Academic skills for TOEFL iBT

The book TOEFL iBT from Barron's explains very clearly 4 academic skills to do well on a TOEFL test

1. Taking notes

- Anticipate the purpose of the lecture or conversation

- Divide the paper into 2 columns. If it is a conversation, I note the information of the man in 1 column and the information of the woman in the other column. If it is a lecture, I note the main ideas in 1 column, supporting ideas and examples in the other column.

- Identify the mains ideas and the supporting ideas and examples to illustrate the main ideas

- Write very quickly. I use symbols to write quickly. For example, I use the + for the word in addition, biz for business; sch for school; b/w for between, etc ....

- Draw relationship. I use arrows to draw relationships between ideas such as cause-effect; problem-solution; compare and contrast .....

2. Summarizing

It is a very important skill in academic world and in your job. You need to practice this skill . When summarizing, you need to pay attention to:

- Be concise and brief
- Combine sentence logically.
- Identify the main ideas. When summarizing, it is essential to write the main ideas. If you have time left, you can include supporting ideas.
- You need to use the same structures of the lectures or the passage and not to include your personal ideas. You should keep the tone of the passage or lecture.

3. Synthesizing

It is the skill to use the information from several sources to write an answer. You need to include the main ideas to have a maximum score. If you miss the main ideas, you will have a score equivalent to the main ideas you write down. 

4. Paraphrasing

It is a skill to use your own vocabulary to summarize a lecture or a passage. To do so, you should have a large vocabulary and are capable of using this vocabulary in various ways such as to use the synonyms and the thesaurus. You should not use the words in the reading and the listening in the Integrated Writing. You should not use the same sentence structure.

How to learn the vocabulary for TOEFL iBT

My method to learn the vocabulary is to learn from lectures and campus conversations. I have some ideas about the life on campus in the US, you should read some books.

Here are books about the vocabulary for TOEFL iBT:

1. Essential Words for the TOEFL from Barron

It is an interesting book about the vocabulary for TOEFL. The book has about 500 words you must know to practice TOEFL. Each word has a definition and several examples of its uses. You can buy a hard copy or an e-book via Amazon under the Kindle.

2. "400 Must-Have Words for the TOEFL" from McGraw-Hill

There are words useful for TOEFL. The book talks about the speaking skills in class at on campus.

3. TOEFL 800 Absolutely Essential Words 

The book has vocabulary, quiz and flash cards. The words are used by TOEFL. If you by the book under the Kindle format, the book offers the free pronunciation via Kindle Cloud Reader. There are synonyms and thesaurus.

On the other hand, you can download TOEFL vocabulary on the internet, create flashcard by yourself. You should learn 10 new words every day.

I have read the following books:

- 150 Academic Keywords pre toefl
- 300 Academic Word List toefl with intonation

- 500+ Toefl Vocabulary Words

 - Vocabulary for TOEFL iBT

- TOEFL iBT Exam Vocabulary List (include 1700 words and examples
- The Academic Word List

- Essential Words for the TOEFL (vocabulary and lessons)

- Top 300 words from the Academic Word List ~ ultra important for TOEFL

Free TOEFL writing sample - topic 13: Eat at home or at restaurants

Topic 13. Some people prefer to eat at food stands or restaurants. Other people prefer to prepare and eat food at home. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

Although there are many advantages to eat at a food stands or restaurants, I prefer to eat food at home. This is because I like cooking and I can save some money if I eat at home. I also can share good moments with my family around the table.

People have many good reasons to eat out. For instance, when people eat out, they can save time. When they don’t eat at home, they don’t have to buy ingredients and to cook. They also don’t have to lay the table and wash dishes after the meal. For some busy people, eating out is the best solution. They just eat when they want. Another reason is that people can taste many different foods at restaurants. Each restaurant has its own menu that other restaurants don’t have. By going to several restaurants, people can eat many different dishes. The can avoid to eat the same foods for a while.

However, I prefer to eat at home because I want cook my own food. I always want to choose myself ingredients to cook foods. When I cook, I’m sure what I am going to eat. On the other hand, if I eat at restaurants, the foods I order sometimes are not what I expect or I see on the menu. Cooking also gives me a pleasure after work. When I prepare foods, I forget my work and all related problems. So I can get out of work and relax at home.

The second reason is that I can save some money when I eat at home. When eating out, I need to pay for the foods and the services that restaurants bring to me such as atmosphere, convenience, parking service, etc. However, when I eat at home, I don’t have to pay for any services. Thus, I can save some money.

Finally, I eat at home to share good moments with my family around the table. I only see my husband and my children when I come home after work. So it’s very important for me to pass my time to discuss with them about their days, how my children do at school and how well the business of my husband is. And the best time for us to have discussion is when we take dinners. Moreover, when I cook at home, I can have my children participate in the preparation of foods. My children love cooking with my a lot. They learn how to use kitchen materials and how to prepare foods according to recipes. They are always happy to eat foods that they prepare.

In conclusion, eating out have many advantages but I prefer eating at home. I consider it a method to enhance family relationships and happiness. Furthermore, eating at home can bring our family good health because we always eat fresh foods.

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.