TOEFL Guide by David Richer

Hello, guys! My name is David, I’m a medical student from Brazil and I have
taken TOEFL for 6 times. I started studying for it last August and finished this journey
one year later. I got 98 at first, but I needed 28+ on listening and 28+ on speaking,
mininum of 108. Here is a document of some tips and strategies I have used. Hope it
can help you! For people from Brazil, I totally recommend Paula Frazão Método TIP
(https://www.facebook.com/PaulaFrazaoTOEFL/). She’s an awesome tutor!!

Reading

1) Don’t read the passage before you go to the questions. It’s a waste of time.

2) Read the question and look for the key word (It’s the most important word in the
sentence).

3) Go to the paragraph indicated and look for that key word.

4) Go back to the question and now read the options and match the best one.

5) In vocabulary questions, if you don’t know what the word means, try to read the
paragraph with that word and see if it matches.

6) In insert a sentence questions, look for connectives such as “however, therefore” and
look for the key word in the sentence you want to insert.

7) In the last question, you need to eliminate the ones that are incorrect. Sometimes they
present information that is too specific and not general. Look for general ideas.

8) Don’t waste time with a single question. If you don’t know, mark the one you think
so and come back if you have time in the end.
Materials used: TOEFL Guide 1 and 2. Zaban. Articles about different subjects. The
most important point is to understand why you’re commiting those mistakes.

Listening

1) Take few notes and concentrate on the conversations or lectures. Try to understand
more than taking notes. Taking notes can make you miss important information.

2) Pay attention at expressions such as “however, therefore, today I want to talk

about…” Normally, important information is presented after those expressions.

3) Pay attention at the purpose of that conversation or what it is the main topic they are
talking about. Sometimes the student wants to talk about something in the beginning of
the conversation, but then they talk about another subject.

Materials used: TOEFL Guide 1 and 2. Zaban. TOEFLbank. Podcasts. TEDtalks.

Speaking

1) In the first question, we don’t have much time. It’s crazy, but we need to come up
with a response in only 15 seconds. To help you so, try to think that way.

Talking about Health – Physical and Mental

Ex: It’s beneficial to my health or it’s detrimental to my health

As a result, I get in shape and I feel better mentally

Whereas, If I didn’t have that opportunity, I wouldn’t be happy or I wouldn’t have lost
so much weight

Talking about Learning – School and College

Ex: It’s beneficial to my learning process or it’s detrimental to my learning process

As a result, my scores are higher

Whereas, if I didn’t have that opportunity, my scores would be lower

Talking about Family and Friends – Relationship and Time

It’s beneficial to bond with my family members or it’s beneficial to spend time with my
friends
As a result, our relationship becomes stronger

Whereas, if I didn’t have that opportunity, our relationship would be weaker

Talking about Work – Colleagues and Money

It’s beneficial to bond with my colleagues or it’s extremely important to emergencies or

it gives me more money

As result, our relationship becomes stronger and I can spend that money traveling to
new countries

Whereas, if I didn’t have that opportunity, our relationship would be weaker or I

woudn’t be able to travel

2) Take few notes about the listening. Build your own template, but I will share mine
here. Look, it’s important to build your own template, so that it works with you and it
sounds natural.

3) Speak naturally. Don’t change your tone of voice. Pause and breathe. Put intonation
and speak as clearly as possible.

Materials used: TOEFL Guide 1 and 2. Zaban. TOEFLbank. Classes with a native
professor. Classes with tutors. http://iteslj.org/questions/ (There are interesting topics to
practice the way you speak, intonation...)

Template 1

I agree/disagree with the statement that … or

I prefer … rather than …. or

I would prefer … rather than …

I feel this way for a couple of reasons

First, … For example, … As a result, … Whereas, if I …

Second, … For instance, … As a consequence, …

That’s why I have this opinion

Template 2

According to the announcement, the university has decided to … or

According to the announcement, a student has written a letter to propose that …

This is because … also … or

The proposal is … also …

Along the same line, the man/woman in the conversation is looking forward to this… or

However, the man/woman in the conversation is not looking forward to this…

First, he/she mentions that …

Second, he/she explains that …

That’s why he/she disagrees with the announcement

Template 3

The professor elaborates on some specific example of himself to illustrate the concept
of …, which can be defined as … or

The professor elaborates on some specific experiment to illustrate the concept of…,
which is …

To begin with, he talks about …

Subsequently, …

In conclusion, the fact that … is called …

That’s how the professor explains the concept

Template 4

The professor gives a general lecture about …

First, she mentions …

For example, …

Second, she talks about …

For instance, …

That’s how the professor explains …

Writing

1) In integrated, take few notes about the passage. Try to understand it. You will have
access to it later.

