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.