How to beat TOEFL

 After finishing all the crazy standard tests for my graduate school application, I realized that how takes these tests can drive people insane. Having these tests were never an easy tea party, it ain't eating as piece of cake. But keep this faith in mind (and maybe print it on your T-shirt): What doesn't kill you simply makes you stronger.

Step 1. Why you take TOEFL

There are a lot of good reasons to take TOEFL: exchange, graduate school,  jobs...etc.
Most of the exchange programs only require 79/120 TOEFL scores, it differs from school to school.
Before rush into conclusion and set an up-to the ceiling high target score, be realistic and look for class profiles of the program you want to apply.

Okay, here's an example. You can see that their average TOEFL score is 106, then you can start to plan on what scores you need to get.
Don't push yourself too much and aim for too high.
Or otherwise you might break your heart, ouch.

Step 2. How much time left for your TOEFL test

If you only get 3 months to prepare your TOEFL test (in my case, sadly 10 days), you can jump to Step 4 now. If you get more than 6 months, that's more adequate. 

TOEFL tests your language skills, and language needs practice. And practice makes perfect. 

We all master Chinese by speaking Chinese literally every day, so do you need to master English. 

Remember, no matter how much time you have, practice English every day. The drop of rain makes a hole in the stone not by violence, but by falling :) 

Step 3. Lay your foundation 

For those who have much times left for TOEFL, you need to make yourself feel comfortable to use English 

I did not spend a lot of time on TOEFL, but thanks to my amazing English teacher, Ms. Huang, and her solid course in LSRR (Listening, Speaking, Reading, wRiting) (oh, and also my mom who kindly paid the bills), it laid a pretty solid foundation for me to begin with.
Here are some tips I get from my teacher, you may use it to practice English as well

Listening

Before you dive into all those lengthy English news or podcasts, start from some lighter ones. 

Pop Song!

Photo Resource: http://yanyansong.com/tag/song-pop

I strongly recommend that you start from old songs, instead of those fuzzy, glitzy electro-rap music. Don't get me wrong. I love LMFAO, and love dance with Party Rock Anthem but still, it's not an easy one for beginner.

Yup, too hard. 

Start from Taylor Swift's country songs, they are beautiful, sad, and easy to understand. You can easily relate to her. 

And Passenger (who makes his fame by Let her go, it always makes cry, and I am stupid enough to get an album even though I can listen to all his songs on Spotify.....)

And if you are a broadway fan like me, you can also try musical.

Musicals have story, duet (which is really close to conversations) and most of the time, they are really touching. 

Try les miserables (don't tell me you never heard of I dreamed a Dream. The link I put is Susan Boyle's version, her voice is powerful, and you can see how Susan Boyle must have tasted those bitter feelings for her appearance, and that's what gave her the ability to sing a song that is about unfulfilled dream. God she got me into tears every time watching this clip.) 

And Wicked, Defying Gravity, I am not that Girl, all touching and soothing.   

Grab a piece of blank paper and see how many words you can understand from their songs. It's fun and easy to do. In my old LSRR days back into high school, we listened 5 times to a song, and see what we got. 80% correct is good. And then you can move into the next level. 

News!

Well, I prefer BBC better but CNN is fine as well. I listen to BBC's radio for international news in 15 mins. And BBC also features some really good radio Drama. You don't have to stick to news but explore what actually stirs your interests. 

If you find CNN is a bit fast, and you do not have budget constraints, buy the CNN magazine. It has monthly pick news and audio CD, so that you can adjust the pace of the CD. 

I begin with life ABC back in elementary school and got my listening improve really quick. Listening to a magazine allows you to repeat. 

Speaking 

In TOEFL, you need to practice your speaking along with your listening; in reality, you also have to practice your speaking with listening especially you are in a conversation. 

But wait, people do not talk like CNN/BBC News reporter, or otherwise we sound like a snob. 

So here are something you can particularly use to practice your speaking skills. 

