In case you are curious what a “Skills for English: SELT” Test Report Form looks like, here’s mine. A couple of points are worth mentioning:

  1. My results arrived in about 48 hours. Quick!
  2. While “Skills for English” is a pass/fail test for specific CEFR levels, the report indicates that I achieved B2 “with merit.” I suppose that the “with merit” indication is a way for high-performing test takers to show off a bit for score users. That’s a nice touch. I haven’t seen this documented anywhere.
  3. The mug shot is huge. I was photographed by the test center administrator himself, which I think is a feature of the SELT requirements.
  4. The report features the signature of Isabelle Gonthier, PhD, ICE-CCP, who hosts one of my favorite podcasts about this sort of thing. How nice!

I’ve also attached a screenshot of my blissfully simple and straightforward account page for this test.

You can also read my full report on this test.

Continuing along with the Norton Library Podcast, this month I read Jane Austen’s “Emma.”  You can find the podcast episodes on Youtube.  I haven’t read a huge amount of Austen’s work, but since I enjoy the whole “comedy of manners” genre, she has always been on my to-read list.  Interestingly, this story of the “idle rich” ties in nicely with a book I’ll write about next month (spoiler:  it’s “The Meritocracy Trap”).  Let me know if the comments if you’d rather be rich and busy or rich and carefree.

Meanwhile, I spent my time digging into TOEFL books.  Most importantly, I finished my examination of changes in the latest editions of the three official TOEFL books from ETS.  You can find my blog posts below:

As I’ve indicated on the blog a few times, I’m really happy with these new editions.  They have been updated to match the new version of the TOEFL, and great number of small errors and annoyances have been removed.  Buy them!

I also continued my exploration of all the random TOEFL stuff that pops up in places like Hoopla.  This month I read Jackie Bolan’s “TOEFL iBT Reading Practice.”  I posted the following review on my Goodreads page (follow me!):

Not a fan of this one. The cover says “TOEFL iBT Reading Practice” but the content is just general academic reading practice. The articles are superficially like what one would find in the TOEFL reading section, but the questions are not even close.

The cover says that this book might help one to “master the reading section of the TOEFL Exam.” While it is true that it might improve one’s academic reading skills in a general sense, mastery requires more accurate practice materials.

Following that, I read Daniel Smith’s “TOEFL Words Vocabulary Enhancer.”  My review went like this:

This book contains about 4000 words, each with a very short definition and sample sentence. There isn’t anything specific to the TOEFL here. There aren’t any practice TOEFL questions. This probably isn’t the best way to study vocabulary for the TOEFL, but I guess it could be used as a supplemental test prep source.

I also read Smith’s “TOEFL Grammar with Answer Key” and wrote:

Not recommended. The book is just 1300 multiple choice grammar and vocabulary questions. There is no categorization, no answer explanations and no lessons. Just a bunch of random questions.

There is nothing that connects this content to the TOEFL, except for the fact that improving your grammar will increase your writing score. But if your goal is to improve your grammar in a general way, it is better to reach for something like “English Grammar in Use” from Cambridge.

That’s all for this month.  I’ll be back in August with proper non-fiction and academic stuff.  Stay tuned.

 

 

Ten years ago today, Duolingo launched a project called “Test Center.” Shortly thereafter, “Test Center” morphed into the Duolingo English Test.  That test is now taken more than 800,000 times per year.  That’s quite an accomplishment.

Many people think of the DET as a fairly new product, but ten years is a long time. When I write about the legacy testing firms being technologically far behind their competition (Duolingo and Pearson, mostly) I mean that they are more than a decade behind.  It will not be easy to close that gap. It may be impossible.

Here’s a TechCrunch article from 2014 where the project was announced.  The message of 2014 is similar to the message of today – testing monopolies are bad for test takers and are prone to fraud.

The success of the DET is mostly due to the work of some very bright researchers, engineers and psychometricians (former ETS employees, in many cases).  But the single-mindedness of Duolingo co-founder Luis von Ahn seems to play a pretty big part.  That guy does not like the testing monopolies at all.

The DET is now a major player in the admissions process for American universities. The monopoly once enjoyed by ETS in that market has come to an end.  As recent reports have indicated, times are tough at ETS.

