Holy smokes! Maria had no idea what the requirements were when she decided to become a nurse: taking exams, attending classes, having to carry books around until her back hurt, and getting her certifications to practice in the United States. There was a ton of stuff that she had to do before she could begin her dream job and start earning buckets of money. And then there were the TOEFL requirements. Since she needed to get a high score on the TOEFL iBT, Maria joined a TOEFL Course called “The 7-Step System to Pass the TOEFL iBT.” And while taking that course she knew that she had three hurdles to climb: she needed to improve her grammar proficiency, she needed to improve her vocabulary fluency, and she needed to learn to organize the integrated writing task more coherently.
First of all, since her first language was Tagalog from the Philippines, Maria had to get used to the new word order and structure of the English language; hence, she was diligent in completing the grammar lessons and practice exercises in her new TOEFL course. For example, while completing the grammar exercises, Maria learned why sentence variety was important during the TOEFL iBT speaking and writing tasks, and she learned how to vary her sentence structure by employing 5 stylistic techniques.
Second of all, her limited knowledge of vocabulary prevented her from fully expressing her ideas while she was speaking or writing. Having full knowledge of those deficiencies, Maria dedicated 90 minutes a day 5 days a week studying the vocabulary section of her TOEFL course. She learned more than 1,700 basic and advanced words as well as their synonym and antonym counterparts. Her overall English proficiency was changing for the better.
Third of all, she needed to begin her battle with learning how to organize the integrated writing task. There were so many things to think of: getting the main points of the reading and the lecture, explaining how the lecture related to the reading passage, and most importantly learning how to organize the writing task in a way that would help her to score high on the TOEFL iBT. To gain mastery of all these writing skills, Maria went full throttle into the integrated writing lessons, and she knew that she would need to begin taking the first of ten integrated writing practice tests, each time getting a score and recommended lessons from her TOEFL iBT writing mentor. It would be a tough hurdle for Maria to climb, but her sheer willpower and raw courage would ensure that she would learn what it took for her to solve these writing problems.
Finally, as Maria completed all the lessons in her new TOEFL course, she gained the academic English proficiency that she needed to score high on the TOEFL iBT.