Customer Reviews

Barron's TOEFL iBT Internet-Based Test, 12th Edition

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I am an English instructor of ESL students, many who are preparing for the Toefl exam. I have reviewed 5 books myself before recommending students buy one. While this book appears to be well organized, WATCH OUT!!! It is loaded with typos and errors from the start.

For example, in the Model Test 1: Pretest, I counted 11 errors in just 5 pages!!!

For example, They indicate which paragraph to read, and have them numbered incorrectly (1 and 2 are ok, but they have questions for paragraph 5 and there are only 4 paragraphs!)

Vocabulary words on the test should be highlighted, but they missed one, so a student has to search for it in the paragraph, thus wasting valuable time for a timed test.

For the question asking the student to insert a sentence, the correct answer is "C" and the answer key has the correct answer as "B" - which is NOT correct!! Then they go on to say why B is correct, while explaining the answer response for "C". This is just careless and unforgivable for a test publisher!

On one answer - where three choices are required - they list the correct choices as: "E, F and D". Fine, but why not make it: D, E, and F?

The Toefl test is difficult enough for ESL students, and I would NEVER recommend a book that makes the test literally impossible and so confusing.

The Princeton books are so far, my top picks.

I agree with the previous comment about how daunting it is to pick the right book to purchase in the beginning - I chose the Barron's edition with audio CDs and McGraw Hill's ETS standard edition. The latter was helpful in evaluating one's own speaking level against real life examples, but the former was far superior in its content layout and diversity of subjects covered. In my opinion study tips & tricks will never be as effective as actually sitting model tests under simulated environment repetitively. I highly recommend running the full listening/speaking section all the way without stopping (except for the writing sections within those sections) as this will give you more rigorous practice than those offered in the actual test where you get to pause after each question.

I spent two weeks on this book and an afternoon skimming through official ETS test prep book, and scored 115 out of 120.

The book had adequate examples to practice, some good study tips and exam strategies. I got a 110 in my TOEFL exam. It was the most cost-efficient.

The most confusing thing while buying the book was Barron publishes 3 versions of this book - with audio CD, with CD ROM and only the book. The audio CD version contains audio for all listening sections but no computer-based tests / scoring. I believe the CD ROM version has that.


Other things that would be good to have:
- a feature to record your speaking section (available with Longman)
- a feature to record your written skills and get an automated evaluation.

I tried 3 books for TOEFL IBT; this one was the best of all, it have 7 complete tests, and 10 Audio CDs with a good price. and also a section for teaching the technics. I thing it is almost perfect. and it delivered much faster that exepted. Have fun with TOEFL. Good luck for all.

Though the book is quite complete and comes with a bunch of standard tests on the cd-rom, the text on the book refers to the audio cds time and time again, even though you don't have them. That renders most of the book's exercises useless.

When I entered the real ibt test I didn't have any problem understanding the system of the test, thanks to the CD exercises. Also, the exercises and questions are helpful and similar with the real IBT test. The only negative thing about the CD is that your scores aren't saved when you turn your computer off. So you have to write them down somewhere else everytime you practice. To try the exercises, don't forget to buy the audio CDs sold seperately otherwise you wont be able to solve them.

I took the test in March. With the help of this book my score was 106!! In my opinion it is the best preparatory option, because it contains high level tests which indeed will prepare you. If you want to get a good score I would also recommend you to buy the official book.

This is a review for the Barron's Toefl ibt book with a CD.
All in all, the book is good for preparation for the Toefl test, but no way I would give it a 4 stars even. It does cover all the sections in the test pretty good, but the difficulty level of this book is way higher than the actual ETS standart for TOEFL is. The reading passages are ok, but the questions are deceptive: some of them are actually a GRE-quality, which is way more difficult than TOEFL. As, for example, in one of the questions, you are asked to choose the word closest in meaning to "radical". The sentence in the text is as follows: "The revolution in flight required radical alteration in body form". The answer choices are: a)very clear; b)very wide; c)very fast; d)very new. Obviously this is NOT a 2 point question, and everyone knows what "radical" means. But differentiation between "very clear", "very new" and "very wide" is too much for the TOEFL test.
Also, in the listening sections, the dictors sometimes speak so fast, they're almost out of breath: not acceptable quality for preparation. And let me tell you, I am not whining here because I can not get a score high enough - I answer 92-95% of the questions correctly. And I also understand the strategy of the maker: better to be pleasantly surprised on the test, then experience a rude awakening, but it is just annoying.
Then, the CD is awful. Mine does not save my login, so every time I log in as a new user, and which is most important it doesn't save my scores in the review. The essay can only be saved in a practice mode, which is also uncomfortable. The test screen is microscopic, which is fine for the listening and even speaking sections, but staring at tiny characters for 1 hour during the reading section is no joke. Trying to see what you have typed in the essay is also a pain.
So solid 3 stars it is, not more.

There are several preparation books for the TOEFL test. Trying to pick the best one is difficult. Each of the books: This one, Longman, McGraw-Hill, Princeton Review, etc. each say the same things but present them in a different way. Some people will get more out of this one, some out of that one.

My recommendation is to go through at least two books. One of the books I would recommend should be this one. I like the writing and presentation style. Unlike some of the others, it includes practice exercises to do when you are not at a computer. It's certainly one of the standard books. It has been used, the introduction says, by more than a million students. I haven't known that many, but the ones I've known who used this book found it helpful.

With the change to the TOEFL going on line, there is much less history, much less known about the test. This is at least recognized by Dr. Sharpe who has made an attempt to incorporate as much of the changes as are known at the present time.

This book along with a CD is a very good source for those who want to practice for TOEFL in about 2 months(minimum). I used it but I have not taken the test yet. The disadvantage of this book is that it contains mostly the Academic texts. All Readings and Listening part are related to academic topics. In that order, may be Longman's is a better choice because or variety in text topics (not limited to academic). It contains 7 modeled tests which are very helpful and will significantly increase your skills and self confidence. The book is not elementary, therefore if you are looking for a elementary book with step by step explanation and many examples, you better start with Longman's. This book is for someone who is ready for the test and just need a fine tuning, though have at least 2 months ahead!