No matter how good you are in English, succeeding in the TOEFL exam requires more than basic English skills. It requires specific skills and reflections in order to handle the different question types of TOEFL. In this post I'm wrapping up 4 main skills you should build while preparing for your TOEFL exam. These skills are essential :

1) Calibrating your time awareness

     Also can be referred to as time management.While passing the TOEFL exam you should be the Master of time. You should be playing with time as drummers play with their drums. In other words you should build a mechanism in your brain that automatically manages time according to the exam real-time circumstances.

How can you do that ? Practice !

   In the reading section you should know how much time you should spend reading, understanding then answering the question. What if you passed a question and will return to it later, what if you spend much time than you should on a certain question. You should practice to handle such situations, they will surely occur!
In the listening and the speaking sections taking notes is King. The next point talks about why you should practice taking notes.

2 ) Taking notes

   Taking notes is an art. But you only have a month or less to master it. At first you will write notes that you're not going to be able to decode right after. Don't get frustrated. Practice and you'll nail it!

   Here is the trick: you should think keyword-wise, and don't look outside for keywords, use intuition, since you are writing notes for yourself and no one is going to read them but you. When you hear a key idea in a conversation or a lecture in the speaking or the listening section see what word or short sentence pops-up in you mind and write it down, that is your own keyword. Believe me it works! That way you will have the whole conversation or lecture summed up in lines of keywords.

   One last note : don't try to write keywords in your native language. You'll get lost in translation and you'll waste time doing it. Stick to English and if you feel like you are falling into a shortage of vocabulary and keywords than you should rethink of building up your basic English in the first place.

3 ) Building up speaking confidence

   Speaking English fluently can be difficult. Speaking in public can also be difficult. Speaking English fluently in public in a noisy environment is definitely difficult. However to get high score in the speaking section you should be able to speak up confidently in a crowded environment.

   Confidence only comes with practice, confidence is sweet, it makes you want to practice more.
To be confident you should train your mouth, your body posture and your brain. Many people lose their confidence when they make a mistake out loud, it is totally normal, everybody make mistakes the most important thing is that you don't let it affect your confidence, ignore it and keep talking. And believe it or not it is only with intensive practice sessions that you are going to be able to simply ignore your mistakes.
So remember the more you practice speaking the more confident you get about speaking in public.

4 ) Creating a mental database of link-words and expressions :

   Repeating words and sentences is essential for learning a language. Practice makes you brain repeat words with engagement for memorization. The idea is that the process of speaking uses both a conscious and an unconscious mechanism in your brain.
   What we want to create is a database of words, link-words and sentences to feed the unconscious mechanism during the speaking process. That is because the conscious part of your brain is going to be busy doing other things like time management and ignoring distractions. This can be achieved by, again, practice speaking!
This point is well elaborated in my previous post about practicing speaking by listening to others speak.

Conclusion

Succeeding the TOEFL exam is a an important thing, it requires training and engagement and no matter how skilled you are in English, practice is your only gate to success.

Today I thought i collect a couple of useful links that helped me getting an excellent score in TOEFL. Here is a a play-list of EXCELLENT 34 videos that will definitely help you achieve high score in the TOEFL iBT test.

Practice makes perfect.
Enjoy :)

Build your own custom video playlist at embedr.com

Here are few tips while taking TOEFL. Hope these are helpful for all those aspiring to be successful in the test.
Listening

1. Set the volume one level higher than required. As you do not get a chance to do that later.
2. Don't pay too much attention on the pictures shown during conversations. Test takers will try to confuse by showing the same picture for a different conversation. They are quite smart you know!!!
3. In a two people conversation, pay extra attention to what the second person says. Mostly the question is based on that.
4. In long lectures and conversations, make sure you take a mental note of the conversation when the lecturer lays some emphasis on a particular word. It indicates that a question from this part will be asked. So don't sleep.

Reading

The biggest advantage you have in this is that you can go back to the previous questions anytime.
1. Read the first question before you start reading the passage. This will give you an idea of what to look for while you read.
2. If you can't figure out the answer of any question, move on and don't forget to come back to it later. In my experience when you answer other simpler questions, you get a better grasp on the passage and then you can answer the tougher question that you had to guess on.
3. While practicing and general reading, whenever you come across a new word, look the word up in the dictionary. For your convenience all the words in the dictionary are in alphabetical order.

notice At least 5-6 questions are based on meaning of the word asked, you won't even have to refer to the passage if you know the right meaning.
  
All the best!

I want to tell you about my Experience. Maybe it could help other Test Takers

    I was the first that arrived to the Test Center (about 8AM, 1 hour before the Test) and I think it was beneficial because the Test Administrator registered myself in a computer located in a quietly corner. So, first tip try to arrived early to the Test Center.

