Strictly English Student Scores 110!

A Strictly English student scored a 110 on the Oct 11th test:

29    READING

29    LISTENING

27    SPEAKING

25    WRITING

110   TOTAL

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Talk Slowly

You'd be surprised how slowly you can talk on the TOEFL speaking section and still get a good grade. One way to slow down is take a deep inhale between each sentence. One deep inhale is only about 2 or 3 seconds long. Taking deep inhales  does the following:

 

1. It helps the test grader keep up with you.

2. It gives you a chance to think about what you want to say next.

3. It calms you down.

Try it!

For more information about the Speaking section of the TOEFL, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL, you need Strictly English.

Student Questions are TOEFL Questions

In the Listening Section of the TOEFL, there is a class discussion in which the teacher and some students talk about an academic topic. If a student asks a question during the class discussion, there is a strong likelihood that TOEFL will ask you the same, or a similar, question on the test. So be extra attentive when listening to student questions on the test.

For more questions about the Listening section of the TOEFL, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL, you need Strictly English!

Woman vs. Women

The words "Woman" and "Women" sound different, but the change in pronunciation doesn't happen where the change in spelling occurs.  When the "A" in "womAn" changes to the "E" in "womEn", the "man" sound stays the same.

What does change is the "O" sound in the two words, even though the letter "O" stays the same.

womAn is pronounced w----uh----man

womEn is pronounced w----"i" (pronounced like the "i" in "it")----man

Learn this correct pronunciation, and you'll be better understood on the speaking section.

For more information about pronunciation for TOEFL, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com. 

Located in Boston MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL, you need Strictly English!

Understanding Difficult Sentences

If you are trying to understand a difficult sentence in one of the reading passages, just read the sentence's independent clause. Independent clauses are usually called the "main clause" because they contain the sentence's main idea. Once you understand the main clause, you can better understand why the other dependent clauses are in the sentence and how the information in the dependent clauses relates to the information in the main clause.

For more information about the Reading Section of the TOEFL, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL, you need Strictly English! 

Use the Bathroom Before the Test

Even if you don't think it is necessary to use the bathroom before the test, go anyway.  You do NOT want to have to leave the test to use the bathroom once the test starts. Test centers do not stop the test if you have to leave the room. If you leave, the test keeps going without you and you lose valuable time.

For more information about the TOEFL, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company. 

When you need TOEFL, you need Strictly English!

20-Minute Essay Conclusion

Because the 20-minutes essay is only a summary and not an argument, it does not need a conclusion. Therefore, don't waste precious time on a conclusion. Spend that time proofreading instead!

For more information about the 20-minutes essay, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL, you need Strictly English!

Types of Listenings

There are three types of listenings on the Listening Section of the TOEFL: 

Conversations.

Class Discussions.

Academic Lectures.

Each of these types of listenings have a particular focus and require different strategies.

If you want to learn more about Listening, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL, you need Strictly English. 

A.Word.a.Day Can help!

It might be helpful to join a mailing list that sends you a new word every day. I think this site is very good. Although the words on it are harder than TOEFL words, you can learn a lot by reading the etymologies. 

For more information about vocabulary building, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL, you need Strictly English!

Plan Ahead

Test dates fill up fast, especially in big cities.  Often tests dates are not available for three weeks.  In addition, score results are not available for another three weeks after you take the test.  Therefore, if you know you need your score by, for example, January 1, 2009, you need to take your test on or before December 11th, which means you should sign up for your test no later than November 13th.

For more information about scheduling TOEFL tests, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com. 

Located in Boston MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-Only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL, you need Strictly English!

English Level for TOEFL's Writing Section

People think that to get a good writing score, you have to write at an advanced level of English. This is not true. A virtually perfect score can be achieved with intermediate level English that has no mistakes. Short sentences that are perfect will score higher than complicated sentences that have mistakes.  So don't try to "sound smart" or "show off" on the test. Focus on being accurate and clear instead.

For more information about the TOEFL's Writing Section, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL, you need Strictly English!

