About the TOEFL iBT Test - Writing Section

Academic Writing Skills

In all academic situations where writing in English is required, students must be able to present their ideas in a clear. well-organized manner. 

The Writing section measures your ability to write English in an academic setting.

• Often, students need to write a paper or an essay response about what they are learning in their classes. This requires combining information they have heard in class lectures with what they have read in textbooks or other materials. This type of writing is referred to as integrated writing. In this type of writing, students must:

1. Take notes on what they hear and read, and use them to organize information before writing
2. Summarize, paraphrase, and cite information from the source material accurately
3. Write about the ways the information they heard relates to the information they read

For example, in an academic course, a student might be asked to compare and contrast the points of view expressed by the professor in class with those expressed by an author in the assigned reading material. 

The student must successfully draw information from each source to explain the contrast.

• Student must also write essays that express and support their opinions. In this type of writing, known as independent writing, students express an opinion and support it based on their own knowledge and experience.

For example, students may be asked to write an essay about a controversial issue. The students use part, personal experience to support their opinion.

In all types of writing, it is helpful for students to:

1. Identify one main idea and some major point that support it
2. Plan how to organize the essay (For example, with an outline)
3. Develop the essay by using reasons, examples, and details
4. Express information in an organized manner
5. Use effective linking words (transitional phrases) to connect ideas and help the reader understand the flow of ideas
6. Use a range grammar and vocabulary for effective expression
7. Use grammar and vocabulary accurately; use idiomatic expressions appropriately
8. Follow the conventions of spelling, punctuation, and layout

Description

The total time for the Writing section is 50 minutes. 

Test takers write their responses to two writing tasks. Responses are typed into the computer and sent to ETS, where they are scored by both certified raters and the automated scoring system.

Read More

About the TOEFL iBT Test - Speaking Section

Academic Speaking Skills

Students should be able to speak English successfully in and outside the classroom. The Speaking section measures your ability to speak effectively in academic settings.

In classrooms, students must:

• Respond to questions
• Participate in academic discussions with other students
• Synthesize and summarize what they have read in their textbooks and heard in class
• Express their views on topics under discussion

Outside of the classroom, students must:

• Participate in casual conversations
• Express their opinions
• Communicate with people in such places as the bookstore, the library and the housing office

The Speaking section is approximately 20 minutes long and includes six tasks.

• The first two tasks are independent speaking tasks on topics familiar to you. They ask you to draw upon your own ideas, opinions, and experiences when responding. However, you can respond with any idea, opinion, or experience relevant to completing the task.
• The remaining four tasks are integrated tasks where you must use more than one skill when responding. Two of the tasks require you to read, listen and then speak in response by relating the information from the reading and listening material. The other two tasks require you to listen and then speak in response You can take notes and use those notes when responding to the speaking tasks.

Like the other sections of the test, the Speaking section is delivered via the Internet. For all speaking tasks, you use a headset with a microphone. Speak into the microphone to record your responses. Responses are digitally recorded and sent to ETS, where they are scored by certified raters.

Source: The Official guide to the TOEFL Test - Fourth Edition

Read More

About the TOEFL iBT Test - Listening Section

Academic Listening Skills

The Listening section measures your ability to understand spoken English. In academic settings, students must be able to listen to lectures and conversations. Academic listening is typically done for one of the three following purposes:

Listening for basic comprehension

• Comprehend the main idea, major points, and important details related to the main idea (Comprehension of all details is not necessary.)

Listening for pragmatic understanding

• Recognize a speaker's attitude and degree of certainty
• Recognize the function or purpose of a speaker's statement

Connecting and synthesizing information

• Recognize the organization of information presented
• Understand the relationships between ideas presented (for example, compare/contrast, cause/effect, or steps in a process)
• Make inferences and draw conclusion based on what is implied in the material
• Make connections among pieces of information in a conversation or lecture
• Recognize topic changes (for example, digressions and aside statements) in lecture and conversations, and recognize introductions and conclusions in lectures

Listening material in the test includes academic lectures and long conversations in which the speech sounds very natural. You can take notes on any listening material throughout the entire test.

After the listening material is played, you both see and hear each question before you see the answer choices. This encourage you to listen for main ideas.

There are four question formats in the Listening section:

• Traditional multiple-choice questions with four answer choices and a single correct answer
• Multiple-choice questions with more than one answer (for example, two correct answers out of four choices or three answers out of five choices)
• Questions that require you to order events or steps in a process
• Questions that require you to match objects or text to categories in a chart

Source: The Official guide to the TOEFL Test - Fourth Edition

Read More

About the TOEFL iBT Test - Reading Section

Academic Reading Skills

The Reading section measures your ability to understand university-level academic texts and passages. In many academic settings around the world, students are expected to read and understand information from textbooks and other academic materials written in English. The following are three purposes for academic reading:

Reading to find information

• Effectively scanning text for key facts and important information
• Increasing reading fluency and rate

Basic comprehension

• Understanding the general topic or main idea, major points, important fact and details, vocabulary in context, and pronoun references
• Making inferences about what is implied in a passage

Reading to learn

• Recognizing the organization and purpose of a passage
• Understanding relationships between ideas
• Organizing information into a category chart or a summary in order to recall major points and important details
• Inferring how ideas throughout the passage content

Reading Passages

The passages cover a variety of subjects. You should not be concerned if you are unfamiliar with a topic. The passage contains all the information needed to answer the questions.

All passages are classified into three basic categories:

• Exposition
• Argumentation
• Historical

Often, passages present information about the topic from more than one perspective or point of view. This is something you should note as you read. Usually, you are asked at least one question that allows you to demonstrate that you understood the general organization of the passage. 

Common organization types that you should be able to recognize are:

• Classification
• Compare/Contrast
• Cause/Effect
• Problem /Solution

Reading Question Formats

There are three question formats in the Reading section:

• Questions with four choices and a single correct answer in traditional multiple-choice format
• Questions with four choices and a single answer that ask test takers to "insert a sentence" where it fits best in a passage
• "Reading to learn" questions with more than four choices and more than one possible correct answer.

Source: The Official guide to the TOEFL Test - Fourth Edition

Read More