Hey, I’ve been uploading a bunch of stuff to the YouTube channel without really mentioning it here. One of the more popular videos is the 2021 version of my guide to the independent speaking task. Check it out!
Category: Blog
Well, ETS released a few more details about the TOEFL Essentials Test to score users (universities, mostly). They are:
- Section scores will be from 1 to 12 points. The overall score will also be reported on a 1 to 12 scale. It will be the average of the section scores.
- The vocabulary and sentence construction stuff will be reported separately from the overall score. Those will be called “foundational skills” and will be reported as a percentile rank.
- The test will cost $100 to $120, depending on the country (yes, there will be a different price for each country)
- Available in China? Unclear.
- Official Test prep will be available in May 2021. It will all be online. No book will be printed.
- When the test launches in August it will be available one day per week. But it will ramp up and later be available three days per week.
- Students will get scores after six days. Institutions will get scores at the same time.
- The test will be only be taken online. It will not be offered at test centers.
Okay, so this month’s collection is purely academic writing. This stuff is the closest you will get to reading TOEFL articles outside of the TOEFL. Don’t worry, though, I will have more random junk next month. I promise.
Everything is from “Science News,” which I get in the mail every couple of weeks. Here are a few highlights from the November and December issues. I took the headlines from the print version, so they might not match what you see online.
- “Why Were Megalodon Sharks So Big?” asks questions about why some ancient sharks got so massive. This would make a perfect integrated writing question, as it presents some theories… and then presents the challenges to them. One of the theories is intrauterine cannibalism. What the f–k?
- “Farming on Mars Will be Nothing Like in The Martian” is a fun article. I mention it here because “The Martian” is a book I recommended in an earlier column.
- “Who Invented Bone Points?” is a nice long article that resembles some of the historical articles you will get in the reading section. Lots of great vocabulary here.
- “Toads on Two Islands are Shrinking Fast” is a nice long biology article that looks a bit like what you will see in the reading section.
- “Early American Women Hunted Game” is another article covering early human history. It is a medium-length article.
- “A Night with Colugos” is a feature-length article, which means it is a lot longer than what you will get on the test. But it is a lot of fun. It is also a breezy and light read. You’ll enjoy it. Interestingly, I visited the island in Malaysia discussed here. I didn’t have a great impression of it, but the article makes it look really wonderful. Now I hope to return.
That’s all for now, but more to come in March!
There is now an ETS page about the new TOEFL Essentials test.
As I mentioned yesterday, this is a new test that ETS will offer beginning in August. The details we learned then were:
- It will take 90 minutes to complete
- It will cost about half of what the TOEFL iBT costs
- It will cover academic as well as “conversational” English
- It has “more tasks, but they are shorter”
We can now confirm:
- It is adaptive (the questions change depending on the ability level of the test-taker)
- It includes “Vocabulary Knowledge and Sentence Construction” (this sounds a bit like the TOEFL ITP)
- It includes an unscored video statement at the end (like the Duolingo English Test)
- The questions are written by humans, not auto-generated by software
- It is scored by both humans and automatic raters (like the TOEFL iBT)
- Unlimited score reports can be sent for free (yay!)
- It includes MyBest Scores and instant reading and listening scores (like the TOEFL iBT)
- Section scores will be from 1 to 12 points
- It will be taken online, not at a test center
- Registration starts in May (for tests in August)
- Test Prep materials are forthcoming
Big news in the world of TOEFL.
This August ETS is launching a new test called “TOEFL Essentials.” If you want to learn about the test, check out this report in Inside Higher Ed. That report contains all of the information we currently know, but I’m doing my best to gain additional details.
A few highlights from the article are:
- It will take 90 minutes to complete
- It will cost about half of what the TOEFL iBT costs
- It will cover academic as well as “conversational” English
- It has “more tasks, but they are shorter”
All in all, this sounds somewhat similar to the “TOEFL Ladders” concept I posted about here way back in March of last year.
