• LESSONS
  • ABOUT
  • SUCCESSES
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT

Successful Students

These are some of the students who have studied with me. They were happy to share their stories to inspire others.

They each had their own challenges, but they all achieved their target scores through hard work and determination.

Read their stories and be inspired to achieve your TOEFL success!

PHARMACIST

Daniel is nurse from the Philippines who is planning to move to the US with his family. He studied for many months to remove grammar errors, and he overcame exam nerves to score IELTS 7.5.

NURSE

Daniel is a nurse from the Philippines, currently working in Saudi Arabia. He plans to move to the US.

He had a lot of English speaking experience but got very nervous in the exam and his speaking score was stuck at S23. He also had many fossilized errors. We spent several months analyzing and correcting them, and we removed filler template phrases to create more natural sounding responses. Daniel absorbed all my feedback and practiced strategies to boost his confidence. Although he began studying for TOEFL and raised his score to S25, a chance encounter meant that he switched to IELTS. He scored 7.5 and now he can move to the US with his family.

Lea is a nurse from the Philippines who now lives in the US. She'd taken TOEFL 4 times and raised her score to S24. She practiced hard, focused on improving grammatical accuracy and finally scored a fantastic S27.

NURSE

Samah is a pharmacist from Egypt who lives in the US. She'd taken TOEFL many times and was so frustrated. She carefully practiced speaking, followed all my instructions and was successful with a wonderful S27.

PHARMACIST

Samah is a pharmacist from Egypt, currently living in the US. She studied for TOEFL for about 2 years.

Her biggest challenge was getting S26, as well as the requirements for the other sections, in one attempt. Samah's speaking was fluent, with wonderful vocabulary, but rushed and without rhythm. So we focused on speaking exercises, and introduced word stress and natural pauses into her responses. She practiced everything diligently. Also, Samah's confidence was a little fragile after many exam attempts, so we worked on lots of strategies to get her exam-ready. Finally, after 9 exam attempts, she achieved her target scores including a wonderful S27. She was thrilled, and full of joy, and can now move on and prepare for her board exam.

Lea is a nurse from the Philippines who now lives in the US. She had been studying TOEFL for over a year and had taken the exam 4 times.

She'd got S24 but she needed S26 for her nursing licence. She'd also had a negative experience of TOEFL lessons that included being in a group speaking class with 20 students! Understandably, she was very frustrated about the whole process. In lessons, we analyzed the different parts of the speaking questions and practiced each one. We focused on grammar and vocabulary and improved Lea's accuracy and range. We also practiced strategies to reduce nerves and anxiety in the exam. When Lea took the exam again, she scored a wonderful S27!

"Your lessons gave me confidence. When I read success stories about others, I never thought I would be one among them. I was struggling with TOEFL for many years. My FPGEE validity also expired. Now, I'm planning to retake it and start my journey to become a pharmacist in the US. I don't have words to explain how thankful I am for your help. Thank you so much."

Dimple, Pharmacist.

Dalal is a pharmacist from Iraq who now lives in Minnesota. She studied incredibly hard for TOEFL. She exceeded her target TOEFL scores with R27 L21 S26 W28. Now she can prepare for her next pharmacy exams.

PHARMACIST

Dalal is a pharmacist from Iraq. She had been living in the US for 5 years and worked in a busy pharmacy.

Her speaking and listening skills were strong because of her work and she'd already achieved S26. She was struggling with TOEFL reading and writing so we focused on building specific reading skills, learning question strategies and practiced many examples. For writing, we concentrated on developing ideas and essay planning to write quickly. We also focused on reviewing grammar structures and developing vocabulary. Dalal's exam was delayed by Covid but she achieved her target scores in her very first attempt when test centres reopened. She raised her reading score from 15 to 22, and her writing score from 19 to 24

Hilda is a bilingual teacher from Mexico who now lives in Texas. After many months of studying, she exceeded her target TOEFL scores with R22 L23 S28 W24. Now, she's gained her teacher's licence and is teaching happy, lucky students!

TEACHER

Hilda is a teacher from Mexico. She has lived in the US for 21 years and has spoken English for all that time.

She began studying for TOEFL by herself but realized that she needed help with exam strategies, and timing. Although Hilda was comfortable reading English, she wasn't used to reading academic English quickly. So in lessons, we worked through reading passages together and analyzed each question. We focused on time management in the reading and writing sections. Hilda built up her vocabulary and we corrected a few fossilized errors. Her exam attempts were interrupted by Covid but when she was able to do the exam, she exceeded her target scores and she's now working as a bilingual teacher.

ENGINEER

Diego is a chemical engineer from Colombia who was studying in Mexico. His target score was 90, and with just one attempt, he achieved a fantastic 94. Now he can apply for PhD programs in biotechnology.

