[Zishen TOEFL] High-score experience

School and major: Senior, Department of Information Management, National Chi Nan University

Scores: first attempt R:5 L:5 S:5 W:5.5

Test date: 2026/7/4

[Prep tips & approach for each section]

[Reading]

Early in the course, the teacher works through questions together with the class and keeps reminding us of strategies along the way. That's really important for today's TOEFL, which puts a huge emphasis on speed, because the worst thing is not finishing the questions. Part of Reading is filling in missing words. It's a bit hard at first, but the teacher explains how to work out the answer from things like part of speech. I found this really helpful, and it made practicing on my own afterwards much easier.

[Listening]

For most students, the hardest part is academic listening. It has more difficult vocabulary, so you're bound to hit words you haven't learned or can't catch. In class the teacher taught us a lot of note-taking techniques, which help a lot for students whose listening or vocabulary is weaker, because good notes largely decide whether you can respond accurately when you get to the questions.

[Writing]

What helped me most was that the teacher writes a lot of model essays personally, and students can study the teacher's word choices to work out a writing structure of their own. On the TOEFL, the worst thing is sentences that are obviously memorized and copied, which get marked down straight away. So learning from model essays how to use good words and phrases to build what you want to say is a really worthwhile process.

[Speaking]

As for Speaking, the section Taiwanese students fear most, the hardest challenge is converting your logic from Chinese into English. And the new TOEFL doesn't give you time to think it through slowly: you have to respond as soon as the question appears. So the templates provided in the course are very student-friendly, and at least early on you won't freeze up completely from being out of practice. With the templates, it's easier to build a structure in your head and buy a little time to respond. The teacher also creates lots of chances in class for students to speak, which greatly reduces the problem of students being afraid to speak up.

Besides the help in class, the prep school also offers extra resources outside class, such as one-on-one tutoring, mock tests and plenty of practice questions. The speaking mock tests were especially important and helped me raise my speaking score a lot in the later stage of prep. I took one every so often to check where I was. Finally, however much the prep school helps, what matters most is practicing hard yourself, working on your weak areas, or actively asking for individual coaching.

[Study plan]

Prep period: six months in total.

Scheduling: set the target test date early on, stay flexible during prep, track progress, and keep adjusting based on actual results and how well things are sinking in.

Foundation phase (January to April):

Went all in on the course and finished all of it by the end of April.

During this phase I put in about 6 to 7 hours a day to build a foundation in listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Intensive practice phase (April to the July test):

After the course ended, I moved on to doing lots of practice questions and mock tests.

During this period I cut focused study time to 3 to 4 hours a day, concentrating on staying sharp and reviewing mistakes.

Vocabulary plan: memorize words every day. Early on the goal was 50 a day; in the April practice phase I cut it to 30 a day and shifted the focus to applying question types and understanding passages.

Mock tests and review: at least two full mock tests a week (such as TPO). The rest of the time, besides properly correcting mistakes and clearing up blind spots, I also did focused work on my weak areas.

[Test center report]

On test day, check in early and don't bring too much, because you can't keep anything on you during the test. I put on noise-canceling headphones as soon as the test started, since there's still background noise. Also, the keyboards at the test center are very thin, so if you normally use a mechanical keyboard, I suggest switching beforehand to get used to it, or writing will feel really clunky.

[Words of encouragement for other test takers]

The test isn't as hard as you might think. If you really practice, absorb and review, I believe you can get the score you need.

[Score report]