How to get 100 score in TOEFL iBT

Here are my tips to practice TOEFL iBT to get at least a score of 100

1) Schedule or planning: You should make a practice schedule and adhere to this schedule. You force yourself to practice TOEFL and improve all 4 skills.

2) Study group: If you have time, you can form a study group to practice speaking. The group will bring you motivation to keep practicing TOEFL especially when you have problems or see that your scores are not improved. You can share with group members your experience and learn from mistakes of other members.

3) TOEFL books:

- The Official Guide to the TOEFL Test (1 CD): It is the essential book for TOEFL. The reading and listening practices are easy, mush easier than the actual tests, but the speaking and writing sections are very good.

- Princeton Review (1 CD): The tips of this book are very interesting. There are templates for the Speaking and Writing sections.

- TOEFL iBT from Barron's:  This book is essential for TOEFL practice. The practice questions are equally difficult or more difficult than the questions of actual TOEFL tests, especially the listening. The 4 academic skills are well explained: Taking notes, Paraphrasing, Summarizing and Synthesizing. There are 8 full tests to practice.

- Cambridge Preparation for Toefl Test: The questions and practice tests have the same level of difficulty as the actual TOEFL test and the question types are nearly the same as the real TOEFL questions. You should practice this book to have a high score.

- Kaplan (CD-ROM): I don’t follow the strategies of this book. I did only the 4 full tests

4) Educated guess: I always read all 4 answer choices and use the elimination method to eliminate the choices out of scope, not mentioned in the passage, too far inference, illogical inference, and choices that have extreme words such as all, the most, the only. For inference questions, do not choose the choice that infers too far from the passage.

5) Practice mock tests on computer: It is better to do the mock tests on computer to learn how to read on the screen and type essays on the keyboard.

I read carefully the solutions of wrong answers to understand why I made wrong choices and to learn from this mistake.

6) Moral: When I started to practice TOEFL, I did not have a good moral especially my scores did not improve after 6 months of practice. However, I did keep a positive thinking and confidence that I would get what I want to do.

7) Learn vocabulary: I learn TOEFL vocabulary by flashcard. I learn from 10 to 20 words a day. I learn the vocabulary from lectures, conversations and reading passages. 


8) Learn tips and strategies: The book The Official Guide to the TOEFL Test from ETS and TOEFL iBT from Barron's  have several good tips. I apply only the tips from these 2 books to practice TOEFL.

9) Practice Reading:

Step 1: When I see the reading passage on the screen, I read the headline to know what the passage talks about. I scroll the mouse to the end of the passage to count the number of paragraphs.

Step 2: I read the first question. If it is a detail question, I find the paragraph to answer it. If it is a general question, I read the first sentence of each paragraph to answer.

Step 3: I continue to read and answer questions. While reading, I take notes of important ideas. When finishing all detail questions, general questions will appear. By taking notes, I already have a layout of the passage.

10) Practice Speaking : I don’t use complicated words to speak during 45 seconds and 60 seconds. I use common and easy words, pronounce well with good intonation. I try to speak naturally, fluently and clearly.

The pronunciation is important to get a good score. As I am not a native speaker, I have an accent. But I don’t worry about it. Instead I try to pronounce Cleary and I don’t speak fast. It is important to make sure that the person who listens to you can understand what you try to say.

There are 2 programs to learn the pronunciation: "American Accent Training" and "Pronounce It Perfectly in American English" (Barron's). You can search and download on the internet these programs. You can get familiar with American accent, especially how to make liaison between 2 words.

11) Practice Listening: I listen at least 2 times the lectures and conversation of each mock test. The first listening: listen to answer questions. The second listening: to check the answers and transcript.


12) Practice Writing

I create templates and memorize these templates before taking the real test. I practice to type the templates on the keyboard in 2 minutes.

I don’t practice much on the writing section because I already have a good writing skill. However, I read the essay examples from the book Answers to All TOEFL Essay Questions from ToeflEssays.com. All essay samples in the books have the maximum score.