【TOEFL High-Score Experience】

School and major: Kang Chiao

Score: 104

Test date: 2024/10/06

【Prep notes for each section & how I prepared】

【Reading】

I used to read the whole passage before answering, but the teacher’s method of picking out the key points seemed to save time and also

raise my accuracy, so I switched to it. As for preparation, my reading was already at

my target score, so before the test I focused on speaking and writing. During the test, I found that quietly reading the passage’s

long, difficult sentences out loud helped me follow the meaning. Also, because I ran short on time, I used the teacher’s

trick for guessing fill-in-the-blank answers.

-

【Listening】

My school already teaches in English, so listening wasn’t hard for me. Just have a little caffeine before the test

so you don’t fall asleep while listening.

-

【Speaking】

Frequent practice in class actually made me realize my speaking wasn’t good enough. Questions 2, 3 and 4 can all

follow a set pattern; with a bit of practice plus the class templates, they’re basically handled. Question 1, about your personal opinion,

really takes practice to get used to, so before the test I reviewed the common question types in the speaking handouts and

pulled a few real questions from the Kaomanfen (考满分) website to make sure I could get my answers out on test day.

-

【Writing】

The writing class helped me the most. The teacher guided us to write our own templates, which

helped me quite a bit in the test. The teacher also carefully graded every practice piece and gave each of us individual feedback,

which showed me where I really needed to improve. That’s also when I found out that my grammar and spelling,

since I’m used to computer autocorrect, were actually a total mess, so in the test I saved some time to

check for those mistakes. When doing homework I timed myself as the teacher said, and found I was taking

a bit too long. Only later did I gradually figure out how to manage my time in TOEFL writing so I could finish and still have

time to check for grammar and spelling errors.

-

【Study plan】

My weak spot is thinking on my feet in speaking, so before the test I reviewed the common topics in the handouts and

made sure I remembered the speaking and writing templates.

-

【Test center report】

Comfortable overall, with newer keyboards; typing for the writing section felt smoother than at Yuan Ze University. Few test takers, so the room was quiet

; you can step out briefly during the test, but the clock keeps running.

【Words of encouragement for other test takers】

The most important thing is not to get too nervous during the test.