TOEFL Study & Practice Guide

Free TOEFL Study Practice Guide:

TOEFL Study on the Internet
Taking the TOEFL is a necessary step for any non US educated student wanting to study at a North American university. It is also increasingly required from other educational institutions throughout the world as well as a desired or mandatory job qualification.

While it is true that the TOEFL is an extremely difficult test there are a number of resources to help students prepare for the test. Luckily the Internet has an ever expanding treasure trove of study materials. Most of these areas require registration and payment however a number of the sites do offer some free services. If you are interested in taking the TOEFL it will probably be necessary to purchase some of these services. This guide shows you a number of the free services available on the Internet. By using this feature you can get an excellent headstart on your studies without paying a dime.

What exactly is the TOEFL?
Before beginning to study for the TOEFL it is a good idea to understand the philosophy and purpose behind this standardized test. Here is an excellent introduction and detailed description of the Internet based test.

What can I expect from TOEFL?

There are a number of resources available to help you discover exactly what grammar listening and reading skills will be expected on the TOEFL. One of the most thorough of these resources is Testwise.Com which explains each type of question in terms of the grammar or skill required to answer that type of question successfully.

How do I approach the TOEFL?

One of the most important skills to acquire before taking the test is not a language skill. It is TOEFL test taking strategy. The TOEFL like all standardized American tests has a very particular structure and typical traps for you to fall into. By understanding these traps and strucutres you can go a long way to improving your score. Here is a great introduction to taking the test at Get TOEFL :

Listening

Structure

Reading

Writing

The writing section of the TOEFL requires that you write an essay based on a set topic. Testmagic.com has a wonderful selection of sample essays discussing common mistakes and giving examples of essays with various scores to show you the range expected on the essay.

Practising the TOEFL

Now that you have a good idea of what the test is, what is to be expected, AND what strategies are needed you can begin to practice taking various sections of the test.

Finally probably the biggest piece of advice you will hear from everybody is: "Take the test as often as possible". To help you do just that (for FREE) follow the following links to these practice tests and exercises:

TOEFL Interactive Quizzes at ESL.about.com:

TOEFL Grammar Practice

TOEFL Vocabulary Practice

TestMagic.com has a great selection of free materials:

Structure practice tests

Reading practice tests

Free TOEFL questions by email and an excellent TOEFL discussion forum

Grammar Help

Practice TOEFL Questions

Other resources

4Tests.com ... These 4 practice tests which are a little outdated, but worthwhile.

Practice reading comprehension quiz with results sent to you (and the teacher) by email.

Chris Yukna's Miscellaneous TOEFL practice Section (it looks like fun)

Chris Yukna's TOEFL practic on Boston

Chris Yukna's Practice: TOEFL and 'Fuel's Paradise' based on an article in Wired Magazine.

Practice from Get TOEFL

Vocabulary Practice

Daily TOEFL Quiz

Daily TOEFL Essay Writing Practice

Obviously you will need to do a lot more studying (and probably invest some money too) to do well on the TOEFL. Hopefully this step by step survey of the resources on the Internet will help you to get a good overall picture of what the TOEFL is all about and what to expect when taking the exam.

Good luck and do your very best.