Study method of preparation for TOEFL
What is the point in getting a higher core in TOEFL? If you would like to study abroad as an exchange student, taking TOEF-ITP more than once should be considered before the application for the international exchange program. It is quite beneficial to study for higher score, even if one has already fulfilled the requirement, higher than 550 marks at the University of Otago. Onefs TOEFL score is basically on direct proportion to the amount of his or her vocabulary. It goes without saying that the more vocabulary one has, the easier it will be for him to understand the lectures in the courses of his specialty and therefore to acquire more knowledge and experience though his stay in an English-speaking country for one year. It is said that those who can get higher than 550 marks in TOEFL-PBT can understand 6000 words in English and those who has 600 marks can understand more than 10000 words. Such being the case, it is important to be able to recognize as many grammatical structures as possible and build vocabulary on the basis of English grammar acquired mainly at high school level. High school English is essential to the preparation for TOEFL. As I guess many have no one with whom they can study for TOEFL together, it is recommendable to buy studying materials appropriate for cramming alone. In preparing for TOEFL, I looked for a book which has:
- Practice exercises
- translation of the reading exercise passages
- Many passages to work on
You can find this kind of books among those sold that the university coop. On getting one copy, please try the following way:
- Solve the exercise questions at the rate of 1 question per minute.
- Check the answer for the questions and read the notes.
- Analyze the sentences.
The analysis of a sentence is a bit complicated and the most important:
i. Read one sentence aloud
ii. Recognize the sentence structure and parenthesize large groups of adverb phrases or clauses and nouns with [ ] and ( ) respectively.
For example:
(The positions of the signals | in an NMR spectrum) are defined [according to (how far they are [from the signal of the reference compound.])]
(Bruice,P.L. (2001) gOrganic Chemistry 3rd editionh Prentice Hall p.540)
iii. Underline the words unfamiliar to you and translate aloud the sentence into Japanese, guessing the meaning of the difficult words.
iv. Read the accompanying Japanese translation right away and compare it with your translation you uttered just now.
v. Underline words or phrases which are different from your translation, pronounce them and write them on another piece of paper a few times.
vi. Look up in your dictionary the words or phrases which you can not understand grammatically even after looking at their Japanese translation.
Using the accompanying dictionary, you can build vocabulary much faster than you look up in the dictionary all the words unfamiliar to you in the passage. Dictionary help you learn both the usage and pronunciation of a word. I believe that reading aloud and grammatical translation of English passages are the most efficient way to study English at pre-admission level. Cramming increases onefs vocabulary much more efficiently than English conversation. It should be noted that what I mean by ggrammatical translationh is a translation which reflects grammatical meanings of groups of words, assuming that English and Japanese do not correspond one word by one word. The meaning of an English phrase is much easier to understand though Japanese translation than though its definition in English. Onefs ability to read aloud correctly and translate a sentence is an indication of his understanding the sentence.
This method being adopted, five or six hours of cramming every day for more than 8 weeks will enable you to solve questions of and translate more than ten volumes of TOEFL reading exercise books. Your TOEFL-ITP sore is expected to improve by more than 50 marks, if you continue this method appropriately. Nevertheless, this method will fail a person who has not fully understood English grammar at high school level. A person who can recognize a decent number of grammatical structures and got 520 marks in TOEFL-ITP in Jun is expected to get more than 560 marks in October the same year. This is on the assumption that he additionally solved TOEFL practice tests in order to familiarize himself to the test forms before the examination. Practice test books are available at the library and the university book shop. It is said that some improved their TOEFL score by more than 20 marks only through solving TOEFL practice tests three to five times and acquiring a good exam tactics. It is preferable to complete more than ten TOEFL practice tests and then translate all the reading passages in the section three.
Though I admit that my method described above is far from perfect, it at least helped me achieve my goal in a short term. I hope my studying method will serve those who would like to study in Otago, as a signpost to proper methods in their preparation for TOEFL.