ENGINEER

His target score was 90 and in just one attempt, he scored a fantastic 94! As he wasn't living in an English speaking country, he didn't have the experience of being immersed in English to help him practice. In lessons, we devised lots of creative exercises so he could build English practice into his everyday life. In total, he took about 3 months to prepare for his TOEFL exam. He studied for around 10 hours each week and fitted TOEFL studying around his university work. His advice for other TOEFL students is never give up and always be positive.

Diego is a chemical engineer from Colombia. He needed TOEFL to apply for a PhD program in biotechnology.

"I am from Jordan. Now I live in the US and I wanted to be a math teacher. I needed S26 in order to be a certified teacher. Jane helped me to be confident in the test, not to panic and to use the time wisely.

Before I started with Jane, I was stuck with S23 and couldn't figure out what to do. I did TOEFL 3 times, then I started online lessons with Jane. She was able to figure out exactly what I had to focus on. She helped me fix my grammar mistakes, my pronunciation and she taught me how to speak with confidence. Now I can move on and start a career that I love - to teach math in Texas in the US.

I am so happy with my speaking score. I was accepted into the teaching program in Texas for teacher certification and now I can focus on my future. I really appreciate Jane who helped me to pass the test with her incredible coaching. :)"

Ghada, teacher

Hasnaa is a pharmacist from Iraq who now lives in Michigan. She had many attempts at TOEFL, but she never gave up. Finally, she achieved a fantastic R22 L22 S27 W24 and can continue her studies to become a pharmacist in the US.

ENGINEER

Philipp is a biology student from Germany. He required TOEFL for an MSc program. He achieved an outstanding score of 116 on his 1st attempt at the exam with R28 L30 S29 W29.  Now he's studying Biological Oceanography.

Quirenia is a pharmacist from Cuba who now lives in Florida. With a lot of hard work and determination she achieved wonderful TOEFL scores of R24 L24 S27 W25. She has completed all her pharmacy exams and is now a licensed pharmacist in the US.

PHARMACIST

MSc STUDENT

PHARMACIST

Philipp is a biology student from Germany. He wanted to apply for a Master's program that had a TOEFL requirement of 100+.

He had a very high English proficiency, and could understand everything, but he was a little out of practice in using English. In lessons, we devised strategies for the reading and listening sections, and practiced past questions. For speaking and writing, we practiced skills for each task. We made sure that Philipp provided all the relevant information and that he finished his responses on time. He achieved an outstanding 116 in his first attempt at the exam and he's now studying Biological Oceanography.

Quirenia is a pharmacist from Cuba. When she first started studying for TOEFL, she had very little English.

But she had an incredibly organized and methodical approach to studying and spent a couple of years building up her English language proficiency. In lessons, we focused on speaking and writing. Quirenia had a lot of pronunciation and grammatical errors to correct so we devised practice exercises to help with these. She carefully completed all her homework exercises and even gave herself feedback! In total, she spent 3 years studying for TOEFL and on only her 2nd exam attempt, she achieved scores in excess of her target scores, including S27.

Hasnaa is a pharmacist from Iraq. She had been studying TOEFL for a while and was missing her target scores by 1 or 2 points.

Understandably, she was very frustrated. In lessons, we started with writing and divided the essay writing process into a series of steps. She learnt strategies to write quickly and efficiently. In speaking, we broke the questions down into their individual parts and practiced each part separately. We focused on accuracy, timing and removing template phrases. We did lots of skills-building exercises together so Hasnaa felt confident speaking spontaneously. On her 9th TOEFL attempt she got her target scores and now she can apply for her pharmacy licence.

"I did TOEFL for the first time and scored 77. After that, I decided to search for a specialist teacher. I did classes with Jane, focused on the speaking section, and learned it was very important to understand that I should use a method to answer the questions. Jane taught me the structure of the sentences and some incredible tips! Now, my score after the classes is 92! If you are looking for a teacher, I highly recommend Jane. She is going to teach you the strategies behind the test. Thank you so much Jane!"

Renata, Entrepreneur.

Meriet is a pharmacist who now lives in New Jersey. She was juggling studying for TOEFL with looking after her newborn baby. She learned how to study in short bursts while her baby was napping! Her final TOEFL score was a fantastic R24 L24 S27 W25.

Irma is an experienced nurse from Barcelona who now lives in Washington. She required a total TOEFL score of 86 with S26. After focusing on speaking for several months she exceeded her target score and achieved S28.

Jeressy is a teacher from Mexico who now lives in Texas. She needed TOEFL for her university bilingual teaching program. She studied incredibly hard for many months, with several attempts at the exam, and finally achieved fantastic scores of R23 L23 S27 W24.

