When To Start Preparing For The TOEFL Exam
get contacted by a LOT of people who need to take The TOEFL Exam. And one of the biggest mistakes that they make is in thinking that they can just register and take the exam within a few days from when they contact me. Some even ask me if they can take the exam “tomorrow”. Unfortunately, it does not work that way. You need to plan ahead. And I mean MONTHS ahead — not days.
n a previous post — I told you about “The Most Important Thing You Need To Know About The TOEFL Exam”. In that post, I stated that the MOST important thing to know is The Format of the exam.
hat is true. And then the NEXT most important thing that you need to know is How To Answer Every Question & Fulfill Every Task On The TOEFL Exam — (which you will learn in the courses & lessons in The TOEFL Excellence Training System).
owever — a lot of people who contact me, are more concerned about registering for the exam, than they are about actually preparing for it! They don’t know anything about the exam — other than that it is a requirement for University or a scholarship — and so it seems that they treat it like going to get a blood test. In other words — they think that they don’t need to do anything other than show up!
“Hello. One TOEFL Please!”
(ummm… It doesn’t work that way)
Question…
“How Much Time Do I Need
To Prepare For The TOEFL Exam?”
Answer…
It Depends…
s I stted befoe — when most people think about “Preparing” for The TOEFL Exam — they are ONLY thinking about how long it will take to learn How To Answer Every Question & Fulfill Every Task On The TOEFL iBT Exam.
nd unfortunately — they do not want to hear the truth. That there is FAR more to “Preparing” for The TOEFL Exam than simply learning some quick & easy tips to ensure that they sail-on through the exam like there’s nothin’ to it. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth!
“Hey Look Everybody! I’m TOEFLing! OOOFFF!!!”
uick Tips & Random Advice is NOT how The TOEFL works. And what’s worse is that there are people who have HUGE followings on YouTube that make videos with titles like: “Learn The Entire TOEFL Reading Section In One Hour”, “Learn The TOEFL In One Weekend”, “How I Got A Perfect Score On The TOEFL In 2 Weeks!”. But these people are putting a false perception of the TOEFL into people’s minds.
hey are giving people the wrong idea about what it actually takes to prepare for The TOEFL Exam. You can NOT Realistically learn the entire Reading Section in 1 Hour!!! And you can Not Realistically Learn The Entire TOEFL Exam In One Weekend — or even 1 WEEK!
ou CAN watch a 1-hour long Youtube video that TALKS about the Reading Section. But that won’t actually prepare you for it. And a video that covers everything that you need to know about The TOEFL Exam would probably LAST from Friday night until Monday morning — non-stop.
ut do you REALLY think that you would be ready to go after a 36 hour non-stop YouTube TOEFL Marathon? (You could say “yes”, but you would be lying to yourself. Besides — most TOEFL courses that cover the entire TOEFL Exam are at LEAST 200 hours or more. And they do not even talk about all the other things that you need to know about the TOEFL Process!)
“Just A Few More Hours Of TOEFL!!! I Almost Got It!!!”
inally — the people talking about getting a perfect score on The TOEFL Exam do not mention that they have actually taken the exam MANY different times before they got that score. And some of them are actually English Professionals! So they are giving you a false perception of what to expect! It is no different than when companies use fitness models to sell some piece of exercise equipment — but do not mention that it took years of training for those people to obtain that body… Using COMPLETELY DIFFERENT EQUIPMENT!!!… (And those people probably do not even USE the product they are selling!)ut the MAIN problem with all of these scam videos — is that NONE of these people EVER talk about The Entire TOEFL Process — and how it usually takes MONTHS to FULLY Prepare. “Wait. What???!!! No One Ever Told Me About The TOEFL Process Before!!!”… (I Know! Click The Link To Finally Find Out)Those Videos Are A SCAM!!!
ow, you might say — that it’s not actually a “scam” because they are not actually SELLING anything! Yes… They are! Almost every one of those people has a course or a product to sell. It may only be mentioned in the video description — but even if they do not try to sell you a product — they have already scammed you out of your TIME. And they have warped your perception of The TOEFL Exam and what it takes to succeed!
hey use “Click-Bait” titles to get you to “Buy In” to their idea for long enough that you watch their entire video. And then YouTube pays them for the time that everyone watches that video. So yes… It Is A Scam!
