Taking TOEFL: Registration, Preparation, Test Day, and Scores

I took TOEFL on February 18th. It was a multi-step process, and in this blog post I share the necessary steps and what my experience was like.

Registering for TOEFL

I registered for my test on January 4th, and I chose to take it at a test center here in Santiago. At that time the earliest date was February 18th, about six weeks from then. There was only one test center available, which was in downtown at Instituto Chileno Norteamericano. I’ve seen additional test centers in Providencia and Las Condes.

In order to register I needed an account on the ETS/TOEFL website. Your account also where you’ll find official test preparation ebooks, practice tests, and other materials. The process was easy, and it allowed you to switch between registering at a test center or for the home edition.

When I went to pay for my test, I was given the option to add practice tests. I purchased 3 of them for a discounted price of $89 USD. Here’s what the order confirmation looked like:

I received an email confirmation which included important links to visit with requirements for identification and what to expect at a test center. I didn’t access them from the email at that time, but as I discovered thanks to Michael Goodine, at the time of writing this those links are currently broken

Preparing for TOEFL

There were four main resources I used to prepare.

The first was free practice materials on the ETS/TOEFL website. If you go int your account, there’s the tab Browse Test Prep. Scrolling down you find an interactive sample and 2 full-length practice tests. This let me understand the new format and question types.

I also used My Speaking Score to practice the speaking section. John Healy ran a speaking bootcamp in early January with practice questions for the new test, and it has a wealth of questions to practice. There’s the option to practice one or both of the tasks and decide if you’d like to purchase credits to get a score analysis. I really like that you have the option to practice for free to get a feel for the test. Here’s what it looks like on the inside:

We finally got an official guide in early February, titled The Official Guide to TOEFL: Pocket Edition. It includes detailed information for each section of the test and the different question types, practice sets, and a full practice test. Unfortunately the practice test is only in written form, without the option to take it digitally. (At least there are the 2 free full-length tests.) I purchased it for $19 USD when it was released, but I noticed that it is now $25 USD.

Last but not least, I bought 3 official practice tests when I registered. You take them on your computer, and they are timed like the real test. I took 2 of the 3 practice tests, and here were my results:

I struggled a bit with the reading section on the first test. There were some questions where it wasn’t clear which answer was correct once I narrowed it down to two choices.

I was surprised that my writing wasn’t able to be scored on the second test. Clicking the links provided didn’t give me any type of explanation, and diving into Reddit gave me the explanation that my response might have been too long for the AI to score. Another reason for an NS is going off topic and not answering the question. While I did share a personal anecdote for the academic discussion question, I couldn’t see that as going off topic. It’s disappointing that there wasn’t any type of human scorer to review this, especially considering it was a paid test and that they encourage you to write as much as you can for the email task.

Test Day

My test time was 10 AM, and I arrived at the test center at 9:15. At the reception they had a list of people registered for the test, and once I was inside I had to wait on the first floor until 9:30. Then we were allowed to go up to the fifth floor where we would take it.

We were shown the lockers for all of our belongings, and we were told that we would be checked in to start the test one by one. We had to sign a document and then had our pictures taken and read a statement to record our image and voice.

There were only 10 of us, and we had our own testing station. There was a proctor that showed me to my space, and there was paper to take notes and a pencil. There wasn’t any outside noise affecting my concentration, and I was the first person to the speaking section.

I finished the test in about an hour and 20 minutes, and I was shown my unofficial reading score of 5.5 and listening score of 6.0. I had the option to cancel my scores.

I feel like the process was smooth, and there was clear communication every step of the way.

My Scores

I was surprised that my scores were available on Friday night, less than 72 hours after taking my test. Here they are:

There was two questions with complete the words that I struggled with, but after some thought I was able to figure out the correct answer. There were also a few questions from an academic reading that I wasn’t sure about; I feel like the wording was ambiguous, making it hard to decide which answer was supposed to be correct.

Key Points

If you’re planning to take TOEFL, keep the following in mind:

Register early for the test, especially if you have a deadline. If you’re in Santiago there are only 2 or 3 test centers, and when I took it there were only 10 spaces available. Those spaces fill up fast. There’s more flexibility with the home edition, but you face the extra hurdles of having the proper setup.

Take advantage of free official practice materials as much as possible. Once you have an idea of what you need, buying practice tests or investing in credits on My Speaking Score is the way I recommend to prepare.

Be sure that you know how to get to your test center, and double check details like your name on your identification to ensure it matches the name on your registration.

Preparing adequately will give you the best chance at getting the score you need on the first try.

Feel free to leave a comment with any questions, and if you found this helpful, share it with anyone you know that needs to prepare TOEFL.