Here is a TOEFL Challenge, where you can use real materials to try to do tasks based on the TOEFL test. Watch this TED talk and read this article from Quick and Dirty Tips. Summarise the differences and similarities between the talk and the article. Leave a comment below with your answer.
I know that I haven’t put up a podcast in a while; I am working on something that I hope is really cool. In the meantime, here is an interesting podcast for intermediate speakers and higher. I particularly recommend it for TOEFL or IELTS students but anybody who likes philosophy or thoughts about life should … [Read more…]
When you listen to people speaking it is easy to misunderstand if you are not aware of homophones (words that sound the same). This is especially true in standardised tests like TOEIC, TOEFL and IELTS but also in everyday situations as well. Some common homophones and near homophones are: ate eight blew blue check Czech … [Read more…]
Students studying academic reading, especially for standardised tests like TOEFL and IELTS frequently ask “How can I improve my academic reading?” The answer is, “Do more academic reading.” You need to look at real academic documents and analyse them for meaning. Try to insert your own subheadings and summarise the documents within 200-300 words. Underline … [Read more…]
This week one of my students who has been a little bit too relaxed about his TOEFL study has become extremely motivated and started undertaking listening practice of his own accord and systematically logging the vocabulary he is learning, emailing me to tell me his progress. What caused this? Me telling him I’d check up … [Read more…]
When you write opinion-based essays for TOEFL or IELTS, you need to keep thinking about organising your thoughts in threes. This helps you to structure your writing more effectively. When you have three thoughts to organise each part of your writing it is much easier to stay with your plan. Plan in Three Parts You … [Read more…]
Sometimes you aren’t studying English. This is certainly true when you are studying for tests like TOEIC, TOEFL and IELTS you study specialised kinds of English. What you study depends on the test. TOEIC tests English for business (as well as everyday English). TOEFL and IELTS test academic English. The best ways to study for … [Read more…]