TOEFL Reading Notes from Datehao (達特豪)

TOEFL score 106 (R29 L28 S23 W26)

I'm sure most of you have heard of the TOEFL and know it at least a little. It's a combined test of listening, speaking, reading and writing, but personally I think it revolves mostly around listening, because listening, speaking and writing all require the ability to listen and take notes. That's its core!!

Reading 3~4 passages, ten questions each, 54~72 minutes

The TOEFL is a test that depends a bit on luck. First you need to know that the TOEFL has an “extra section” mechanism, and the extra section can show up in either reading or listening. If reading has 4 passages, listening will only have 3+2 questions; conversely, if reading has only 3 passages, listening becomes 4+3 questions, and the timing changes accordingly, of course.

No matter how many passages you get, don't panic, and read the questions carefully. The TOEFL is a test where you can clearly find the answers in the passage, unlike the GRE, which may take some logic and reasoning. In other words, if you're good enough, you might not even understand the passage, but by picking out keywords to quickly locate where each question points and then answering, your accuracy will basically still be pretty high.

Every passage has one vocabulary question, and for that you just have to memorize lots of words. There's no other trick; at most, roots and prefixes give you a few clues. My own vocabulary is big enough, so these questions are free points for me. If you feel your vocabulary isn't big enough, you could buy a TOEFL vocabulary book, or keep a small notebook and write down all the words tested in that question every time you do a TPO, because the TOEFL tends to test the same things. That way you won't be memorizing blindly, and writing them down as you learn them is very efficient.

I think the rest of the questions are an advanced version of high school reading comprehension. It's not that the questions are that hard, the passages are just longer and the vocabulary is broader, but compared with the GRE it's really nothing. Only the last question, the ordering/summary question, is harder, because you only get the points if it's all correct. For this kind of question I suggest looking at the options first and then going back to find them, and paying attention to the sentences that show the paragraph structure.

Overall:

Do TPOs diligently. Back then I went through almost all of them. Get to know the topics: some come up again and again, like animal extinction, the Jurassic, marine life, astronomy, the Industrial Revolution, the Renaissance and so on. Back then I often hit passages I hadn't read, but I'd read other passages on the same topic covering similar concepts, so I just answered directly.

Reflections:

Looking back, English really is something you can work at, and later you'll see why I say that, because so much of the application process is out of your hands. Such is life...... I first thought about going abroad in high school, so back then I prepared on my own and took the test once without much effort. Unsurprisingly... it went badly! Later I took classes at Hsinchu Jingying (新竹菁英), 48 sessions for something over 20,000, I think (? Purely because I rarely went home back then, I could only take classes in Hsinchu, so every week I rode to the prep school in front of Hsinchu Station. I don't know how I got through it, since I also had sports practice, classes and dance practice

My first TOEFL attempt was 97.... I had such mixed feelings. Retaking felt wrong, not retaking felt wrong too, but on my walk back to the lab I made up my mind, and in less than five minutes I took out my credit card and signed up😂 And the test was just one week later. In between I drilled essays hard again, two or three a day, and just kept my touch on the other sections. In the end I was surprised to get 106

But I wasn't happy for long before I realized I'd probably taken it too early. If I graduated on schedule in June 2022 and then applied, and I hadn't done my military service yet

then I wouldn't be able to go abroad until 2023, and by then my TOEFL would have long expired (it's only valid for two years). Since I couldn't change the TOEFL, I changed my graduation XD So I graduated from NCTU (交大) in three years, which was kind of an unexpected bonus. I'm no genius either, it just happened to work out.... that's all. I was really lucky. The TOEFL thing brought me to despair, but then I saw hope again. Every road will have a crossroads, and as long as you keep walking, you'll definitely find a way out