{"id":1703,"date":"2015-04-29T11:00:58","date_gmt":"2015-04-29T18:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=1703"},"modified":"2018-09-01T19:35:10","modified_gmt":"2018-09-02T02:35:10","slug":"four-tips-to-get-26-on-the-toefl-speaking-section","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/four-tips-to-get-26-on-the-toefl-speaking-section\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Tips to Get 26 on the TOEFL Speaking Section"},"content":{"rendered":"

In today\u2019s guest post, Paul Austin from TOEFL Speaking Teacher shares his secrets to getting 26+ on the TOEFL Speaking section.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As many of you know, getting 26+ on TOEFL Speaking is no easy task. Some students struggle for months, if not years, to get the golden score of 26+. But some students get it on the first or second try. What separates the first group of students from the second group of students? Why do certain TOEFL students get 26+ immediately, while it takes others\u00a0five or 10 or 15 tries to get 26+?<\/p>\n

Today, I\u2019m sharing four reasons why certain students get 26+ and how YOU can make sure to get 26+ next time you take the TOEFL exam.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reason #1: Successful Students Understand All the Basics<\/h2>\n

Students who get 26+ on the TOEFL Speaking section understand all the \u2018must-know\u2019 basics about TOEFL Speaking. They understand how to organize and take notes. They know how to transition between the introduction, the examples, and the conclusion. They can organize their responses in order to answer the prompt exactly how the TOEFL evaluator wants. And they understand\u00a0that it\u2019s critically important to stay within one second of the response\u00a0time limit.<\/p>\n

Do you understand all of these points? Do you know how to organize and take notes? Do you understand what phrases to use for transition statements? If you don\u2019t, then this might be preventing you from reaching a score of\u00a026+.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reason #2: Successful Students Create a Study Schedule<\/h2>\n

Students who get 26+ follow an organized study schedule that requires extensive amounts of speaking practice. And\u00a0they give themselves plenty of time before a TOEFL\u00a0test\u00a0(or between tests) to improve their speaking score.<\/p>\n

An example TOEFL Speaking\u00a0study schedule might look like this:<\/p>\n

Monday: 7 pm – 9\u00a0pm<\/p>\n

Tuesday: 7\u00a0pm – 9 pm<\/p>\n

Wednesday: 7 pm – 9 pm<\/p>\n

Thursday: 7 pm – 9 pm<\/p>\n

Friday: 7 pm – 9 pm<\/p>\n

Saturday: 10 am – 11 am<\/p>\n

Sunday: 8 am – 9 am<\/p>\n

Repeat for 6 weeks before taking TOEFL Speaking.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you are stuck at 23 or 24, you probably don\u2019t speak enough English on a daily basis. In fact, for every point you want to improve, I recommend speaking for 15 hours out loud. So, if you got 23 and you want to get 26, you must speak out loud for at least 45 hours.<\/p>\n

Of course, ONLY speaking doesn\u2019t help, because even if you speak a lot of English but continue to make the same errors, you won\u2019t get any better. So when you do speak English, focus on improving one aspect of your speech. I\u2019ll go over this in more detail in point number four.<\/p>\n

Can\u2019t think of ways to speak more English? Here are some ideas:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 Talk to yourself! Yes, it\u2019s\u00a0weird, but if you talk to yourself in English while you\u2019re making breakfast, while you\u2019re in the car or while you\u2019re watching TV, this will help you make progress by taking advantage of unexpected practice time.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 Find an English-speaking meet-up group: If you live in a somewhat big city in a\u00a0foreign country, there are bound to be groups who meet and speak English. Find a group and join!<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 Language exchange online: There are dozens of websites that offer students the opportunity to exchange languages via the Internet. In fact, I\u2019ve created a TOEFL Speaking Partner Group on Facebook<\/a>, where you can find a practice partner who is also preparing for TOEFL.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reason #3: Successful Students Find and Imitate High-Quality Speaking Responses<\/h2>\n

