TOEFL, Test Of English as a Foreign Language, is an entrance exam conducted for the students who seeks admission in foreign universities/collages. The test is conducted to examine the candidate’s competency in English. About 5,000 institutions/universities across the world recognize the TOEFL score for the English proficiency of the student. Any candidate after the successful completion of the plus-two exam is eligible for taking TOEFL.

Structure of TOEFL

It is a computer adaptive online exam and the candidate can appear for any working day. The complete structure of the exam is divided into four. Reading, writing, listening and structuring are the main areas. It mainly gives emphasis on the North American or Canadian English.

Syllabus of TOEFL

There is no specific syllabus for the exam. The listening and structuring is purely computer based test. The first question is common for all the candidates. The next question is based upon the answer given by the candidate. That means the level of complexity is determined by the answers of the student, for each correct answer the difficulty of the next question will increase. In listening session, the candidates should listen the US or Canadian comprehension through headphone which is recorded. Then they have to answer the questions based on the recording. The structuring part is for complete the sentences given. The candidates are provided with a set of incomplete/incorrect questions and asked to form the correct structure. The reading session is the comprehension part and the writing involves writing an easy about a given topic within 30 minutes.

Reference Books for TOEFL

Sufficient materials and CD’s are provided on registration of the test. Candidates can refer to books like

• Wren & Martin
• Word Power made easy, by Norman Lewis
• 30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary, by Wilfred Funk and Norman Lewis etc

Study Plan for TOEFL

The students can watch English news and good movies in a daily basis. To having a reading habit will also help. They can read the prominent magazines, English news papers and novels. They have to have good knowledge about the current happenings. They can write an essay on any topic in everyday. This will help the writing part. Also they can improve their language by interacting in English with the peer groups and by the self analysis. Take the test once you are confident and well prepared.