Is the TOEFL exam hard?

All international students coming from countries where English is not an official language need to show proof of their level of English. Therefore, it is normal to wonder if this exam is hard.

The difficulty of the TOEFL exam depends of the person, as it measures your English level. There are students out there who have a very good English level and the exam seems easy to them. On the other hand, many students who don’t have a high English level believe this exam may be a little complicated and they need more preparation to get a good TOEFL score.

If you are one of those who need some more preparation in order to obtain the desired result, no worries, if you do what you gotta do you will achieve it. Next, I’m going to explain you what the TOEFL exam is, and a few tips that will help you to get a better score on the test.

 

 

 

The TOEFL Exam

 

The TOEFL Test is the English proficiency test required by most American universities for the admission process, so knowing your possible score on this test will be key.

The TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is an English-language test that measures the ability of the English language at the university level of non-native speakers. The test helps demonstrate if the student has the level of English needed to attend classes at US universities. During the exam, you will read a piece from a textbook, listen to a lecture, and respond or write a response, as if you were in a class. Most of the test is composed of questions based in situations that are likely to be found on a university. More than 10,000 academic institutions worldwide approved and recognised this exam.

The exam takes approximately 4 hours and it is composed of four sections: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

 

Section	Time in Minutes	Number of Questions
Listening	60-90	34-51
Speaking	20	6
Reading	60-80	36-56
Writing	50	2

 

The TOEFL exam is offered worldwide, and the student is able to choose from 50 different dates to take it. This is great, since you have a lot of flexibility to do it.

This is great for you, because you will be able to repeat the exam as many times you want to until you achieve the score you need. I can tell you that the first time you take the TOEFL exam seems a difficult, but like everything, the experience is a teacher. Therefore, I recommend you take the exam at least two times. The improvement will be noticeable.

Now, there are two types of TOEFL exams: the TOEFL internet-based test (iBT) and the TOEFL Paper-based test (PBT). These days, the iBT exam is the most popular. If you take the TOEFL iBT exam you will be able to see your scores 10 days after you take the test. The printed score reports will be sent to you after approximately 13 days, but you have to add the days it will take to be delivered to you. If you live in the United States, this would take 7 to 10 days. If you live in a country other than the U.S. it will take even more time, depends of your location.

 

 

How to improve the TOEFL score

Familiarize with the exam and its sections

Dedicate some time to comprehend each of the sections, it will help you a lot since you will save time when taking the exam. If you are capable to skip the instructions because you already know them, you will have more time then to think about the questions.

 

Practice with the computer

As I stated before, these days it is very likely that you will do the TOEFL iBT, which means that you will do the exam on a computer. Imagine the time you will save and the anxiety you will avoid if you manage the keyboard efficiently!

 

Listen to everything in English

I highly recommend you start listening everything in English. If you like watching movies, TV shows, or podcasts, you should start watching them in English. You will improve a lot your English, specially your listening skills.

 

Use the ETS resources

The Educational Testing Service (ETS) is the organization that manages the TOEFL exam and it provides a lot of documents and resources to help students to prepare the exam.

 

Practice with TOEFL courses

There are many online courses out there that you can do in order to get ready for the exam. As a matter of fact, I’m going to suggest you take a course I did once I was a student. If you want to prepare the TOEFL exam you should click here and do the course. It worked for me.

 

 

If you would like to take test, you can get information by clicking on this link and selecting the country where you want to take the test. Also, if you want to study at an American University you should register in our platform. Mooxye will help and guide you on your way to college, remember to create a profile and keep it updated. Good luck!!