How to Get a Top TOEFL Score

Guest post: Lucas Fink

Sometimes I see people writing about how to “crack” the TOEFL. That’s really attractive because it seems super simple: follow a few quick tips and you’ll get a great TOEFL score. That’s cause and effect, point A to point B. But it’s a dangerous way to think about TOEFL scores, because the reality is much more complicated. In order to get the TOEFL scores you need, you may need to do more than just read a few tips and tricks. Let’s be realistic, so you know what you actually need to do to get that top score, and not just what sounds good.

1. Get English language experience 

There is no replacement for experience. If you have been using English daily for many years, you will score better on the TOEFL than somebody who started studying English two years ago and uses it only during lessons. What does that mean for you? Read, listen, write, and speak English every day, if you can. Read English news. Listen to English podcasts. If you don’t have friends you can practice speaking and writing with, then do it yourself: summarize what you’ve read and heard, both in writing and spoken out loud.

2. Understand the format of the TOEFL

Even native speakers can make mistakes on the TOEFL if they don’t know how the test is structured. If you want to do really well, you need to know what to expect. That means doing TOEFL practice, mostly. The more practice you’ve done, the less surprised you’ll be on the day of your test. Again, this is a simple point, but it’s extremely important. Here’s a quick example to illustrate…

Several years ago, I was in a room full of English teachers, explaining how to teach the TOEFL. Another TOEFL teacher who I worked with was helping to explain. He gave everybody in the room a paragraph of text, with 45 seconds to read it. Then he played from a CD two minutes of a short conversation about that text. Then, he told everybody in the room to summarize the text, summarize the conversation, and explain their opinion about the conversation, speaking for only 60 seconds or less.

Most teachers in the room failed to explain it all. Many of them summarized the text and the conversation, but didn’t give their own opinions. But that task is exactly what you do in the fifth speaking task on a real TOEFL. Keep in mind that they were native speakers and English teachers. And even so, they made mistakes that would hurt TOEFL scores. That happened because they didn’t know what to expect; they were surprised and inexperienced.

3. Practice taking notes 

A lot of the TOEFL is based on your understanding of lectures and conversations that you hear and your ability to remember them. Taking notes both keeps you focused and helps you to remember what you heard, so it’s easier to answer questions on specific details from listening tasks and to remember all the main points when you summarize them. That affects your listening, speaking and writing scores, so this is one of the most important skills for the test.

Don’t just write everything you hear, though. To get a top TOEFL score, you need to hear all the details, which is difficult if you write too much. Good notes are a balance between listening and writing. Finding that balance takes practice.

4. Learn time-saving strategies

Even though there are no “secrets” to “crack” the TOEFL, there are important strategies that will help you save time, especially on the reading section. The timer in TOEFL reading causes at least a little trouble for most students. Even if you are very comfortable using English, you can lose points if you don’t answer the last several questions because you’ve run out of time.

One simple strategy is to answer the questions while you read, instead of reading first and then answering. But that doesn’t work for everybody, and there are other strategies, too. Find different strategies, try them to find what works best for you personally, and keep practicing until you’re confident the clock won’t be a problem.

5. Be confident 

If you are relaxed during the test, you will understand better, make fewer mistakes, manage time better, and speak more naturally. This can be hard to change, but if you usually get nervous during timed tests like the TOEFL, don’t worry! There is one clear way to build confidence: practice taking the test. The more you take it, the more relaxed you will be when you’re taking the real TOEFL. But there’s more, too. Sit up straight, for example, and breathe deeply. If you act more confident, you will feel more confident. Even what you eat and drink can have an impact. Don’t drink more coffee than usual before the test, and be sure that you bring a small snack for the break so you’re not hungry. A small sugary drink is a good idea, too; that can help keep your focus and energy levels up.

If you’ve done all of the above, you have good reason to be confident! With the right experience and mentality, you’ll get the TOEFL scores you need.

This post was written by Lucas Fink, TOEFL expert at Magoosh. For more help with your TOEFL preparation, check out Magoosh’s free TOEFL iBT eBook.