Yun from Seoul, Korea had been searching for a TOEFL course for a few weeks. Eventually, he was at You Tube where he typed in “TOEFL speaking lessons” and came across a link to a web site titled Better TOEFL Scores, home of “The 7-Step System to Pass the TOEFL iBT.” He went to the web site, watched the promotional video, read the FAQ’s about the course, and then e-mailed Better TOEFL Scores founder Michael Buckhoff. It was not very long until Michael responded to his questions with a video, giving him a plan that would get him on track to meet his two-fold goal: 1) To score 80/120 so he could enter Stony Brook University and 2) eventually score 110/120 so that he would never have to prove his English proficiency to anyone ever again. EVER!
After subscribing to his new course to begin his studies, Yun received his password, username, and enrollment key. Using his log in information, he went to the home page, and there on the monitor were all the TOEFL lessons he needed to reach his goal. Then, he was so excited to know he had a plan that he sent Michael an E-mail, part of which said, “I think that your TOEFL course saved me from hell.” Now what exactly did he mean by that statement?
Yun had been living in Korea and did not have any contact with native-English TOEFL speakers because it was too expensive for him to take those classes. It would have cost him 1000’s of dollars that he needed to save so that he could pay his tuition to Stony Brook University. Now for only a few dollars a month he would have complete around-the-clock access to native-English speaker and TOEFL mentor Michael Buckhoff. Sure, he was getting taught in videos, but, what made it even better was the fact that Yun could submit pronunciation and independent and integrated speaking and writing tasks and have them scored by Michael within about 24 hours. Furthermore, Michael, a TOEFL instructor with more than 18 years of experience, is also a professor for the English Department at California State University, San Bernardino. Yun knew that he was in good hands with someone who was looking out for his academic English needs.
With high quality TOEFL lessons organized around vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, listening, reading, writing, and speaking, unwaivering confidence in Michael’s being able to guide him to his target scores, and being able to get written, audio, and video feedback on all his pronunciation, writing, and speaking practice tests, Yun felt that he was indeed saved from his definition of “hell.” Hell, according to Yun, would be have been not being able to find his new TOEFL course.
| 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. |