Do Essay Topics Still Come Out of a Fixed Topic Pool in the New TOEFL® IBT?

[Ikk3435]

Do essay topics still come out of a fixed topic pool in the new TOEFL IBT exam? If so, is the topic pool the same as the topic pool for the previous CBT ( topic#1: People attend college or university for many different .....
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topic#185: You have enough money to purchase ........ )

Thanks for your reply !

[Englishuser]

Hi ikk3435,

Why are you so interested in this? I think it's obvious that all topics used in TOEFL testing have to come from some kind of "topic pool". There should be enough topics to make it very difficult to prepare for the test by means of familiarising oneself with topics that have appeared in past versions of the test, though. This is important so as to keep the test secure, that is, to ensure that each TOEFL candidate receives a score as close as possible to their real skill level.

You should be working on your English if you want to do well on the TOEFL test. TOEFL candidates reading this might also wish to think about why they are going to sit the TOEFL test in the first place. A student admitted to a US college who hasn't acquired the English level needed for academic study is likely to find himself or herself in a tough position indeed.

All the best

EU

[Ikk3435]

Hi EU,

Thanks for your reply !

Previously, for the CBT TOEFL exam, the ETS actually publicised its entire pool of essay topics on its website. They also did the same for both the issue assesment and the argument assessment for the GRE exam. They did this not to let people try and go "memorize" possible replys for the test, but to let students get acquainted with the type of topics that they would run into in the test, and to be able to be "prepared" for what they would be up against. I remember that there were about 280 topics in the GRE issue assement topic pool, and about another 280 for the argument assessment, so it would be very hard (if not impossible) to try to memorize replies, and even if someone were to try to do such a thing, the people who correct the test are trained by the ETS to look out for these kind of "memorized" replies, so a memorized reply would likely get a very low score anyway. But nevertheless, going over the possible topic categories and preparing onself for the type of questions that would be asked is still a very important step for test preparation, which is also why the ETS made their topic pools public in the first place

What I would like to know is, whether there is such a publicised pool of essay topics for the new TOEFL IBT exam ? And if so, where can it be found ?

thanks again !

[Englishuser]

Hi ikk3435,

Thanks for elaborating. Yes, I agree that it can be helpful for a candidate to know what kind of tasks they will be dealing with. This is why test-specific speciemen materials are published. As for your question I am sorry to say I don't have an answer for you. I suggest you check the TOEFL/ETS website for further details. You could also contact them direct if you'd like.

All the best and good luck with your test.

EU