What Should You Do in the Two Weeks Before the TOEFL?

Hi everyone,

I'm Rosa from SK2 TOEFL. I've taught the TOEFL for more than ten years and have a lot of experience helping students raise a section from 20 to 30 in a short time. Today I'd like to talk about your mindset in the two weeks before the test. Students usually feel a bit nervous before the test, thinking they haven't prepared enough or lacking confidence about this attempt. These are all completely normal worries. Today I want to share "what you can do in the two weeks before the test to build confidence." I believe it can help you stay steady before the test.

First, a reminder of what you shouldn't do before the test:

1. Stop frantically grinding through questions

The closer the test gets, the harder most students practice full past tests, and some even do two or three a day. I think this really just eases your guilt and makes you feel "I've practiced, so the test should be fine!" But it does little to actually raise your score or calm your nerves. When you focus each day on the number of questions you do, you'll find you have little time to review, and you'll tend to make the same mistakes in every section. So please stop doing question after question!

2. Don't stay up late studying

Many students cram right before the test and stay up late studying. Personally, I'm against this, because when your sleep schedule is off, you don't study efficiently, and you're also more likely to get sick. If you happen to get sick the day before the test, you won't be able to perform at your usual level. So for busy working test-takers, I'd rather you spend two hours a day carefully sorting out and reviewing the problems in each section than stay up late every day to squeeze out a bit more time. In "The Artist's Guide to Success in the Music Business," author Loren Weisman wrote, "It’s not about the amount of time you put in, it is the way you spend the time on the work you need to get done." I think that when you focus on reviewing, about two hours a day before the test is enough.

Next, here are my suggestions:

1. Practice with difficult subjects

First, when you practice reading and listening, I suggest picking subjects you're unfamiliar with and turning these hard subjects into an "unfamiliar topic bundle," then taking on a full set at once. For example, for reading I might pick "astronomy, geology and chemistry." The goal is to prepare you for the worst case that could happen on the test. In fact, test materials are evenly split between easy, medium and hard. Reading may have one harder passage, but not all three will be very hard, and usually if reading feels a bit easier, listening will be harder. So the disaster scenario, where both reading and listening happen to cover your least familiar subjects, is unlikely. Still, practicing an unfamiliar topic bundle helps you think through how to handle every kind of situation on test day. Also, after practicing unfamiliar topic bundles, you'll become much tougher mentally, and if you hit just one harder subject on the test, it won't scare you anymore.

TIP! I'd suggest reaching a certain level of consistency first (for example, no more than one mistake per reading passage, a perfect score on listening conversations and no more than one mistake per lecture) before practicing unfamiliar topic bundles. If you're not consistent enough yet, this practice may actually shake your confidence.

Recommended reading: What to do if you keep getting unfamiliar listening subjects wrong?

https://sk2toefl.blogspot.com/2020/05/blog-post.html

2. Think through and examine the problems in each section

After finishing an unfamiliar topic bundle, on the same day or the next, be sure to think carefully, list the problems you ran into in each section, and work out how to deal with them. For example:

Problem: When an astronomy passage comes up in reading, I unconsciously read too closely, trying to truly understand every sentence, and waste too much time.

Solution: When I hit astronomy, remind myself to first find the purpose of each paragraph and take structured notes.

A student who scored over 100 on their first attempt once shared in an interview: "In the two weeks before the test, I basically didn't do many questions. Instead, I went back over the questions I'd done and thought about whether I could now solve similar problems when I ran into them." Indeed, one to two weeks before the test, you should already have internalized the answering process for each section, so there's no need to practice too many questions. Instead, spend more time reviewing and thinking, and remind yourself again where you tend to make mistakes in each section.

I don't think you need to do many speaking or writing questions every day before the test; just focus on solving your problems. In my case, I usually run over time on speaking Task 4, so I have a time-management problem. After coming up with a strategy, I first practice the same question until I get it right, then take on a second Task 4 question to see whether I can nail it on the first recording. Only if I can do that do I know I've solved my Task 4 problem. By the same logic, if your writing problem is that you can't quickly come up with reasons for a certain type of question (such as questions about the government), then writing an essay every day won't help much. You should instead practice coming up with reasons for that type of question. In the two weeks before the test, practicing one or two independent writing tasks may be enough.

