Wanting to increase her TOEFL score, Kanja started taking TOEFL lessons from a web site called http://www.bettertoeflscores.com. Although her primary focus was to increase her speaking score from 22 to 23 pts so that she could enter a graduate school of her choice, she was also interested in improving her overall academic English proficiency. After a month of working very hard, she took the TOEFL iBT, this time scoring 112/120.
Her reading score is 30/30, and she achieved that score by doing four things: reading extensively for 45 minutes a day for several months, completing vocabulary exercises and practice tests and downloading the audio files of all 1,700 TOEFL words, learning TOEFL iBT test-taking strategies for the reading section, and increasing her reading speed from 180 to 325 word per minute with 80% comprehension.
Kanja’s listening score is 29/30 and she improved her proficiency in this area by learning how to take notes, watching documentary and news type shows on TV for an extended period of time, learning the characteristics of natural speech, and completing 40 listening practice tests.
Kanja’s speaking score is 24/30 pts. She improved her speaking proficiency by completing pronunciation pre-tests and a post-test so that she could get feedback from a TOEFL specialist on how to improve vowel and consonant sound production, syllable division and grammatical word endings, word stress, sentence rhythm, intonation, thought groups and blending.
Finally, Kanja’s writing score is 29/30 and she improved in this area by completing independent and integrated writing lessons and completed 9 practice tests, including six independent and three integrated writing practice tests. After each practice test, she got feedback from a TOEFL specialist, including a score and recommended lessons to review to strengthen her weaknesses.
Her TOEFL teacher, Michael Buckhoff, of course, was very excited to learn that she had scored so high. The below You Tube Video is his reply to her E-mail that you will see underneath the video:
Hi Michael,
I took the Toefl on march 23rd, and I got Reading:30, Listening: 29, Speaking: 24 and Writing: 29. I’m amazed by my results!! I needed 23 in speaking for a masters admission, and in 1 month I raised 2 points in the speaking section. I must admit that I couldn’t follow exactly the directions you gave me, but I’m sure that I would have got a 26 if I had. Your guidance have been invaluable!!
Thank you very much for your help!! The results are really amazing!
Kanja
| This article was written by Michael Buckhoff–co-founder and materials writer for Better TOEFL Scores and The 7-Step System to Pass the TOEFL iBT, Composition and Linguistics Professor, TOEFL Specialist, ESL Master Instructor, and Placement and Testing Coordinator for California State University, San Bernardino.Follow more posts and videos from Michael at Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube. |