Stress in TOEFL Speaking

Use stress to your advantage in speaking practice

The speaking section is normally the section of the exam that students feel the most stress about. That’s totally understandable. You have a short period of time to talk about unfamiliar subjects in another language while you’re being recorded. That would cause stress for anybody!

If you are feeling a lot of stress about the speaking section, it can be helpful to identify what is really causing the stress. Then you can work out how to reduce it.

Here are some examples of areas that commonly cause stress.

1. Timing

If you feel stressed about the timing:

• ALWAYS practice with accurate timing.
• Time yourself carefully for the preparation time (it’s easy to add a few extra seconds here - and they make a BIG difference)
• Divide each speaking response into sections and practice these sections individually.
• For example, make sure you take about 20 seconds to talk about each point in task 4.

2. Recording

If being recorded makes you stressed:

• ALWAYS record yourself while you’re practicing speaking.

It doesn’t matter if you immediately delete your recording, you’ll get used to being recorded.

3. Pronunciation

If you’re nervous about the pronunciation of certain words or combinations of words like “the university has announced” at the start of T2:

• Practice each phrase over and over again until you feel confident. 

4. Difficult Topics

If you’re worried about certain difficult topics:

• Practice questions specifically about these topics.
• Read more about them.
• Listen to lectures about them and take notes.
• Increase your vocabulary for these topics.

Don’t hope they won’t come up. Hope is not a good strategy for TOEFL.

5. Automated Speaking

If you hate speaking to a computer screen:

• Visualize.
• Imagine you’re talking to someone who loves and supports you.
• Pretend you’re explaining to them as you’re speaking.

By focusing on the things that cause you stress, you can find ways to reduce it.