ETS has partnered with United Airlines in Taiwan. TOEFL test takers who upload a score report can win airplane tickets. The report must be from a test taken in Taiwan sometime after January 1 of this year. Fun partnerships like this one give me joy. I’m reminded of the small discount for ISIC card holders. These small partnerships aren’t going to increase test volumes very much, but they make tests feel a bit more vibrant and alive.
Category: Blog
No clients to write for at the moment, so I finally have a moment to produce my own material. Here’s a new TOEFL integrated writing practice question.
It’s about banning CFL light bulbs. The topic represents an effort to make questions that are more tedious and obscure than what test takers usually find in practice materials. As it is a first draft, let me know if you spot any typos or unclear phrases.
I realize now that I must stop writing so many lecture “paragraphs” that begin with some variation on “as for the argument about xxxxx.”
According to the pile of post-it notes on my desk, next up is a question about whether or not a certain ring belonged to Caligula. Apparently I read an article about that topic earlier this year.
Below are a few photos taken the immigration hub across the street from Khalsa College in Amritsar (click for bigger versions). The hub consists of a couple of city blocks consisting almost entirely of immigration consultancies. Signs advertising the same can also be found in the adjacent residential area. As you can see, PTE and IELTS dominate the market.
I’m really digging the stairway ads. And the hand painted signs on brick have a certain beauty to them.
I spotted a couple of Duolingo signs, and one CELPIP sign. I could not find any references to the TOEFL test at the hub, but did spot one from the window of my Uber about halfway back to my hotel in the center of town.
A mission for my next visit to India: understanding how these storefront operations fit into the agent/sub-agent/sub-sub-agent/sub-sub-sub-agent pipeline.
I did not dine on “Canadian Pizza.”
So I sat down at a tea stand in Amritsar to drink tea and read The New Yorker (as one does). I looked up and across the street spotted a big ol’ “go to Canada” consultancy. What are the odds? Pretty good, actually, as there are whole city blocks filled with almost nothing but such offices (more on that later).
There is more. When I turned the page in my magazine I found a long profile of Luis von Ahn, which included quick references to both the TOEFL and DET tests. What are the odds of both of these things happening? I do not know.
I mention these things for a reason. Starting around 2018 I was pretty burned out on English testing. It was boring and the monopolies seemed like they would never go away. But these days there is a lot to get excited about. Tests get referenced in the magazine I read to make myself look smart, but that’s not all. TOEFL is coming to Broadway. There are a bunch of small and medium-sized tests to explore and learn about. Very important English broadsheets are digging into the HOELT. Legacy testing firms are being forced to change, and to do better.
I’m having a good time. Testing is fun again.
The TOEFL website was just overhauled! There is a new registration portal that looks like this:
The date of birth error I mentioned a couple of days ago has been corrected.
Also, the rest of the website has been reorganized with an improved navigation system. There is still too much stuff on the site, but it really does seem easier to navigate than before.
A notable addition is a listing of TOEFL “strategic advisors” from around the world. Basically, ETS now provides the name and email address of an ETS staffer in each country who can provide “personalized guidance and support” when test takers experience issues. I’ve been doing that for free since 2012, so I’m pretty happy to see this update. I have already begun referring people (almost every day) to their local advisor.
I read this report that Prometric might be for sale. Prometric does a lot of things related to English testing; it operates test centers around the world, remotely proctors the “OET@Home,” and owns both the CAEL and CELPIP tests.
Regular readers know that Prometric was owned by ETS from 2007 to 2018. It was sold by ETS for about one billion dollars to Baring Private Equity, now a part of Swedish firm EQT.
I had the honor of speaking at the Skills for English Partners meet in Chandigarh a couple of days ago. My congratulations go out to Prakash Upadhyay and Mazhar Hussain and Lesinda Leightley for their deft organizational skills, and my sincere thanks go out to them for inviting me to take part.
I spoke a bit about what I like about the Skills for English test, which I’ve touched on here before. I did my best to highlight the value of consumer choice and competition. Namely that it helps test-takers find a test that makes it possible for them to best demonstrate their competencies in a way that being forced in a one-size test fits all test does not, that it helps test takers to avoid traveling long distances and missing out on wages to take a test… and that, overall, it forces test companies to do better. Given the coming of the HOELT, this is worth dwelling on.
