TOEFL exam

On Saturday, I took a TOEFL exam in Tübingen. There are indeed other locations where you can take the TOEFL, but for me it was the best location.

The examination takes place directly at the University of Wilhelmstr.22. This is the TOEFL iBT (Internet-Based Testing). The registration to the test can be done online only, on the TOEFL website. More information can be found here.

All exam tasks are prepared directly in the U.S. and must be executed on a computer.

TOEFL test consists of four areas:
- Reading
- Listening
- Speaking
- Writting

The test takes about 4.5 hours. Only between Listening and Speaking is a 10 minute break.
So it's pretty exhausting. And to make matters worse, it is not allowed to bring anything in the testing room. Also, nothing to drink!

The time for individual tasks is very short. It is sometimes really depressing.

In Tübingen the exam is taken by 8 people at once. At the latest in the Speaking section it was total chaos. Everybody speaks into his microphone, and in the little room it was pretty loud.

I can only praise the organization of the tests in Tübingen , except for the equipment. It happened quite often that the computer did not respond. Unfortunately it happened to me also when the test had to be re-started after the 10 minute break. One is already without these problems under stress, and then something like that ...

I do not know yet, if I passed the exam. Some of the answers I was obviously just guessing.
Thus it is the time for each task very short, I recommend everyone to prepare for the exam, and particularly for the different task types.
There are plenty of books and online sample tests on the Internet.

Structure and background of my exam preparation, I will describe in a separate post.