Indiatimes.com Starts Online Entrance Test Service

With a population of more than 1 billion, competition is cutthroat in entrance tests for engineering and medical colleges in India.To cash in on the burgeoning tutorial market, Indiatimes.com, a top Internet portal in the country, has started online practice test services for students.A company press release said initially the online service will allow students to practice their skills for engineering and medical tests such as IIT-JEE, CBSE-PMT, BITSAT and AIEEE. It will later be extended to GMAT, GRE, TOEFL and the Indian version of GMAT – the CAT. Other future practice tests to be included are for Class X and Class XII board examinations for high school students.

“The education business is growing at a rapid pace and Indiatimes has decided to focus on this field,” Anurag Gupta, Indiatimes general manager for subscriptions said in the press release. He said the company soon intends to start a complete education portal.Indiatimes has launched the online service under its education wing – Indiatimes Mindscape Test Center. The partners in the venture include All India Education Testing Services (AIETS) and technology firm Brick Red.

What is the TSE (Test of Spoken English)

What

The Test of Spoken English (TSE) is a 20-minute test which measures the candidate's ability to speak English in a variety of professional and academic situations. The TSE is comprised of 5 separate sections:1. Warm up questions2. Response to a picture-prompt3. Telling a story from a picture4. Description of a graph5. Talking through an amended itineraryUnlike many speaking tests, the TSE does not require the presence of an oral examiner. Instead, candidates record their answers onto a tape.Note: The TSE is taken independently from the computer-based TOEFL test.

Why
TSE scores are used by many North American institutions of higher education to select international teaching assistants (ITAs). TSE scores are also as part of the official selection process for entry into certain professional fields - eg, Health, Science and Education.

Who
The TSE was developed in the USA by Educational Testing Service (ETS®). Non-native speakers of English from all over the world can take the TSE, provided they can access a local TSE testing center.

When
The TSE is available all year round.

Where
The TSE is available at designated TSE - and many TOEFL - test centers around the world.

How
Prospective candidates should register 6-8 weeks (min) before their anticipated test date. A registration fee of approximately US$125 is payable on registration. Results are issued approximately 4-5 weeks after the test. For more details, contact:Test of English for International Communication PO Box 6155Princeton, NJ 08541-6155USAE-mail: toeic@ets.orghttp://www.toeic.org/

TOEFL Changes- Have an Idea of IBT TOEFL

The Test of English as a Foreign Language TOEFL® is undergoing some important changes. In order to meet the challenge of providing a more comprehensive assessment of an applicant’s ability to understand and use the English language in an academic environment, the next generation TOEFL® has been developed to assess all four language skills - listening, reading, writing, and speaking. While some questions in each of the sections will be similar to questions found on the current computer-based TOEFL® test (CBT), others will be new.

The scoring system will change as well. Each of the four language skills will now be reported on a scale of 0 to 25 and there will also be a total score. In addition, the next generation TOEFL® will no longer have computer-adaptive sections; it will be a linear assessment test covering a full range of question difficulty. Note taking will be allowed on the new TOEFL® in order to better reflect real-life academic situations. The new TOEFL® will take approximately four hours to finish.Starting in July 2004, students will be introduced to this new version of the TOEFL® on the Internet. Full-length tests will be unproctored (i.e.: not supervised), and the scores will be given to the examinee only. In September 2005, the next generation TOEFL® will begin to be administered at official ETS test centers.

A very important change to the TOEFL® is the inclusion of a mandatory speaking component - the Academic Speaking Test (AST). This test will last approximately 20 minutes. Your responses will be recorded on tape and then reviewed later and given a score. During the test you will be asked six questions, two of which will focus on familiar topics. The other four will ask about short conversations, lectures, and reading passages. Both the questions and the reading passages will be printed in the test book. The time you have to prepare your response and speak will be printed below each question. The preparation time begins as soon as the question is finished, and you will be told when to begin speaking.

CLICK TO READ MORE ABOUT TOEFL


Example 1:(Script)

Narrator: Number 1.
You will now be asked to give your opinion about a familiar topic. After you hear the question, you will have 15 seconds to prepare your response and 45 seconds to speak.

