Daily Guidance #4

Daily Guidance #4 

A Look Inside The TOEFL Test 

Here's an overview of what to expect on the test. The TOEFL Test has four sections, Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing. All four sections are completed in one testing session which takes about four hours.

·       Reading section

The Reading section has three or four passages of about 700 words each. For each passage, you will answer 12 to 14 multiple choice questions. You will have 60 to 80 minutes to complete the Reading section. And during that time, you can return to previous questions to review or change your answers.

·      Listening section.

For this section, you will wear a headset to hear the conversations and lectures. There are two or three conversations. Each is about three minutes long and has five multiple choice questions. There are four or six lectures, each of those about three to five minutes long and has six multiple choice questions. In the Listening section, you will only hear the conversations and lectures one time. Also you must answer the questions in the order that they are presented. In this section, you can't go back to previous questions. You will have 60 to 90 minutes to complete the section. You probably notice that in the Reading and Listening sections, the testing time and number of questions can vary. That is because every test includes some extra questions that are being evaluated by ETS for use in future tests and do not count toward your score. So, your test will either have extra Reading questions or extra Listening questions, but never both. And you won't know which questions are the extra ones so make sure you do your best on all of them. After the Listening section, there is a required 10-minute break. So use the time to have some water or a snack and refresh yourself for the rest of the test.

·    Speaking section

The speaking section has six tasks and takes about 20 minutes to complete. Some tasks require you to listen to part of a conversation or lecture, so you will continue to use your headset. Some also require you to read a short passage. For each task, you will be asked a question and will be given a short time to prepare your response. Then, you will speak into the microphone on your headset for 45 to 60 seconds, depending on the question.

·       Writing section,

You will complete two writing tasks in 50 minutes by typing your responses into the computer. In the first task, you will read a passage and listen to a short lecture, then write your response. You will have 20 minutes to write your response. In the second task, you will be asked your opinion on an issue and you will have 30 minutes to write your response. 

References: 

TOEFL Format. (2017, January 12). Retrieved from https://magoosh.com/toefl/2013/toefl-format/