Why should you Know the TOEFL Test Structure?
The first thing that crosses the mind of students preparing for any examination is – what is the question paper structure, and TOEFL is no exception to this tendency. Moreover, candidates preparing for the TOEFL must have thorough knowledge of the test structure, if they wish to fare well in the test. The TOEFL primarily, consists of four parts. However, this does not provide much insight into the format of the TOEFL question paper. Thus, the following sections of this article have been designed to help you understand the TOEFL structure, thoroughly.Reading Section of TOEFLAs the name of this section suggests, this part of TOEFL comprises of passages, which have to be read in order to answer the questions. These passages are taken from a myriad of texts. However, these are texts, which you might have read in your undergraduate years. Nevertheless, prior knowledge of the text from which, the excerpts have been taken is not required.These passages are moderately long (700 words approximately) and they deal with subjects like humanities, literature, science etc. Some of the questions require you to use the information provided in the passages, in order to draw the correct conclusions. Other questions deal with the central theme of the passages. A large number of the Reading Comprehension questions, also deal with the allegorical meanings of certain statements of the passages. Thus, reading the passages thoroughly is absolutely essential if you want to answer the questions correctly.In this section of the TOEFL, you will have to solve 36 to 56 questions in 60 to 80 minutes. You will have to read a total of 3 to 4 passages, in order to answer the questions.TOEFL Listening SectionThe next most important part of TOEFL is the Listening section of the examination. This section is unique, since it involves listening to audio clips in order to answer the questions. Through this section of the examination, ETS tries to analyze, how well you can follow instructions in English.Moreover, the conversations, discussions or classroom lectures that you hear in the audio clips, have a neutral accent. Thus, it does not examine your ability to understand particular accents; instead it analyzes how well you can understand English in the spoken form. For this section of the test, you will have to solve 34 to 51 questions. You will get 60 to 90 minutes to solve all of these questions.Speaking for TOEFLThe penultimate part of the test is the Speaking section of the examination. In this part of the test, you will get 20 minutes to express your opinions on the given topics. You will have to solve 6 Speaking tasks within these 20 minutes. This section analyzes your ability to express yourself correctly in English. Some of the tasks consist of listening to audio clips. In these tasks, the instructions as to how to solve the questions are also given in the audio clips. So you will have to listen carefully and then say the answers. The answers that you provide are recorded and then graded.Writing Section of TOEFLFinally, the last part of the TOEFL deals with the essay writing section of the examination. In this part of the TOEFL, you will have to write two essays. The essay topics are usually taken from the Listening tasks that you have already heard or separate topics specifically for this section of the test are given. You will get a total of 50 minutes to write both the essays.The sections above provide an outline of the structure of TOEFL. If you need more information regarding the question paper structure then click on the following link:http://www.ets.org/toefl-home/ibt/about/content/Once you have understood, the question paper format of TOEFL, you will see preparing for the test becomes easier. Therefore, you should analyze the features of each section of the test thoroughly, and then start preparing for the examination.