Some students study for classes individually. Others study in groups. Which method of studying do you think is better and why?
Preparation time: 15 seconds Response time: 45 seconds

Example 2:(Script)
Narrator: Number 2.
You will now read a short passage and then listen to a talk on the same topic. You will then be asked a question about them. After you hear the question, you will have 30 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak.The administration at Central University feels it needs to find a way for more people to be able to attend sporting events. Read the article from the university newspaper below. You will have 45 seconds to read it. Begin reading now.

New Stadium Plans- The university has decided to accommodate more people at sporting events and is considering two alternative plans to accomplish this goal. One plan is to expand the current stadium, doubling it in size. The other plan is to build a new, larger stadium on the empty southern edge of the campus. The expansion of the current stadium would be by far the less costly of the two alternatives.

Narrator:
Now listen to a student who is speaking at a student council meeting about the stadium plans.

Student:
I’m all for saving money, but money isn’t everything. If you look at the area around the stadium, you’ll see that expansion would cause the main street to be rerouted right around a main classroom building. Can you imagine the added noise? Also, they’ll have to build where there are now student parking lots, and we barely have enough parking spaces as it is. And you know that it’ll take up part of the large open area next to the Student Center and that’s become a really popular place for students to hang out in good weather. This is what they should be worried about, not money.

Narrator:
The student expresses her opinion about one of the university’s plans for a new stadium. State her opinion and explain the reasons she gives for holding that opinion.
Preparation time: 30 seconds Response time: 60 seconds

Conclusion:
As you can see from these two examples, the new TOEFL® contains questions that integrate the four basic communication skills; thus, the test is an excellent measure of how well individuals are able to communicate in English in an academic situation. This integrated approach will help students prepare for success in the real academic environments they will be in once they begin their studies.ESL-Pro, Free-TOEFL, and Free-English will be closely monitoring the introduction of the next generation TOEFL® and will be among the first to offer high-quality test preparation materials for this exam. Check back with us regularly to stay tuned!

Tips for the TOEFL

Before test day
The directions at the beginning of each section will tell you the total number of questions in the section and time allowed for the section. Read the directions carefully. They explain exactly what is required to answer each question type and can be reviewed as needed.
Before test day become very familiar with the different sections and their instructions.
To prepare for the Writing section of the test, practice by using the Writing topics found in the TOEFL Information Bulletin. You will have 30 minutes to compose your assigned essay. You may either hand write your essay or type it on the computer.
Taking a test on computer is very different from taking one on paper, and you need to be prepared. Even people who work with computers every day could have difficulties taking a test on computer. Practice, practice & practice.

Test
Pace yourself so that you have enough time to answer every question. Pay attention to the number of questions and the amount of time remaining during your testing session. Do not spend too much time on a single question.
Read each question carefully and thoroughly. Before answering a question, determine exactly what is being asked. Always read and understand all possible answers. If you do not, you may miss important information.
Because your score is based on the number of questions you answer correctly, it is to your advantage to answer every question, even if you have to guess.

Tips for the CAT (This applies to the Listening Comprehension and Structure sections)
If you are not sure of the correct answer to a question, make the best guess you can and go on to the next question. You can't go back to earlier questions
Start Off Strong: The CAT puts much more value on the earlier questions than the later questions. The computer has to make large jumps in the estimation of your score for each of the first few questions. The later questions are used to fine-tune your score. To get the best possible score, focus more time on the earlier questions than the later questions.
Know when to call it quits. You cannot go back to earlier questions on the TOEFL computer adaptive sections, so you have to pick and answer, make a good guess and move on to the next question.

General Format for GRE GMAT TOEFL SAT Essay Writing

A Template Approach to the GMAT / GRE Essay

You will be given an essay topic that ETS expects to be debatable. In other words, about half of the people will agree with one side, while the other half will agree with the other side.ETS will not give you a topic that most people agree on. For example, you will not see a topic asking you to give your opinion on the value of education for children, nor on whether or not the government should have programs to decrease the number of the drug users.

However, you might see an essay topic asking you to give your opinion on school vouchers, for example, or you might see a topic asking you to pick whether you think it is primarily the government's or the family’s responsibility to prevent drug use among children.
In general, do not take one side of the argument completely. A good rule of thumb is to argue your opinion at about 60 percent or 70 percent. I should emphasize this—even if you believe you are one hundred percent correct, you should still pretend that you are 60 or 70 percent correct.

