My student finally gets TOEFL speaking 26. It was not easy. However, with a bit of luck and a lot of practice and feedback from his TOEFL speaking mentor, he reached his TOEFL dream score of 26.
Student Gets TOEFL speaking 26
Renzo aspired to become a medical doctor. However, he needed a high score of 26 on the TOEFL speaking section. Then he could clear his medical credential so that he could start practicing medicine. When he first sent me his pronunciation pre-test and his first speaking practice test, I noticed the following:
- Limitations with grammar and vocabulary
- Problems articulating some vowel and consonant sounds
- Pacing, tone, and blending issues
- Insufficient or inappropriate details
How did this student overcome these speaking difficulties?
Most importantly, the student had a short Zoom meeting with his TOEFL mentor. During the meeting, the student shared his target score and subtotal scores. It was not easy, but this student began completing speaking practice tests. After each practice test, the student reviewed specific TOEFL lessons based on his delivery, language use, and topic development problems. In short, this student did the following:
- Met with a TOEFL mentor via Zoom for a few minutes to discuss his TOEFL goals
- Completed dozens and dozens of speaking and writing practice tests
- Got 4-8 minutes of audio and video feedback from his TOEFL mentor after the completion of every practice test
- Reviewed specific vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, listening, reading, speaking, and writing lessons
Watch a video in which the student shares his TOEFL success story with his speaking mentor.
It wasn’t easy, but this student eventually reached his TOEFL target score by getting 108/120. In addition, he scored 30, 28, 26, and 24 on the reading, listening, speaking, and writing sections of the exam. Thankfully, all his hard work paid off, particularly in reaching 26 and 24 points on the speaking and writing sections of the TOEFL exam. Enjoy the below video, which could be you if you choose to follow in his footsteps:
Michael Buckhoff, mbuckhoff@aol.com
TOEFL Speaking and Writing Feedback Service