TOEFL
Last Friday I took the TOEFL exam. I woke up at 5 a.m. to have the exam at 8 a.m. I went to the TOEFL building at 7:30 a.m. I filled out a special form and of course I showed my ID. People who didn’t have their ID were not allowed to take the test. People could only take it with their ID. The ESL personnel gave us everything required for the exam: two pencils and paper. People should have visited a restroom and eaten before the test. After filling out a form and checking your pockets you could go to a special room to take the test.
When I sat at the computer the test started immediately. The first section of the test, reading, was the most difficult section for me, maybe because I was sleepy. The reading section consists of two tasks with time limits of 20 minutes and 30 minutes. The first text was about planets and a creating craters on Earth, Mars and Venus. In this text there were about 1000 or 1500 words. After reading the text people had to answer 17 questions. It means that for each question I had less than one minute and sometimes I could not understand answers well and I chose answers randomly.
Secondly, I had the listening section. I didn’t have a break between sections. Listening for me was easier than other tasks. I listened to parts of lectures about biology, music, history, that went on for 5 minutes. After the listening section I had a break for 10 minutes. People could not spend more then ten minutes for break, because each computer had a timer and exactly after 10 minutes the test had to be continued by the ESL program.
After the break, I started the speaking and writing sections. For the speaking section I had about 60 seconds per each task to answer the question, but I spent only 30 seconds. Also, at the same time with me a lot of people had the speaking section too and they distracted me. My answers were very short I didn’t know if it was good or not and I could find out about it only after receiving an email with my scores.
In the writing section there were two tasks that went on for 20 and 30 minutes. In the first task I had to write a text about archaeological findings. Afterwards I wrote an essay about happiness and how happy people influence other people in society. I had to write more than 300 words but I wrote 103 words because I could not type fast in English.
So the TOEFL exam was very important for me and of course it was a good experience. After getting the results I will prepare for the TOEFL exam according to my scores for each section.
When I sat at the computer the test started immediately. The first section of the test, reading, was the most difficult section for me, maybe because I was sleepy. The reading section consists of two tasks with time limits of 20 minutes and 30 minutes. The first text was about planets and a creating craters on Earth, Mars and Venus. In this text there were about 1000 or 1500 words. After reading the text people had to answer 17 questions. It means that for each question I had less than one minute and sometimes I could not understand answers well and I chose answers randomly.
Secondly, I had the listening section. I didn’t have a break between sections. Listening for me was easier than other tasks. I listened to parts of lectures about biology, music, history, that went on for 5 minutes. After the listening section I had a break for 10 minutes. People could not spend more then ten minutes for break, because each computer had a timer and exactly after 10 minutes the test had to be continued by the ESL program.
After the break, I started the speaking and writing sections. For the speaking section I had about 60 seconds per each task to answer the question, but I spent only 30 seconds. Also, at the same time with me a lot of people had the speaking section too and they distracted me. My answers were very short I didn’t know if it was good or not and I could find out about it only after receiving an email with my scores.
In the writing section there were two tasks that went on for 20 and 30 minutes. In the first task I had to write a text about archaeological findings. Afterwards I wrote an essay about happiness and how happy people influence other people in society. I had to write more than 300 words but I wrote 103 words because I could not type fast in English.
So the TOEFL exam was very important for me and of course it was a good experience. After getting the results I will prepare for the TOEFL exam according to my scores for each section.