Posts Tagged ‘toefl’

New TOEFL competitor – the PTE Academic

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Pearson, the publisher of The Economist magazine, has just launched a brand new English proficiency exam, which they are hoping will grow to be as popular as the TOEFL is today. The new exam is called the Pearson Test of English (PTE). There are three forms of the new exam. The one that will interest TOEFL students the most is the PTE Academic. Already over 500 universities, including top ones like Yale, have announced that they will accept PTE Academic scores from international students. In addition to the academic exam, there is also a PTE General, and a PTE for Young Learners.

The first PTE Academic will be administered in India in November 2009. Of course, since it is such a new exam, there is hardly any material to help one study for it. The TOEFL has been around for a long, long time. Even the current version, the TOEFL iBT, has been around for years now, so there are a lot of text books, sample exams, and free internet resources like this one to help one study for the it. It will take some time for this amount of material to appear for the new PTE Academic.

TOEFL or IELTS? Which exam should you take?

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

Master TOEFL trainer RebeccaESL gives you all the information you need to decide between taking the TOEFL or the IELTS! Very helpful lecture from the best English teacher on the planet!


Free TOEFL tips

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

Here are some good tips on how to beat the TOEFL and get a high score.


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TOEFL Speaking tips

Monday, November 10th, 2008

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The problem with TOEFL iBT

Friday, September 12th, 2008

You know what one of the big problems with the iBT (Internet) version of the TOEFL is? The Internet is not always stable. Just a few days ago, TOEFL students in Asia had a lot of trouble taking the exam:

The problem was with the main ETS (the company that runs TOEFL) server in the United States. About 4000 students in South Korea had to wait over two hours for the server to be fixed before they could take the exam. Some could not take the test at all. ETS has had a lot of computer system and network errors since it adopted the Internet-based Test (iBT) TOEFL in 2006. This is because the iBT format has to download test questions from the main server throughout the test, while the previous system, Computer-based Test (CBT), saved questions separately on each computer.

Many students who needed the TOEFL scores for college admission will now now have the scores in time to apply. Some have even urged legal action against ETS. People in smaller towns and cities often travel to a larger city to take the exam… that’s a lot of lost money and time.

ETS said the problem was caused by its main server in the United States and it will refund fees or allow a free retake for those who had to give up the test.

Do you think that’s enough, or should ETS compensate students further? If you have taken the TOEFL iBT before, did you experience any technical problems?