What TOEFL Books do You Need?

July 28, 2016

The cost of TOEFL prep books can add up, and it’s a waste to buy more books than you need. So what TOEFL books do you need?

Make the official TOEFL books your top priority

The official TOEFL practice books put out by ETS, the company that makes the TOEFL, have both strengths and weaknesses. Lucas points this out in his book reviews of the Official Guide to the TOEFL, Official TOEFL iBT Tests, Official TOEFL iBT Tests Volume 1, and Official TOEFL iBT Tests, Volume 2.

But regardless of the weaknesses in these books — namely the poor quality of their answer explanations for TOEFL Reading and Listening — these books are very important. If you’re going to purchase TOEFL books, be sure to purchase these.

The official ETS books are “must haves” on your TOEFL reading list because only these books have practice questions that are guaranteed to be 100% like the ones you see on the exam. ETS alone offers TOEFL practice questions that are made by the very same people who make the test itself. And only “real” TOEFL questions can fully prepare you for the kinds of questions you’ll see on test day.

Practice for your TOEFL exam with Magoosh.

What TOEFL books do you need, besides the official ones?

Between the official TOEFL books, you get 14 full practice TOEFL tests, as well as a little bit of supplemental material about test structure and test strategy. If you have all three of the books from ETS, you might ask yourself “what other TOEFL books could I possibly need?”

For some test-takers, the answer to that question might be “none.” Some people are able to get their TOEFL performance to where it needs to be just by using the three official TOEFL books from ETS. But many other TOEFL preppers find that they still need more practice and more advice, beyond what ETS offers.

So if ETS isn’t quite enough for you, what other TOEFL books do you need? As you look for an answer to this question, proceed with caution — some of the third-party unofficial TOEFL books are of poor quality. And even the best ones have some practice questions that just aren’t all that “TOEFL-like,” compared to actual ETS practice questions.

Still, if you need more TOEFL books besides the ETS ones, there quite a few unofficial TOEFL guides that can be really useful. The Complete Guide to the TOEFL has a wealth of practice questions of near-ETS quality. Cambridge Preparation for the TOEFL Test is good too. Granted, it has some TOEFL practice questions that are a little “off the mark,” harder or less well-written than the content of the exam itself. But this book is still very useful because it’s full of strategy building exercises and advice that many TOEFL test-takers need before test day.

Beyond these general resources, you may also benefit from TOEFL books for specific test knowledge and skills, such as Collins’ Vocabulary and Grammar for the TOEFL Test. There are also English skills books out there that aren’t designed specifically for TOEFL test-takers, but are very relevant to the exam. C. Neil Linton’s English Grammar Reference is one example of the kind of English book you might need for your TOEFL prep.

Author

David Recine

David is a Test Prep Expert for Magoosh TOEFL and IELTS. Additionally, he’s helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT. David has a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. His work at Magoosh has been cited in many scholarly articles, his Master’s Thesis is featured on the Reading with Pictures website, and he’s presented at the WITESOL (link to PDF) and NAFSA conferences. David has taught K-12 ESL in South Korea as well as undergraduate English and MBA-level business English at American universities. He has also trained English teachers in America, Italy, and Peru. Come join David and the Magoosh team on Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram, or connect with him via LinkedIn!

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Comments

5 responses to “What TOEFL Books do You Need?”

Mostafa Osama

March 16, 2017

thanks a lot this post was really helpful

Reply
frank taylor

May 16, 2017

I am looking for toefl primary material…the only ones I find are oriental… my students are spanish… where can I find material for them?….please let me know

Reply
1. Magoosh Test Prep Expert
  
  May 16, 2017
  
  Hi Frank! When you say “primary” material, do you mean for primary school?
  
  Reply
Jenna Giannoccaro

May 18, 2019

Hello … I am looking for
TOEFL PRIMARY Steps 1 2 and 3 plus any books for the practice exams
TOEFL JUNIOR Steps 1 2 and 3 plus any books for the practice exams
Many thanks for your assistance

Reply
1. Magoosh Test Prep Expert
  
  May 20, 2019
  
  Hi Jenna,
  
  Here on the blog, we actually have a guide to finding TOEFL Junior prep (and teaching) material. Unfortunately, there is very little prep material available for TOEFL Primary… for now. It’s a new test, and more prep material will probably be created as time goes by.
  
  At the moment, however, the only TOEFL Primary teaching materials that we know of come from ETS. There is the official page for sample TOEFL Primary questions from the ETS website. Ont he TOEFL Primary website, ETS also offers level descriptors for TOEFL Primary Reading and Listening for both Step 1 and Step 2. ETS also has similar online level descriptions for TOEFL Primary Speaking.
  
  Beyond that, it appears that a German website, “Language & Testing Service GmbH,” has purchased the rights to a few ETS full-length TOEFL Primary practice tests, as well as the teacher’s guides and parent/student guides for the TOEFL Primary. The site’s a bit hard to navigate if you can’t read German, but here are some direct links to the ETS TOEFL Primary content that’s been reposted on LTS GmbH:
  
  Full TOEFL Primary Reading and Listening Practice Test, Step 1
  
  Full TOEFL Primary Reading and Listening Practice Test, Step 2
  
  The TOEFL Primary Teacher’s Handbook
  
  The TOEFL Primary Parent and Student Handbook
  
  Reply