Postby Lavabug » Tue Nov 06, 2012 7:44 am
(caveat: I have always been bilingual, but since my university is not in an English-speaking country I still need to take the TOEFL).
I took the TOEFL with no preparation 2 weeks ago and scored 107/120. Nearly full scores in all sections except reading(22/30) because I was not wary of the time constraints, this is IMO the hardest part of the exam if you're not familiar with the format (all 4 articles and 56 questions given to you for 1:20Hrs, and you can flip back and forth(I didn't know this until I got to the 2nd article).
The speaking part is what most people seem to have trouble with on the iBT since you're basically recording yourself, with the added distraction that there are other people in the room doing the same. Try to think/write down at least 2-3 complete sentences in the 20 seconds you get to "prepare" for each of the speaking sections, content does not matter. As long as you speak clearly and coherently with no grammar or pronunciation mistakes, you won't have a problem. I got nervous and was really brief in one of the speaking sections, I REALLY thought I screwed up but I ended up with a 29/30, so that leads me to believe they're looking for proper pronunciation and coherent statements, not content at all. I should warn you though, with my accent I have always passed for an American, which may have caused the grader to be more lenient, so take that with a grain of salt.
I have not studied much for the verbal gre, but from the exercises in my official prep book it does seem a bit challenging.