The Official Guide to the New TOEFL iBT with CD-ROM (Official Guide to the Toefl Ibt)

Description

I bought this item mainly because it said there was a full length test in the cd, and that the software was exactly the same as in the test. Well, after studying by the book and taking the test, my thoughts are that the ONE AND ONLY full lenght test is not enough to justify the value of the book. Also, the software is very similar to the test one, but it is NOT EXACTLY the same. Maybe the 3rd edition of this book corrected this...

I was lucky that a friend of mine who was also taking the test bought the Longman book. The Longman has a LOT of questions, divided by skills, full-tests, etc, and all questions are different. In this "Official Guide", there are ONLY the questions of the full-lenght test, and nothing else. The test is indeed complete, and has lots of explanations about what kind of answers do they look for and how do they rate the responses (in the speaking and writing parts), along with various sample answers, which are the main value of the book. The Longman just gave one sample answer for each writing question, and no sample audio to the speaking section.

But if I had to choose only one book to study for the TOEFL, I would choose the Longman because of the higher number of questions.

I cannot comment on the contents of the book itself because I barely opened it (went directly to the CD), but I can say that the questions on the book ARE THE SAME THAT THE ONES ON THE FULL TEST ON THE CD. Contents......Page 7 Getting Started......Page 11 How to Use This Book/CD Package......Page 13 All About the TOEFL iBT......Page 14 TOEFL iBT Reading Section......Page 17 TOEFL iBT Listening Section......Page 22 TOEFL iBT Speaking Section......Page 27 TOEFL iBT Writing Section......Page 29 About Test Scores......Page 31 General Skill-Building Tips......Page 34 Test Preparation Tips from ETS......Page 42 Questions Frequently Asked by Students......Page 43 TOEFL iBT Reading Passages......Page 47 Basic Information and Inferencing Questions......Page 48 Reading to Learn Questions......Page 60 Improving Your Performance on TOEFL iBT Reading Questions......Page 68 Practice Set 1......Page 70 Practice Set 2......Page 79 Practice Set 3......Page 89 Practice Set 4......Page 100 Practice Set 5......Page 111 Practice Set 6......Page 122 TOEFL iBT Listening Materials......Page 133 TOEFL iBT Listening Questions......Page 135 Basic Comprehension Questions......Page 136 Pragmatic Understanding Questions......Page 141 Connecting Information Questions......Page 145 Basic Strategies for the TOEFL iBT Listening Section......Page 151 Practice Set 1......Page 153 Practice Set 2......Page 158 Practice Set 3......Page 162 Practice Set 4......Page 166 Practice Set 5......Page 170 Introduction to the Speaking Section......Page 175 Independent: Questions 1 and 2......Page 176 Integrated Listening/Reading/Speaking: Questions 3 and 4......Page 180 Integrated Listening/Speaking: Questions 5 and 6......Page 189 TOEFL iBT Speaking Scoring Rubric......Page 197 Strategies for Raising Your TOEFL Speaking Score......Page 201 Frequently Asked Questions about TOEFL Speaking......Page 202 The Integrated Writing Task......Page 205 How the Task is Phrased......Page 207 Strategies for Raising Your Score on the Integrated Writing Task......Page 208 Integrated Writing Scoring Rubric......Page 210 Sample Scored Responses for the Integrated Writing Task......Page 212 The Independent Writing Task......Page 216 How Essays Are Scored......Page 217 Independent Writing Scoring Rubric......Page 219 Sample Scored Responses for the Independent Writing Task......Page 221 Topic list......Page 226 6 Authentic TOEFL iBT Practice Test 1......Page 241 Reading......Page 243 Listening......Page 267 Speaking......Page 281 Writing......Page 287 Answers, Explanations, and Listening Scripts......Page 293 7 Authentic TOEFL iBT Practice Test 2......Page 353 Reading......Page 355 Listening......Page 381 Speaking......Page 395 Writing......Page 401 Answers and Listening Scripts......Page 407 Appendix 1: TOEFL iBT Score Information......Page 431 Appendix 2: Performance Feedback for Test Takers......Page 447