Preparation to the toefl test

A month before the examination

Your final review should start a month before the examination. Make a planned programme for your revision work.
Start by thinking about what you can do well and what you do badly. You can gain more marks by improving on your weaknesses than by polishing things which you can already do well.

Make sure you understand the exact requirements of the examination and your own strengths and weaknesses. Make a focused revision programme which concentrates on the things which can gain the most marks.
Don't overwork! Always build some relaxation (not too much!) into your revision programme.

If you like working with friends, don't let your revision programme be a lonely time. Work in co-operation with other students. You can learn as much through helping as by being helped!

Use multi-sensory revision

We learn and remember information as pictures, sounds and movements. Think about linking the things you have learnt to pictures, diagrams, music, sounds, movements or sensations. You will find they are easier to remember.

Think of past events in black and white, present events in real colour and future events in strange futuristic colours.

Memorising vocabulary

You can memorise vocabulary by making pictures in your mind or on paper and labelling the different things in the picture. Test yourself regularly.

Vocabulary cards, with the word on one side and an example sentence, translation or picture on the reverse, are very useful for revising vocabulary when travelling (NOT if you are driving!).

Practise making word families like happiness, happy, happily.

Understanding Grammar

Check through your grammar reference notes and tick off the things you really understand. Concentrate on the areas where your understanding is not so clear. Try to make examples from your own knowledge or experience to help you remember the forms.

Use past papers

Practice exams are very useful for your revision particularly if you time