There\u2019s a saying that goes, \u201cPractice makes perfect.\u201d But let’s change this expression just for TOEFL Speaking: \u201cPractice perfect makes perfect.\u201d If you want to get a high TOEFL Speaking score, then you must imitate responses from people who have earned above 26 on the TOEFL Speaking section. When you start to imitate people who have scored 26+ (our definition of \u2018perfect\u2019 on TOEFL Speaking), you will eventually begin to sound more and more like these responses. The best way to measure your progress is to record your responses and then listen and analyze them. These are just a few of the questions you can ask yourself:<\/p>\n

Did you use similar transition statements?<\/em><\/p>\n

Did you use similar vocabulary terms?<\/em><\/p>\n

Were you able to cover just as much material as the original speaker?<\/em><\/p>\n

You might be wondering, \u201cWell Paul, how do I find these perfect TOEFL Speaking responses?” Great question! Right now I\u2019m giving away a free resource just for Magoosh TOEFL students — it\u2019s a collection of TOEFL Speaking responses that earned scores of 26+ on the TOEFL Speaking test.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reason #4: Successful Students Focus on 1-2 Problems at a Time<\/h2>\n

If you have yet to get 26+ on TOEFL Speaking, it\u2019s because you\u2019re\u00a0making certain mistakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuh Paul. I already know that.”<\/p>\n

Well, stick with me for a second.<\/p>\n

Students who earned 26+ on TOEFL Speaking:<\/p>\n

Have been speaking and learning English for many, many years, and it comes very naturally to them …<\/p>\n

OR<\/p>\n

Understood their English level wasn\u2019t high enough to earn 26, so they took certain steps to improve their speaking ability.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s analyze the second reason.<\/p>\n

As I said above, the first step students take to improve their English speaking ability is to speak a lot. But as I mentioned, speaking a lot isn\u2019t enough. These students also pinpointed the exact\u00a0problems preventing them from reaching a higher level of English and worked to fix these problems. And they worked on fixing these problems by focusing on one or two issues at a time.<\/p>\n

Some common issues include:<\/p>\n

Pronunciation<\/em><\/p>\n

Intonation<\/em><\/p>\n

Grammar<\/em><\/p>\n

Note-taking<\/em><\/p>\n

Fluency<\/em><\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s take these 5 skills and apply them to the TOEFL Speaking schedule from above:<\/p>\n

Monday: 7 pm – 9\u00a0pm<\/strong> – Focus on \/i\/ pronunciation for 30 minutes and focus on improving subject\/verb\u00a0agreement for 1.5 hours.<\/p>\n

Tuesday: 7\u00a0pm – 9 pm<\/strong> –\u00a0Focus on \/i\/ pronunciation for 30 minutes and focus on improving subject\/verb\u00a0agreement for 1.5 hours.<\/p>\n

Wednesday: 7 pm – 9 pm<\/strong> – Focus on \/i\/ pronunciation for 30 minutes and focus on improving subject\/verb\u00a0agreement for 1.5 hours.<\/p>\n

Thursday: 7 pm – 9 pm<\/strong> – Focus on \/r\/ pronunciation for 30 minutes and focus on improving intonation for transition statements for 1.5 hours.<\/p>\n

Friday: 7 pm – 9 pm<\/strong> – Focus on \/r\/ pronunciation for 30 minutes and focus on improving intonation for lists for 1.5 hours.<\/p>\n

Saturday: 10 am – 11 am<\/strong> – Focus on \/r\/ pronunciation for 30 minutes and focus on improving note-taking for all questions for 1.5 hours.<\/p>\n

Sunday: 8 am – 9 am<\/strong> – Do 6 practice responses and measure progress from last week.<\/p>\n

This is an example of how to focus on one or two issues at a time.<\/p>\n

And there you have it: Four reasons why students earn 26+ on TOEFL Speaking.<\/p>\n

