Question:

“Should I Study Vocabulary For The TOEFL Exam?”

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Answer:

“Yeah, Sure…  Maybe…  But, No…  Not Really”

Allow me to explain.  Sure!  You CAN Study Vocabulary For The TOEFL Exam.  It certainly won’t hurt your score.  That is, of course, unless you spend ALL or MOST of your time studying vocabulary — and you do not spend any time actually learning about How To Answer Every Question & Fulfill Every Task On The TOEFL iBT Exam (which is exactly how you SHOULD be spending your time).
And — if your range of vocabulary is not already high enough to be taking The TOEFL Exam — then you need to raise your level of English Skills BEFORE you think about registering for the exam.  In other words — Studying Vocabulary For The TOEFL Exam is A LONG-Term Preparation TacticNOT something you should be doing if you only have a few months (or less) to prepare.

Next Question:

“So When SHOULD I Study Vocabulary For The TOEFL?”

Studying Vocabulary is something that will benefit you if you are thinking about taking The TOEFL Exam sometime in the next year or two.  In that case, your learning of new vocabulary will improve your overall English skills — which will help you on The TOEFL Exam.  It will also give you the time necessary for the addition of any new vocabulary to become part of your natural “Lexicon” (the collection of words that you commonly use.)

The reason that this is important is because — if you try to use words which you are not familiar with in your Speaking or Writing responses in The TOEFL Exam — it will most-likely show in the way that you use them, which could result in receiving a lower score than if you simply used words that you know.  I promise you that the judges who score your responses are not going to be impressed by “big words”.

Next Question:

“So What Vocabulary Should I Study?”

That’s a very good question!  And the answer that you REALLY NEED TO KNOW ISNONE OF THE VOCABULARY THAT OTHER TEACHERS ARE TEACHING IN BOOKS & VIDEOS ON THE SUBJECT OF “TOEFL Vocabulary”.  It is all a complete waste or your time and energy!

Other teachers will tell you that you should learn words about:  Geology, Biology, History, Art, etc..  NONE of the words that you would study by following those teachers’ advice will — IN ANY WAY — help you on The TOEFL Exam!  You may expand your general vocabulary — but knowing those words, and trying to USE those words will NOT increase your overall TOEFL Score!

The ONLY words that you absolutely NEED to know is what I call “Functional Vocabulary”.  This is Vocabulary That Will Be Used Within The Instructions, And In The *Question-Stems On The TOEFL Exam.

  —  The “Question-Stem” is the actual “Question” part — (NOT the “Answer-Choices”).  So, even though we refer to both together as the “Question” — the “Question-Stem” is just the part that is asking the actual question.  😉

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“Any other words that may end up in The TOEFL Exam as part of a Reading Passage or Audio File will be defined in the context, or will be used in such a way that — if you are actually ready for University — you should be able to figure-out.  (Or it will be of a level that you should already know it.)
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And THAT is what The TOEFL Exam is designed to do…  To figure out if your English comprehension and intelligence level is high-enough to enter university.

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Furthermore…

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“There is NO
‘Vocabulary Section’ in The TOEFL Exam.  There are ‘Vocabulary Questions’ — but only in The Reading Section.  And ALL Vocabulary Words will either be defined IN the Reading Passage — or the meaning can be deduced through the context of the Reading Passage
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(Or — they will be words that you should already know.)   😎

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So Why Are There So Many Books & Videos

About “TOEFL Vocabulary”?

That’s another very good question!  And the answer is:  Because Most Teachers Are Lazy And Are Not Good At What They Do.  But even the one who ARE actually trying to help you, are not thinking about this from the view-point of what YOU need, as the “Test-Taker”.

They are thinking about the situation from the view-point of a Teacher.  And because of that — they are treating the preparation of The TOEFL Exam the same as they would a “normal” English class.  But the two should be handled VERY differently!

