Make a Schedule That Requires You To Speak -- A LOT.
I haven't met you or listened to you speak English and obviously,
I don't really know you. But I do know that if you still do not have your target speaking score, then you probably do not speak enough English every day. Students who get their target scores on TOEFL speak English every chance they get (at work, with friends, or even just while shopping).
But they also create plans to speak English and make TOEFL-style responses for 10 to 15 hours for every point they lack on their score. So, let's imagine you took TOEFL before and got a speaking score of 23, but you want 26. Well, first, we should raise your goal to 27 (because it's less risky and if you miss, you can still get 26). This means you want to improve your speaking score by 4 points, so you should aim to speak TOEFL-style responses for 60 hours. Yes! 60 hours.
At first, 60 hours might seem like a crazy number, but if you make significant mistakes with grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation, it can take weeks -- sometimes 2-4 months -- to eliminate 85-95% of your errors. People who score 26 and higher sound "perfect", well, almost perfect.
Imitate high-quality model responses for TOEFL speaking.
The strongest and fastest way you can learn is through imitation. When you learned to speak as a child, you spent a long time quietly watching your parents and you developed a perfect accent, grammar, and a wide vocabulary.
When I first taught TOEFL speaking, I didn't realize the importance of imitation and I tried to make my students speak without giving them a great example to follow. What I discovered is that you actually improve much, much faster if your teacher, demonstrates really high-scoring TOEFL responses.
It all depends on what your speaking target score is. If you need a lower score (like 20-24 points, for example, the quality of the examples you follow is not that important). However, if you need 26 or higher, look for a teacher who got 30 on TOEFL speaking like I did. This way, you know that you can trust the examples of TOEFL speaking you'll hear. Ultimately, your own responses will reflect the speech patterns, you model. Because of that, you will be more successful if you learn from high-quality responses.
I don't really know you. But I do know that if you still do not have your target speaking score, then you probably do not speak enough English every day. Students who get their target scores on TOEFL speak English every chance they get (at work, with friends, or even just while shopping).
But they also create plans to speak English and make TOEFL-style responses for 10 to 15 hours for every point they lack on their score. So, let's imagine you took TOEFL before and got a speaking score of 23, but you want 26. Well, first, we should raise your goal to 27 (because it's less risky and if you miss, you can still get 26). This means you want to improve your speaking score by 4 points, so you should aim to speak TOEFL-style responses for 60 hours. Yes! 60 hours.
At first, 60 hours might seem like a crazy number, but if you make significant mistakes with grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation, it can take weeks -- sometimes 2-4 months -- to eliminate 85-95% of your errors. People who score 26 and higher sound "perfect", well, almost perfect.
Imitate high-quality model responses for TOEFL speaking.
The strongest and fastest way you can learn is through imitation. When you learned to speak as a child, you spent a long time quietly watching your parents and you developed a perfect accent, grammar, and a wide vocabulary.
When I first taught TOEFL speaking, I didn't realize the importance of imitation and I tried to make my students speak without giving them a great example to follow. What I discovered is that you actually improve much, much faster if your teacher, demonstrates really high-scoring TOEFL responses.
It all depends on what your speaking target score is. If you need a lower score (like 20-24 points, for example, the quality of the examples you follow is not that important). However, if you need 26 or higher, look for a teacher who got 30 on TOEFL speaking like I did. This way, you know that you can trust the examples of TOEFL speaking you'll hear. Ultimately, your own responses will reflect the speech patterns, you model. Because of that, you will be more successful if you learn from high-quality responses.
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