Currently, the folks at Duolingo are heavily promoting their test to students headed to the UK, Australia and Canada.  These efforts are partly why IDP Education recently announced that IELTS test volumes will decline by 15-20% in fiscal year 2024.

Earlier this year I helped a student prepare for the ALP Essay Exam. I couldn’t find much information about the test online, so I thought I would write a few notes here.  I might revise this post in the future, so stop by in the future for updates. If you need tutoring for the ALP Essay exam, you can contact me.

What is the ALP Essay Exam?

The ALP Essay Exam is used by Columbia University to assess the writing skills of students.  It is often used to determine if students have the language skills necessary to take classes at the university. It can also be used to determine if students should take supplementary writing classes (in addition to their regular schedule of classes). Test-takers have 105 minutes to write a standard (four or five paragraph) argumentative essay about a specific topic.  The essay must be based on the contents of two short academic articles.

You can read about it over here.

What Does the ALP Essay Exam Look Like?

You’ll get a question about a serious topic.  Don’t expect something basic and simple like the IELTS.  Instead, expect something that might actually be studied in a first-year university class.  You might get something about gentrification, affirmative action, the use of standardized testing… that sort of thing.  The question might look like this:

“Please read the two passages below.  The authors have differing opinions about the topic of gentrification in the United States. Which author do you agree with, and to what extent?  In your essay you should support your opinion, and challenge the opinions of the author you disagree with.  You have 105 minutes to complete your essay.”

The passages should be fairly short.  Maybe just a paragraph or two, excerpted from a longer article.  They will have opposing opinions on the same topic. The author of each one will be credited

If the topic is gentrification, they might look like this:

“One of the most significant benefits of gentrification is the improvement of housing. Ordinarily, housing presents enormous challenges in the management of urban centers. Therefore, gentrification seems to solve this challenge because it favors the improvement of housing within the gentrified community. In addition, it is believed to stabilize declining areas. In most cities, suburban areas are known to experience degradation leading to the emergence of slums. This phenomenon is caused by the increased strain on urban infrastructure and services. Therefore, gentrification addresses an array of urban management challenges by reducing suburban sprawl and strain on the existing infrastructure.

Another positive effect of gentrification is the increase in property values. As a result, property owners reap high income from real estate investment, and this serves as a means of attraction for potential businesses. It is also suggested that gentrification leads to a significant increase of local fiscal revenues. Moreover, gentrification has led to the rehabilitation of property with little state sponsorship. Therefore, an increase in property values and local fiscal revenues promote economic development of gentrified areas. Economic development is also enhanced by an increase in purchasing power in the centralized economy, although it is uneven.

It is also believed that gentrification leads to increased social mix and reduction in crime rates. This phenomenon has been evidenced in gentrified cities such as London, Atlanta and Washington, DC.

-Caroline Mutuku

and:

Gentrification usually leads to negative impacts such as forced displacement, a fostering of discriminatory behavior by people in power, and a focus on spaces that exclude low-income individuals and people of color.

During gentrification, poorer communities are commonly converted to high-end neighborhoods with expensive housing options such as high-rises and condominiums. As property prices increase, the original residents of the neighborhood are forced out in a variety of ways. First, with an increase in the prices of buildings, the gap between the price of the building and the income that the landlord gets from renting the building grows bigger; landlords thus increase rent prices, which forces out the low-income residents. As building prices continue to increase, the problem exacerbates because it becomes even more profitable to convert these apartment buildings into non-residential areas. Additionally, since investors can earn more money from selling buildings, real-estate dealers have less incentive to improve the buildings. The real estate dealers instead sell the buildings at higher prices. This cycle of rising building prices continues until only large and well-financed investors are able to continue.

Displacement… is disproportionately borne by low-income individuals of color, many of whom are elderly individuals.  Physical frailty makes it more challenging for elderly individuals to resist the actions that landlords take to remove tenants. Researchers have also found that elderly people are more intensively affected by social changes around them; for example, many older adults cited loss of friendships or community networks as a reason to move. 

-Emily Chong

How to Structure the Essay

The structure is fairly easy.  Write an introduction that provides some background on the topic and a clear thesis statement that states your opinion on the topic.  Then write two or three body paragraphs.  Each one should focus on a specific argument in support of your argument or the rebuttal of a specific point in the article you don’t agree with.  Finally, write a conclusion that sums of what you’ve just created.  Aim for 400 to 600 words in total.  Easy, right?