Magoosh readers: What will you do to improve your TOEFL Speaking score? Tell us in the comments below!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Author Bio: Paul Austin is the instructor at <\/em>TOEFL Speaking Teacher<\/em><\/a>. His focus is on helping students attain a high TOEFL Speaking score through his revolutionary “80\/20 TOEFL Speaking Mastery” method. For more information, and tons of free articles and videos, be sure to check out his website and <\/em>Facebook page<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In today\u2019s guest post, Paul Austin from TOEFL Speaking Teacher shares his secrets to getting 26+ on the TOEFL Speaking section. As many of you know, getting 26+ on TOEFL Speaking is no easy task. Some students struggle for months, if not years, to get the golden score of 26+. But some students get it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13618],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13636],"class_list":["post-1703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-speaking"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFour Tips to Get 26 on the TOEFL Speaking Section - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/four-tips-to-get-26-on-the-toefl-speaking-section\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Four Tips to Get 26 on the TOEFL Speaking Section\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In today\u2019s guest post, Paul Austin from TOEFL Speaking Teacher shares his secrets to getting 26+ on the TOEFL Speaking section. As many of you know, getting 26+ on TOEFL Speaking is no easy task. Some students struggle for months, if not years, to get the golden score of 26+. But some students get it […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/four-tips-to-get-26-on-the-toefl-speaking-section\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-29T18:00:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-09-02T02:35:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/files\/2016\/09\/Facebook-SEO-Default.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Author\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Author\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/four-tips-to-get-26-on-the-toefl-speaking-section\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/four-tips-to-get-26-on-the-toefl-speaking-section\/\",\"name\":\"Four Tips to Get 26 on the TOEFL Speaking Section - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-29T18:00:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/b7e6143cd1e3cc496347b662b343f0e4\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/four-tips-to-get-26-on-the-toefl-speaking-section\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/four-tips-to-get-26-on-the-toefl-speaking-section\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/four-tips-to-get-26-on-the-toefl-speaking-section\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Four Tips to Get 26 on the TOEFL Speaking Section\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/\",\"name\":\"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\",\"description\":\"Online TOEFL Preparation\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/b7e6143cd1e3cc496347b662b343f0e4\",\"name\":\"Guest Author\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/4079ffc6efb2e738e98e6ee8431bac59\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2b75dffc1465a28b66a891ad7e446798b95655db75b9be97bf1b6462d75d92d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2b75dffc1465a28b66a891ad7e446798b95655db75b9be97bf1b6462d75d92d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Author\"},\"description\":\"This post was written by a friend of Magoosh.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/author\/guestauthor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Four Tips to Get 26 on the TOEFL Speaking Section - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/four-tips-to-get-26-on-the-toefl-speaking-section\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Four Tips to Get 26 on the TOEFL Speaking Section","og_description":"In today\u2019s guest post, Paul Austin from TOEFL Speaking Teacher shares his secrets to getting 26+ on the TOEFL Speaking section. As many of you know, getting 26+ on TOEFL Speaking is no easy task. Some students struggle for months, if not years, to get the golden score of 26+. But some students get it […]","og_url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/four-tips-to-get-26-on-the-toefl-speaking-section\/","og_site_name":"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/MagooshTOEFL","article_published_time":"2015-04-29T18:00:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-09-02T02:35:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/files\/2016\/09\/Facebook-SEO-Default.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Guest Author","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@MagooshTOEFL","twitter_site":"@MagooshTOEFL","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Author","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/four-tips-to-get-26-on-the-toefl-speaking-section\/","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/four-tips-to-get-26-on-the-toefl-speaking-section\/","name":"Four Tips to Get 26 on the TOEFL Speaking Section - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-04-29T18:00:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/b7e6143cd1e3cc496347b662b343f0e4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/four-tips-to-get-26-on-the-toefl-speaking-section\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/four-tips-to-get-26-on-the-toefl-speaking-section\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/four-tips-to-get-26-on-the-toefl-speaking-section\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Four Tips to Get 26 on the TOEFL Speaking Section"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/","name":"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test","description":"Online TOEFL Preparation","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/b7e6143cd1e3cc496347b662b343f0e4","name":"Guest Author","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/4079ffc6efb2e738e98e6ee8431bac59","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2b75dffc1465a28b66a891ad7e446798b95655db75b9be97bf1b6462d75d92d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2b75dffc1465a28b66a891ad7e446798b95655db75b9be97bf1b6462d75d92d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Guest Author"},"description":"This post was written by a friend of Magoosh.","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/author\/guestauthor\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":13636,"user_id":60,"is_guest":0,"slug":"guestauthor","display_name":"Guest Author","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2b75dffc1465a28b66a891ad7e446798b95655db75b9be97bf1b6462d75d92d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Author","first_name":"Guest","description":"This post was written by a friend of Magoosh."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1703\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1703"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}