Although the GMAT essay scorers are trained to forgive certain mistakes given the time constraints of the essay, ETS can be very picky. Pay attention to your grammar, spelling, and logicalsequence, just to name a few. How can you improve your score? ETS also looks for sentence variety and ability to use language. I will show you some simple ways to do this—really, it's not that hard!

OK, here we go.

One Way

First of all, you have to figure out why they chose this as a topic. Remember—not everybody will agree, in fact it should be about 50/50. This is your hint. Try to find about five points for and against each side (ten points total). Don't worry if you think that your points are stupid or trivial. The important thing right now is just to get some ideas down on paper, to start your brain working.

Second, figure out which side you are going to take.

Third, start writing! Don’t worry about an introduction or a conclusion right now—they are the hardest to write and everybody gets hung up on them. Just get your ideas down first.

Next, make sure you have about three or four paragraphs. You should be thinking about adding some examples now. Try to make one personal, maybe from your country and another one either international or American (the idea is that most educated Americans will have heard about the topic before). Don’t make your examples too personal! Imagine your prospective boss is reading this.

Now, go back and spice up your language—add something witty, an illustrative anecdote, a rhetorical question, even sarcasm or irony. Also, try changing the order of some of your sentences, i.e., put the subordinate clause first.

Almost done! Write your intro and conclusion!

Last, check grammar and spelling. Viola! A perfect essay!


Template

Okay, let’s try the essay now.

First Paragraph: Introduction


The issue/belief/idea/opinion that ______________________________________ is an interesting/controversial one. This issue is increasingly important in this age of ___________________________. Many people believe _________________________, but these people overlook _________________________________________________. Furthermore, _____________________________________. In this essay, I will argue that __________________________________________________ _______________.



Second Paragraph: Support

There are many good reasons for ____________________________. However, it cannot be ignored/overlooked that ___________________________. A classic example of this is ___________________________________________ . Try to add something interesting in this paragraph. Make sure you use a few complicated structures—try putting a subordinate clause first. Like this: While many type of professional promote the notion that _____________________________, I believe the opposite should be argued given the current situation/status/ of ____________________________________.

Conclusion


I have argued _______________________. This view will become increasingly dominant in the coming century given ________________________________. Many of these issues can never be resolved to everybody’s satisfaction, but in the long run, promoting ________________________________ will lead to the betterment of all involved. Finally, _____________________________ increased something like global cooperation, cultural understanding, blah, blah, blah can only result from this, resulting in ______________________________ for everybody.

Taking on TOEFL

For years, students from around the world have needed two things to be admitted and enroll at American colleges: a visa and an acceptable TOEFL score.The latter — the acronym stands for Test of English as a Foreign Language — is about as high stakes as a high stakes test can be. Colleges claim not to have automatic cutoffs for the SAT or ACT, but many institutions have no hesitation about setting absolute minimum TOEFL scores. The reliability of TOEFL is also high stakes for colleges. Many of the foreign students submitting TOEFL scores are applying to graduate programs, and admissions officers aren’t just deciding whether to admit them, but are de facto deciding who will be TA’s two or three years down the road, in front of classrooms of freshmen.

With more than 800,000 students taking TOEFL a year, the test is also of great importance to the Educational Testing Service, which is seeing its SAT exam facing criticism for embarrassing scoring errors and a move by liberal arts colleges to drop the test.Now TOEFL is also getting competition, and the competition has set off debates at American colleges over the best way to measure students’ English competency, the obligations of American colleges to students from the poorest parts of the world, and the changing nature of international recruiting.The challenger to TOEFL is the International English Language Testing System, known by its acronym, IELTS. Co-sponsored by the English testing entity of the University of Cambridge, and British and Australian organizations that encourage international education, IELTS has long been the dominant test for students from non-English speaking countries seeking to enroll in English-speaking nations of the British Commonwealth. But in the last three years, IELTS has quietly become a force in the United States as well, where the number of colleges accepting IELTS on equal footing with TOEFL has doubled, to more than 800.

