I’m going to host another “Office Hours” chat on June 25. The topic will be, once again, upcoming revisions to the TOEFL iBT. You can register right here.
Note these chats are mostly intended for people who work in test preparation, but everyone is welcome. Last time we had a fun mix of teachers, test takers and testing firm reps.
And, of course, if anyone from ETS wants to pop in for a few minutes to talk about the revisions I know you’ll have an apt and appreciative audience.
With that out of the way, a few specific thoughtlines come to mind:
- We should probably unpack the latest news about the revisions.
- What are the implications for people working in the test prep space? This is starting to look like a “page one rewrite” when it comes to the prep materials we use. Will we be, at least temporarily, a bit more dependent on official products than usual?
- This is starting to look like a bigger revision than originally thought. How do you figure test takers and student advisors in YOUR market will respond to it?
- What about the scoring of the test? Are we looking at a sort of “black box” like many other major tests? How will that impact our work?
- What about score equivalencies between the old and new version?
In terms of an ever-elusive bigger picture, I’m interested in what everyone’s thoughts are about the best way to be a test prep professional in a world where tests are changing, market shares are shifting and test takers have more options than ever before.
Since this is a Zoom meeting rather than a webinar I can’t really send reminders, so I recommend that you make a reminder in your calendar app of choice. And don’t ask me for a recording after the fact – I don’t record these events since I want everyone to feel comfortable expressing their honest opinions.
(yeah, I had intended to discuss some other test this time… but…)