Qualities of an Ideal TOEFL iBT Student
by Michael Buckhoff http://www.bettertoeflscores.com
Whether or not I remember a student years after having taught him/her or her depends
largely on what type of student she/he was. There are certain qualities that will make a
TOEFL iBT student stand out from the crowd. Morever, these same qualities help
students to get a high TOEFL iBT score in a relatively short period of time.
The Ideal TOEFL iBT Student
1. Has an effective
personal learner style of
positive learning strategies.
2. Has an active approach,
often involving note-taking, to learning reading,
speaking, listening, and
writing.
3. Has a tolerant and
outgoing approach to the
target language and
understanding with its speakers.
4. Has technical know-how about how to tackle a language.
5. Has strategies of
experimentation and
planning with the
object of developing the new
language into an
ordered system and revising
this system progressively.
6. Is willing to practice
speaking and writing on a daily basis, even to the extent of writing 3-5 30 minute essays
each week.
7. Is consistently searching for meaning, especially in using the right word in speaking
and writing.
8. Is willing to use the language in real communication.
9. Has self-monitoring ability and critical sensitivity to language use, particularly in
regards to pronunciation. He/she regularly does voice recordings to monitor speaking
and pronunciation proficiency.
10. Is able to develop the target language more and more as a separate reference system
and is able to learn to think in it. The student almost never uses a dictionary to
understand new words, but, if she/he uses one, it is an English-English dictionary.
Would I remember you 10 years from now?