Here are some articles and resources to help you as you study for TOEFL and IELTS.
/birkenhead-english/images/practice_outside_lessons_3_to_2-f8d6e.jpeg)
If you’re taking TOEFL or IELTS lessons with a teacher, then you'll know that you're making a big financial commitment as well as investing a lot of your time. This is good. It means you're serious about achieving your goals! However, if you want to succeed, then you MUST practice English outside lessons. There is only so much that a language...
Read more
/birkenhead-english/images/exams_bubble_3_to_2-ed831.jpeg)
In most places, when you do an exam, there is complete silence in the exam room. Unfortunately, this isn't the case with TOEFL exams. Unfortunately, in TOEFL exams, this doesn’t happen. TOEFL exam rooms are noisy places and you need to learn how to cope with the noise. If you’re easily distracted, if you’re nervous, and if you’ve been practicing...
Read more
/birkenhead-english/images/speechrater_3_to_2-pe6b6.jpeg)
SpeechRater, e-rater, AI…all these tools are fantastic for practicing for exams, but they are just tools. Nothing more! SpeechRater, for example, listens to your speaking response, and then estimates your TOEFL score for that response, based on a number of components that it has been programmed to analyze in your
Read more
/birkenhead-english/images/being_honest_3_to_2-u01e4.jpeg)
TOEFL / IELTS Exam Preparation
Some students struggle with TOEFL and it’s not because they don’t have the language proficiency or the exam skills to succeed. It’s because they are fighting with the exam. Recently I gave some very honest advice to a student who'd been studying for a long time and who was really struggling to achieve her target
Read more
/birkenhead-english/images/ok_to_ask_for_help_3_ot_2-sd7d2.jpeg)
TOEFL / IELTS Exam Preparation
“It’s ok to ask for help.” This is a message that's often shared during Mental Health Awareness Week, but I think it's something that anyone studying for an exam should be reminded of all year round. Let’s focus specifically on what it means for TOEFL and IELTS exam
Read more
/birkenhead-english/trilobite_3_to_2-hd1f8.jpeg)
TOEFL Speaking, IELTS Speaking
You know those errors that you make when you speak English? I'm talking about repeated errors - those errors that you keep making over and over again. Even though you know they are wrong, you just can't seem to stop yourself making them. They drive you crazy and make you wonder if you'll ever be able to speak English
Read more
/birkenhead-english/images/teachers_help_3_to_2-hc081.jpeg)
TOEFL / IELTS Exam Preparation
Over the past few years, I've noticed a big difference in the way that students prepare for English proficiency exams like TOEFL and IELTS. As a result of the big increase in resources available online, especially those driven by AI, more students are choosing to study by
Read more
/birkenhead-english/images/other_people_3_to_2-ec660.jpeg)
TOEFL Speaking, IELTS Speaking
“People at work don’t correct my mistakes!” “I had no idea I was making these kinds of errors!” I hear this from students a lot 😊 As we work through the requirements for IELTS or TOEFL speaking together, and as I give them feedback, they often realize that they’ve been making lots of errors that they didn’t know
Read more
/birkenhead-english/images/resources_3_to_2-e29a2.jpeg)
At the start of any new year, everyone is full of enthusiasm about studying. I’m sure you’ve noticed the number of new resources being shared, and the increase in posts everywhere. I think that having access to all this information is great. Anything that you find to help you to get your target scores is a good thing. And it makes my job as a...
Read more
/birkenhead-english/images/lessons_3_to_2-i37c8.jpeg)
If you're wondering if private TOEFL lessons are really worth the investment, or if you're worried about the cost of paying for them, then I hope this article will address some of your concerns. I've arranged this article into 4 separate sections to hopefully answer all your
Read more
/birkenhead-english/book_reading_3_to_2-i9141.jpeg)
I see far too many posts on Facebook and Instagram where students ask for help with TOEFL reading and the comments fill up with advice about “learning vocabulary”. Please be aware that learning vocabulary is only a tiny part of the overall solution. You’ve got to understand how that vocabulary works in
Read more
/birkenhead-english/top_secret_3_to_2-874e7.jpeg)
TOEFL / IELTS Exam Preparation
I’ve seen a few posts recently talking about the ‘magic’ and ‘secrets’ of TOEFL. Please be aware that there is no magic, and there are no secrets in TOEFL exam preparation. On one level, these posts about ‘magic’ and ‘secrets’ are simply click bait. Content creators use them to draw attention to their services. It’s an age old marketing formula....
Read more
/birkenhead-english/Screen_Shot_2023-06-12_at_14.10.14_-g30f9.png)
There are some English punctuation and formatting rules that you need to know for TOEFL and IELTS essay writing. However, if you Google English punctuation you will find many articles with long explanations about things that aren't important for these exams. Please don't spend hours looking at articles that explain punctuation in great detail....
Read more
/birkenhead-english/notes_3_to_2-n389f.jpeg)
Many students struggle with writing notes for TOEFL speaking responses. Do you find your notes don't help you with what to say?Do you write too much? Do you waste effort writing notes you don't use?Do you focus on taking notes and forget to listen? ...If so, I can help you. I actually think that a lot of general advice about note-taking for TOEFL...
Read more
/birkenhead-english/dictionary_3_to_2-f9ed3.jpeg)
Students often ask for a list of essential words to learn for English proficiency exams like IELTS and TOEFL. Getting a long vocabulary list and trying to memorize definitions is not a good learning strategy. It doesn't reflect the way your brain likes to learn things, and so it's rarely
Read more
/birkenhead-english/success_3_to_2-f9909.jpeg)
You might be finding it hard to start studying again if you’ve taken a break over the past few weeks. I have gathered 12 quick exercises that have worked for hundreds of students and will definitely help you to get back into studying. None of these exercises use specific TOEFL resources. They are designed to build your language proficiency using...
Read more
/birkenhead-english/reading_book_3_to_2-r4830.jpeg)
Many students claim that TOEFL reading passages have got more difficult. Students who took the exam even a couple of years ago say that reading passages were easier then. So what's going on? Why do so many students think that TOEFL reading is much harder now? I think it's unlikely that the difficulty should have increased so much. TOEFL is an...
Read more
/birkenhead-english/reading_3_to_2-q2dad.jpeg)
Academic English contains lots of long complicated words. The TOEFL and IELTS reading sections may contain words that you don't immediately recognize, but you can work out their meanings by learning about these two effective strategies. 1. Understand how words are structured 2. Learn some of the Latin and Greek
Read more
/birkenhead-english/typing_3_to_2-pc334.jpeg)
Templates can be helpful for integrated writing but you’ve got to know how to use them properly. Specifically, it's important to understand each verb that the template uses for explanations. Verbs that are commonly used in template phrases for explanations are NOT synonyms of each other. They have subtle variances in meaning and if you need an...
Read more
/birkenhead-english/night-stars_3_to_2-q312d.jpeg)
There are many myths associated with the TOEFL exam. Some myths have been repeated so much that people don't even know where they come from anymore. Here are two definitions of myth: A myth is a commonly believed but false idea (Cambridge Dictionary). A myth is something that people wrongly believe to be true (Macmillan
Read more
/version-3023/images/image-g37bb.png)