2) Concentrate on taking as many details as you get from listening. That will increase
your score.

3) I will share my templates too, but remember, it’s important that you build your own
template.

4) In integrated, just fill information from the passage and the lecture. You don’t need a
conclusion. You just have 20 minutes.
5) In independent, you don’t neeed an introduction. Focus on developing your
argumentative paragraphs. And when talking about your example, try to tell as many
details as possible describing what, how, why, when, where and who? Use adjectives,
adverbs and connectives too. Take a look at my essays. This way, you write more than
500 words and you don’t realize that.

Integrated

The set of materials presents different perspectives on the topic. While the reading
passage believes that the painting known as "Portrait of an Elderly Woman in a White
Bonnet" was not painted by Rembrandt, the lecturer makes the point it is indeed his
work. She disagress by providing a counterargument for each reason given in the
article.

First of all, the reading passage claims that the woman is wearing a very rich fur
collor and, at the same time, a white linen cap that was really common between
servants. It states that Rembrandt would not make this kind of incongruence, because
he had much attention to the details. In contrast, the professor explains that the fur
collar was added after years to the original painting. In addition, she opposes this
point by saying that someone did that in order to increase the value of the art
representing an aristrocratic lady.

Secondly, the article posits that light and shadow do not match in the painting. It
expresses that it is like the face is illuminated by light reflected, but below there is the
dark fur collar that would, otherwise, absorb light and that is inconsistent with
Rembrandt's subjects. Conversely, the lecturer points out that the original painting
has a simple light color cloth that makes her face illuminated. Moreover, she refutes
this argument by analyzing that there was no partial shadow when Rembrandt painted
the lady.

Finally, the reading passage affirms that the woman was painted on a panel made of
many pieces of wood glued combined. It stresses that Rembrandt has never used such
kind of material. However, the professor asserts that the original painting was made
with a simple piece of wood and it is from the same tree that Rembrandt has always
used in his subjects. Furthermore, she is against this statement by adding that those
pieces of wood glued together were added to make the panel more grant and also
valued.
Independent

I disagree with the statement that it is more important to students to learn ideas and
concepts than it is for them to understand facts. I feel this way for two reasons.

First, facts are more concrete than ideas and concepts. Ideas and concepts can be quite
vague to understand and, consequently, they are more difficult to be learned. My own
experience is a great example of this. When I was in high school, about fifteen years
old, I struggled studying Literature. I remember my Literature professor, Mr. Brown. He
was a fantastic teacher, but all the concepts he tried to explain did not make sense to me.
For example, in the beginning of his classes, he used to give the definition of a
Literature period, such as Modernism. In addition, he liked to compare the period with
the period before and I was always lost in all of those characteristics. I could not even
know about what period he was referring to. However, when he started to talk about
authors from Modernism, like Clarice Lispector, and to read her poems, those features,
he was trying to explain, now were clear to understand. I could realize them in fact.
Therefore, facts are easier to be learned.

Second, facts can give the general idea of what has been studying. This is called in
Phylosophy as Dedutive Method, which is the capacity of getting the main idea by
learning a particular case. I have personally experienced that. When I was also in high
school, about sixteen years old, I remember my History professor, Mrs. Riley, and I did
not like her classes so much. She used to teach about History periods, analyzing
concepts and ideas and not giving examples of what happened at that time. So,
everything was tough to me. In contrast, I had a friend that was really good at History.
Her name was Anna and, after History classes, I used to go to her house to understand
better what I did not get during classes. And Anna taught me by giving all the facts as
possible. For instance, when she told me about Hitler and his life, I could finally
understand what Nazism was. And what was really difficult to have an idea became
clear when Anna taught me in particular cases. Thus, facts are easier to be understood.

In conclusion, it is more important to students to learn facts than to understand

concepts and ideas. This is because facts are not too vague as concepts and ideas and
facts can give the general idea of the subject.
So, that’s it, guys! Hope it can help you. Anything, you can send me a message on
facebook.