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To complete graduate study in the United States
successfully, you will need to be able to read, write, and
communicate orally in English with a high degree of proficiency.
English language proficiency will also help you to achieve
your academic and personal goals while in the United States.
To determine your level of English language proficiency,
arrange to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language
(TOEFL) as early as possible — at least a year before you
plan to enroll. As with many areas of U.S. education, each
institution sets its own English language admission standard,
but some guidelines on the standard required are given in
the section on TOEFL scores below. Some institutions accept
English language examinations other than TOEFL; check the
information you receive from institutions to see which examinations
they accept.
Even if you have a good basic level of English proficiency
and have met the minimum TOEFL requirements for a university,
some schools may require you to take courses to improve your
mastery of American English, academic or research usage, and
study skills. If you studied English under the British system,
you may find that U.S. vocabulary and usage are quite different.
If you are applying for a teaching assistantship, the university
may ask you to demonstrate your proficiency in spoken English,
which the TOEFL examination does not test. The Test of Spoken
English (TSE), often required for this purpose, is offered
less frequently and at fewer centers than TOEFL. Allow several
additional months for the application process if you are applying
for a teaching assistantship.
TOEFL Waivers: If you are a non-U.S. citizen and nonnative
speaker of English who has been educated in English for most
of your school life, your TOEFL requirement may be waived.
Allow time in the application process to correspond with U.S.
universities about this issue. American universities are unlikely
to accept secondary school English language examination results
as proof of your language ability.
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Test of English as
a Foreign Language (TOEFL)
"There are many great TOEFL preparation books that can
help you with exercises for the test. You need to be familiar
with the structure of the TOEFL and prepare for it."
— Literature student from Hungary
TOEFL is given on computer in almost all countries worldwide,
and the paper-based version is being phased out. The test
is offered on many days in the month, but only at a limited
number of computer-based testing centers. You may have to
travel some distance to reach the nearest test center.
Test Registration: Preregistration is required, and
it is NOT possible to go to the testing center and hope to
find space available that same day. Computer-based testing
registration deadlines vary. According to current TOEFL instructions,
mail-in registration deadlines are three weeks ahead of your
desired test date, one week ahead of the test date for fax
registrations, and two days ahead of the test date for registration
by telephone. Note that a credit card is required to register
by fax or telephone. You can indicate the days when you would
prefer to take the test, and the test administrators will
try to accommodate your requests. However, at certain times
of the year, or in certain cities, centers may be very busy.
It is therefore advisable to register at least two to three
months in advance of your desired test date. For those countries
where paper-based testing is still offered, the test is given
on certain dates during the year, and registration deadlines
are approximately six weeks ahead of those dates.
TOEFL registration bulletins are available from either the
test administrators in the United States (see page 60), the
regional registration center for your country (see the TOEFL
Web site at http://www.toefl.org
or the test registration bulletin for further details), or
from U.S. educational information and advising centers. These
centers may ask you to pay postage costs, and they may also
have test preparation materials for the TOEFL available for
reference use, loan, or purchase.
Content: The test uses a multiple choice and essay
format to measure each examinee's ability to understand North
American English. The test is divided into four sections:
listening, structure, reading, and writing. The writing section
requires the test taker to write an essay. TOEFL is a computer-adaptive
test, which means that not all students answer exactly the
same questions on the test. Instead, depending on how the
student performs on each question, the computer determines
whether the level of the next question should be easier or
more difficult.
Scores: The total number of questions you answer correctly,
together with your score on the essay, form the raw scores
for each section. Raw scores are then converted to a scaled
score for each section, which for the computer-based test
ranges from 0 to 30. From these a total score is calculated,
which ranges between 40 and 300 for the computer-based test.
Each graduate department within a university decides for itself
what score is acceptable. In general, colleges consider a
total score of 250 or above to be excellent and a score below
173 to be inadequate. Most institutions require a score of
between 213 and 250 (550 and 600 on the paper-based test)
for admission to a graduate program. A few accept scores as
low as 173 (500 on the paper-based test).
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