The test seems to be a response to the growing popularity of the new Duolingo English Test, which has become very popular this year. Indeed, the article actually contains some very tense words on that subject, so I encourage you to check it out.
I don’t know anything about the actual content of the test, but I have put out feelers for more details.
I got a few strange reports this week. Apparently ETS has a slight problem in their system. If you got an email saying that your score is available but you can’t find it in the system, check the “MyBest Scores History” section. It should be listed there.
“Developing Writing Skills for IELTS: A Researched-Based Approach” is a surprisingly weak IELTS text, considering the reputation of Rutledge, the publisher of the book.
The title calls it a “research based approach” but there isn’t much of what I would call “research” in the book.
What you get here is a description of the IELTS scoring rubrics, and a collection of sample paragraphs taken from student essays. Each sample is followed by a question like “what is the topic sentence?” or “Is the topic sentence focused and clear?” The same questions are repeated again and again, following a series of samples. Each chapter contains different questions.
And that’s the bulk of the book. It is pretty basic stuff. There isn’t much in here about HOW to write a topic sentence, or HOW to make a topic sentence focused and clear. Indeed, there is very little instruction in the book at all. Students merely read sample paragraphs (and sometimes complete essays) and answer questions about them. Students are hungry for information about how to actually put together their essays – the more specific the better. But that specificity isn’t really found here.
On the plus side, there are a few sample essays with scores attached to them, which is something that all students like to have. There is also a decent “question bank.” I like that, but since the IELTS people are really generous with sample questions I don’t think there is a great need for more samples.
It must be noted that while the book is 276 pages, a lot of that is duplicated content. The aforementioned samples and questions are on page 21 to 110, while pages 181 to 272 seem to have the exact same content, but with answers inserted into the text.
If you are taking the TOEFL Home Edition, make sure to check your microphone. Don’t just use the ProctorU website test, but actually make a recording and listen to it.
I often get sample answers from students that sound horrible. They sound like they were recorded using Thomas Edison’s wax tube machine. I can barely understand what they are saying. The worst part is that the TOEFL raters will have the same challenge! G-d only knows how this problem will affect the automated scoring engine used by ETS nowadays.
Internal microphones (like in your laptop) are often terrible. If yours is bad, consider getting an external microphone to use on the test. Just remember that you cannot use headphones. You should use one that sits on your desk.
I’m not a microphone expert, but my favorite cheap and tiny model is this one, from Samson.
The cost of taking the TOEFL has increased in some countries. This comes exactly six months following the last price increase. Below you can see a table summarizing the cost of taking the test in the countries I track. Some of the highlights include:
- I spotted increases in: Argentina, Georgia, Guadalupe, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, the Palestinian Territories, New Zealand, Thailand and Uganda. Of course there are many countries I am not tracking.
- I spotted a price decrease in Vietnam.
- Switzerland remains the most expensive place to take the TOEFL ($320).
- There are a handful of countries where the cost is still $185.
- There are no countries on my tracker where the price is still $180 (Georgia was the last on my tracker).
- None of the assorted service fees (score review, late registration, etc) have changed.
- The test cost $140 when it started.
- I am not associated with ETS.