Accent Reduction

For some people, no matter how well your answers are structured and no matter how logical your answers are, the TOEFL grader will still give you a low speaking score if your accent is very strong. Please note that although many language schools and private ESL tutors offer accent reduction classes, workshops, or tutorials, the best way to reduce your accent is to take private lessons with a trained speech therapist.  So when looking to reduce your accent, find a qualified speech therapist, not an ESL instructor.

For more information about speech therapists who can help you with accent reduction, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL,

You need Strictly English!

Tricky Main Ideas

Often the listening section tricks you into thinking that the first thing mentioned in the lecture is what the lecture is about. Very often: THIS IS NOT THE CASE.  Many times, the lecture begins with a summary of the last class's topic or of the reading homework that the students did the night before. Then the lecture transitions to "today's topic" which is often in opposition to the previous class or the homework.  You must learn to identify when this transition occurs or else you'll mistakenly think that the beginning of the lecture announces the topic of the lecture.

For more information about the Listening Section of the test, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL

You need Strictly English!

Vocabulary Building

With between 3 and 5 vocabulary questions per reading passage, you can gain a lot of points on the Reading Section of the TOEFL if you know a lot of words. But learning thousands of words is almost impossible. So instead, try learning the roots, prefixes, and suffixes that make up English words.  Learning one root can give you 5, 10, or even 15 new words!

Strictly English's website has a great list of Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes on its Reading webpage. Check it out!

For more information about vocabulary building, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston, MA Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL, 

You need Strictly English!

Be Direct!

One of the biggest problems on the Speaking Section of the test is that people do not give clear, direct statements.  Try to train yourself to say: "I like dogs" instead of "Dogs are a thing that many people, like me, enjoy."  The more direct you are, the better your answer. To practice becoming more direct, write one sentence down, then rewrite it with 30% fewer words.  As you learn to write such short clear sentences, then you'll learn how to speak with a similar level of directness.

To learn more about the Speaking Section of the TOEFL, visit Strictly English's listening page at www.strictlyenglishusa.com/listening.html

Located in Boston, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL,

You need Strictly English!

History Reading Passages

If you're looking for a way to improve your reading of history passages, then I suggest that you check out this website.  It has some brief TOEFL-like articles that you can read.

To learn more about the Reading Section of the TOEFL, visit Strictly English's Reading Page at www.strictlyenglishusa.com/reading.html 

Located in Boston, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL,

You need Strictly English!

The Reading Passage for the 20-Minute Essay

I know it's hard to believe, but sometimes TOEFL makes things EASY for you!  After you finish listening to the lecture for the 20-Minute Essay, the reading passage returns. This helps you a lot. If you can locate the reading's three main points, then they will help you to figure out what the listening was saying. So even if you didn't understand the listening, all you have to remember is that it talked about the same points as the reading. Once you locate those points in the reading, they might help you to figure out what the listening was saying about those same points.

For more tips on the Writing Section of the TOEFL, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL, 

You need Strictly English!

Bad Subject/Verb Agreement Can Cost You Points!

If you have consistent subject verb agreement problems in your writing, it could lower your score up to 33%. So be careful. Make sure that every singular subject has a singular verb. For example: "he writeS" or "the sun burnS". This is a very simple grammar point, so make every effort to remember to use your "S"s!

For more tips on the Writing Section of the TOEFL, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com. 

Located in Boston MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL,

You need Strictly English!

Organizing the 20 Minute Essay

The twenty-minute essay requires you to summarize a reading and a listening on the same topic. The reading offers three points and the listening usually opposes those three points one at a time.  The best way to organize your essay, then is it have four paragraphs.

Paragraph one: Introduction

Paragraph two: Point one

Paragraph three: Point two

Paragraph Four: Point three

For more tips on the Writing Section of the TOEFL, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL,

You need Strictly English!

