Four tactics for time limits on TOEFL® iBT Speaking tasks
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Four tactics for time limits on TOEFL® iBT Speaking tasks
- 1. Four tactics for time limits on TOEFL ® iBT Speaking tasks Dr. Pamela J. Sharpe Author of the bestseller Barron’s TOEFL ® iBT (c) Dr. Pamela Sharpe/teflprep 2010
- 7. Be careful!
- 9. So what should you do?
- 10. (c) Dr. Pamela Sharpe/teflprep 2010 Best wishes for success on the TOEFL! Visit http:// TEFLSpeaking.com for more tips and practice questions to help you get the score you want!
Editor's Notes
- You can improve your TOEFL score by using the strategies recommended by Dr. Pamela Sharpe, author of one of the most widely used books for TOEFL preparation. In this presentation, Dr. Sharpe shares some of the strategies that have helped more than one million students succeed on the TOEFL. Hello. I’m Pamela Sharpe and I have been a teacher for more than 40 years. I have been helping students prepare for the TOEFL . Today I’m here to help you. Together we are going to review four tactics for time limits on the Speaking section of the iBT TOEFL. Are you ready? Let’s begin.
- The time limit for your talk is either 45 seconds or 60 seconds, depending on the task. Even if you have a minute, that isn’t very long to talk, is it? Even if you speak well for 60 seconds, you will lose points if you don’t complete the task. That means you have to include all of the parts of your talk without getting cut off by the beep before you have finished. So you will need to learn some tactics to finish your talk within the time limit.
- Actually, there is a very easy way to plan your talk. Just follow the directions carefully and you will have enough time. The answer is really in the question.
- For example, here is a question from Task 5: “Describe the woman’s problem and the suggestions that her friend makes. What do you think the woman should do and why?” From the conversation, you know that the friend made two suggestions. So if you describe the problem and then mention the first suggestion with a brief explanation and the second suggestion with a brief explanation, then you will have time to explain what you think the woman should do and a reason or two why you have chosen that opinion. Do you see how you can use the directions as an outline for the answer? If you do, then you will respond within the time limits.
- You don’t have time to present more than two or three ideas to develop your general statement. For example, if you are asked to describe someone or something, think of two or three characteristics. If you are asked about your favorite person, place, or object, think of two or three reasons why the person, place or object is your favorite. Don’t make a long list in your notes or you won’t be able to finish your thoughts within the time limit.
- If you have two or three main ideas for your speaking task, you can’t just list them or you won’t speak long enough. You need details and examples. But if you spend too much time giving every detail for the first idea, then you won’t have time to speak about the second or third idea. So you have to use concise details and examples. Concise means “short” –just a sentence or two.
- Be sure that all of the parts in the directions are in the talk but don’t spend so much time at the beginning that you can’t complete your answer. Use two or three ideas to support general statements and include concise details and examples.
- A summary includes all the main ideas—but it is shorter than the original. If you are asked to summarize a lecture, don’t try to include everything that you heard. It won’t be possible to do that in the time that you have for the task. Just think about it. The lecture can be two minutes long. How can you repeat all of it in one minute? Then fill in the details and examples for each of the points. Remember, a summary has to include the most important points, not every detail. But you need to select the details that the speaker emphasizes in the lecture.
- So, what should you do? Find the most important points. There are usually two or three in every lecture. If you listen carefully to the topic sentence in the lecture, you will probably hear a preview of the points that the lecturer plans to discuss. Sometimes you will even hear a number that tells you how many main points are in the lecture. For example, the lecturer may say, “There are two types of fir trees in the habitat.” You know that you are listening for two main points and two different fir trees.
- Use these strategies and you will begin to feel more confident . Now you will be ready to practice for the Speaking section of the iBT TOEFL. You can find several practice tests at www.TEFLSpeaking.com . For more of Dr. Sharpe’s strategies for success visit www.TEFLSpeaking.com . The more you practice and use these strategies, the better you will do! And to all of the subscribers who have used our Practice Tests for the TOEFL, congratulations for joining a support group online. Best wishes to you for success!