Lesson 1 of 9: Learn your TOEFL Speaking Score

Perfect TOEFL Speaking 9-Day Challenge

Let’s get you a high TOEFL Speaking Score, fast

My Speaking Score’s Perfect TOEFL Speaking Challenge is a 9-day task-based course that shows you how to combine a foolproof approach called the Grid, with My Speaking Score’s automated scoring tool to earn a perfect score on the TOEFL Speaking section.

You only need 3 things to guide yourself towards a high TOEFL Speaking score:

1. training (this Substack course + onboarding videos)

2. practice (My Speaking Score’s Tests + the Grid videos)

3. feedback (My Speaking Score’s SpeechRater™ Reports)

If you want to know, step by step, how to quickly understand how to get a high TOEFL Speaking score, keep reading.

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NEW — TOEFL Speaking Templates: The Ultimate Guide

Free, comprehensive guide to TOEFL Speaking: note-taking, response structure, sample responses, SpeechRater data analysis and explanations, rubric alignment; even the quick-shot videos you need to de-fang all TOEFL Speaking tasks.

Nothing held back.

Get free access the TOEFL® Speaking Templates: The Ultimate Guide (no email required).

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NEW — AI Chatbot

Free. Use the chatbot on My Speaking Score to ask questions, correct your transcripts, ask for model responses, templates, and more.

It’s your virtual TOEFL Speaking coach trained on all our materials.

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NEW — Journal

For every response you record, Journal gives you specific, actionable feedback that is aligned to the TOEFL Speaking rubrics, so you know exactly what your score means, and how to improve it.

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Achieve your Target TOEFL Speaking Score

This course works with My Speaking Score - the online platform that gives you all the tests and SpeechRater™ estimates you need to succeed on test day.

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More Free Resources

• Perfect TOEFL Speaking e-Book (free download)

• My Speaking Score Knowledge base

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Lesson 1 - Get Your Current TOEFL Speaking Score

You need to understand what your TOEFL Speaking score is TODAY.

Once you learn your score now, then it's simply a matter of looking at your scoring data, seeing where you are underperforming, and then figuring out how to improve.

We're going to look closely at all your TOEFL Speaking analytics. Then we're going to take a scientific approach to understanding why YOU are struggling.

This is important.

We're not interested why "some people" are struggling. Or even why "certain people" typically underperform in some areas. 

This is only about you.

My Speaking Score reports are personal to you.

This is really exciting because, in a way, My Speaking Score’s speech assessment software captures your "voice signature".

Much like your real signature, your voice is highly personal to you. It's part of who you are, even when you speak in English.

Game Plan

• Lesson 1

  • Baseline: how you are performing today (get a score estimate and other important data)

• The 12 Speaking Dimensions

  • Get familiar with the data

  • All the areas you need to focus on

• Homework

  • Assignment 1

» To get the most out of this lesson, consult page 46 of Perfect TOEFL Speaking.

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The 12 Speaking Dimensions

You don’t need to worry too much about these now, but these are the “dimensions” of your response that we are going to measure (and improve). Click on any dimension to read more about it.

• Speaking Rate

• Sustained Speech

• Pause Frequency

• Repetitions

• Phrase Length

• Distribution of Pauses

• Rhythm

• Vowels

• Discourse Coherence

• Vocabulary Depth

• Vocabulary Diversity

• Grammatical Accuracy
  

As you progress through the Challenge, you'll become an expert on every aspect of your TOEFL Speaking!

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Homework - Assignment 1

Your first homework mission is dead simple: record your first response to establish your baseline score.

Recommended Test: ETS Test Prep (in “Real” Mode)

Approach

• login to your account on My Speaking Score

• go to Tests in your Dashboard

• use Real Mode

• choose the TOEFL Speaking test “ETS Test Prep”

• complete the test and submit for Analysis

• examine your results 

Advice

• pretend this is a real test - take it seriously

• we want your first score to be "valid" so no do-overs (think about it this way: if you practice the same response 5 times, and then submit it for analysis, the score you are seeing does not accurately represent "spontaneous speech" - it’s not a valid score)

• don't worry, there will be LOTS of time to rehearse answers, apply templates, use smooth transitions...we're going to teach you all the tricks

PS Congratulations for spending some time on this today! :)

*** END OF LESSON 1