POPULAR MYTHS ABOUT TOEFL
TOEFL – Test of English As A Foreign Language is an English Proficiency test whose scores are accepted by more than 9,000 colleges, universities and agencies in 130 countries. If you have a dream to study abroad then take TOEFL and fulfill all your dreams. The flexibility that this test provides is that its scores are valid for two years from the date which you have appeared for this test. The test is of 120 marks with 30 marks for each of the four sections namely Writing, Reading, Speaking and Listening.
Studying Abroad after clearing TOEFL opens numerous opportunities as it makes you more marketable, gives you an international perspective, strengthen your networking skills at global level, and improves your command over the most widely spoken language worldwide that is ENGLISH.
Since this test requires a great deal of financial as well as emotional investment on the part of aspirant. There are too many speculations and myths attached to it. These myths are not just some loose talks but if not cleared they tend to change the aspirant’s preparation criteria and deteriorate his chances of clearing the exam of TOEFL.
List of commonly associated myths with TOEFL Training and Preparation are:
Speak FLAMBOYANT English Words
This is a clear myth that the candidate needs to know difficult and flamboyant English words in order to impress his interviewer. He must write words whose spellings are difficult and are uncommonly used. Although the hard realising truth is that TOEFL assesses your understanding of the language and your ability to converse in it on daily basis which hardly requires usage of big fancy words. TOEFL examiners just make sure that you know enough of the language to survive and communicate in the atmosphere of a new foreign land without any difficulty.
Imitate the ACCENT
There is no such mandatory rule for qualifying and passing the TOEFL that the candidate must speak in a particular accent of the country he is wishing to go in. For example if he wishes to go to US, he must know all the slangs of American English and the interviewer will be cutting your marks if you do not speak in an accent. The simple fact is that the candidate should only be thorough with English without majorly focussing on its ACCENT.
SPEAK FAST OTHERWISE THEY’LL KNOW YOU ARE NOT A PRO
Speaking Fast will impress the interviewer more and he will know that you are confident enough and speak almost like a native. This belief is completely false because TOEFL is a test for Non-Native Speakers of English and the examiners are specially instructed to make the candidates comfortable and not let them feel pressurize under any circumstance. Contrarily speaking fast a language which is not your native will obviously stress you to a reasonable level hence this belief is completely wrong and should be discarded while TOEFL Training. Speaking English fastly is no criteria for grading in TOEFL.
WRITE MORE THAN WORD LIMIT
The most common myth that persists in the TOEFL Aspirants is that if they write more content than the word limit it will provide them with much better score. However exceeding 20-25 words is feasible enough but writing more in order to fill the pages just for the quantity of content is not an intelligent decision on the candidate’s part. The examiner is tend to loose interest in your content if you go on rambling in your answer sheet.
DEEP KNOWLEDGE ABOUT EVERY SUBJECT
It is true that comprehension can come from any subject in the READING Section but that doesn’t mean you need to learn each and everything about different subjects deeply and thoroughly. The questions are put up only from the portion of text given in question paper. You are supposed to read and interpret it according to your understanding of the English Language then answer accordingly.
In order to score well in TOEFL you must not believe in any such myths that you hear around yourself. Instead opt for a suitable training course with updated study material of TOEFL. New Cambridge College in SECTOR 17 offers training in IELTS, TOEFL, PTE and SAT. Its experienced faculty and motivating atmosphere helps the candidate to achieve high scores in these English Proficiency Tests.