In the limited time I had, I did my best to emphasize that (despite everything) we are in very exciting times when it comes to this sort of testing, and there are many opportunities for firms and individuals. Here’s an interesting thing: I’ve been writing the same nonsense for a decade, but for the first eight years the audience was like ten nerdy teachers (or maybe just John Healy hitting “refresh” ten times). In the past couple of years, though, many sorts of people have reached out to learn more about the industry or to hit me up for free information – AI dreamers who think they have the next big thing, people in the press who have noticed English tests for the first time in ages, investment firms that want to get in on the action… all sorts of people (And little do they know that if they schedule a 30 minute Zoom chat about tests, I’m gonna keep them on the call for a minimum of 90 minutes).
I’ll post my speaking script here at some point.
Anyway, a few notes about the evening:
- This was the beginning of my education into the B2B world of testing in India. Those of us in tests who don’t really deal much with the Indian market sometimes fail to understand the importance of B2B relationships between test makers and their partners. Those relationships play a huge role in the rise and fall of tests. They are so essential, in a way that many of us are only vaguely aware. Go to India and take plenty of notes, I say!
- Skills for English is mostly taken by individuals headed to the UK, but given the location of the event I had to ask about Canada. The reports are true – interest in Canada has dropped dramatically among young people in Punjab. Educational consultancies have seen that part of their business decline significantly. Obviously the unsubtle messaging coming out of IRCC is having an impact, but so are reports about the high cost of living and how difficult it is to find employment. More people will head to the USA, or course. But European schools will also find themselves with more applicants. And other people will simply choose to study at domestic universities.
- Test Prep is so important. So you want people to take your test? Or to be more precise: do you want B2B partners to promote your test to students? Give them some darn test prep. Don’t forget to provide it in print form.
- There is an enormous interest in choice when it comes to testing. You know, the tests all work. They are all valid. You could bring back the 1964 TOEFL, update the vocabulary choices and it would still be valid. But they all have unique strengths and weaknesses. And as I have spent the last decade repeating ad nauseam, they differ in terms of respect for their customers.
The new TOEFL website has reset the birthdays of many (all?) users to January 1, 1970. This cannot be fixed by the users. You can see the error by accessing the “Profile Information & Preferences” screen in your user account.
Update: ETS has told me that this is an UI error, and that the proper birthdate is stored in their system. It should not cause any problems on test day.
The ETS 990 form for the year ending September 30, 2023 is now available. You can read it on Propublica.
A few things are worth noting here:
- ETS reported revenue of 1.06 billion dollars for the year. That’s down from 1.12 billion in 2022. Other than the pandemic-impacted 2020 financial year, you’ve got to go back to 2011 to find a year with less revenue (note that the 2015 form is for a partial year).
- ETS reported a net loss of about 9 million dollars for the year.
- Program service revenue was 918 million dollars, which I think is the lowest since 2010.
- Total assets are valued at about 1.79 billion dollars, up slightly compared to last year.
- The organization’s top earner was former president Walt MacDonald, who was paid about 2.3 million dollars for the year. He left ETS in June of 2022.
- Indeed, former employees did pretty well, financially. The form lists decent amounts of money paid to key individuals who left as long ago as early 2021.
- Current president Amit Sevak earned 658 thousand dollars for the year.
- Cambium Assessment was paid 26.8 million dollars for subcontracting under the big California contract.
- Prometric got 26.3 million for running test centers.
- ProctorU got 23.4 million for its amazing services.
- About 106 thousand dollars was spent on lobbying.
- I still don’t know how much was spent to purchase PSI, but I guess that will be in the audit (coming soon).
- The ETS hotel brought in revenue of 3.1 million dollars against expenses of 3.5 million dollars. Though one popular YouTuber has described it as “sort of like a glammed up university residence,” I still dream of spending a weekend there. Apparently the nearby ETS hiking trail just got new signage, highlighting the organization’s proud history.
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The standard disclaimer: Why should one care? One probably shouldn’t care. But ETS is a tax-exempt organization that still has an outsized influence on the lives of millions of young people in America and around the world. The point is not to gawk at the large numbers but just to share things that smarter people than me ought to be writing about.