Long and Short Reading Sections

TOEFL will either give you one hour to answer three reading passages or 1 hour and 40 minutes to answer 5 reading passages.  If you have 5 passages, you are only graded on three of them, but you don't know which three. The other two passages are experimental passages that allow TOEFL to see if the questions are good TOEFL questions or not. If you get a long Reading Section (5 passages) then you will not have a long Listening Section.  Strictly English suggests being prepared for a long Reading Section. That way, you'll be able prepared for one if you get it.  One way to prepare for a long reading is to read at homefor 1 hour and 40 minutes without stopping.

For more tips on the Reading Section of the TOEFL, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL,

You need Strictly English!

Podcasts that help with Listening

iTunes has a great FREE podcast if you want to practice listening. it's called ESL Podcast. 

What I suggest you do is download some of the episodes to your iTunes.  Then click on the little "i" button in the DESCRIPTION column. That will open up a window in which you will find the transcript of the listening.

Play the listening and read aloud the transcript at the same time you're listening. Try to match your voice to the speaker's voice. This will help you to learn how to speak with a more natural rhythm in English!

For more tips on how to improve your TOEFL listening, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston, MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL,

You need Strictly English

Paraphrase Questions in Reading Section

When answering paraphrase questions in the reading section, it helps to know how to break the original sentence down into smaller grammatical units.  For example, a really long sentence like "Since 2004, Jon, who is my teacher at Strictly English, has been winning awards, from the National Council on Education, for his excellent teaching" can be broken down into smaller parts:

Since 2004, Jon, who is my English teacher at Strictly English, has been winning awards, from the National Council on Education, for his excellent teaching.

Although this sentence appears long, it has a smaller "sentence" (what we call an independent clause) inside it: Jon has been winning awards for his excellent teaching and three smaller "ideas" in it:

Since 2004

who is my English teacher at Strictly English

from the Nation Council on Education

Now you can focus on one idea at a time and make sure it matches the paraphrase.  For example, an answer choice will be wrong if it says "before 2004" or "in 2004" because "since" does not mean the same thing as "before" or "in".   You don't need to look at the rest of the answer choice if this first part doesn't match!

For more information about the TOEFL's Reading Section, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL,

You need Strictly English!

Listening for Main Ideas

The TOEFL likes to trick you by beginning a lecture with a topic that the lecture is NOT about. For example, a typical lecture will begin by summarizing what the class was supposed to read the night before. Or, it will begin by talking about the previous lecture. 

After three or four sentences, the professor will say something like, "But in today's class, I want to discuss . . ." or "Although this is interesting, there are other possibilities too."

It is important for you to realize that the real "main topic" of the lecture is going to be whatever the professor talks about after he says "but" or "although," NOT what he first talked about when the lecture began.

For more tips on how to prepare for the Listening section of the test, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com. 

Located in Boston, MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL, 

You need Strictly English!

Speaking Task Five: Use Modals!

Because Speaking Task Five asks you to summarize the possible solutions to a problem, you should use the modals "can," "could," and "should" in your answers.

For example:

Instead of saying: "The man wants the woman to buy a new car."

you can say, "The man thinks that the woman should buy a new car."

This English is much more natural sounding and more appropriate to the task.

To learn more about speaking section tips for the TEOFL, contact Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com. 

Located in Boston, MA, Strictly English is America's First TOEFL-Only tutoring company. 

When you need TOEFL, 

You need Strictly English!

Long and Short Listening Sections

Be prepared for a long Listening Section. Every TOEFL test has either a long Reading Section or a long Listening Section. If you have only have three reading passages, then you know that your Listening Section will be "long", so don't be surprised!  The "long" listening is because TOEFL adds experimental questions that it wants to test to see if they are well-written questions or not. Instead of 2 conversations, 2 class discussions, and 2 lectures, you will have 3 each.  You won't know which 6 will count for the test, so try and do your best on all questions!

To learn more about the listening section, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com. 

Located in Boston, MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL,

You need Strictly English!

English ONLY on Test day!

