10 TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR TOEFL WRITING SKILL

1. Make a list of familiar topics – Practice planning and writing an essay for each topic. First, think of one main idea or opinion for each topic and then think of a few points that support this idea or opinion. When you first start practicing this, take at least forty-five minutes to plan, write and check each essay. Once you improve, you should be able to do this in half an hour or less.
2. Write out every word in full - never use abbreviations! Although you may want to save time, abbreviations such as u instead of you are not acceptable for TOEFL writing. 

3. Keep your sentences simple. Only use big words and complicated language if you know how to use them! Although it looks impressive to show your command of English, if you make grammatical mistakes or misuse complicated words it can actually lower your score.

4. Make sure your essay has structure with a strong introduction, body paragraphs and conclusion that unify your thoughts.

HOW TO WRITE AN EFFECTIVE ESSAY

5. Do not try to write too much – most TOEFL iBT essays are four to five paragraphs. If you try to write more than this, you will have less time to check for errors or properly plan your responses. Writing too much in a hurry also increases your chances of making mistakes.

6. Become confident with paraphrasing. Read essays, and newspaper articles and practice writing what you have read in your own words (this is paraphrasing). You will receive a score of zero if you simply copy words from the reading passage.

HOW TO PARAPHRASE:

7. Take your time to make sure you completely understand the question – you don’t want to rush into the essay only to find out halfway that you have misunderstood and have to start all over again.

8. Give details and examples to support your opinions – support your statements with reasons explaining why you feel this way. Increase your vocabulary and learn their synonyms, rather than using the same words again and again.

9. Use tenses appropriately. For facts and observations, use present tense. For example 'sun screen is essential if you are going to be out in the sun' or 'I think that everyone should be tolerant of other cultures'. When describing past experiences, use past tense. For example 'When I was a child, I loved to play outside'. 

English tenses and usage

10. Write in English every day. Write in a diary, find friends to write to and get involved in English. The more comfortable you are with writing in English, the better your essays will be, as your ideas will flow more easily and you will have a greater vocabulary on a variety of topics.

HOW TO KEEP A PERSONAL JOURNAL

TOPICS FOR JOURNAL ENTRIES

Vocabulary learning and practice

In TOEFL iBT, having access to a large vocabulary will enable you to obtain a high score in every section – reading, listening, speaking and writing. 

For the TOEFL, you will want to concentrate on academic vocabulary as this is the main focus of the test. An excellent resource for this purpose is the Academic Word List (AWL), put together at the Victoria University of Wellington. They have identified 570 word families that are frequently used in academic texts.

INDIRECT STRATEGIES 
There are many indirect strategies you can employ to enrich your vocabulary. You can read newspapers, magazines, textbooks, brochures, children’s books, and various types of literature. You can also listen to radio broadcasts, the news, interviews, documentaries, movies, conversations and audio books. If your intention is to improve your vocabulary, you will have to listen for new words, check their meaning, keep track of them in a vocabulary notebook and then try to use them in conversation or writing.

DIRECT STRATEGIES 
Better still, is to combine this strategy with a specific vocabulary building program. You can allot even a short time a day, from as little as a few minutes to up to 30 to 60 minutes, and if you work steadily, the results will be impressive. There are a great number of vocabulary resources available for ESL students, as well as specific ones to prepare you for the TOEFL iBT.

A suggestion is using Quizlet, a website that helps you to generate your own flashcard sets. Below is a video that shows you how to use this website:

VOCABULARY RESOURCES 
To identify the best vocabulary textbook for your needs, visit the local library or bookstore and browse through the wide range of books available. If you are an auditory learner, you may prefer to use an audio vocabulary building program, which you can listen to while commuting, jogging, etc. Whatever you choose, find the book or program whose style and system appeals to you. You could also ask the librarian, your ESL teacher or a friend for recommendations, but let the final choice be yours. Building your vocabulary takes time and you need to find a system you are comfortable with and will use consistently.

10 TIPS TO IMPROVE TOEFL LISTENING SKILLS

1. Take past TOEFL listening tests and become familiar with the format. Quickly read the comprehension questions before the recording begins - this helps you to listen out for key points – often there is a lot of content that you will not be tested on – keep your focus and energy for the points that count!

2. Practice note taking whenever you are listening to something in English – only write down key words or phrases, use abbreviations for long words and always write in English. Record only the major points – you won’t have time to write down the minor, unimportant details in the exam.

3. Improve your vocabulary – the more words you know, the easier it will be for you to understand the listening section. 

4. Listen for signal words (signpost words) that indicate major steps, changes or ideas such as seldom, at the moment, in 1975, so far, usually, often, up to now, at the moment. Make sure to also listen out for repetition, synonyms and pronouns.

How to identify SIGNPOST WORDS
(This is a video for strategies in the IELTS test but it is particularly helpful to show how to recognize signpost words and is applicable to the TOEFL iBT test!)

5. Download listening practice lessons, such as lessons on Behind the news, CNN Students news, or Special VOA English and stop it at different times. Try and guess what will happen next! This is a great way to practice your ability to connect and combine ideas. Then go back and listen to the lesson in full and see how well you did.

How to improve TOEFL listening skill: Listening to news

6. Determine the purpose of a conversation or speech– what do you think the speakers are trying to do? Are they angry? Trying to resolve a conflict? Sad? Express an idea? Practice this technique every time you hear English including English movies or TV shows, any reality programs that you are interested in, or even people you hear speaking English on the street! This will help you focus on the key points and improve your ability to filter out information that is not necessary for the TOEFL listening exam questions.

7. Recognize key points – who or what is the conversation about? What is the main point of the lecture? Why are they talking about this? Remember, the TOEFL listening exam is testing your comprehension, not your ability to memorize and repeat what you have just heard!

8. Find connections between ideas – how do these points connect to the key ideas of the passage? If they do NOT connect to the key ideas, they are probably not the major ideas of the passage and you should not focus on them.

9. Pay attention when someone in the exercise asks a question – often it is a clue that information is about to be given. However, this is not always true so be careful for responses that sound a lot like the answer to a question. Listen very carefully as these responses are often there to test your ability to understand the context of what you heard.

10. Categorize the type of exercise you are listening to when taking practice TOEFL listening tests. Ask yourself – is it a lecture (mostly one-sided and on academic topics) or a conversation (language is more informal, two or more people)? This will help you understand the flow of the conversation more clearly