It Takes MONTHS To FULLY & Properly Prepare For The TOEFL Exam
his includes all of the things that you need to do BEFORE you even schedule your exam (the things that, so far, only ONE person is actually talking about!) And it also includes the MONTHS of time that you need to prepare for AFTER you have taken your exam and are waiting for your scores to be delivered. (And that is the part of The TOEFL Process where almost everyone fails!)“Okay… You’ve Got My Attention.”
lot of people make the mistake of thinking that The TOEFL Exam is just another English Proficiency or College Entrance exam that is just like all the rest. (Some people even ask me if there will be any math on The TOEFL Exam!) So, because they may have done well on other such exams — they assume that they do not need to Prepare For The TOEFL Exam.
This Could Not Be Farther From The Truth! 😐
ost English proficiency exams — such as the FCE & CAE — test for the skills that a person ALREADY possesses. And although The TOEFL iBT Exam DOES take that into account — this is not actually the main focus of The TOEFL Exam.
he main focus of The TOEFL Exam is to test whether or not you will be able to function in an English-Speaking environment like that which you would experience in a university setting. It does this by testing that you are able to effectively…
1) Learn New Material In English
2) Answer Questions About That Material
3) Report About Certain Topics In The Spoken & Written Forms
Therefore…
f you are intending on taking The TOEFL Exam — then you need to: First — Get Acquainted With The Contents Of The Exam. And, Second — Learn How To Answer & Fulfill All Of The Questions & Tasks On The TOEFL iBT Exam. But all of this is going to take time.
ut that’s not all you need time for! There are also a lot of other things that you need — other than learning ABOUT the exam. You need to know and have things Like:
-
- Knowing The Location Of The Testing-Center
-
- Knowing What The Available Dates Are
-
- Making Sure That You Have All Of The Essential Preliminaries Necessary To Take The TOEFL Exam
(not only the skills, but things like: a Passport, enough Money, the ability to Travel to the testing center, etc.)
- Making Sure That You Have All Of The Essential Preliminaries Necessary To Take The TOEFL Exam
-
- Making Sure That You Have Enough Time BEFORE Your Deadline To Both Prepare, AND For Your Scores To Be Received In Time
md none of the other TOEFL Courses, anywhere in the world — on-line or in a language school — give you that information. In fact — even the MAKERS of The TOEFL Exam do not provide you with all of that information. (And what they DO provide, they make VERY difficult to find.) But I provide that to you. Alone with this article you are reading now — ALL of it is as part of The TOEFL Excellence Training System.
f you have learned all of the information and gotten all the things listed above — and you have fully read all the information that I have provided for you in these articles and the emails that I send to you — Then learning How To Answer Every Question & Fulfill Every Task On The TOEFL iBT Exam may not require as much time. But you won’t know that until you already begin your preparation.
And So…
You Should Have AT LEAST Three Months To Prepare BEFORE You Take Your Exam
It Should Also Be Noted! — the general time of “three months” does not take into account your specific: Needs, Strengths, & Weaknesses — or what your required score is for the exam. Some people need less time to prepare — some people need more. However — after tutoring A LOT of students of all different skill-levels, for over ten years — it is almost always true that — in the best-case scenario — you will need at least 5 weeks just to learn everything you need to know about all of the Questions & Tasks on The Exam. And this is doing it in a REALISTIC way, with no stress — so you won’t get burnt-out before you even finish preparing. Trying to do it in less time almost always results in failure. 😐
Additionally…
nother HUGE mistake that people make is scheduling their TOEFL Exam a few days or a couple weeks before they need to have their scores submitted. Then they find out that their scores will NOT be ready in-time, because they neglected to consider that IT TAKES TIME FOR YOUR SCORES TO BE CALCULATED… and then… IT TAKES EVEN MORE TIME TO MAIL THOSE SCORES TO THE UNIVERSITY OR ORGANIZATION THAT YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO RECEIVE YOUR TOEFL SCORES!!!
hat’s right! Your scores are NOT available immediately after the exam! And contrary to what many people falsely believe — Your Scores Are NOT Mailed To YOU! They are mailed directly to the university or organization that you specify when you register for the exam. If you do not specify this when registering — then it will take EVEN MORE time.