Switching between languages is hard on the brain, so on test day, wake up and only use English all day until your TOEFL test. If you live with people who speak your language: get out of the house as soon as you wake up. Go to a library and read, or go shopping alone. Just don't speak any other language besides English.  If you speak another language before your TOEFL test, your brain will be thinking in that language, and it will be hard to switch out of it. Students often pause, can't think of vocabulary, and say "ummm" a lot when they have spoken another language before their TOEFL test.

For more information about how to prepare for the TOEFL test, visit Strictly English at  www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston, MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL,

You need Strictly English!

Less is More

TOEFL Test takers try to say as much as possible in their speaking responses. This is a bad idea. It makes you feel rushed and nervous. Instead, try to speak slowly and accurately. Saying less, but with perfect English is better than trying to say a lot with bad English!

For more tips on the speaking section of the TOEFL, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston, MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL,

You need Strictly English!

Arrive Early

If you arrive for your TOEFL test early, then you will most likely be the first to start the test. This is very helpful because if you start later than other people, they will begin the speaking section while you are still on the listening section. In this situation, students usually complain that the voices answering the speaking section make it harder to listen to the lectures and conversations on the listening section. 

If you know you will have this problem, then here's a tip:  When practicing listening at home, turn a radio on in the background. This will train you to listen to the lecture while there is other distracting noise (the radio) around you.

For more helpful TOEFL tips, contact Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com for your FREE consultation!

Located in Boston, MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL,

You need Strictly English!

Time Management for Reading

DON'T BE TRICKED: Many students think that TOEFL gives 20 minutes for each reading passage. It does, BUT: it gives you 20 minutes to answer the first reading passage. After 20 minutes the passage goes away. Then you have 40 minutes to answer the next TWO passages. 

HERE'S THE PROBLEM. If you don't manage your time, you could spend all 40 minutes on the second passage and never get to the third passage.  So you have to watch the clock and make sure that you are finished with the second passage after 20 minutes. Then: begin the third passage.  This means that TOEFL is not only testing your English, but also your time management skills!

To learn more about the TOEFL reading section, visit Strictly English at  www.strictlyenglishusa.com. 

Located in Boston MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

When you need TOEFL,

You need Strictly English!

Good Conclusions for the 30-Minute Essay

Everyone says that your conclusion should "repeat the introduction". Strictly English says: DON'T!  It lacks creativity and it lacks "development," which is the idea that your essay has "gone somewhere" intellectually. The best way to write a conclusion is to offer a plan of action for the reader based on what you've written in the essay.

To find out more about how to write a "plan-of-action" conclusion for TOEFL's 30-minute essay, visit www.strictlyenglishusa.com and sign up for our ONLINE writing tutorials!

Located in Boston, MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

Practicing Lectures

Did you know that iTunes has thousands of podcasts of university lectures, and they are all FREE. www.strictlyenglishusa.com has picked three that it thinks will help you the most. Check them out!

When you need TOEFL,

You need Strictly English!

Located in Boston, MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

TOEFL Vocabulary Questions

Only spend 35 seconds on vocabulary questions!  If you don't know the answer by then, you never will. Guess quickly and move on to questions you have a better change of answering!

To practice answering vocabulary questions in only 35 seconds, go to www.freerice.com and set a timer for 35 seconds.

To learn more about TOEFL strategies, visit Strictly English at www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston, MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

Speaking Task One: Describe a City or Country

Because you might get a question asking you to describe a city or country, you should pick a city (for example: Paris, London, Tokyo) and a country (for example: India, Australia, Italy) and learn about it. Memorize two or three things about both your chosen city and chosen country. That way, any question about a city or country can be answered with your memorized statements.

GOOD LUCK!

To learn more about Speaking Strategies, visit www.strictlyenglishusa.com.

Located in Boston, MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.

Snacks on Test Day

TOEFL gives you only a 10-minute break between the listening and speaking sections. Be sure to bring a banana and a powerbar or some other source of protein and carbohydrate.  You'll need the energy for the second part of the test!

GOOD LUCK!

To learn more about the TOEFL Test, visit www.strictlyenglishusa.com 

Located in Boston, MA, Strictly English is America's first TOEFL-only tutoring company.