TOEFL came, saw and went in a jiffy..

So I wrote TOEFL yesterday. Had booked this slot about 14 days ago, thought had not started preparation until 1-2 days before the exam. And to make things difficult in the exam yesterday, I had NOT taken a single full length mock test before. Blame it on the ISB result date (20 Nov) and LBS shortlist(12th nov) which took most of my mindspace than TOEFL could.

I knew from the outset that speaking section will be the toughest and hence no surprises there! But, I realized only yesterday that listening section poses its own unique challenges. First, there is too much to listen and sometimes too long lectures. Second- you need to make your notes while you are listening, as the questions which follow can ask for details. This is the hardest part as when you write down, you could possibly miss some details and tone changes in the audio. Third, the test simply put is outrageously lengthy and your initial enthusiasm can die down pretty early.

Anyway, my final impression about my performance on the test goes like this:

1. Reading: A walk in the park if you are used to handling the passages of GMAT and CAT exams. There were about 42 questions and I would be disappointed if I got less than 39 right in this section.
Overall performance rating: 10/10

2. Listening: As I mentioned above, presents its own challenges. Once will do well to practice this section before exam a couple of times. Not too tough otherwise.
Overall performance rating: 8/10

3. Speaking: The trickiest section on the test without a doubt. Practice will go a long way in improving score in this section. The qualities required to do well in this section, as I learnt are:
1. Know each question type and know what all things you need to cover in your speech.
2. While the question is being presented to you, they read the question text which is presented to you rather slowly, so you can quickly go through the text and add the saved time to your speech preparation time.
3. Keep an eye on the recording time count down timer. I didnt when I was answering the second questions and was at my last point when the time was up and my response got truncated. Hope they don’t penalize heavily for this folly.
Overall performance rating: 6/10

4. Writing: Easier than the ones you find at GMAT. Though I got a topic in the opinion essay where I couldn’t of many points to write. You need a bit of luck, but can do a decent job even when you run out of it..
Overall performance rating: 7/10

So, the summary of all this, in short, is that I messed up a few times on the test due to lack of my experience with the test. I made some errors(truncated response in one question, 45 secs response when 60 sec response was asked for, etc) on the speaking section and I just hope that I manage a score of 20+ in this section. Overall, I think I am looking at a score of 100-105 which I am not sure is good enough for all the schools. Hell me!

My fingers crossed…

P.S. Forgot to add, those who are planning to take TOEFL must look at this excellent site(which I came to know of only a day before my test, but still owe 70% of my speaking section marks to them):
TOEFL tips by Jason