Australian, New Zealand and British) Ā and all standard varieties of English are recognized in responses in all parts of the test.
  • These accents are added to better reflect the variety of native English accents you may encounter while studying abroad.

TEST FORMAT

  1. Reading description
    • In the first place, the Reading section consists of questions on 3-5 passages, each approximately 700 words in length.
    • Also, the number of questions in Reading varies from 36 to 70 questions.
    • Furthermore , the test time isĀ  set to 60 to 80 minutes.
    • The passages are on academic topics. Passages require understanding of pretentious functions such as cause-effect, compare-contrast and argumentation. Test-takers have to answer questions about main ideas, details,Ā  essential information, sentence insertion, vocabulary, rhetorical purpose and overall ideas.
  2. Ā Listening description
    • In the first place ,the number of Listening questions varies from 34 to 51. You may find new questions that don’t count into each section to find out how hard or easy they are.
    • Listen to 4-6 lectures and 2-3 conversations and answer questions/
    • And , the test time is 60 to 90 minutes.
  3. Ā Speaking description
  • The speaking component assesses your use of spoken English.
  • Furthermore, the time is 20 minutes for this section.
  • You will get 6 tasks under this section.
  1. Writing description
  • Test-takers have the tasks to compare a passage and a lecture and at the end they have to write about their view.
  • Also, you will get 2 tasks under this section.
  • The time is 50 minutes.

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  • Also, there is a mandatory 10 minute break after the Listening section is over.
  • The highest total score for the TOEFL IBT test is 120. Also, each of the 4 sections has a maximum score value of 30.
  • TOEFL is accepted by over 10,000 organizations globally, including educational institutions(including top universities in Australia, Canada, the UK and the US) ,governments, immigration authorities and professional bodies .
  • Moreover, TOEFL is preferred by 4 out of 5 admissions officersĀ  testĀ  (according to a survey done of 263 admission officers in US universities).

 

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