[Zishen TOEFL] High-Score Experience

School and major: graduated from Soochow University, Department of International Business

Scores: R5.0/L5.0/W5.0/S4.0 Overall5.0

Test date: 2026/09/05

[Prep Experience & Methods by Section]

[Reading]

-My reading prep focused mainly on getting familiar with the question types and reading faster. Working through the course handouts and practice questions, I gradually got better at grasping a passage's structure and key information instead of translating every sentence word by word. After practicing, I also reviewed my wrong answers carefully, working out whether I had picked the wrong answer because of unfamiliar vocabulary or because I misread the passage's logic, which improved my accuracy.

[Listening]

-For listening, I think a daily practice habit is very important; it trains you to pick out the key points of conversations and academic content quickly. At first I was easily distracted by unfamiliar words, but over time I learned to catch keywords, take brief notes and focus on the overall context and key information. After practicing, I would also re-listen to the parts I wasn't familiar with to check whether I had really understood them.

[Speaking]

-Speaking was the section I was least confident about. Many thanks to my teacher Michael for the guidance. Through the way Michael got students to voice their opinions in class, along with the weekly practice questions and homework, I gradually learned to organize my ideas within a limited time and support my answers with reasons and concrete examples. The feedback I got also helped me spot problems in my grammar, word choice and expression. Although nerves still affected my performance on the real test, the prep made me more willing to speak English and showed me more clearly what I need to work on going forward.

[Writing]

For writing, I think the most important thing is building a clear essay structure in very little time. Through the course and repeated practice, I learned to take a position first and then give reasons and concrete examples, which made my essays more logical. During my prep I also practiced the Email and Academic Discussion tasks heavily, exposing myself to topics from many different fields so I could handle any question type on the test, while working on my grammar, word choice and transitions. Constant practice fixed my old habit of spending too long planning and then not finishing the essay in time. Every week in class, our teacher Li Wei also analyzed and corrected the previous week's homework, which helped us understand our problems and work on our writing weaknesses more efficiently.

[Study Plan]

Since I had to balance a part-time job and grad school applications while preparing, I used my days off for longer practice sessions, and on workdays I focused on vocabulary review and speaking and writing practice. Early on, I used the course to build the fundamentals for each section; later, I took practice tests more often to get used to the real test's time limits.

In the week before the test, I focused on speaking and writing, the sections I was less confident in, practicing common topics and answer structures over and over and using practice tests to find my weak spots. The courses and learning resources from Wordgod let me plan my prep systematically even with limited time.

[Test Center Report]

This time I took the test in person at the Chiu Jing cram school (求精補習班) in Kaohsiung. There were a lot of test takers that day, but the room was on the small side, and I was the last one to enter. While I was still having my photo taken and reading the rules confirmation statement aloud, everyone else had already been answering for a while, so some noise from one another was unavoidable. Also, this center did not allow even earplugs or tissues inside, so I suggest checking the rules in advance and being mentally prepared for noise from other test takers.

[Words of Encouragement for Other Test Takers]

When you prepare for the TOEFL, you won't necessarily see progress every day, and it's natural to feel discouraged when a practice score disappoints. But I think the most important thing is to keep practicing, find your weak spots and gradually adjust how you study. Even if you don't perform at your usual level on the real test, the English you build up while preparing is still a real gain. I hope everyone can believe in their own effort and keep moving forward on the road to studying abroad~

[Score Report]