University Magazine Issue 1

TEST STRATEGIES
How to
Succeed on the
BY REBECCA SACHS
The TOEFL® is the epitome of a highstakes
test, used for purposes ranging
from college admissions to professional
certifications to the satisfaction of visa
language requirements. According to
the website of the Educational Testing
Service (ETS) (www.ets.org/toefl), it is
recognized by over 9,000 universities
and other institutions as a measure of
the ability to “use and understand the
English language as it is heard, spoken,
read and written in the university classroom.”
Hundreds of thousands of people
take the TOEFL® every year at a cost
of $160 to $250 each time.
The ESL Program at VIU offers a variety
of TOEFL® preparation courses.
Recently, I sat down with two full-time
instructors, Claire Gimble and Lauren
Pollard, who kindly
shared several
pieces of
tried-
and-
true advice regarding how to succeed on
this very important gatekeeper. Among
the themes emphasized repeatedly by
both was the centrality of quick thinking
and strategic time management. In
short, you may have an impressive level
of English proficiency, but if you do not
manage your time well enough to demonstrate
it, you will not get credit for
your ability. Here are some of their recommendations.
1. Repress the urge to understand
every detail—be strategic.
On the reading section, managing your
time strategically may mean temporarily
forgetting some of what you have
learned about deep reading comprehension.
You will
likely find that it
is simply not
possible to
read all of
the texts
on the
TOEFL® thoroughly; thus, even more
so than usual, you will need to read
with a clear purpose in mind. In many
cases, it may help to skim a passage and
take in its organization so that you will
know where to look in order to answer
the questions. With practice, you may
realize that you can answer questions
despite having grasped only the gist of
large chunks of the text.
2. Limit your planning time.
On the writing section, lightning-fast
planning is of the essence. If you are
given 30 minutes to write an essay, you
should spend at least 20 minutes writing
your answer and should devote 5
minutes at the end to editing your work.
That leaves only a few minutes for initial
planning. One way to streamline
the planning process is to internalize
the structure of a standard 5-paragraph
essay. Having that organization in mind
can make it very quick and straightforward
to plug your ideas into a predetermined
template.
22 University Magazine, VIU Spring 2014