Ateacher is supposed to actually TEACH!  But most teachers do nothing more than filling-up their class-time with content.  So most teachers are focused on providing “QUANTITY”, rather than “QUALITY” of content.  And the easiest way for them to do that is to provide you with…  wait for it…  Vocabulary.

The idea is:  The more information they give you — the better they THINK that they are doing at their job.  And they just hope that — if they provide enough information — that perhaps, somehow, be enough for you to succeed.  But if you don’t succeed — It does not really affect their job, so most of them do not care.  (See This Article for more on that point.)

But YOUR perspective as “The Test-Taker” is that You Need To Achieve A Certain Score or better.  That is YOUR goal.  So simply obtaining a massive amount of information that is NOT going to help you achieve that score is a complete waste of your time — your energy — and very-often…  Your Money.

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Notice!
  —  As for the part about me saying that most teachers are lazy and/or not good at their job…  This is because teaching Vocabulary is literally the easiest thing that a teacher can do.  And it is also something that fills-up a lot of time in a class.
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So…  Even though you are paying for that class-time — they are filling it with things that make their job easier, and completely wastes YOUR time and money!  If you HAVE the time to expand your vocabulary — that’s great!  But if you are on limited time (like most people) — you need to be focused on the things that are going to Actually Increase Your Total TOEFL Score!  😎
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“But If The Reading Passages & Lectures Are About Various Subjects…

Don’t I Need To Learn Those Subjects?”

Another brilliant question!  And this is another area where — even though I’m SURE that the other teachers who may tell you that you need to do this are trying to help you — and that they even think that they ARE helping you — they are not using logic in their reasoning for telling you this.

To Prepare For The TOEFL Exam — you need to maximize your time & efforts.  Those other books & videos have a HUGE amount of vocabulary from lots of different topics — and there is an INCREDIBLY slim chance that ANY of it will be on YOUR exam.  AND — there is an amazingly GOOD chance that absolutely NONE of it will be helpful — in any way, at all.

And here is the part where all those other teachers get the logic completely wrong…  You Are NOT Being Tested On Your Knowledge Of Those Topics!!!  You Are Being Tested On Your Ability To Comprehend What You Read And What You Hear People Discuss ABOUT Those Topics!  Nobody studies those topics BEFORE they go to university!  They go to university SO THAT they can study those topics!!!

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Iknow…  It is Mind-Blowing just how simple & logical that is.  It’s almost like I know what I’m talking about!  😆  And yet — other teachers in Traditional TOEFL Courses keep telling you that you should waste your time by doing what will NOT help you achieve the score you need.  And they completely ignore all of the most important information that you actually NEED to know to “Achieve Excellence On The TOEFL Exam”.

“So What Should I Be Focusing On
Instead Of Learning Vocabulary For The TOEFL?”

Wow!  You are just filled with excellent questions!  So I’ll give you an excellent answer.  😉  Your time is BEST spent, learning How To Answer Every Question & Fulfill Every Task On The Exam.  Not on the accumulation of abstract skills & random information that may or may not help you.

This means learning every TYPE of Question & Task on exam.  How to identify themWhat they are asking forWhat Tricks & Traps you may come across with each of these Question- & Task-Types; and the Master Skills Necessary to Dominate Every Single One Of Them!

And the only way to do that is with a PROPER course — created by an EXPERT on the subject — who is approaching the task of preparing you for The TOEFL Exam from YOUR perspective — and with YOUR goal in-mind.  The goal of making sure that you absolutely Achieve The HIGHEST POSSIBLE SCORE On The TOEFL Exam!

Bonus Awesome!  —  You can do exactly that — with Me — using The TOEFL Excellence Training System.  I have been specializing on The TOEFL Exam for 12 years, now.  And no other person or organization in the world has provided more information about The TOEFL Exam (on a daily basis) — to people all around the world — than I have.  So…
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Let Me Help YOU To Achieve Excellence On The TOEFL iBT Exam

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I’ll See You In Class!

Have An Excellent Day!

😉

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