Yes. What is TOEFL? Many of you may have heard about the TOEFL. But do you know what it is? You may say that, well, it's a kind of English test to assess your English. And do you know what it is used for?
TOEFL stands for Test of English as a Foreign Language. You can guess from its name that it is an English test for the foreigners whose mother languages are not English. Thus, you may see people from Asia, Europe, Africa or even some countries in America come and take the test in the same test room as you.
You may wonder who generates the test. The answer is ETS (Educational Testing Services), which is an American organization.
TOEFL is the test that measures your ability in understanding and using English at the university level. The test has many versions, but the one that is most updated is TOEFL iBT. This version tests your English performance in four skills, reading, listening, writing and speaking. (For more details of other versions of the TOEFL, please refer to the next post.)
Therefore, the content of the test is quite academic. So, most of the test takers are those who plan to study abroad, who use the score for admission to international schools, including the schools in their own countries, or those who need the TOEFL score for applying for visas.
If you think that you are going to use the TOEFL score for applying for universities, please do some research about your institutions. Although schools in many countries like UK or Australia tend to accept TOEFL more, some universities don't accept the TOEFL AT ALL(Well, they may accept only IELTS or other tests). So, my suggestion would be finding some information in the universities' websites before deciding to take the test so that you won't waste both time and money (in case your test score couldn't be submitted to any schools).
For those who know that you have to take TOEFL, don't be stressed and worried that it will be too difficult for you. I don't deny that the test is hard. But I'm going to tell you that the test itself has advantages that you may not realize before. If you prepare yourself well enough and your score is high enough to reach the minimum score that the university accepts, I'm pretty sure that not only your English is a lot improved but also you will get skills that are needed for university life (from practicing for the test). For example, you will learn note-taking skill from practicing listening to the TOEFL, or you will learn how to make a discussion or make an argument and support your ideas while practicing speaking. Therefore, don't make the difficulty of the test a barrier for you. Think about good things that you will gain/learn from it instead.
Reference: www.ets.org/toefl
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