TOEFL: preparation tips and strategies

Both students and teachers feel anxious about exams. Taking an exam is always nervous and stressful. In this article, we will discuss the TOEFL exam. I will share some preparation tips and strategies on maximising your student’s potential to do their best and make them feel they are totally prepared.

General

1. Make sure the student is aware of the test format: task types, question types, sections, timing, basic features, scoring system. 
2. Set a goal score. This gives your student a clear aim during their TOEFL preparation.
3. Make a realistic study plan and stick to it. You can use this Test Planner or create your own. Make sure the student has ample time. Include regular practice tests every week. Focus on the weakest areas, include more tasks to develop them.
4. Make sure you use official and up-to-date materials as tests change over time. The information in the materials must be relevant and in accordance with the exam format of the current year.
5. Practice makes perfect. The simple truth is the more the student practices, the higher their score is. They should take a chance of practising every time they have free time. It’s essential to practise every day. Let it be only 20-30 minutes, but they should dive into language, immerse in it.
6. Have the learner read the instructions and all the answers carefully. This is quite important as some mistakes can be made due to lack of attention. Moreover, tell them to answer every question even if they don’t know the answer, it’s better to try to guess it than leave it blank. There are no penalties for the wrong answers.
7. Teach the student how to use time properly. Set the timing when they do certain tasks. Have the student do the same at home and send you the results. They should start doing exercises at their own pace, but they should be on schedule step by step. During the exam, the student should be reasonable with timing and tasks too. For instance, they should think about the word they don’t know for 5 minutes and just skip it or try to guess the answer.
8. Have them work on their typing skills. This shouldn’t be a problem for many students nowadays, however, it’s good to practise doing it well without typos to maximize their writing time.
9. Organize a “real exam” every week or two. Give the student full test, create exam conditions, set the timing. This will facilitate further “real real” exam. The student will learn how to overcome nerves, control stress level; they will be more familiar with the situation and feel more confident and prepared. 
10. Teach them to double-check every task. Make it a habit.
11. Have them take the test on time. Tell the student not to hurry and take the test too early when they are not ready yet. They can get low results and become demotivated. However, the students shouldn’t “relax” as if they do not have a certain deadline. Set an appropriate date to be prepared to stimulate the student.
12. Recommend them to take the test twice. I did it myself when I took the test and I advise my students to do the same. Have a week break between two tests dates and they will see the second result is much better. Firstly, as they have one more week to prepare. Secondly, they get acquainted with the exam situation and procedure, they know what to expect and feel less stressful second time. And stress influences the results.
13. Help them work on their attitude. Stress does motivate us, but if they worry too much, they can make mistakes. Encourage them to be calm and confident.
14. Advise them to avoid wearing themselves out the day before the test and take care of themselves: get enough sleep and have breakfast. Their brain must rest.

Vocabulary and Grammar

1. Students need to have a high range of vocabulary and a solid grasp of high-level, academic vocabulary. Student can create wordlists, for example, on Quizlet and drill the words. 
2. Have the student learn new words, structures and expressions every day. They should also make a word and structures list and make sentences with them. Tell them to use at least 2-3 new words, structures or expressions in speaking or writing tasks so they activate them.
3. Make sure students use new lexis and grammar appropriately. Tell them not to use what they don’t know or they have doubts about.

Listening and Reading

1. Tell the student to practise note-taking. Whatever they listen to, they should write down keywords, keep track of the main ideas, concepts or terms. 
2. Have the student listen to different types of academic lectures, e.g. Ed.TED or TED and podcasts, and look for the main ideas,
3. Have the student read complex academic texts on different topics (e.g., Academic Journals, Science news, SN, Science Daily), get the main idea and what the author implies; make sure they understand transitions and organizational patterns. 
4. Draw the student’s attention to discourse markers or rhetorical questions as the main or important idea usually follows them.
5. Make sure the student have an appropriate pace on the Reading Section. So they do not read for a long time when gist is required and they do not skip important information when reading for details is necessary. They shouldn’t spend more than 20 minutes on each passage and question set. It’s better to spend about five minutes reading and about one minute per question.
6. If they get a question they do not understand, teach them to use the process of elimination: they start looking for the wrong answer choices (e.g., something opposite of what is discussed or something irrelevant).
7. In the Reading section, the student can skip a question they don’t know the answer to and return to it later so they don’t waste their time. Tell the student to read the whole text without looking up the words they don’t know, have them learn to deduce the meaning from the context. Have them search for definitions when they finish the task.

Speaking and Writing 

1. Teach students to plan and outline their speaking and writing well: decide on the main ideas and not to change the focus so they do not include irrelevant information; make sure the ideas are connected and the whole text or speech is logical; use discourse markers and transitions.
2. As for speaking, tell the student to record themselves and then listen to, correct and record again. When listening to themselves they should check if their answer is complete, clear and easy to understand, there are not many pauses and mistakes. Firstly, they shouldn’t keep the timing, but in some time they should start setting the timer. They can also send you their records for you to check.
3. Before doing their first writing and speaking tasks, give the student good samples so they know what to aim at and what is expected. When they get the hang of the tasks, give them a sample after they’ve done their own piece so they can compare.
4. Have the student practise writing at least once per 2 days. Firstly, they shouldn’t set the timer, but as they become more confident with these tasks, have them practise timed writing.
5. Make sure the student has a clear pronunciation when speaking. They won’t be penalised for having an accent, however, they can be if their speech isn’t clear.
6. Train the student to speak for the whole time given. If they have time left, they can make an additional point, elaborate on the example they’ve given, conclude the response with a summary.
7. During speaking make sure student doesn’t make lots of pauses and do not overuse filler words.

Here you can find some other tips from the official TOEFL website.