{"id":938,"date":"2014-10-27T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-27T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=938"},"modified":"2020-12-10T13:46:55","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T21:46:55","slug":"what-does-the-toefl-really-measure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/what-does-the-toefl-really-measure\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does the TOEFL Really Measure?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Welcome to the first installment of a 7 post series on what the TOEFL really measures. Use the links below to navigate to the other posts in the series. Enjoy!<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-reading-practice-new-information-and-inferences\/\">TOEFL Reading Practice: New Information and Inferences<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-reading-practice-adding-new-information-to-what-youve-read\/\">TOEFL Reading Practice: Adding New Information to What You&#8217;ve Read<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/everyday-toefl-listening-practice\/\">Everyday TOEFL Listening Practice<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/academic-toefl-listening-practice\/\">Academic TOEFL Listening Practice<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/practicing-toefl-speaking-skills\/\">Practicing TOEFL Speaking Skills<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/practicing-toefl-writing-skills\/\">Practicing TOEFL Writing Skills<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Magoosh has many good articles on TOEFL <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/what-is-a-good-toefl-score\/\">scoring<\/a>. To help you get the best possible score, Magoosh also has a lot of great tips for TOEFL specific <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/resources\/grammar\/\">grammar<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/resources\/vocab\/\">vocabulary<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/#q=site:magoosh.com%2Ftoefl+strategy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">strategies<\/a>. These are useful resources. But it\u2019s important to remember that the skills the TOEFL score measures are general academic skills. These abilities are much bigger than any given strategy, vocabulary list, or grammar rule. So what are these higher learning skills, and how does the TOEFL measure them?<\/p>\n<p>One skill the TOEFL measures is the ability to understand new information. This is measured in Reading Section questions such as \u201cAccording to paragraph 1, which of the following is true about petroleum formation?\u201d (Taken from <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/official-ibt-tests-vol-1-2nd-edition\/\">Official TOEFL iBT tests<\/a>.) Of course, the TOEFL measures the ability to understand new information above and below the paragraph level. You will be asked to identify the meanings of words and sentences. You will also need to identify the meaning or purpose of entire reading passages, lectures and conversations.<\/p>\n<p>Inference\u2014the ability to understand the deeper unstated meaning of language&#8212; is measured in the TOEFL as well. <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-reading-question-type-overview\/\">As Kate has explained<\/a>, the Reading Section includes questions that start with the words \u201cWhich of the following can be inferred\u2026.\u201d Here, you will need to identify unstated information that appears to be true, based on the passage. There is a special focus on opinion inference in the Listening, Speaking, and Writing Sections. These sections test your ability to understand a speaker\u2019s opinion or identify disagreements a lecturer has with a reading.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, the TOEFL measures the skill of adding new information to existing information. This is seen in the Reading Section\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.manhattanreview.com\/toefl-reading\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201creading to learn\u201d tasks<\/a>. In these tasks, you\u2019ll add extra sentences to a reading and summarize a reading in an outline. The integrated tasks in the Listening, Speaking and Writing Sections measure this ability too. In this case, you\u2019re asked to make new connections between separate readings and recordings. <\/p>\n<p>Finally, TOEFL Speaking and Writing measures your ability to create completely new information in English. The first Speaking Section task asks you to create original information by giving a personal opinion. Finally, the second Writing Task asks you to give your opinion on a specific matter and support it with your own evidence.<\/p>\n<p>In short, the TOEFL score is a measure of your ability to handle new information in English. In your second language, you will need to understand new information, make inferences based on new information, add to new information, and create completely original new information.<\/p>\n<p>These \u201cnew information\u201d skills are bigger than the TOEFL. You already use these skills in your first language. You will use these new-information skills in English before, during, and especially after the TOEFL. Your new college or university will be a place of learning, and learning depends on new information. Each section of the TOEFL measures the way you handle new information in its own unique way. In the next few posts I will discuss ways to practice for each TOEFL section while also practicing the general skills each section measures.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to the first installment of a 7 post series on what the TOEFL really measures. Use the links below to navigate to the other posts in the series. Enjoy! TOEFL Reading Practice: New Information and Inferences TOEFL Reading Practice: Adding New Information to What You&#8217;ve Read Everyday TOEFL Listening Practice Academic TOEFL Listening Practice [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13595],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13630],"class_list":["post-938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-what-is-toefl"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Does the TOEFL Really Measure? - 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\/what-does-the-toefl-really-measure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Does the TOEFL Really Measure?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Welcome to the first installment of a 7 post series on what the TOEFL really measures. 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Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT. David has a BS and MA from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew"],"knowsAbout":["TOEFL","IELTS","TOEIC","PET","FCE","BULATS","Eiken","SAT","ACT","GRE","GMAT"],"knowsLanguage":["English","Italian"],"jobTitle":"Content Creator","worksFor":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/author\/davidr\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":13630,"user_id":80,"is_guest":0,"slug":"davidr","display_name":"David Recine","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Recine","first_name":"David","description":"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.\r\n\r\nDavid 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<a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/scholar?hl=en&amp;as_sdt=0%2C50&amp;q=Recine+magoosh&amp;btnG=\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> many scholarly articles<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/minds.wisconsin.edu\/handle\/1793\/65479\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> his Master's Thesis<\/a> is featured on the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.readingwithpictures.org\/2013\/09\/research-highlight-teaching-english-language-learners-with-comics\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Reading with Pictures<\/a> website, and he's presented at the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.witesol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-WITESOL-Program-FINAL-10-28-14.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> WITESOL (link to PDF)<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/interoff\/docs\/nafsaregionv_2014conference\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> NAFSA<\/a> 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.\r\n\r\nCome join David and the Magoosh team on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew\"> Youtube<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning\"> Facebook<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/magooshenglish\/?hl=en\"> Instagram<\/a>, or connect with him via<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/\"> LinkedIn<\/a>!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938","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\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}