The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL®) measures the ability of non-native speakers of English to use and understand North American English as it is spoken and written in college and university settings. Most people who take the TOEFL® test are planning to study at colleges and universities where the medium of instruction is English.

In addition, many government agencies, scholarship programs, and licensing / certification agencies use TOEFL® scores to evaluate English proficiency.

Educational Testing Service (ETS) has introduced a new version of the TOEFL® Test. The most important change in the exam, now better known as the TOEFL® iBT, is that the test would be conducted via the Internet.

The TOEFL® iBT is an exam that is aimed at testing the students on their skills in English usage. The test is structured in such a manner so as to ensure that there is a match between the actual environment the test taker would face and the students’ skills. The new test pattern focuses on all round communication skills.

The iBT tests the ability of a test taker to deal with the day-to-day situations. It therefore aims at testing the test taker’s comfort in using English while communicating in the real world and not academic excellence in English as a subject per se. Keeping this in mind the exam now looks at all aspects of using a language ,viz., Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking.

The CBT did not have a section on speaking and neither did it include the concept of testing the application of multiple skills simultaneously. These tasks (the ones that require the test taker to use multiple skills simultaneously) are known as ‘integrated tasks’. In the old pattern of TOEFL® test there were only three sections - Reading, Writing, and Listening. However the new TOEFL® iBT includes a section on Speaking as well.

The T.I.M.E. TOEFL® iBT programme

30 highly interactive sessions are conducted over approximately 45 – 50 days. The highlight of these sessions is that they not only prepare you for the TOEFL® iBT, they also give you the confidence to communicate better in everyday life.

The breakup of these 30 classes is as follows:

The first 3 classes focus on Basic language and accent skills, similar sounding words (homophones) and on common idioms and phrases. In these classes familiarity with the various American accents will be developed in addition to a focus on language use.

For the Reading Comprehension section 6 classes will be conducted. As is the case with all T.I.M.E. courses, we will start with the basics, move to practice exercises and end with practice tests. All types of questions that you are likely to see in the TOEFL ® iBT such as “identify the most suitable heading for the given passage” or meanings of words, or pronoun references, will be covered in these classes.

To train you for the Listening section of the TOEFL® iBT, we have 6 classes, all of which will be conducted with the aid of (Audio) CDs.

Speaking is perhaps the section that most students are wary of. We have 8 classes over which we will prepare you for this section. There are a total of six speaking tasks on the TOEFL® iBT and we have one class dedicated for the understanding and practice of each of these tasks. The last two classes are revisions or mini tests. Each student will have the opportunity to speak in class and will get feedback from a specially trained faculty. Audio CDs are used in class for most of these sessions.

We have 7 classes dedicated to the writing section of the TOEFL® iBT. We will start form the basics of writing, have one class on functional grammar and 5 classes for the two tasks that you will encounter in the TOEFL® iBT. In these classes, you will actually write essays in class and will receive feedback on your performance from specially trained faculty. Specially developed audio CDs aid the faculty in some of these classes.

We are confident that this is the best and the most comprehensive TOEFL® iBT programme and that you will benefit immensely from your decision to join T.I.M.E.