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.