How to Get a Good Score

Getting a good score isn’t so easy.  To award you a high score, the rater needs to see an argument, but they also need to see the use of fairly sophisticated writing techniques.  The list below is drawn from the official ALP website, and a few other sources used in ALP classes at Columbia.

Remember that your essay must also quote from the sources when appropriate.

Remember, also, that in addition to this advanced stuff, your essay needs to show mastery of basic stuff.  That means basic transitions (therefore, however, in addition) and a mix of all three sentence types (simple, compound, complex).  You also need nearly perfect grammar to get a high score.

Sample Paragraphs

I can’t teach you the basic stuff here, but I can show you examples of the advanced concepts mentioned above.

Here’s a sample paragraph from an essay I wrote about mental health.  I’ve underlined parts that use the above techniques.  In order, they are: parallel structure, using the article, appositive, noun clause in subject position, inversion. 

Young people are able to discuss their mental health challenges with others, and are willing to reach out for help when necessary. As the article by Smith indicates, 62% of millennials are comfortable with this. Proof is easy to find. Many organizations have taken up the suggestion of the Center for Workplace Mental Health and created departments which help workers cope with issues as they arise. In addition, employee benefits now include financial support for outside counseling and psychological care.  Even more indicative of this trend  is the recent emergence of businesses which profit from the desire that young people have to discuss their mental health. Several new smartphone apps, services jokingly referred to as “Uber for Counseling,” have made a lot of money connecting people with therapists. With just a few clicks, we can be connected with a therapist and receive their assistance via voice or text. The benefits are clear; when people are willing to talk about issues that challenge them, and there are people willing to listen to them, they can be given strategies that mitigate the negative effects or perhaps eliminate the issues altogether. Rarely do people today find themselves in an environment where they have absolutely no one to turn to.  This is quite a shift from even just a few decades ago, when sufferers of mental illness often felt lost at sea.

Next is part of a paragraph about reparations.  I’ve underlined an example of fronting, and an example of an appositive.  Note the extensive quotes from the article, which are integrated into my own sentences.

While long-term solutions to today’s problems must certainly involve political and economic changes, the political and economic systems are slow to change. With great enthusiasm, conservative journalist Frank Williamson says that “the political interests of African Americans… are best served by equality under the law.” Williamson, an experienced political writer, knows that politicians have been working towards “equality under the law” for decades, and are still far from achieving it.

Here is an introductory paragraph from an essay about inclusive language.  Note how I’ve underlined a parallel structure, fronting, and another parallel structure.  Note that I ended with a clear thesis statement.

They say that people change over time, and that language changes along with them. Nowadays, thanks to the spread of the Internet, language seems to be changing at a more rapid pace than ever before. Rarely do we go a week without reading an article or seeing a social media post that uses a term or phrase that is totally new to us. Many of us want to be supportive of marginalized groups, and we want to express our opinions clearly without being lost in a sea of jargon. Personally, I feel that our choice of words is very important, but we must be careful to avoid being overly judgmental of people who can’t keep up with the newest words.

Wrapping Up

Okay, so that’s a broad look at what the ALP test looks like and what you need to do.  For more help, or tutoring, feel free to contact me. To keep up with the latest changes to this test, contact Columbia University.

 

As part of an ongoing mission to expand my knowledge of testing options in 2024, I took the B2 version of the “Skills for English” test yesterday.  While everything is still fresh in my mind, I’ll share a few thoughts.  Before I begin, I should mention that PSI gave me a voucher to take this test at no cost.

Note that I took the B2 version since it is likely the most widely-taken version of the “Skills for English” suite of tests. This is the level one needs to demonstrate in order to get a UK student visa for studies at the degree level. Note, also, that like the other versions, this is a pass/fail test. You either prove that you are at the B2 level, or you don’t.

Okay. Here are my initial thoughts:

  1. The registration process is fairly straightforward and painless.  This is an area where the newer tests seem to outshine their “legacy” competitors. Younger test takers really don’t like a test registration process that feels like buying an airplane ticket. They want to get it done quickly!  I’d love to see the stats (for all of the tests) on how many would-be test takers abandon their carts before making a purchase.

