Posts Tagged: essays

Long time

Yes, it’s been quite long since I’ve posted. Work, a project I have recently taken up and my MBA applications have all contributed to my hardly having any spare time or for that matter, even a social life..

We have a release this month so it should be slightly easier after that.

MBA applications are killer. There is so much to do and with so little time, they are suffering the most. I have to write, on an average ~4.5 essays per University application. But one of the best things about these essays are that they force me to think about myself, my past and what I have done and what I seek to do in the future. They have required quite a bit on introspection (which I have done, sometimes into the wee hours of the night) :)

I have recently sent out questionnaires to people I work with so that I can get feedback about myself and how I am viewed by them.. This should be interesting ;)
Sleep is a precious commodity which I am losing out on big time. I feel I am perpetually in the land of tiredness :(

In other news, I received my Toefl Score which I must say I’m quite surprised with. I got a 114 out of a possible 120 which is on the higher side of my expectations. And I’m not complaining :D

Toefl – Cbt vs iBT

Since my Toefl is coming up and when I booked it, I could not get a slot for the CBT but only for the iBT. Hence I set about finding out the differences between the two versions of the test.

The main reason why I could not locate a CBT slot was because it has been discontinued since the introduction of the iBT which will happen from the coming July. Now on to the main differences.

The single biggest difference is the introduction of the new Speaking section which will test a candidates English speaking ability and hence moot the requirement for taking the TSE. This section consists of 3 parts in which,

  • The candidate has to speak based on a topic which he is familiar with.
  • Read a short passage and listen a talk related to the passage. Based on them, the candidate must answer questions.
  • Listen to a short lecture/conversation and summarize the key points of the audio.

Besides this, the TOEFL now consists of two essays instead of the earlier one. The scoring is also now on a scale of 0 to 120. I’m not sure of the earlier, but I believe it was a maximum of 300.

For score comparisons, ETS has released a score comparison table (Warning: PDF link)

Due to the addition of the essay and the speaking section, the TOEFL iBT is now four hours longs :O
That is one hell of a long test :(