Here’s the PDF version of my TOEFL score report. Interestingly, the PDF file was available the same day my scores were. Traditionally, there has been a 24-48 hour delay on the PDF file.
The overall score for my test was 119 out of 120 points. Let me know if you have any questions about how I responded to the speaking and writing tasks.
When I return home in a few weeks I’ll share the paper version. I believe that will be mailed from the hub in Seoul.
I saw that Nicholas Lemann has written a new book on standardized testing called “Higher Admissions: The Rise, Decline, and Return of Standardized Testing.” I’m looking forward to reading it, as Lemann’s “The Big Test” (published 25 years ago) is one of my favorite works on the topic. It was also the inaugural selection for my standardized testing book club, which is almost a real thing.
A quick mid-month column this month since I am off to India tomorrow morning and won’t have time to write (though I will have plenty of time to read magazines, as it is a long flight).
First up, I’ll remind you that I reviewed a couple of TOEFL books this month. I really liked The TOEFL iBT Official Beginner’s Guide. I really did not like the new Mometrix TOEFL Guide.
Next, I read a couple issues of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. The best story I encountered was “The Last Days of Good People” by A.T. Sayre. It tells the story of a research team sent to a distant plant to study a pre-industrial civilization being impacted by a deadly pandemic. If you can I’ve been reading Analog for quite a few years now, and this is one of the best things they’ve published in recent memory. You ought to read it if you can figure out how to get a copy of the July/August 2024 issue. A free PDF version might be available during awards season. If that’s the case, I’ll post a link in a future column.
I read Catherine Liu’s “Virtue Hoarders.” One day I must compile all books of this type into the the “Test Resources Left Book Club.”
Lastly, I read the April 11, 2022 (!) issue of The New Yorker. It included a lovely profile of the actress Natasha Lyonne, to coincide with the broadcast of the second season of “Russian Doll.” That’s one of my favorite TV shows of the past five years or so. Check it out if you haven’t already. It’s on Netflix.
I took the TOEFL iBT Home Edition a few days ago. Below are a few nitpicky comments I scribbled down right after I finished:
- To prepare, I used TOEFL TestReady. This was my first time to interact with that product as a test taker might. I like it a lot, but it desperately needs proper timers. The TOEFL, like most standardized tests, is partially a test of one’s time management skills. This should be reflected in preparation products. I’ll write much more about TestReady later on.
- I hope that technology renders room scans obsolete one day. They are a pain. I sense that developers might not use the same computers or have the same rooms as test takers and therefore might not realize just how much of a pain they are. The Duolingo English Test doesn’t make use of this measure, but seems to have replaced it with extremely strict gaze tracking… which is a frequent subject of test taker complaints on social media. But hope springs eternal.
- Test takers are instructed to state that they agree with the “terms and conditions” listed on the TOEFL website. I have been unable to locate them. Next time, I’ll ask the proctor for a link. How many test takers have actually been aware of what they are agreeing to?
- I was surprised to see that the test STILL includes a message telling test takers to put on their headset. Regular readers know that using a headset during the test is against the rules and will likely cause the test results to be invalidated. These instructions ought to be removed immediately.
- ETS should get rid of the microphone calibration meter thingie. My voice stayed in the “too quiet” range even when I spoke as loud as possible. Over the years, hundreds of test takers have reported the same. I knew to just forget about it and speak at a normal level during the test… but not everyone does. Many people respond by screaming their answers as loudly as possible, which is especially troublesome when it occurs at test centers. Surely the meter can be replaced with a calibration method that doesn’t provide any visible feedback.
- My test crashed one time, right after the first lecture played in the listening section. My proctor restarted it.
- I think I heard an Irish accent.
- One really starts to understand the whole “perceived difficulty” controversy when they sit down and take a bunch of tests. The TOEFL has always included a handful of so-called “Killer Questions” that cause even the most experienced test taker to go crosseyed. They give the test a reputation for toughness, even though you can get them all wrong and still perform at a C2 level.
- At 11:49 PM the day before the test, I received an email reminding me to add free score recipients by 10:00 PM the day before the test. Thanks, guys.
- I scored 29 in reading and 30 in listening. Which surprised me a bit, as I was really confident about my reading answers… but not confident at all about a few listening answers.
The next test for me? The PTE! Stay tuned!