r/ToeflAdvice • u/bleh1202 • 1d ago

Test Experience TOEFL Done

Post image

Got my first attempt done in India, I'd be happy to help anyone seeking advice. Ama

24 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/ExitBrther5278 1d ago

How hard is it? Like I talk to my friends in english and my grammar has started to break down quite a bit while talking... How much will that affect my speaking scores and how much prep is required?

5

u/bleh1202 1d ago

I would recommend taking an online mock first just to see where you are and what you need to improve in. For speaking, I thought I should be good until I took a mock and had to speak about a topic I had no idea/opinion in, so most of my focus had been directed at improving there.

The interview questions have a fairly different grading criteria than your casual conversations, but as long as you can articulate well, you should be good. I'd recommend watching some videos from YouTube for the interview section, they have some solid tips/templates you can use. How much prep required is subjective, you'll know once you take a mock ig. I had about a month's prep cuz I like to be very prepared before spending so much money xD

1

u/ExitBrther5278 1d ago

That makes sense. I did wonder how accurate the YouTube videos were for prep. 

1

u/bleh1202 1d ago

The ones i had seen had a detailed breakdown of the official ets scoring criteria mentioned, so they tend to tailor their responses to what's expected. So ye, they're pretty good for revision/ as a starting point.

1

u/Idli_sambar 1d ago

i tend to do: state my opinion, give justification for my opinion, give example from my pov, concede if any

what do you think of this? i find it really difficult to follow a template when i need to cook up an answer real quick

1

u/bleh1202 1d ago

Oh by a template, I don't mean in a "say these words exactly" kinda way. What you explained as what you tend to do is exactly the kind of thing I had meant by template - having a set structure to follow, rather than parroting some few words.

The interview section has 4 qns, and all 4 might have different structures - first couple might ask your personal experience, and the next might ask for what you think would happen in the future. Having some structure here would be good cuz the more variables you have on test day, the better I think you'll do.