 

  1. An adequate amount of free test prep is provided by PSI.  Accessing that material can be tricky, however. It involves passing through an email funnel that results in a link to the “PSI Online Store,” which doesn’t seem to contain the desired materials. This certainly frustrated me.  If anyone from PSI wants to know more about this issue, just reach out.

 

  1. Here in Korea, “Skills for English” costs a bit less than the IELTS (UKVI) and a bit more than the PTE-Academic (UKVI).  It is offered at two test centers in the country.  I was alone when I took the test, so perhaps there isn’t much demand for it in Korea at this time.

 

  1. There is quite a lot of speaking in this test.  Test takers have the opportunity to speak for just over ten minutes.  Spoken responses to test items range from 30 seconds to 5 minutes. This approach is common among the newer tests and I think it is is appealing to test takers who desire an opportunity to “bounce back” from a single bad answer.  Compare this test to the TOEFL iBT, which involves just three minutes and forty-five seconds of speaking.  Many individuals taking that test fear that a single flubbed response might heavily impact their final score.

 

  1. This is advertised as a 190-minute test.  That’s longer than most tests in 2024.  The length could certainly turn off some prospective test takers and I’m surprised that the folks at PSI have maintained it.  That said, students at the C1 or C2 levels will probably not use all of the time given in the reading and writing sections and perhaps lower-level students will appreciate the sometimes leisurely pace of the test.

 

  1. The test includes a hard cap on the length of written responses.  That is, once the test taker hits the maximum word count, they aren’t allowed to write any more.  I like that.

 

  1. My test form contained a whole lot of Britishisms.  Knowledge of these won’t impact one’s score, but it seems like the folks at PSI went out of their way to put in as many as possible in the reading and listening items.  One of them made me laugh out loud. Another made me wonder “do they really say that across the pond?!”

 

  1. Preparing students for this test might involve teaching them how to paraphrase or reformulate ideas.  On my test form, picking correct listening and reading answers often depended on knowing that the words used in the answer choice (or gap-fill) expressed the same thing as different words used in the reading or listening content.

 

  1. The test content is mostly general English, with a small amount of academic English.  This is a quirk of the SELT program, I think.

 

  1. I chatted with the test center operator about the tests people pop in for.  He mentioned that he does a ton of PSI tests, including ones for accountants and pilates instructors.  This reinforced my firm belief that PSI of 2024 is just like ETS in the golden era.  No wonder they made the purchase!

 

Via this week’s issue of “The Cheat Sheet” I learned about a cheating ring (well, three folks) in Florida that enabled at least 820 people to cheat on an at-home test for an insurance-selling license operated by Pearson.

The cheating involved the same method that people have (allegedly) used to cheat on at-home English tests, including (allegedly) those operated by Pearson. Says the article:

“The independent witnesses’ statements all concurred that Peralta would take their pictures and instruct them to remove their watches and phones before directing them to sit in a soundproof room adjacent to where Salas would be sitting… Salas would subsequently enter and place a MacBook laptop logged into the witness’s [Pearson Vue] account on the desk. Salas would tell them that if a proctor asks them to show the room, they should lift the laptop computer, turn to show the room, place it back on the desk, place their hands on the sides, and not move, and he would be controlling the computer from next door… authorities said the elder Salas would then leave the room as the clients observed the testing begin on the computer. The questions populate the screen, the mouse moves and answers are selected without their control… the reports state.”

And:

“subjects would pay approximately $400 to $2,000 for the license they were attempting to acquire”

That’s the same way that cheating on at-home English tests is (allegedly) done. The test-taker pays a fee and on test day reports to a certain location. Upon arrival they are given a laptop with remote-access software installed. The test-taker then sits in front of the laptop and pretends to take the test while someone from the cheating ring actually answers the questions.

Allegedly.

That’s the high-tech way, anyhow. I’ve written here before about the analog way, which is also effective. And really enjoyable if you love feet.

I’m super bullish on the likelihood of at-home testing being accepted by governments in the next 5 to 10 years. But it isn’t going to happen unless providers like Pearson step up their security protocols. Recall that it was about this time last year that Pearson withdrew the at-home version of the PTE test from the China market altogether due to concerns about cheating.

