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Entry tags:
- 100 things,
- hp,
- random,
- rl
100 things the 4th
TOEFL: the first standardised test I ever took.
Okay, that's not strictly true. Up to then, I'd taken loads of standardised tests: national exams, exams such as Ordinary levels, Advanced levels (known as "Air levels" in my family), but these were really more like stuff to test what you learnt in school, whereas the TOEFL was the first test I ever had that was meant to test non-textbook stuff aka (supposedly) one's competence in English.
I took the TOEFL nearly 20 years ago - dating myself again! - in those days when they only had paper tests and the written component was optional, in that the test was administered only on certain dates and on some of those dates, the written component was included. The written component, as far as I could figure out, then comprised of a 300-word essay on some innocuous topic, such as "Do aliens exist?" or "Businesses should care about the environment."
Anyway, the institution I was applying to at that time did not require the written component, and the written component cost extra, so naturally I declined to have myself tested in it.
I also didn't know that you had to practice for TOEFL. I was totally naïve about how the world worked in those days. The spiel was that the TOEFL was supposed to test your usual language competency and that you shouldn't study for it. So I didn't. Huh.
Still, after you registered for TOEFL, they would send the confirmation together with a practice test. I think I did a section of it, probably the grammar or comprehension section, and then became bored with it. I sort of understood that there was a listening section, but there wasn't any way to prepare for it, so I just read a few of the tape scripts, compared them with the questions, and gave it up.
Until the actual day of the test, when they gave out those answer sheets with ovals in it that you were supposed to shade (I favour 2B graphite pencils), and then I realised that holy shit, there were something like 30? 60? listening comprehension questions. Then after that another 60 or so grammar and vocabulary questions.
The time factor turned out to be an advantage, as it meant that I had no time to second-guess myself, I just did the questions methodically - and that's when I realised how wacky these kind of tests are.
My only tip is: don't overthink stuff.
I didn't know much about grammar (what's a noun?) when I took that test, and everything was gut instinct. If I take it now, I think I'd do much worse because I'd spend too much time overanalysing things. Now that I sometimes help my students prepare for TOEFL, I appreciate that it's supposed to English competence for a college-going person, but damn, it's really difficult if the test-taker is only taking it to prove that they know English, which is what the TOEFL has become in many instances. *sigh*
To end that little segue, I finished that TOEFL feeling a bit insulted and also, unchallenged.
So anyway, overall not a traumatic experience.
My score was 667. 'twas considered high, but these scores only last for two years. ^_^;;
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1. The problem with taking a class in ethics is that soon you start thinking that all your classmates are immoral arseholes (the desire to play devil's advocate makes them say the most awful things).
2. Came across the book Fan fiction and copyright: outsider works and intellectual property protection, by Aaron Schwabach. It's pretty amusing -- and occasionally unintentionally so when the writer refers approvingly to Harry/Draco fics. LJ features a lot.
3. Am putting up some Hikago fics of mine at AO3; previously they were just on LJ and ffnet -- wondering if it's overkill of me.
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The Best Revenge, Snape rescues Harry, AU, by Arsinoe de Blassenville
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