Friday, March 14, 2008

ToEfL, have you taken it Yet?

Oh,God! I am gonna tell you something, ToEfl is the hardest English test i ever have had in my entire life. I just took it in this morning, and I felt EAP 3 was much easier after I finished the test. Now, I am glad about I am taking EAP courses, and I am in the final level. Thank god! However, I am still thinking about the difference between EAP program and ToEfl, and which one can really test our abilities for universities' level. To tell the truth, reading section in ToEfl is extremely hard, much harder than the tests or exams we've done in EAP 3. Listening sections in both are pretty much the same. Speaking is harder than EAP 3, especially reading a passage first, then listening to a lecture and compare what you read with what you listened. Another hard is summarize the lecture and use the information from the lecture to explain a question. Summarizing lectures is a very crucial skill for surviving at universities. Using and Explaining is another important skill for doing academic presentations. For writing section, I think EAP 3 is a little harder, but ToEfl has a very interesting writing task. In the task, You read a article first, and then listen to a lecture which is based on the same topic as the article. After that, you have to use information from the article and lecture to answer a question, writing about 200 words. It also tests listening skill......ToEfl is just a test, and EAP Program provides courses which helps students prepare for universities. Students who pass ToEfl may not survive at U of C, that is why Murray said ToEfl is garbage, but Can students who pass EAP 3 survive in regular courses? I am concerned about it NOW. Anyway, I felt I do have a lot of work to do after I took ToEfl. It makes me work hard. go to classes every day, be on time, do homework, and KEEP BLOGGING :) cheers.

4 comments:

Scott Douglas said...

I'm just as concerned about it as you! As you can imagine, I think about this a lot . . . in fact, almost every day! The way I figure it, if a student gets a "C" in EAP 3 and then they went and did the iBT TOEFL, they would probably get about a TOEFL 85. It a student gets an "A" in EAP 3, they probably should get around a TOEFL score of 100. But that is just an educated guess on my part. Personally, I do think we prepare students better for university than the TOEFL exam. I think some people who "squeak by" on the TOEFL test and get into the U of C are really shocked by what "real" university is like!

Jason said...

I agree with you, Toefl is a test not a course can help international students prepare for universities. However, what I am concerned about is the possibility of surviving in regular courses. I doubt that students with C can really handle real university. They gotta be studying hard, really hard.

Hisham said...

i hate TOEFL
FINAL!!

Anton said...

I strongly agree with Scott's opinion because TOEFL doesn't go to the surface of the aisberg.