GETTING TO KNOW THE TOEFL

[attachment=16976]

WHAT IS THE TOEFL?
The TOEFL is a comprehensive English language examination required by more than 3,000
colleges and universities in the United States, Canada, and other parts of the world. In addition,
foreign born professionals frequently need a TOEFL score for certification to practice their
profession in the United States or Canada.
The TOEFL is a timed test that consists of the three sections listed here.


LISTENING COMPREHENSION
This section of the TOEFL test your ability to understand spoken American English. You will hear
taped conversations to which you will make responses. Part A and B contain samples of informal
American English. Idiomatic expressions and two-word verbs are common in these parts.
Single Statement
In Part A you will hear a single statement made by a man or a woman. In your test booklet, there
are four sentences. You must choose the sentence that is closest in meaning to the one you heard.

YOU WILL HEAR:
To get to the post office, cross the street, go three blocks, and you'll see it right on the corner.

YOU WILL SEE:
(A) The post office is right on the corner.
(B) The post office is at the next corner.
© The post office has a cross near it.
(D) The post office is three blocks away.
The correct choice is, which most closely gives the same meaning as the sentence you heard. It is
important for you to know that if similar sounding words or the same words appear in an answer
choice, that answer choice is seldom correct.
Short Dialogs
Part B contains short dialogs followed by a question about what the people said in their
conversation. Generally, key information is found in the second speaker's sentence. You will need
to understand the meaning of the conversation and also the context , such as the time or place in
which it could occur. The correct choice directly answers the question.


SECTION 2: STRUCTURE AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION
This section contains two types of questions, both designed to test your ability to recognize correct
style and grammar in written English. The sentences are academic; ones that you typically find in
college level texts, journals, and encyclopedias. The sentence topics include the social sciences,
physical and life sciences, and the humanities.


SECTION 3: VOCABULARY AND READING COMPREHENSION
Good reading skills and an ample vocabulary are keys to doing well on all sections of the TOEFL.
This section of the TOEFL specifically test these skills. Many TOEFL test takers complain that they
do not have enough time to carefully answer all questions in this section. It is very important that
you follow the instructions in this book so that you will use all the allotted time to your advantage.

Vocabulary
The first questions on this section will test your English vocabulary. There are 30 academic
sentences, each containing an underlined word. You must choose the word that has the same
meaning from among the four choices. Here's an example.