TOEFL: Let's Face It!

By: Amelia Putri Rizqiani*

As we all know, English is a very important language nowadays. It is global language that is used by all people in the world.  So that English ability is really important for us to compete in this global era. Because of that every job field, voluntary event, or any kind of recruitment requires – at least a Basic English ability even it is spoken or written. But your ability must be proven by some measurement. One way to measure our ability in English is through some test – the popular and usual one is TOEFL. Actually there are still so many other test like TOEIC or IELTS. But, I think that even it is old-fashioned or so yesterday, TOEFL is likely the most popular one especially in Indonesia. Let’s see some job fields, another kind of enrollment or even for graduation require TOEFL score in certain range.

TOEFL contains three section, listening, writing or structure, and reading. Most of you are afraid in facing that. Some are caused by your lack of confidence but many don’t know how to do it. So here some tips and strategy for you in facing your TOEFL. 

LISTENING COMPREHENSION

FOCUS AND CONCENTRATE

In listening, to focus and concentrate more is a big must. In this section you will hear conversation and text that is spoken by native speaker. So you must listen carefully. If you haven’t accustomed with spoken English, you will find it difficult. You can start by listening song or watch film that use English. It is very helpful to make you understand English pronunciation and also make you usual on how those natives speak especially in the way they speak and their intonation. When you do a lot of listening, you won’t bother with their speech speed or their dialect. Doing some conversation with your friend can help you too. So it is very simple. Make you yourself usual with English

When it comes in test, don’t let anything disturb you in this section. Because once you are daydreaming, you will lose anything. You will not understand that question. And one more tips, don’t stuck too long in question that you find it difficult. Go move on quickly and focus on the next question. The past is in the past. 

TRY TO UNDERSTAND NOT TO REMEMBER

Some people mistakes in listening section are they focus on words not whole speech. Some type of question in listening section is about "what does he/she mean?". So the only way to understand it is by listen and focus on whole speech or conversation. If you find out any difficulties in one word, go on with that. The important thing is not to know every word they say but to understand what they are talking about. It will also make you more efficient in thinking without lose your focus. If it comes in type of text or conversation that is used for a lot of question, try to predict what the question is. You can predict it through the option that they give. Sometimes you forget what they are talking about when  it is in last question. Listen carefully and match what they say with the answer that they give.

INCREASE YOUR VOCABULARY

As I said before, some people are trapped by some words not the whole meaning. For example you hear “Wear your jacket!” several times, in option there is: (a) to wear your thin clothes; (b) to use thick clothes. If you are just focus on the word, you will choose opt (a) easily because you hear “wear” in the conversation. This is what I mean that TOEFL are tricky. Just not because opt (b) doesn’t contain any “wear” in it, it become the wrong answer. But instead of “wear” they use its synonym which is “use”. Also they use “thick clothes” to synonym with “jacket”. So the only solution is to increase your vocabulary especially in synonyms. Increasing your vocabulary can be executed by many ways, such as listen song that use English, watch import film, and read English text. Even if you don’t get what some words mean, you can understand it contextually.

If you are stuck and cannot find any synonym, you can rely on your understanding like I say beforehand. 

STRUCTURE AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION

NOTICE SIMPLE THINGS

Structure and written expression sometimes is the hardest one in TOEFL (I myself feel that way). We often don’t notice small mistake. The key to succeed in this section is to take note at small things. You must understand the difference in using article “a/an” and “the”. There are also some differences in using preposition such as on, in, at, etc. Be careful on collocations or verb added with preposition. Sometimes it has different meaning or form. Some sentences that contain certain words also have different pattern such as elliptical construction, passive voice, degree of comparison, subjunctive, question tag, direct/indirect speech, gerund, relative clauses, etc. Try to understand its form, mean, and using. 

BASIC GRAMMAR

Every sentence is built in a grammar. Keep it simple, there are present tense, past tense, perfect tense, and continuous. As I mention before, notice the small things. For example in present tense, don’t forget to put some “s/es” in singular subject or for using “verb-ing” must be followed by to be (if it is not gerund). Verb 3 must be surpassed with have/has/had. Sometimes the mistake from the sentence just comes in a few words or even letter.

Present tense is used to explain common knowledge, habit, etc which use verb 1 and special feature is adding s/es in singular subject. Auxiliary in this tense uses is/am/are/do/does. Past tense is to explain past activities. It uses verb 2 with auxiliary was/were/did. Perfect tense is to explain past activity that is still done. It uses verb 3 with have or its another form. Continuous tense is to explain activity that already happening. It is uses to be and verb-ing. Other tenses are just extended for this main tense. Hold tight on those rules and its special features

LISTEN TO YOUR HEART

TOEFL doesn’t apply score reduction. So if you have no clue, just use your instinct and follow your heart. But don’t reckless on it. Even if you use your instinct, use it wisely. I always say that you must use English as your habitual even it is by listening song, watching film, or reading a book. From those kinds of activities, you will usual with some sentence and its form. So when you stuck on a question, you can choose the option from what you feel it is proper, fit or just nice. The more you read or listening an English sentence, the sharper you get your instinct in that. 

READING COMPREHENSION

TIME MANAGEMENT
Time management is very important in this section. You will be provided by so long text. It is usually about science with so many difficult term or vocabulary. But don’t get panic. Your duty is to answer the question not to translate all of them. So use your time wisely because you have to answer so many questions in a short time. As far as I know, there are several types of question in this section which are understanding the text, question “refers to”, synonym or same meaning, and continue the text to the next paragraph. “Understanding the text” type is a question that the answer is based on the text like “what the text talk about?”. To answer that type of question tries to read an opening and closing text. If the question is about some other things, try to find a same word that appears in both question and text. “Refers to” question usually go to ask in what that pronoun refers to. The question will be “It in line 12 refers to … . To answer that type of question just read sentence before that pronoun. It will explain which it refers. Read it carefully because sometimes it is very tricky.
Next is “synonym or same meaning” type of question. For example: What is the closest synonym of virtuoso in line 4?. If you have idea what it is, you can just choose in option which one is true.  But if you don’t, first you must read the sentence that contains that word. You can try to translate it by its context. And then choose the proper answer from option. The answer usually comes with easier vocabulary. But, you still have to increase your vocabulary so that you don’t find any difficulties in understanding both of the sentence or the option. Then, last type is a question to continue to other paragraph. To answer this, you can just read the last paragraph. To continue, it must be a correlation, mustn’t it?
With those types of question and how to face it, you can maximize your time. People usually read the text all and then read the question. When you end in reading your question you back to the text to find the answer. It will be a double burden to you. Reading whole text really wastes time. Just cut one step because you don’t need to know whole text. Read the question first is more efficient and good for your time management.  So with the time they provide, you can answer the entire question without regret.


SKIMMING ABILITY
Don’t get too stuck with the text. As I say, you must read the question first and then search the answer in the text. With a very long text somehow it is so difficult to find the answer. So you need skimming ability. Maybe at first you see text word by word. Try to wider your eyes sight range so that you can see text by four words at once. It needs an exercise. So to enhance your skimming ability is by reading as much as you can. 




That is some tips and strategy in facing your TOEFL. I am sure many of you have your secret tips. But at least I have shared my experience to make your study can guided well. You won’t lose too much effort and energy if you know the strategy. 



“Without strategy, execution is aimless. Without execution, strategy is useless” -Morris Chang-



*) author is former President of English Society of FISIP Unsoed 2013/2014