hello . i am new here and i kinda liked this forum .
i need to know one thing , i hope u will reply. i took toefl PBT exam a week back. Test was kinda easy but yet i am afraid i wll not pass it because i was out of time , and i left almost 16 reading questions.
i did well at listening and writing part .
if i will have to take the test again , i am supposed to take it just after the result will be announced as i do not have much time. is toefl ibt more tough than BPT?? bcoz in that case i will have to take IBT .
Plz i need a bit guidance.
TOEFL listening discussions: A conversation between a student and a registration clerk during registration week
Well, that depends. Apart from your English the tests check a couple of different skills. You’d have to prepare for the internet TOEFL. If your posts are a good indicator of your skills (which they might well not be) I’d say you’ll have some trouble with the iBT. Instead of multiple choice for grammar and vocab testing it relies on checking use of both in your own writing and speaking. You’ll have to know what words to use and how to use them rather than selecting the most likely example from a list. If you took the TOEFL you should still be registered at the ETS site (Don’t know, it might expire after your test date.) If that is so, take a look at the test material there and see how you do with it.
You might want to improve your skimming skills
bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/r … ndex.shtml
will give you an introduction. They also have an online test you might want to check out. Neither in the paper based nor the iBT TOEFL will you have time to read through the texts. (At least I haven’t encountered a student yet, who could.) The thing to do is to skim the text and take notes on each paragraph (What is it about, what main idea does the author present, is it for or against s.th.) Reading the first and last sentences and a bit in-between should do for that. Then you should be able to narrow down where to look for the answers to questions. (If not highlighted anyway.)
In case you have one area that you are weak in, iBT is not a forgiving test. You need reading and listening skills to do well in the Speaking and Writing parts, because you’ll be asked to speak/write about material that you listened to and read.
Most of my students have trouble with the timer that counts down on you. They get all flustered and forget everything. If you are prone to nerves or are easily distracted in a noisy room (lots of people speaking simultaneously during the speaking tasks) you may be better of with the paper based TOEFL. Get a stopwatch and listen to a podcast,(sciam.com/) and summarize what you listened to in 60 sec. If you are comfortable with doing that and think you produce good results, the iBT is for you. (Record your response or have a buddy or native speaker check you).
iBT will be better for you, if you are used to typing instead of handwriting. You’d be able to cut and paste text during the writing sections. For the paper based TOEFL you really have to be able to write a pretty good first copy. In iBT it is possible to start from chaos and move to order. (Though not recommended practice. It takes skill to move text and make it fit in a different location.)
In the PBT you can work more freely on the questions. You can go back and forth or start from the end and work towards the beginning. The iBT speaking section will strictly hold you to their intended order and in the other sections anything but straightforward A to Z will cost you too much time.
I hope this will give you enough information to make your choice a bit easier. The best advice I can give you is to work on your skills and weak areas before registering for another test, no matter what format.
Hope this helps,
Lisa