This Is Why…
You Need To Have AT LEAST 3 Additional Months
AFTER Your Exam, For Your Scores To Be Delivered
ith all the chaos that The World has been experiencing over the last few years, this should be obvious. But even before all the chaos started — people all around the world knew that — in some places — the mail is VERY un-reliable. And even in places where the mail delivery IS supposedly reliable — there can still be delays. (Especially when it is really important for the mail to get through on time!)he organization that created and administers the exam (ETS) states of their websites that your scores will be mailed out after 10-12 Business days. (That’s 2-3 WEEKS). But this does NOT mean that you will HAVE them in 2-3 weeks! If the scores take 2 months to be delivered because they were lost, or got stuck at customs — then there is really nothing that you or anyone else can do about it. Once they have mailed them out — ETS no longer accepts any responsibility for the delivery of your scores. And there is no way to prove if the scores were actually mailed out on time.
ow when the postal services are working properly — then the mail should only take between 10 days to 2 weeks to be delivered — anywhere in the world. (This, in addition to the 2-3 weeks that it takes them to even send them out.) So that is still 1 Month After You Take The Exam! But that is not what you should be relying on — and certainly not PLANNING on.
ecause even the information on the ETS website is contradictory. When you are registering for your exam it states that you should allow 2 months for your scores to be delivered. But they do not mention the processing time on that page. So if you don’t factor that in (because they didn’t mention it) Well… Then you’re screwed. 😡
ut what’s more — on ANOTHER page (which is not very easy to find) — it states that for international mail delivery — you should add an additional 4-6 weeks. So if you add that to the 2-3 weeks it takes for your scores to even be mailed out… That is OVER 2 months! Not to mention that they are suggesting that you schedule your exam At The VERY LAST MINUTE! So if there are ANY problems along the way…
Question…
What If I Don’t Have That Much Time?
Answer…
Realistically: You May Just Have To Wait Until The Next Available Submission Period.
(And hopefully you will make good use of that extra time).
Potentially: It COULD Be Possible To Do It All In Less Time. If You Already Have EVERYTHING You Need, And Are Fully Prepared For The Entire Process.
(But you still need At LEAST 3 Months After Your Exam For Scores To Be Delivered… Just to be safe!)
The Smartest Way To Prepare For
The TOEFL Exam
fter you complete The TOEFL Exam — your scores are valid for 2 Years. Most people take The TOEFL Exam for university (or a scholarship to get IN to a university). Most people who go to university, stay there for MORE than 2 years. So even though your scores are VALID for 2 years — you will almost certainly NOT even USE them again — after you are accepted for the university or scholarship.
herefore — you should start preparing for The TOEFL Exam as close as possible to 1 year ahead of time. That’s right!… 1 year. That way, you will have PLENTY of time to Properly Prepare. While — at the same time — ensuring that you get ALL of the necessary information and other things you need — without having to stress about any deadlines.
hen — you should actually TAKE the exam AS SOON AS YOU ARE READY. But the LATEST that you should be taking the exam is 6 Months Before Any Deadline You May Have. In this way — not only will you be able to do The Entire TOEFL Process with no stress about deadlines — but if there is some sort of problem — like a cancellation, or problems with the equipment at the testing center — or even that you did not get the score you needed, and you need to re-take the exam… Then you will have PLENTY of time to do all of that, without the stress of a deadline. 😎
Let’s Summarize…
1: You Should Have AT LEAST 3 Months To Prepare BEFORE Taking The TOEFL Exam
(Because, now you know that there is a lot more to preparing than just Taking A TOEFL Preparation Course.).
2: You Should Have AT LEAST 3 Additional Months AFTER Taking The Exam, For Scores To Be Delivered
(And even THAT is still cutting it very close.).
3: If You Are Smart — You Should Be Starting The Whole Process As Close As Possible To 1 YEAR BEFORE You Even Need To Submit Scores Anywhere
(Because then you will be “Doing The TOEFL” like a Champion!)
f these things are not possible for you — but you are still determined to do The TOEFL Exam — then send me a message and let me know your situation. I will let you know if it is even possible for you.
f you are able to meet the conditions for even being able to do The TOEFL Exam — properly — then you will still need to know How To Answer Every Question And Fulfill Every Task On The TOEFL iBT Exam. Otherwise — you will just be wasting your time & money.
if you have any other questions — feel free to send me a message. I am always happy to help in any way that I can. And I have been helping people “Achieve Excellence On The TOEFL iBT Exam” for over 12 years. So I’m sure that I can help you too!
And That’s That!
Have An Excellent Day!
😉
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very big thanks for all your advice about approaching the test
Hello Blanchard,
Thank you for the message. You are very welcome.
I’m glad that this is helpful. If there is anything else that I can do for you, please feel free to ask.
I am always happy to help when I am able.
Have An Excellent,
-C.