    After confirming my personal information, the Test started. The Reading Part was a little bit difficult because at first I felt quite nervous. Then, I breath deeply and try to focus on the passage. Also, I was one of the "lucky candidates" that got 5 passages instead of 3. Anyway, I spent 45 seconds scanning each passage, reading the first line of each paragraph and the last line of the whole passage, and then started with Question 1 as quickly as I can. There were Questions that I can answer in 30 seconds, and also Questions on which I spent 2 minutes. But all the Questions refereed to a specific paragraph. So, second tip keep concentrated on the paragraph that is related to the Question and try to read it all.

    Then, the Listening Part has an average level. I understood all the conversations and lectures but I had doubts on answering at least one Question for the final lectures because I wrote a lot in my notes. So, third tip try to write necessary things when you are taking notes. Also, it could help you if you use abbreviations of words that you understand.

    Finally, I had a ten-minute break. I went to the restrooms and then ate a chocolate because I read that chocolate could help my brain. After that, I took the Speaking Part, which is the difficult one for me. I thought that I probably were felt uncomfortable talking to a computer, but I was not. I focus on each Question and tried to give the best answer that I could. I repeated part of each Question when I started to talk, either if the Question is for a familiar topic or if it is for a lecture. I have to admit that I felt nervous in two Questions because of the time and the organization of my speech. So, fourth tip stay calm and try to use efficiently the seconds of preparation time, specially when you have heard lectures previously.

    After the Speaking Part, immediately appears the Writing Part. The Integrated Question was about systems of recycling and how the lecture contradicts it. I could understand the lecture and took good notes because the audio was not so fast. The Independent Question was if you agree or disagree with the statement that parents do not understand their children today as well as they did years ago. In both essays, I organize a brain-storm on the computer instead of the scratch paper and I also reserved at least 5 minutes to review all my answer and correct any grammar mistakes. So, fifth tip try to organize your ideas on the computer as a part of your answer and do not forget to review your writing few minutes before the time ends.

Timing
Reach the test center at least 45 mins before the reporting time. My test was scheduled at 4 PM and the reporting time was 3.30 PM. So reaching say by 2.45-3.00 would be good. You have to fill up confidentiality agreement form and brief instruction session for 5-10 mins is conducted by the prometric people. You are allowed in the exam room on first come first serve basis. So it makes sense to be early and grab a seat. Actually it doesn't make much difference, but it might help you when you reach the Speaking section. You'll be among the first few people who would start answering.

Things to carry with you
Confirmation ticket print out - to confirm ur presence for the test.[It is not required, once you have made an entry in the attendance register]
Carry your primary identification - Your passport.
Secondary identification proof(It is a must !!!) - PAN card, Driving License or a similar document with your signed photograph.
Remember Employee ids/credit cards are not acceptable.
A dude was not allowed to take the test as he did not carry the sufficient docs.

Things NOT to carry
Rough sheets/stationary,Water bottle,Cell phones.You wouldn't be allowed anything inside. Not even your wallet and watch!!!You would be alloted a Locker, where you'll have to keep all your belongings.Rough sheets and pencils are provided at the test center itself.

Reading section
RC is easier as compared to GRE. There are 3 reading passages, each 20 mins.Each RC has approx. 13-14 questions.The last question in all the three passages is the trickiest of all. It is to select the best inferences from the given passage.It is worth 2 points.Plan your time in such a way that u have atleast 4-5 mins to answer this last question.

Listening section
Isn't difficult at all. All you have to do is concentrate and take some notes here and there. Don't get distracted with noises of people who have already started their speaking section. So listening section has some 6 -8 odd tasks. Few conversations(mostly among university students who discuss their problems on campus etc and few lectures on various academic topics like biology, eco. etc followed by some questions on these discussions. This section is easily manageable.

There is a 10 min. mandatory break after the two sections. You will have to leave your place and go out. [You can eat something if you have got something from home.Its a 4 hour long test after all !!]Remember, you are not supposed to touch your mobiles during this break.

Speaking Section
isn't difficult if you know how to respond in the given time frame.

Sincere Advise : KAPLAN's latest book on TOEFL iBT comes with practice cd, which has 4 practise tests. Trust me it is worth going through that !! It'll give u a hang of the entire speaking pattern.It has similar timed conditions and almost similar question pattern.

After a 4 hour struggle..you are finally through!!

[P.S - Don't wait for the range of your scores to pop up. I waited for 4-5 mins. When nothing showed up, I knew its time to go out. Your scores will be sent to you after 15 days. You will be able to view them online on your TOEFL account.]

Hope any of this helps.