The increased acceptance of IELTS in the United States has in turn made the test more popular for students abroad. The Chinese press — which pays close attention to trends in international education — has had numerous reports about IELTS. People’s Daily reported that in the last three months, 17,000 people took the IELTS in Shanghai, up from 10,000 in the same three-month period a year ago, and that IELTS officials have been adding testing locations and exam times all over China.The competition already appears to be prompting changes by both testing agencies — with IELTS moving toward more Internet-based testing (a change recently instituted by TOEFL). And TOEFL last month for the first time adopted a sliding scale on fees, so that people taking its test in Bangladesh don’t have to pay the same as those in Switzerland. (IELTS has long had such a policy, and some American college officials have been bothered by TOEFL’s old policy, fearing it discouraged applications from the third world.)“These two are really going head to head, and that’s going to benefit the consumer,” said Julia Funaki, associate director of international education services at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

While partisans of the two tests point to their differences, they actually have a lot in common. Both are “four skills” exams (reading, writing, listening, speaking). Both are offered all over the world. In terms of language, IELTS tests “international English,” and passages in the test are intentionally a mix of styles of what might be used at universities in Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States.The most notable difference in the tests may be the way speaking is judged. IELTS uses a live, face-to-face interview with the test taker, while ETS has students taking the TOEFL speak into a microphone for analysis by a panel of test reviewers later.
“Live, face-to-face speaking is more authentic,” said Beryl Meiron, executive director of IELTS International, the United States branch of the organization. She noted that examiners must undergo extensive training and that years of using the system have enabled the organization to be certain that grading is appropriately rigorous. “You really need to be able to manipulate the language well to do well on our test,” Meiron said. That interview is the top advantage of IELTS over TOEFL, said Andrea Scott, director of graduate admissions and recruiting for the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. TOEFL “is not interactive. You are having a conversation with a computer. In IELTS, the person is trained to gauge the student’s ability, and to increase or decrease the difficulty of the conversation to tell more,” Scott said.

While Minnesota accepts both TOEFL and IELTS and still (like most American institutions) gets far more TOEFL scores, Scott said she would like to see more applicants use IELTS.Others cite the speaking test as an advantage for TOEFL. Carol Lynch, the former graduate dean at the University of Colorado at Boulder and now a senior scholar at the Council of Graduate Schools, said that she followed the development of the TOEFL speaking test as an advisory board member for that test. She said the TOEFL speaking test is more comprehensive and consistent, which is vital for a speaking test to be reliable. The speaking test is a new addition to TOEFL, and Lynch called it a “wonderful addition,” designed very specifically to meet the demands of college admissions officers.Mari Pearlman, senior vice president of the higher education division at ETS, said that having six people review speaking selections was far superior to the IELTS approach. “We’re not comfortable with a single oral proficiency interviewer,” she said. “In a large scale, high stakes assessment, you shouldn’t have the variables of any human-to-human interaction,” she said.

Privately, some ETS partisans go further, and allege that IELTS examiners may be friends or teachers of test takers and have a bias in favor of helping them. Meiron said that was “completely untrue,” and noted explicit rules about conflict of interest. All IELTS testing centers have multiple trained examiners, she said, so that if an examiner realizes he or she has a conflict, someone else is available to step in.Cost comparisons are not as easy to make as one would think. Both testing entities claim that their test is less expensive, and Pearlman of ETS said that last year, before TOEFL went to differential testing, it was still less expensive on average than IELTS. The issue is important because a price difference of $20 — which might seem like small change in the context of college costs in the United States — is a huge sum to a student in a developing nation trying to figure out if she will be able to gain admission to an American college.IELTS posts its prices in local currency while TOEFL prices are posted in U.S. dollars. Converting IELTS fees to TOEFL prices in developing nations finds many where prices are within $10, but where IELTS had an edge until TOELF introduced differential pricing. In many developing nations, TOEFL currently costs $140 — which is less than the IELTS fees in Kenya ($153) or South Africa ($183), but more than IELTS in Bangladesh ($115).


