TOEFL Recommendations

The TOEFL test (Test of English as Foreign Language) that is commonly required for students is an ITP test (International Testing Program) with 3 parts: Listening Comprehension, Structures and Error Recognition, and Reading.

It can be prepared with the help of books and/or Internet sites, and LangMaster, a special software programme installed on all the lab PCs in Sophia (Démarrer-> Tous les programmes -> LMnet) and TellMeMore.

- If you decide for a book, make sure that it prepares for a Paper Test. Not IBT (Internet-based test); and that it comes with CDs. There are such Prep books at the Campus Libraries.

The Cambridge Preparation book for the TOEFL test is good, and so is the Longman one but slightly easier.

You should study on the whole book and not only do the Practice tests included in the book. You may do the practice tests several times, almost until you know them by heart.

- If you decide for Internet sites, here are a few sites (among hundreds of others) that will help:

http://www.english-test.net/toefl/

This site is best for its listening practice with its 50 discussions or conversations and 50 lectures or presentations. They are all similar to what you will listen to in official tests.

Another site:

http://yeuanhvan.com/learn-english/toefl-practice/part-1-toefl-structure.html

http://yeuanhvan.com/learn-english/toefl-practice/part-2-error-recognition.html

http://yeuanhvan.com/learn-english/toefl-practice/part-3-listening-comprehension.html

http://yeuanhvan.com/learn-english/toefl-practice/part-4-reading-comprehension.html

This site prepares for the 3 parts and contains 50 units each, each unit comprising 20 sentences each. Typically, you will tackle thousands of sentences or questions, the equivalent of 20 Practice tests!

Another site:

Interesting weekly podcasts from: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/podcast.html

Try one of these free, easy to use podcast receivers:

• Juice - for Windows (XP or Vista), Mac (OS X 10.3 or higher) or GNU / Linux.

• iTunes - for Mac (OS X 10.3.9 or later) and Windows (2000 or XP).

To improve your reading abilities, anything you read should be in English. Preferably, the articles you choose will be about:

- US History: famous poets, writers, presidents, artists, pilots, architects, Us Indians but also the Incas, Mayas, Aztecs, Egyptians or Mesopotamians and prehistory (men and animals)

- US Geography and Geology: meteorites, volcanoes, fossils, water, etc

- Physics (electricity, radars, sensors, etc) and chemistry (atoms, oxides, acids, pollutants, etc)

- The weather: earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, hurricanes, heat, dampness and mold

You will find a wide choice of articles here, among others of course:

- http://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts

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