PHARMACIST

NURSE

TEACHER

Irma is an experienced nurse from Spain and she needed TOEFL for her nursing licence in the USA.

She'd been self-studying for over a year and her speaking score was stuck at 23-24. She was frustrated because she was surrounded by English speakers and spoke English at work every day. So, in lessons, we focused on the precise details that a S26 score requires. We corrected many of Irma's pronunciation and grammar errors. She also increased her vocabulary so that she felt more confident about speaking spontaneously rather than relying on templates. We focused on skills-building and then, close to her exam, we introduced exam style practice. After 9 months of lessons, she scored a wonderful S28!

Jeressy is a bilingual teacher from Mexico who now lives in Texas.

She had spent around one year studying for TOEFL but after 6 attempts, she hadn't achieved her target scores. She spoke English confidently but she needed help to correct some fossilized errors. In lessons, we identified her pronunciation errors and corrected them using different practice exercises. We built her knowledge of grammar so she could include more varied structures in her responses, and she increased her academic vocabulary. Finally, after several months of intense studying, Jeressy was successful and achieved her target scores. She's looking forward to continuing her teacher certification program.

Meriet is a pharmacist and had successfully achieved S26/S27 in previous exam attempts but she was stuck on W22-23.

She confessed that she hated writing! In lessons, we analyzed her concerns and discovered that she was spending a lot of time thinking about how to write perfect sentences, especially in the introduction, rather than quickly explaining her ideas. So we did lots of exercises concentrating on building arguments and supporting examples for the body paragraphs. Meriet practiced writing out of order which is an excellent technique for writing quickly under time pressure. And she wrote lots of essays for me to review. Finally, after 9 attempts, Meriet conquered TOEFL and achieved her target scores.

"I want to thank you a lot. You have been more than an excellent teacher. You believed in me more than I could imagine. I feel I can successfully put this part behind me and go for the next step." Yael, Social Worker in New York City.

Liyi is a computer science student from Illinois. He needed S24 to be allowed to continue studying in his PhD program. After a long, long TOEFL journey with many setbacks, he finally achieved his target score of S24.

Adriana is a physical therapist from Brazil who now lives in the USA. Despite working 2 jobs, she was incredibly motivated to study for TOEFL. She achieved an overall total 103 with S27 and W25. Now she can gain her physical therapy license.

Javad is a pharmacist from Iran who now lives in the USA. He was stuck on S24 for many exam attempts over 3 years. Finally, after several months of intense studying, he made a breakthrough and achieved fantastic results of R27 L27 S27 W25

PhD STUDENT

PHYSICAL THERAPIST

PHARMACIST

Liyi is a computer science student from Illinois. He needed S24 to keep his funding for his PhD program.

He scored S17 in his 1st attempt at the exam and then hired many tutors to help him improve. After 15 attempts at the exam, he scored S23 but his score remained at S23 for his next batch of exam attempts. In lessons, we worked at undoing his bad habits. He had a lot of fossilized errors so we worked on automaticity to correct those. We broke each speaking question into different parts and practiced strategies for each part. Finally, after a very long TOEFL journey, he got S24 and could continue in his PhD program.

Adriana is a physical therapist from Brazil. She had been living in the US for 6 years and needed TOEFL for her licence.

She'd been studying by herself but realized she needed expert help to get from S24 to S26. She made some pronunciation errors, so in lessons we practiced exercises to correct those. We focused on fine details, and speaking clearly and calmly. We also worked on her studying methods so she could study effectively and keep track of her achievements. Just before her exam, we practiced different ways of coping with stress. Despite disturbances in the exam, Adriana kept her focus and raised her speaking score to S26 and her writing score to W25.

Javad is a pharmacist from Iran. He'd been studying TOEFL for 3 years and had attempted the exam 7 times but his speaking scores were stuck at 22-24.

He was frustrated because his everyday English was good but he just couldn't demonstrate it in the exam. His failed attempts had affected his confidence and he was getting depressed. In lessons we practiced many speaking questions and created structures together. We focused on making sure he included details in his responses and on accurate timing for each section of each task. He practiced speaking out loud every day, and did each speaking question many times. After a few weeks of intensive practice, Javad took TOEFL again and scored a wonderful S27.

"My sessions with Jane were very important because she helped me to hone my English skills, not only for the TOEFL, but also for my future life in Canada. Her teaching methods are very solid, efficient and inspiring. At the beginning, I was a little insecure about my speaking and writing, but we worked on them and now I am better than ever. Every lesson was thought to fit my needs, and that made all the difference for my progress. It was a fantastic experience. Jane, thank you so much for your help." Wilson, Surgeon from Brazil.