Robert Watkins, assistant director of admissions for graduate and international admissions at the University of Texas at Austin, said that there has been a “perception issue” on TOEFL’s cost because it did not have differential pricing. Watkins is a member of TOEFL’s advisory board and believes his university probably receives more TOEFL score reports than any other institution. He thinks TOEFL is a “slightly better” test, but Texas started accepting IELTS scores two years ago — after the university conducted extensive tests on IELTS. “We think it’s a good test,” he said.Watkins and others said that a big part of the context for the growing IELTS interest is the changing nature of competition for international students. Post-9/11, many American universities struggled to maintain their international enrollment levels as visa regulations became more strict at the same time that many other countries’ universities — some of them in IELTS strongholds — started to step up recruitment of the best foreign talent. Suddenly, the Chinese or Indian applicant wasn’t just weighing MIT and Texas and Stanford (and sending the same TOEFL score to all of them), but also Cambridge and Monash, for which he or she was taking IELTS.

Brown University is this year, for the first time, saying that IELTS scores will be considered the same as TOEFL for undergraduate applicants from other countries. Panetha Ott, director of international undergraduate admissions, said she views this as “a question about access.”
Many international applicants apply to Brown and Australian universities, where IELTS is the norm. “It makes sense that they should be able to take one test instead of two.”And then there is the question of coaching — or, some would say, cheating. Many countries that send many students to the United States — China in particular — have huge coaching industries. Some are legitimate tutoring services or programs equivalent to those offered for the SAT in the United States, where students take practice tests and learn basic strategy. Other such services in China — hugely popular with students — teach students various less-than-educational ways to inflate their scores beyond their actual skill levels.TOEFL is using a new, Internet-based test this year and “the word on the street is that the schools don’t know how to beat the new test,” said Watkins. He noted that there was a huge spike in China of students taking the last versions of the old TOEFL test and that some of the spike in IELTS followed the introduction of the new TOEFL.This rationale for IELTS interest plays both ways, of course. It suggests that some of those flocking to IELTS are not doing so for the educational value of the one-on-one speaking test. But it also suggests that the TOEFL of previous years may have been more coachable than officials then admitted. Pearlman of ETS said that she would have been surprised if IELTS tests weren’t going up now. Students around the world “create mythologies about tests,” so changes result in “intense avoidance behavior.” Pearlman said that the new TOEFL isn’t just new, but has been designed “to make coaching difficult,” but many others expect the private schools in China to soon be boasting of their ability to boost TOEFL scores (and IELTS scores too). The acronyms IELTS and TOEFL can be found all over blogs that are otherwise in Chinese, and new mythologies may soon be spread. “The students really care about these test, and they talk about them a lot,” said Watkins.

TOEFL Sections

1. Listening Comprehension (Computer Adaptive)
2. Structure (Computer Adaptive)
3. Reading Comprehension
4. Writing

Parts 1 and 2 are "computer adaptive." This means that the first question will be of medium difficulty. If you answer it correctly, the next item will be of equal or greater difficulty. If you miss a question, the next one will be easier. In these two sections, you must answer every question and you cannot go back to questions once you have answered and confirmed your answer.

Parts 3 and 4 are not computer adaptive. You can go back and change your answers later, and skip questions if you want. It will probably be quite similar to the current Reading Comprehension section.

The structure of the TOEFL is highly flexible. The length of each section and the time required will vary. When the section begins, the length of the section and the number of questions will appear.

Listening Comprehension (Computer-Adaptive): (30 questions in 40 minutes) or (50 questions in 60 minutes)
This section is supposed to test your understanding of spoken English. It is made up of three parts (A, B, and C). During all three parts, you will listen to recorded information. While you're listening, you'll see pictures of the speakers, or other images, on your computer screen. You'll then be asked to answer questions based on what you've heard. In Part A, you can expect 20 questions. For each question, you will hear a short sentence. After each sentence, you are to pick the answer choice that is closest in meaning to the original sentence. In short, Part A is about paraphrasing. In Part B, you can expect 15 questions. For each question, you will hear a short conversation between two people. You will then hear a third person ask a question about the conversation. You are to pick the answer choice that best answers the third person's question. In short, Part B is about listening to a dialogue.In Part C, you can expect 15 questions. You will hear three conversations or talks in this part of the test. (The conversations or talks will be longer than the ones in Part B.) For each conversation or talk, there will be four to six questions.


