New TOEFL® vocabulary tests

[Mahsash]

Hi friends
I have alittle bit problems on listening part, in toefl disscution number 1,I couldn't find out the meaning of this sentence
"you've got almost a year under your belt here,now at central you will starting from scratch"
what does it mean exactly?actully i cant guess the meaning of the 2 these words"belt and scratch".
would you please help me?

thank you

[Beeesneees]

You've got almost a year under your belt here, - you have almost a year's experience here. If you have something under your belt, you have already achieved it or done it.

Now at Central you will be starting from scratch - at Central, you will be starting without being able to make use of any prior experience (in this case, because you haven't experienced that sort of work before). If you do something from scratch, you do it without making use of anything that has been done before.
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Cheers m' dears!

[Aisha Khoja]

We don't need to do vocabulary in personal for IBT toefl?? i mean they don't give any structure or grammar in IBT TOEFL

[Hassa]

Dear Friend,

You are right, there isn't any structural or grammar question in the TOEFL iBT test. But the more you boost your vocabulary, the high score you will get.

[Mahsash]

hello
"I've been having too good a time at it".
can you tell me what it really means?does is it mean " I SPEND TIME AT IT."

[Beeesneees]

I'm enjoying it so much that I'm spending too much time at it.
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Cheers m' dears!

[Luongvt]

Hi Everybody!
My name is Luong. I wan't learning English good. I am verry fun meet them, i hope we are with exchange, learn,...and learn English better. Thank soo much!

[Mahsash]

Hello

I couldnt figure out the exact meaning of this part of listening," I've learned a lot here, and one thing I've learnt is that most fields don't hold out a lot of promise for gainful employment".
I think it means" I've learned here ,most majors can't give a guaranty for guys who want to have beneficial occupation ".am i right?would you please correct me, if I dont figure it out exactly?

I'm grateful for your kindness

[Tuulai0903]

I think using flash cards is good method to improve vocabulary. I could get some words before I could not get it by using the flash cards. It is funny and effective method. Try it with your friends.

[Tuulai0903]

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[B.d]

Hi, everybody
From my perspective TOEFL is quite difficult for us as ESL (English as a Second Language), especially when we have a subject about something that we are not familiar with such as Archeology, Geology, Biology or Astronomy and so on. I mean a subject that you did not study it in English. The difficulty will be in the new vocabulary that we may read or listen. So, we need to increase or vocabulary bank. This is what I believe and I wish a good luck for everybody.

[Tuulai0903]

[Beeesneees]

[Alan]

Hi Tuulai0903,

'Awkward' is a good adjective to use and I congratulate you on using it. It really describes something that is difficult to manage either literally or figuratively. For example if you have a very large case, you will find it awkward to take it on to the train because there isn't much room. Alternatively you may find yourself in an awkward situation because you find yourself talking to someone you don't remember but they say they know you very well.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[B.d]

Hi, everybody
Thank you Tuulai for citing my post and I found out this problem when I experienced to those subjects that you mentioned. However, how can we overcome this difficulty (I mean people who are using English as a Second Language) by writing down the new words that we find, understand their meaning very well and try to utilize them when we write or speak, like the word (awkward) when you used it in your writing (I like this attitude). In addition, making sure that we know the pronunciation, sometimes we find new word in reading comprehension and we know what does it mean but when we have it in listening, we do not recognize it because we do not know the correct pronunciation of that word.
(Please if there is any mistake in my writing correct me)
Many thanks