3. Do a full run-through of the test

Quite a few students get a high accuracy rate on a single reading passage or listening set, but when they do a whole set or all four sections at once, they find their concentration drops and they can't perform at their usual level on the later questions. So before the test, be sure to do at least two complete runs of past tests covering every section, to train your focus and get a feel for how tired you'll be on test day. You can do one full mock test two weeks before and another one a week before. You can combine this step with the unfamiliar topic bundle from the first suggestion to raise the difficulty. If you find you tire easily after reading, I'd suggest taking a deep breath and stretching while the listening section explains the question types, and only starting once you're ready.

4. Adjust your mindset

Mindset really matters. Many students do well on past tests in practice, but get too nervous and too worried about the result on test day and end up underperforming. I suggest reading more articles about mindset in the two weeks before the test. Especially when you're anxious, reading about other people's experiences can actually make you calmer and steadier. A student now doing a master's in Germany took the TOEFL four times. She once shared: "After my third attempt, I was pretty discouraged. So I went to a student who finally hit his target on his seventh attempt and asked him how he did it." You need to know that "you won't be the first person to underperform on a test; the road you're about to take, others have walked too." There are always students whose situations were harder than yours and who still overcame them. From them we can learn a strong determination to succeed, and that energy is what kept them going.

Sometimes unexpected things happen on test day. For example, your computer suddenly crashes halfway through and you can't continue, and ET$ isn't going to refund you either, so all you can do is accept it and quickly register for the next test. Personally, I think that once you've decided to study abroad, you need a firm resolve that doesn't back down from hardship. The TOEFL is like a mini-boss: it tests your willpower and torments your mind. You might be in great shape that day and luckily break 100 on your first try. Or you might slip a little and score lower than expected. So what? It’s just a test. Worst case, you take it again. It's like having to pass a driving test before you can drive: it's fine if you don't pass the first time, and there's nothing to be ashamed of. Take it again and you'll pass eventually! After you've fought your way through the TOEFL, GMAT and GRE, finally sorted out your recommendation letters and finished your essays, you may discover that studying abroad itself is the final boss! By then you'll face a heavy workload every day, professors and classmates with accents that are hard to understand and who speak very fast, plus the pressure of looking for internships and jobs. That will be a whole new level of challenge!

Recommended reading: TOEFL prep "mindset" column

https://sk2toefl.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_509.html

5. Make sure you're in peak condition on test day

Finally, I suggest using the two weeks before the test to set yourself up to be in peak condition on the day. First, get used to the test's time slot and environment. If your test is in the morning, get used to doing questions in the morning every day so your mind is clear on the day. If you've registered for the at-home test, you should already be taking notes with the whiteboard and whiteboard marker you've prepared, and checking that your computer setup works. Second, I also suggest keeping a normal sleep schedule and getting moderate exercise before the test. Some students happened to have a stomachache, diarrhea or a fuzzy-headed cold on test day, and others studied too hard the night before and couldn't sleep. All of these can seriously affect how you perform on the test. Lastly, don't forget to prepare in advance your (valid, unexpired) passport and a copy of your admission ticket for test day. If you can't find your passport the day before, you'll really fall apart! Your mental state on the day can make a difference of about 10 points. Simply put, adjust your schedule and find a way to be alert on test day, and you'll have a good chance of breaking 100.

I hope you all get your mindset right before the test, perform at your usual level, and break 100 on your first try!

Warm Regards,

SK2 Rosa ^____^

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Preparing for the TOEFL right now? Join our free online open class at the end of May and learn the keys to a perfect score in speaking and writing.

SK2 TOEFL, with the most positive reviews on PTT / Dcard and the most high-scoring students in Taiwan, led by a founder who scored 119 on the TOEFL (out of 120), brings an exclusive online talk to Offerland!

If you're planning to study abroad, you should know:

＊TOEFL or IELTS? Do you need the GRE / GMAT?

＊Can you use ChatGPT to help you prepare?

＊How should you practice speaking and writing?

＊How do high-scoring recordings and essays differ from low-scoring ones?

In this free open class, SK2 TOEFL's two co-founders, Rosa and David, will share the answers to these questions!

Date: 5/28 (Wed)

Time: 1930- 2100

1930- 1940 How should you choose your study-abroad tests to get the most out of them?

1940- 1950 How should I use AI to help me prepare?

1950- 2010 How do you move speaking out of the low range and into the high-score range?

2010- 2030 What hurts a writing score most: going off topic, development or word choice?

2030- 2100 Q&A

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