Structure and Written Expression (Computive-Adaptive): (20 questions in 15 minutes) or (25 questions in 25 minutes)
This section measures ability to recognize correct grammar in standard written English. There are two types of questions in this section. Despite the difference in title, the question types are the same on both versions of the test. The first type features a sentence with a word or phrase missing. Beneath each sentence are four words or phrases, one of which you must choose to best complete the sentence. The second question type features complete sentences with four underlined words or phrases. You must choose the one that must be changed for the sentence to be made correct.

Reading Comprehension: (not Computer-Adaptive) (44 questions in 70 minutes) or (60 questions in 90 minutes)
Measures ability to read and understand short passages similar in topic and style to those that students are likely to encounter in North American universities and colleges. This section contains reading passages and questions about the passages. This section on both versions of the test contains reading passages and questions about the passages. There are between eight and twelve questions on each passage.

Writing (not Computer-Adaptive) 1 essay in 30 minutes
Measures ability to write in English on an assigned topic. In this section, you will have an opportunity to demonstrate your ability to write in English. This includes the ability to generate and organize ideas, to support those ideas with examples or evidence, and to compose in standard written English in response to an assigned topic. You will be given an essay topic, and are given the option of typing your essay on the computer or handwriting your essay on an answer sheet provided. You can use scratch paper for making notes or outlining your essay, but notes are not scored. The essay will be scored according to grammatical correctness and writing style, as well as on your ideas and your ability to support those ideas with examples. The essay written in the Writing section will be graded by two readers on a scale ranging from 0 to 6. The essay score is then combined with the score for the Structure section.

About the TOEFL

Almost all international students whose native language is not English need to provide a TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score as proof of English proficiency for university study. In fact, a TOEFL score is required for at least 2,400 colleges and universities in North America. Most international students take the TOEFL in addition to another admissions test such as the GMAT, SAT, or GRE. Your TOEFL score is valid for two years

Scores on the TOEFL
You will then receive two types of scores for the CBT, section scores and cumulative. A scaled score between 2 and 30 will be given for the Listening Comprehension, Structure, and Reading Comprehension sections. Theses scores, combined with the writing section create a cumulative 40-300 scale. Most students score between 120 and 240.

What score do I need--Schools will vary in their treatment of TOEFL scores. Some schools will require a minimum scores, such as above a 160. Other schools will allow students who score below the monoamine requirement to attend as long as they take a few semesters of English.

Seeing Your Scores --Right after you finish the computer-based TOEFL, you'll have the option of either viewing your scores on the computer screen where you've taken the test or canceling your test scores. Once you view your scores, they become "official" and you cannot cancel them. If you cancel your scores, you'll have to wait until the next calendar month to retake the TOEFL. You get your essay scores and final scores on a printed score report that will be mailed to you about two weeks after the test.

Estimated Scores --The score you see once the test is over is not your official score. The essay has to be manually graded, so the score at the end of the test cannot be official. Instead, you will get a score "range" for your cumulative score.

What is a the CAT (computer-adaptive test)
The TOEFL is now only available as a computer-adaptive test. This is how it works: instead of having a pre-determined mixture of easy, medium, and hard questions, the computer will select questions for you based on how well you are doing. The first question will be of medium difficulty; if you get it right, the second question will be selected from a large group of questions that are a little harder; if you get the first question wrong, the second will be a little easier. The result is that the test automatically adjusts to your skill level.

Harder Questions Count More-- A result of the CAT format is that the harder problems count more than easier ones. If one student does twenty easy questions, half of which he gets right and half of which he gets wrong, and then another student does twenty very difficult questions, half of which he gets right and half of which he gets wrong, the second student will get a higher score.
The student who answered ten out of twenty very difficult questions incorrectly would still get a very high score on the GMAT CAT because the harder questions are more heavily weighted. Simpler questions might be easier to answer, but they count much less. Your goal should be to get as many harder questions right because that will get you your highest possible score.

The CAT Advantages---
There are several advantages in taking the computer-based TOEFL test:
Official score reports mailed approximately 14 days after testing
Test available at more than 400 test centers around the world
Convenient scheduling
Comfortable testing environment
Fewer test questions than on the paper-based test
Test customized to your skill level
Immediate viewing of scores on screen

The Disadvantages---
The computer-based test only shows you one question at a time, so you are not able to skip around and answer easy questions first. Once you click on the "Confirm Answer" button, you are not able to go back and change an answer as you can on the paper-based test.