Drama/Episodes

I believe a lot of us do binge watching right now. We rewind those TV shows that grew up with us. An oldie like me fancy The Sex and The City, Friends. And you can learn slangs, idioms from these TV shows. They at certain degree reflected the time the character were in.
Gossip Girl was good, if you want to see new fashion.
2 Broke Girls is interesting and all bitchy and funny.
Big Bang Theory for you future engineer. You gotta know how book nerd can survive and get girls.
How I Met Your Mother I believe it has become the Friends of our generation. You can learn lousy pickup line such as "Have you met Ted' (BTW Neil Patrick Harris is HILARIOUS!)
If you do not know where to see these shows,
go to http://projectfree.tv/
I prefer Vodlocker and Movshare, they have better quality of the films
Learn how people talk and practice your listening as well

Shadow Reading

This is a method from my Shakespeare professor. You listen to a profession reading a play, and you listen to him/her and speak after him/her. By doing so, it trains your listening ability, and gives you chances to listen how a pro pronounce.
Generally in a TV-Show, the actors speak really fast, and you do not have enough time to listen carefully to their voice and pronounce. But in a play, they cannot do so, the actors also use their voice to convey their emotion.
You don't have to do shadow reading with Shakespeare. Audio books can have the same effect, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoAr_0r6kaY
The link is an audio book by the famous Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch, whose voice is said that can make someone pregnant and fall in love immediately. <- Of course a Joke

Other than that, if you have time, participate in an English Speaking club, such as Model United Nation, Toast Master, and English Debate Team. You can then learn how to organize your speech and gain the confidence you need to talk publicly.

Reading 

Stop reading the Taiwanese media. Knowing how bad KMT and DPP are cannot help you gain knowledge, not even a bit. Try from reading novels, such as Harry Potter. Don't laugh, it's well-written, funny, and touching. It's also not so hard to comprehend as well. 

If you are all for girly gossip, then try Meg Cabot, she's my favorite. Quirky, funny, and most important of all, understanding tone she addressed to what a woman faces as a teenage and as a woman. She's the one who wrote Princess Diaries. 

Photo Resource: http://indulgy.com/post/rl1lFtX0Q1/princess-diaries

Well, you might make a face like Mia did in the photo and say: "Shut up! Read an English novel! I don't even read Chinese novels!"
Then you may start from reading Thought Catalog, BuzzFeed
They are funny, short, information-orientated, but not so well-written. Get yourself comfortable reading English from short ones, and then move on to harder one like the Economist.

Writing

It's hard to practice English writing without a tutor. But you can still try to improve your writing skills by writing small pieces (such as journal), and increase your vocabularies from the readings you do. Try tomake sentence with a newly-learned word. From time to time you will have wonderful vocabulary. 

Although it only takes me a relatively short time to prepare for TOEFL, I have started to lay my solid foundation in English for more than 10 years. Practicing English without pressure is like eating a piece of pie. Once you enjoy eating pie, the day you start to prepare TOEFL would be like eating a piece of cake. 

Step 4. Start to Prepare TOEFL

Well, well, well, set up an account in TOEFL Official Website, and book your time of TOEFL test. 

Most of the people won't work unless they have the pressure running after them. 

Prepare Material? 

1. TPO (I would say that, it's a must. It's like the 模擬考 we took in high school) 

TPO

Start it from backward. The newer set of question is in later sequence of number, and it's closer to what you might face in a real test. 

2. ETS TOEFL Official Guide

TOEFL OG

An official material is what you are going to need. Don't mess up your mind with a lot of different set of books that said TOEFL vocab, TOEFL writing. As if you are going to finish it. 

Alright, alright, alright, even you are the A-list students who work your ass off, let's make it simple and stick to just one book, s'alright? Don't be so greedy and try to be a know-it-all by reading a lot of material. Try OG first. 

3. (Not necessary though) Barron's TOEFL 

Well, I got this one, and find it actually is harder than the real tests. It has detail study schedule and explanation, but remember if you don't have time to read another book, stick to OG and TPO. 

Then move on to your study plan. 

Everyone has weakness and strength. Try to do a TPO before your start to see what you are good at, and put more effort into your weakness. 

But remember, you need to practice listening and reading everyday. You can easily lose your listening skill without constant practice. 

Least but not last, 

be positive when you prepare, 

Never, ever give up without give it a try. 

Good Luck !