I don’t know how long this cheating ring operated, but they did rack up 820 successful attempts. That suggests they were at it for some time before being detected.

 

Here’s the GRE Coupon tracker!  I’ve also got a TOEFL coupon tracker.

Update:  According to ETS’s instagram channel, the code Ida40 will get you a $40 discount.  Must be used before September 30, 2024 I think.

Update:  An e-mailer today (August 29, 2024) noted that the code  STEM2024 got her a $33 discount!

Update:  The code TAKE2 will probably get you a $60 discount.  I don’t know the validity period.

Update:  The code CC25A or CC25T should get you a Rs.4777 discount (maybe more) in India.  I don’t know the validity period.

Update:  Someone else got an email from ETS which suggested that the code COMEBACK-70 would give them a $70 discount.  Again, registration must be completed by July 4, 2024.

Update:  According to an email I just got from ETS, the code COMEBACK60 is good for a $60 discount.  Registration must be completed by July 7, 2024 (the test can be after that date, of course).

Update:  Try the code GRESUMMER60 to get a $60 discount.  It may not work in every country, but should certainly work in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.  Today is June 26, 2024.

Update:  The code GREBUS50 will get you a $50 discount on GRE registrations completed before July 31 of 2024.  Details here.

Update:  According to people all over social media, the code COMEBACK70 will get you a $70 discount on GRE registrations.  Today is April 28, 2024 and it works.

Update:  ETS emailed me today (March 23) to tell me that CC24 is still good for an INR 1000 discount.  India only, obviously.

Update:  ETS launched a new Instagram campaign with some discount codes.  Check the descriptions of the following videos for the codes:  here, here and here.  Complete the registration before March 15.

Update: ETS just announced on social media that the code NEW2024 is good for a $50 discount on registrations for test dates before April 30 of this year.  I am not sure when the code expires.  Test-takers in India should probably use INDNY24 or BI2024 to get a discount of ₹ 4000.

Update: My man John Healy went to the big ETS event in Italy this month and got the coupon code ITALYGRE23 which is good for a $30 discount in Italy only.  It must be used before December 31.  Smart people might try changing the country name to discover discounts for other places.

Update: The code GREBF23 is good for $75 off registrations (USA and Canada only) before March 31 of next year. That’s the best deal on the test I’ve ever seen.  The code will work until November 27, apparently.  Worth trying a day or two after, though.  It’s a GRE Black Friday sale!

Update: I got an email from ETS India that says the code CC24 is good for a discount of INR 1000.  Only in India, obviously.

Update: The code GRE4LAW will give you a $60 discount on test dates before December 31, 2023. More details over here.  Someone on Reddit asked ETS and, yes, this can also be used by people not going to law school. 🙂

Update:  According to the social media accounts of ETS Global, the code GRE602023 will get you a $60 discount if you register for a test date before September 20.  People in India should use INDTEST2023 instead.

Update: I think the SOCL20 code ($20 discount) has been extended until the end of April.  Leave a comment if it works for you.

Update: Get a $20 discount on the GRE by using the code SOCL20.  This one is valid until March 31, 2023.  I got it from the ETS social media accounts.  It worked for me when I tested it today (March 23).

According to social media, you can use the coupon code NEWYEAR50 to get a $50 discount on the GRE General Test.  I don’t have a terms and conditions link, but I think registration must be completed before January 31, 2023.  The test must be taken in:  Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana, Guam, India, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, or the United States.  I tested this with a registration for a test center in the USA and received the discount.

Let me know with a comment down below if it works for you.

GRE coupons don’t come up very often, but I will update this page if I find any more.  Bookmark it and come back later.  And, of course, please share any active codes you locate.  Note that I also track TOEFL coupon codes, which are pretty common.

A bit delayed, but here is a list of all the changes (that I could spot) in the fourth edition of “Official TOEFL iBT Tests, Volume 2.” You can find the changes in Volume 1 over here.

In addition to the changes listed below, note that the independent writing task has been replaced with an academic discussion task in each test.

By the way:  this is an excellent book for TOEFL preparation.  I recommend it to literally everyone I teach.

