2013/10/22 A talk I gave on how to prepare TOEFL, invited by NCTU Language Teaching and Research Center. How I prepared my TOEFL (scored 112), and how you can prepare it.

1. Don’t be scared…. It’s just a very
expensive test….

2. I am not here to talk about skills

3. I am here
to talk about stuff
Maybe some skills though, otherwise I don’t
know how to pass this 20 minutes

4. Why TOEFL Changed the Test?
3 Important Reasons:
• Speaking has been added
• Focus on the ability to communicate
– Measures not only how much the
student knows about English, but how
well he or she can use it
• Uses integrated tasks that reflect how
language is actually used

5. Take this as an opportunity
To really improve you English skill

6. Abstract
Reading
Listening
Writing
Speaking

7. Reading Section
• Academic reading sets, each followed by
11-13 questions
• Reading passages are longer than TOEFL
CBT – 700 words
• Some familiar TOEFL CBT question types
• Some new question types
– Fill in a table or prose summary
– Paraphrasing
• New! Glossary and review features

9. Reading Section
• Reading lots of article is better than
memorizing lots of vocabulary—its more fun,
and more useful.

10. Studying a language is about
persistency, not bursty hard work
Some things to help you be persistent:

11. Listening Section
• More authentic
– Conversations with 2 speakers – campus life
– 4-6 lectures, some lectures include student
participation
– 5-6 questions for each listening set
– Includes a variety of global English accents
• Some familiar TOEFL CBT question types
• New questions measure understanding of
a speaker’s attitude or purpose

12. Studying a language is about
persistency, not bursty hard work
iTune has lots of pod casts and college courses
you can download
COURSERA is a web full of
free college courses

13. Studying a language is about
persistency, not bursty hard work
TV series is a good choice, it is fun to watch,
short, so you can watch it while eating lunch

14. Writing Section
• 1 Reading/Listening/Writing task
– Short academic listening and reading material
– Response based on what was read and heard
• 1 independent task
– Response based on personal experience

18. Sorry, I scored really bad on writing….

19. It is more about
structure and
thought, less
about rhetoric

20. Speaking Section
• 2 independent tasks about familiar topics
– Responses based on personal experience
• 4 integrated tasks
– 2 Reading/Listening/Speaking tasks
– 2 Listening/Speaking tasks
– Responses based on what was read and heard
– Academic and campus-based material
– Short listening and reading material

23. English is different than Chinese

24. Take this as an opportunity
To think about the fun things in life

25. Take this as an opportunity
To know yourself and express yourself better

26. Be honest

27. Be honest
Why is the
horizon not…
well…
horizontal….

28. What do you do when you are under
lots of pressure?

29. What do you do when you are under
lots of pressure?

30. What do you do when you are under
lots of pressure?

31. What do you do when you are under
lots of pressure?

32. What do you do when you are under
lots of pressure?

33. What do you do when you are under
lots of pressure?

34. Be interesting

35. What do you do at school

36. What do you do at school

37. What do you do at school

38. What do you do at school

39. Some drills will help

40. Exhale while you talk
Exhale make you sound more relaxed, natural,
and reliable.

41. Confidence matters
Good pronunciation brings confidence.
Talking about things you really believe brings
confidence.

42. Ask question about yourself
Google for
• What are 25 interview questions for a biography?
• Biographical Interview Questions
Example
• Made any Mistakes that helped or hurt you in a
way that you would like to share?
• Do you have any special or important dates that
mean something to you? If so what are they?
• Are you religious or have a religion ?
• What's your favorite things to do?
• What's your favorite food?

43. Talking things out of your head

44. • Google for “impromptu speech topic”, and you
will find lots of creative topics to talk about.
• For instances:
1. If you are a toilet, how do you pass your time?
2. If you are a flower, how do you persuade a
naughty boy from cutting you?
Talking things out of your head

45. Read an article, sum it up, write some
thought.
• Recommending
• Not recommending

46. Wish luck to you all
You will be great!!