Thanks a million for your help
You are very welcome 🙂
Ya its a good suggestion thanks.i am on the way to take toifle exam and i decide to prepare the exam format and the like at list four month ahead. Finally what did you recommended to me to score good result?
Hello Mitiku,
Thanks for the comment.
As for your question – that is a very big question that would require a lot of explanation. But the simple answer is, practice, practice, practice. Find out what you can about the different question-types and learn exactly how to answer each one.
Good Luck!
Well, I hope that you did well, but I would never recommend taking the exam with only 10 days to prepare. The article above should have clearly expressed that.
That being said, I hope it wasn’t a waste of money.
Have An Excellent Day
Hello this indeed is very helpful!!!
I come from Africa and want to get into college next year hopfully, I don’t have a degree me so was adviced to go for the TOEFL exam, after reading this I plan to take the exam end September or early October. I will definatly practice daily, thank you for the insight very helpful.
Hello Carole,
You are very welcome, and thank you for your kind words; I’m glad that it helped.
Let me know if you ever have any questions, and good luck on the exam!
Have An Excellent Day
hey Teacher
I would like to know if someone can prepare for the TOEFL online and how?
Thank you:)
Hello Ange,
Thank you for the message. When you sent it we were still in the process of creating the way you asked about, but now you can prepare on-line here.
Let me know if you have any questions.
hi, I took an test IELTS exam and now I am wondering wether I should take the TOEFL instead ? What are the main differences ? I need some sort of certification of my lvelof English to teach it to groups of employees in the banking sector. I might also turn to secondary schools to by end of next year… I am fluent in English but I have never learnt the English grammar and so on. I am alos no too comforrtable with idioms and expressions when it comes to using them but I do understand them fairly well in a given context. What advice could you give me ?
Hello Jacqueline,
Thanks for the message.
First of all, I am not an authority on the IELTS exam. But it would be unusual to have to take both exams. As for the differences, there are a lot of videos on youtube about that. But the main one is that some Universities and organizations require the TOEFL, and others require the IELTS. But it is my suspicion that most organizations would except both. That is something that I can’t answer for sure though, as I am not affiliated with any school, organization, or government that requires either.
As for the other advice, just keep reading the blog posts here, and watching videos on YouTube. I think that any different of the “EngVid” videos are good. The teachers for those channels are really good at what they do. And hopefully we will have our own videos in the near future.
If you are looking to become a certified English Teacher, search for TEFL or CELTA certification courses. Those are the two main certifications.
I hope that this helps.
Have An Excellent Day!
Thank you for the information provided for TOEFL preparation. It 8s very informative.
Do TOEFL test vary for different fields of studies?
Hello Piteimo,
Thanks for your messages. I’m glad that the information was helpful. To answer your question – there is only one version of the TOEFL exam; it does not change for different fields. The focus is on general academia as it is designed to test if people will be able to function in an English-Speaking University situation.
The same organization also has another exam called the TOEIC which is basically the same exam but with the focus of business, rather than academia. However, that exam is not nearly as popular because fewer organizations require it.
Have An Excellent Day!
Thanks for such a helpful information.
You are very welcome.
Have An Excellent Day!
I NEED TO DO A TOELF EXAM IN LESS THAN AMONTH. I NEED THE COURSE TO GO THROUGH IT SOON OR ANY ADVICE FROM YOU. I CANNT READ YOUR WEBSITE VERY WELL THEIR IS SOMETHING COVERING THE CONTENT. CAN YOU COMMUNICATE BACK TO ME SOON, I WILL APPRECIATE IF IT POSSIBLE THROUGH MY EMAIL. ALL I NEED IS STUFF FROM YOU AND ELSE WHERE THAT CAN HELP ME GET THE 90 POINTS I NEED FOR MY ADMISSION
THANKS
Hello Jeremiah,
I’m guessing that the reason you are not able to read the content is that the courses on the website are paid courses.
If you have less than 1 month to prepare, then I suggest the “How To Answer…” course which is here:
https://toeflexcellence.givemesomeenglish.com/courses/how-to-answer-every-question-and-fulfill-every-task-on-the-toefl-ibt-exam/
Or at least the “TOEFL Format…” courses here:
https://toeflexcellence.givemesomeenglish.com/courses/the-format-of-the-toefl-ibt-exam/
Those courses should give you enough information to get the score that you need.
Good Luck!
Thank you so much it is very helpful
Hello Fella,
You are very welcome!
I’m glad it was helpful.
Have An Excellent Day