Test One

Reading:

  • “Colonizing the Americas” removed
  • “Reflection in Teaching” removed (it had a weird question about “how is paragraph 4 related to…”)
  • “The Impact of Industrialization on Labor Systems” added

Test Two

Reading:

  • “Variations in the Climate” removed

Test Three

Reading:

  • “17th Century European Economic Growth” removed

Test Four

Reading:

  • “What Hand Did They use?” removed
  • “Water in the Desert” removed (it had a chart)
  • “The Chaco Phenomenon” added (surprisingly, more Chaco)

Listening:

  • A lecture about music history removed
  • A lecture about architecture added

Test Five

Reading:

  • “Types of Social Groups” removed (it had a chart)
  • “Biological Clocks” removed (it had only three giant paragraphs)
  • “Steel and the United States Industrial Economy” added

Listening:

  • A really dated campus encounter about going to the language lab to watch a video removed
  • A campus encounter at the financial aid office added.

I did not spot changes to the speaking questions in any of the tests.

 

Scattered reports over the past couple of weeks of problems when attempting to create a profile on the official TOEFL site. Affected users say that they get stuck on the page with “Search Service” at the top. Whatever the user selects, they just get sent back to the same page. That renders them unable to progress in the registration process.

It seems to affect only users who already have a GRE account. This has been a problem area (in my estimation) for ETS’s registration system going back many years… but this particular manifestation of the problem is new.

I mention it here because students have expressed some feelings of urgency regarding a fix, and some ETSers follow me on this platform. If something was adjusted “under the hood” maybe take a moment to ensure that it was adjusted properly. Feel free to shoot me a message if you want a bit more information.

If you are experiencing this as a user, leave a comment below.  I’ll try to find out more.

I wrote yesterday about my sample of 16 international students admitted to Columbia University.  I mentioned that 15 took the Duolingo English Test, and one took the TOEFL.

What does that mean in terms of revenues at testing firms?

Well, that one dude who was admitted with a TOEFL score took the test three times, paying $400 USD for each attempt. He generated $1200 in revenue for ETS.

It is not uncommon for students applying to Ivy League schools to take the TOEFL two or three times.

I didn’t ask, but he might have spent a few extra bucks to get his scores to a raft of backup schools.  And he may have accidentally clicked to join the “TOEFL Search Service” which is still a fairly lucrative source of revenue for ETS, I think.

The other 15 students took the Duolingo test and paid $59 per attempt.  Most of them took the test only once. There may have been a few repeaters who paid $49 per attempt (after taking advantage of the two-test deal).  They sent their scores to all of their target schools without paying additional fees.

My point is that it is quite possible that the ONE guy who took the TOEFL generated more revenue than the 15 people who took the DET.

This highlights one of the struggles that the legacy firms are facing.  They know, I’m sure, that one of these days they’ll have to introduce a cheap test.  But when is the best time to do it?  From a business perspective, it is certainly possible to introduce the next-gen test too early, especially if it means losing out on that $400 registration fee. Even while under immense pressure from competitors (and while possibly losing market share), both the TOEFL and IELTS tests are revenue generating machines.

(Notes:  the price of the Duolingo test was recently hiked to $65.  The price of the TOEFL ranges from $185 to $450 depending on the country.)

Including the last few stragglers, 16 international students at Columbia University reached out to me for help with the ALP Essay Exam (need help?  Contact me!) for this year’s fall term.  As always, I asked them what tests they used to get admitted to the school in the first place.  The results were:

  • Duolingo English Test – 15
  • TOEFL – 1
  • IELTS – 0

When I ask questions like “what went wrong with TOEFL?” I am sometimes accused of being too harsh. But clearly something has changed. Pre-pandemic, there is a good chance that every one of those students would have taken the TOEFL.

Individuals who don’t talk to test takers every day and who don’t teach this stuff one-on-one can miss trends in the industry that ought to be obvious to everyone.  Speaking of what went wrong at the legacy testing firms… that might have something to do with it.  There may be too many degrees of separation between executives and customers.

Anyway.  Of course I asked why they all took the DET.  Most mentioned the price and convenience.  One mentioned that the cute characters put her at ease.  Another said that the university told him to take the DET.

A few poor souls might sit for the placement test in August. I’ll update this post if I talk to any of them.