Country | Pre August 1, 2020 | August 1, 2020 | February 1, 2021 |
Afghanistan | $200 | $220 | $220 |
Argentina | $195 | $195 | $205 |
Australia | $300 | $300 | $300 |
Azerbaijan | ? | $195 | $195 |
Bangladesh | $190 | $200 | $200 |
Benin | $185 | $185 | $185 |
Brazil | $215 | $215 | $215 |
Canada | $245 | $245 | $245 |
Colombia | $240 | $240 | $240 |
Congo, DR | ? | $195 | $195 |
Egypt | $180 | $185 | $185 |
Ethiopia | ? | $200 | $200 |
France | $255 | $265 | $265 |
French Polynesia | $180 | $185 | ? |
Georgia | ? | $180 | $185 |
Germany | $255 | $260 | $260 |
Ghana | $200 | $220 | $220 |
Guadalupe | $180 | $185 | $195 |
Hong Kong | $225 | $245 | $245 |
Indonesia | $205 | $205 | $205 |
Iceland | $230 | $220 | $220 |
India | $180 | $185 | $185 |
Iran | $225 | $245 | $245 |
Iraq | $195 | $215 | $215 |
Israel | ? | $280 | $280 |
Italy | $255 | $270 | $270 |
Japan | $235 | $235 | $245 |
Jordan | ? | $195 | $200 |
Kenya | $200 | $220 | $220 |
Korea | $200 | $210 | $210 |
Mexico | $180 | $185 | $190 |
Mongolia | $195 | $210 | $210 |
Morocco | ? | $210 | $220 |
Netherlands | $255 | $265 | $265 |
New Zealand | $270 | $270 | $275 |
Nigeria | $195 | $195 | $195 |
Norway | $290 | $315 | $315 |
Pakistan | $195 | $195 | $195 |
Palestinian Territories | ? | $235 | $245 |
Peru | $210 | $220 | $220 |
Philippines | $200 | $215 | $215 |
Russia | $260 | $260 | $260 |
South Africa | $230 | $230 | $235 |
Spain | $245 | $250 | $250 |
Sweden | $270 | $280 | $280 |
Switzerland | $295 | $320 (!) | $320 |
Tajikistan | ? | $185 | $185 |
Thailand | $195 | $210 | $215 |
Turkey | $185 | $185 | $185 |
Uganda | $195 | $215 | $225 |
United Arab Emirates | $240 | $255 | $255 |
United Kingdom | $210 | $220 | $220 |
United States | $205 | $225 | $225 |
Vietnam | $190 | $220 | $200 |
West Bank | ? | $215 | $215 |
Here’s what I mean when I say that using memorized content is a bad idea. Check out this bad body paragraph, in response to a question like “Do you prefer to read books or to watch movies based on the books?”
“To begin with, watching movies based on books will let us know if reading the books themselves is a good idea. As we are very busy, it is a real challenge to read even one or two books in a month. If we watch movies, however, we can get an idea of which books we should read in our limited free time. My personal experience is a compelling example of what I mean. When I was young, the book “Harry Potter” seemed interesting to me, but I didn’t read it because it had too many pages. Additionally, I didn’t have enough time to finish it since I practiced basketball almost every day when I was a junior high school student. I went to the basketball court in my neighborhood every weekend and practiced passing, shooting and dribbling with my friend, Jim, who I had known since I was in elementary school. We practiced really hard, and, as a result, we were eventually invited to join a local team. At the end of that year, the team won a local championship. Had we not practiced every day, we would not have achieved such success. Several years later, a film based on the novel was released. I went to the local cinema and watched the move because it was only ninety minutes long. After I saw the film, I bought a copy of the novel because the movie showed me that it would be a good use of my limited free time.”
Note the stuff in bold, which is just stuff the student memorized before going to the test center. They have inserted it into the paragraph to increase the word count and to add some slightly more complicated sentence structures. It’s got parenthetical commas, the past perfect tense and a conditional. Even a transitional phrase! How nice! Sadly, it sticks out like a sore thumb. The grader can tell it is off-topic memorized junk. This is an essay about books and movies, not an essay about how to win a basketball championship.
I constantly get paragraphs that have been stretched out with irrelevant digressions like this. Sometimes you can get away with using them, but generally it is a bad idea. My impression is that ETS is working harder than ever nowadays to crack down on this junk.
If you see a warning at the test center saying “do not use memorized examples” this is what the warning is about.
One of the most frequent questions I get is about the “maximum word count” in the TOEFL essays. A lot of students think they must not write more than the suggested word count in both essays. Even some teachers think it is a problem.
Hopefully this blog post will put that rumor to rest.
