http://www.strictlyenglishusa.com/blog Just another WordPress weblog Mon, 23 Aug 2010 03:25:17 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en We at Strictly English have been curious about other English proficiency tests that compete with the TOEFL (in particular the IELTS and the PTE), so we've done some research ourselves, and we've also asked professional tutors who specialize in these other tests to write about them. What follows below comes ... http://www.strictlyenglishusa.com/blog/2010/08/what-is-ielts/ You can find many webpages and books promising to teach you all the important idioms necessary to score high on the  TOEFL iBT writing section, but the kinds of idioms they are teaching are not really what TOEFL is looking for. In all fairness, it's not really the writers' or ... http://www.strictlyenglishusa.com/blog/2010/08/what-kinds-of-idioms-does-toefl-want/ Here is a testimonial from one of our Saudi Arabian parents whose daughter has just received the TOEFL score she needed. من الصعب إختصار في بضع سطور مافعلته هذه الشركه لمساعدة ابنتي تحقيق هدفها من رفع مستواها في اللغة الانكليزيه. فقد قاموا بوضع برنامج خاص لها وفروا مدرسات على مستوى عالي ... http://www.strictlyenglishusa.com/blog/2010/07/testimonial-from-saudi-arabian-student/ Test centers put the test takers very close together in the testing room, which means that you can hear a lot of distracting noises when you're trying to concentrate.  For example while you're concentrating on your test, you might hear: 1. another test taker's listening section (if they have their volume ... http://www.strictlyenglishusa.com/blog/2010/06/use-earplugs-when-taking-toefl/ Not surprisingly, many admissions offices prefer TOEFL over IELTS, and why not? TOEFL is more academically focused and it is more objective in its assessment of Speaking. (Entry continues below picture.) On the TOEFL, six different  raters evaluate your Speaking responses, and they cannot be swayed by your smile or your ... http://www.strictlyenglishusa.com/blog/2010/06/admissions-offices-prefer-toefl-over-ielts/ We're very happy to have received this wonderful Thank You note today from one of our current Students. We've attached a picture of the original note, but if you can't read the handwriting it says: "Thank you very much for your patience and all your knowledge that you share with me. ... http://www.strictlyenglishusa.com/blog/2010/05/thank-you-note-from-current-student/ Many of our clients want to have a list of memorized answers for the Speaking and Writing sections of the iBT. They believe that if they memorize 100 answers that are general enough, then those 100 answers will apply to any question they get on the test. Although Strictly English does ... http://www.strictlyenglishusa.com/blog/2010/03/the-limits-of-standard-answers/ He did it, so can you!  Sign up today! http://www.strictlyenglishusa.com/blog/2010/03/video-testimonial-score-104-speaking-27/ http://www.strictlyenglishusa.com/blog/2010/03/directions-on-how-to-submit-a-toefl-essay-for-correction-on-strictly-englishs-website/ So they say it takes between 2500 - 5000 hours to get a good score on the TOEFL. And that's from your very first English lesson. This must be wrong. Let's say you studied English in school every day from 1st grade until you graduated. With homework, that's about 2 hours a ... http://www.strictlyenglishusa.com/blog/2010/03/how-long-does-it-really-take-to-pass-the-toefl/