Sitting for the TOEFL
I had to sit for the TOEFL yesterday, from 4:00 to 8:00 PM. Several reasons prompted me to sit for the test at this stage, some of which academic and some even more selfish.
There were nine test takers at the test center, including myself. We all arrived early - a bit too early. As per the directions posted on the TOEFL site, one would have to check-in at 3:30. If I were to estimate it, I would say that nobody checked in after 3:20 PM. It was a true miracle.
I reckon I am writing this entry to let everyone know that the exam was considerably challenging. There were some changes and some modifications to the original test most people you know sat for. Now the test features a real speaking section where you have six tasks to complete, as well as a few novel question formats in the reading section.
Perhaps it was the duration of the test that added the most pressure to it. I do not enjoy being confined in one place for long periods of time and so I was fidgeting throughout the reading section. After that section was over, I resigned myself to the fact that I am not going anywhere so I might as well sit still.
Then there was the time indicator. That invention is hideous to people like me; it distracted me immensely and I kept looking at it and seeing how seconds are passing by. I had a hard time answering the reading section questions because I was too absorbed in watching the time and trying to beat the clock. I hid the time indicator afterwards and answered more efficiently.
Those were not the only challenges in the test. When I first arrived to the center I bumped into someone I had met a long, long time ago on campus. It was this big dentist guy who I did not like all too well and unfortunately he was sitting for the same test as I. I would like him even less by the end of the test.
The process of appointing computers to the test takers was smooth enough. One thought occupied my mind the whole time: “Please god, please, do not let me sit next to him. Please!” He was on PC 9 and had started the exam already and there were fourteen other PCs in the place. But no, I got PC 10.
That was the hardest part of the test, sitting next to someone who is loud even when he takes notes. I dreaded the approach of the speaking section for I knew it will turn into a festival! And it did – this person was speaking so loud that the people across the room were giving him strange, angry looks. They turned their seats and their heads to look for the person speaking so loud and they looked at the test administrators with hopeful eyes. The administrators could do nothing about it though.
If that was the case of the people across the room, you can doubtlessly imaging how my suffering mounted to sheer frustration when I could not focus enough to answer the questions before me. It was a nightmare in the most literal sense of the word, only it was too real. It got worse after the second speaking question because it seemed that this person did not do well in the first two and was growing more and more distressed. His voice got louder, the tone changed, he pushed the chair back and forth and bumped into the disk so strongly that everyone panicked, and he started shuffling his papers and moving the keyboard about. I had to practice the utmost self-restraint not to commit some evil act then. It was so hellish!
I would have preferred to sit for the test in better conditions. Do not mistake this for a complaint on the center, it is not. The American ESL Center and the people working at it were delightfully pleasant but those were the only elements pleasant through that experience. My advice to you is not to listen to people who tell you that TOEFL is “nothing” and to take any measures affordable to avoid sitting next to loud people you do not appreciate.
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November 11th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
<p>It happened to me too.. i had to sit for Toefl about five years ago and it was computer based and the person sitting next to me had her headphones very loud that i could hear everything she was hearing.. i hope u did better than i did!!! from experience IELTS is heaps easier</p>
November 11th, 2006 at 9:00 pm
<p><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I am sure you did well; you sbeak English very best and good :)
<p></p></p>
<p>Well, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I wanted to show off and brag a bit about my IELTS score last month, but I think Rua (Previous comment) did not leave the chance for me to do so :)<br /><br /></p>
November 12th, 2006 at 12:19 am
I guess you were a little bit nervous, and that’s pretty normal considering an achiever like you. Anyways, I think you should have complained verbally to the admin. during and after the test, then wrote a complain, I’m sure they would have offered you another exam for free.<br /><br />I’m sure you’ve done great :-)<br /><br />Haven’t done the IELTS , but had some tests, and it’s way harder because it’s has lots of BRITISH, very bad.<br /><br />
November 12th, 2006 at 11:20 am
But Firas, the instructions clearly say that if I think I will have trouble concentrating due to the noise around me, I should keep my headphones on all the time. I did keep them on, but I still got distracted thanks to the noisy hulk next to me.
November 13th, 2006 at 12:31 am
Your story reminds me of a time when I took a German language examination in some of the worst test-taking conditions I’ve ever had.<br /><br />It was when I was in graduate school in Chicago, and the building we had the test in was right next to a busy intersection. On the day of the test, the intersection controls weren’t working, so drivers had to be really careful about right-of-way, lest they get into an accident. One driver, unfortunately, was not careful, and plowed into a municipal bus (no one was hurt, thankfully!). After the accident, the car’s horn started honking on its own, and wouldn’t stop! *HONK* *HONK* *HONK*<br /><br />The horn, in fact, did not stop honking until about 45 minutes into the test.<br /><br />Added to this was the fact that it had been raining all night and someone had left the window to our classroom open the night before. By sheer coincidence, someone had also left a sweatshirt on top of the heater in the classroom…. which was right beneath the window, so it was soaked through and through. The carpet under the window was also waterlogged. Of course, the heater had been turned up to about 80 degrees Fahrenheit, just to top it all off. <br /><br />So in addition to the honking noise coming from outside, the classroom itself was very hot and humid, since both the rain-soaked sweatshirt on top of the heater and the nearby carpet were evaporating water into the air all night long. Of course the wet carpet smelled… well, like old wet carpets tend to smell.<br /><br />It seems to me that there may have been some other kind of minor misfortune that we had to deal with during that test, but I can’t remember it at the moment.<br /><br />Needless to say, it was one of the most unpleasant tests I’ve ever taken (and I’m no real fan of foreign language tests to begin with!), although I somehow managed to get a pretty good grade. :)<br />