Here’s what ETS says about the word count for TOEFL writing task 1 (the integrated essay):
(Official Guide to the TOEFL Test, 6th edition, page 192. Published 2021)
And here’s what ETS says about the word count for TOEFL writing task 2 (the independent essay):
(Official Guide to the TOEFL Test, 6th edition, page 199. Published 2021).
Meanwhile, when ETS is training teachers at their regular “Propell Workshops” they provide sample essays of each score level. To represent the 5.0 level (the highest possible score) they provide the following 305-word integrated essay:
(Propell Workshop for the iBT Test, Page 42. Published 2019)
And to represent an independent essay scoring 5.0, they provide this 466-word monster:
(TOEFL Teacher Workshop Manual, Page 49)
So there you go. Write as much as you want. Don’t worry about being penalized.
Just a heads up: the TOEFL registration system will be unavailable on Sunday, January 31, 2021 from 09:00 a.m. until 02:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time. This is due to maintenance that will be performed. You won’t be able to register for tests, check your scores, etc.
I made an infographic to explain how the timers work on the test!
I got an email the other day that asked something like:
Hey, I took the TOEFL yesterday and in one of the reading questions I had to pick TWO correct answers. Is that normal?
My answer was that this is rare, but normal. These questions seem to always be “Factual Information” questions where you have to “identify factual information that is explicitly stated in the passage… they can focus on facts, details, definitions, or other information presented by the author” (ETS). Basically, you are identifying stuff mentioned in the reading.
Theoretically, these might also be “negative factual questions” which as you to identify stuff NOT mentioned in the reading.
To find examples of what they look like, I scanned the three official TOEFL books. I did not find any such questions in the Official Guide to the TOEFL test.
But I did find the following sample in Volume 1 of the Official TOEFL iBT Tests book (test 3, question 17):
I also found the following sample in Volume 2 of the Official TOEFL iBT Tests book (test 1, question 27):
There could be more samples in the books. I just scanned them quickly.
So there you go. Just don’t be shocked by questions of this type. They are basically the same as the “factual information” questions you are already familiar with. Just remember to select TWO answers. You must get pick both correct choices to get the point. You will get no points if you only pick one, or if you only pick one correctly.
The other day, someone asked:
I’ve got twelve months to prepare for the TOEFL, and I need 100 points. What should I do?
The good news for that student is that they have time to really improve their English fluency instead of just learning TOEFL tricks and strategies. I know it sounds crazy, but the best way to increase your TOEFL score is to become more fluent in English.
Here’s how I responded:
- Get a good grammar book like “English Grammar in Use” (also called “Grammar in Use – Intermediate” in some countries). I read about a dozen TOEFL essays every day, and I see that most students suffer from grammar and language use problems. Reduce your error rate and your writing score will go up.
- Find someone to practice speaking with. To improve your score you need to speak fluidly. You need to eliminate pauses, “umm breaks”, and repetitions. You need to pronounce vowels and consonants properly. You need to reduce the effort required to understand what you are saying. Regular practice will help with this. You don’t necessarily have t pay big bucks for a special TOEFL teacher to do this. You can probably find an affordable tutor on a service like italki for this.
- Take accurate practice TOEFL tests. There are 15 official ETS practice tests available (Official Guide x 4, Official iBT Tests x 10, website x 1) plus some PDF junk on the website. You should work through all of those. Fortunately, you have time to buy all of the books! Switch to unofficial material only when you run out.
- If you have a year to prepare you can also improve your reading and listening skills in a general sense. Spend some time reading good non-fiction books and articles (I like Science News, and National Geographic). Make use of your local library, if they have an English section. For listening, try Khan Academy, or podcasts like 60 Second Science.
- Towards the end of your preparation period take one of the scored practice tests from ETS to gauge your current level and see how to use the last few months most effectively.
And, yes, along the way you should devote some time to becoming familiar with the test. Read the Official Guide cover to cover (a few times). Read some of the guides on this website and watch some Youtube videos. Review sample writing and speaking responses. Just don’t get bogged down in “strategies” if the test is still a year away.