A few questions about the TOEFL®, quite urgent I guess…

[Itz]

Hi all
I am going to sit the Toefl on this coming Saturday, and I have a few questions:

First question is about the reading part:
So far I practiced like this; first I read the passage very fast and then start answering the questions.
Many people told me that it is better to first go to the questions and to look for the answers while reading.
My test is very soon so I have no time to practice this method.
What do you think that I should do?
Which method do you use for the reading part?

Also, I have a question about the writing section:
My writing ability is quite weak, I mean, I can write pretty well but I have many spelling mistakes. How badly it will affect my scores?

The university that I’m applying for requires minimum of (just!) 71 on the IBT. How difficult will it be to achieve that?
I think that I’m quite good in speaking, listening and reading but I am a little worried due my writing difficulties.

Your responses are much appreciated.

[Vuralorion]

The strategy of first reading questions then seeking answers is really useful. It really makes you save time and leads you to get accurate answers. You can try it on a reading section practice test, if you have one.

I know that spelling is an important criterion in scoring writing section essays. You still have 4 days, I think you can still study on it to eleminate your imperfections.

I think you can achieve easily to 71 despite of your weak writing skills. I know that each section holds 30 points and four section 120 at all. So you can get 71 even if you do your worst at writing.

[Appleboy10]

Reading skills is important to tofel reading section. The key problem of success in reading section is so simple which is almost similar to GRE or GMAT reading skills. You need to know the answer when you reading the passage because a general brain can not remember so much message one time.
So the best solutions is that you need to identify sentences you are reading are the answers of your questions or not when you are reading. This skill solve the shortage of memory. You do not need to hold large amount information for your question.But you have already know all of the questions before you read the passages.
Different people have different methods. If you have very strong memory system, you need to read in block but not read word by word.
Some people have very strong memory system. They can get very high tofel score in reading section and they do not need any skills in reading. They can remember everything after their reading. I just want to say that you should use your own very best ability and skills suit for yourself together.
If you find a best method suit for you, you will success.

[TOEFLnIELTSLisa]

Hi,
With just 4 days to go till your test, what you should work on most is calming down. Think you'll be sitting next to people who need scores of 105-115 to go where they want to. As the other poster said, although spelling is important, it is only part of your writing score. If you mess up your structure and miss the topic because you worry about your spelling you'll miss a lot more points. Your post is not written in internet shorthand and shows ability to present your ideas in well structured sentences. You'd really have to lose it on the spelling to degrade an essay that badly. Unless your misspelled words inhibit reading to a significant extent or create misunderstandings their impact on your score may not be as severe as you fear. Look at a file called Writing_Rubriks.pdf at the ETS site (You may have to go to teachers' resouces for it. but it's freely available for download somewhere on the site).

http://www.manythings.org/e/spelling.html
or for more fun
http://www.funbrain.com/funbrain/cgi-bin/gg.cgi?A1=m&A2=0&A3=0&AFUNCT=0&ALEVEL=1
might help you to see not all is lost.

I've just had 2 students with a significant difference in their language abilities.
One had a good command of English, but got confused when taking notes and nervous when faced with the countdown timer and worried about a lot of stuff besides what is the task and how do I answer it. The other, whose level of English made me doubt he could make it, took efficient notes, stayed calm even though the timer counted down on him and focused on each task, albeit with cookie-cutter responses. Guess which one got the score he needed?

I'm not saying you should misspell words to your heart's content, but an essay that is well written means more than good spelling.
So take a deep breath and look around you at all the others who have to get top score and think you have it easy, then write the best essay you can.

Hope this helps,
Lisa

P.S. I've found the Purdue OWL writing lab very useful. Check out
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/general/gl_essay.html
and for more detail
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
Best thing is's all free!