Often users, when looking for TOEFL lessons, E-mail me, “Michael, I need to pass the TOEFL iBT. I do not have much time.” They are in a big hurry and do not have much time to study English. But is this how you really learn a new language? There are three essential factors involved in learning a language: motivation, practice, and time.
First of all, you have be motivated to learn a new language if you are serious about increasing your TOEFL score. Without this factor, you will NOT be willing to put in the effort and time required to make progress. Advancing your English proficiency takes a consistent effort over a long period of time. Before beginning your TOEFL studies, ask yourself, “Why do I want to improve my academic English proficiency?”
Second of all, you need to practice a lot if you want to increase your TOEFL score. And that practice involves taking dozens of independent and integrated speaking and writing practice tests and getting feedback from an experienced TOEFL iBT specialist. You must also practice completing vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, listening, and reading lessons and practice tests until you feel like you can understand TOEFL level academic materials with little or no difficulty.
Finally, with the motivation and the practice, you will also need an extended period of time for your brain to begin to recognize the new language patterns that you are studying. Even with the very best online TOEFL services, you can only expect to improve your TOEFL score between 5-10 points per month. So, if you are patient and work hard at learning the language, you can expect to pass the TOEFL exam in as few as 3-4 months, that is of course, presupposing that you already have advanced English proficiency when you begin your TOEFL studies.
| 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. |