How to prepare for speaking and listening section on IBT Toefl® test?

[Mirka24]

I am worried about my oral examination as well as listening section. Can U give me any hints how to impove those two skills?
I get really nervous when I have to speak in english with someone I don't know and especially when they will look for my mistakes. At least for writing u have a time to think about your grammar. For speaking u need to respond immediately.

[Juhi]

Hi Mirka24,

The only thing you can do is practice for the speaking sections. Time yourself while you are doing the practice tasks. Dont get conscious when you speak, just think that no one is around. Speak at a consistent pace and be clear even if you make mistakes. Even I made mistakes in the speaking section, but moved on.

For the listening section again practice a lot. Note down the main points. You can refer to Kaplans IBT book, its very close the the real exam. Princetons material for speaking and writing templates are very good.

All the best,
Juhi

[Aereal]

Hi mirka24!

get some English songs, set up microphone and try to sing along with the singer, then listen to yourself and try to figure out what to improve. also note, that you are the one for whom your voice will sound least pleasant.

or you can turn on euronews (i've written about that already somewhere) and listen to them constantly. after 3 hours you'll recognize the news and start to precede the announcer. Also you'll copy his speech a little, that will improve your pronunciation.

or you can go out and speak to english-speaking... erm where are you from?

or you my install Skype and find some English speaking people around the globe to speak to. They'll definitely have various accents and you'll also be trained to speak into the microphone and listen to the headphones...

there are lots of possibilities
good luck!
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