Customer Reviews

How to Prepare for the Toefl With Computer Software: Test of English As a Foreign Language (Barron's How to Prepare for the TOEFL (W/CD Audio))

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you can only buy one book, this book is your second best choice after the more expensive Longman book (see my review of it on Amazon). This book has a lot of grammar explanations and lots of practice questions. So, it is a great value--the price is low, and you get a lot of questions.

However, the book is not perfect. The book hasn't been updated in many years, and some question types are outdated. Furthermore, many of the questions are easier than the real TOEFL, especially the reading sections. Also, the CD's that come with this edition are NOT software, they are for listening. And this listening is not of very high quality, it's very amateurish.

In short, if you can only buy one book, this one is okay, but the Longman book is much, much better, AND it includes the hands-down BEST practice TOEFL software on the market.

1)The problems in the book are very outdated. (for grammar section buy Cliff's or Longman)
2)The problems in the book are less difficult than those on a real exam.
3)The problems in the book were arranged in very boring manner.
4)The CD-Rom is only for Listening. (for more computer practice buy Delta's Key for Toefl Test with CD, which has 10 tests or Cambridge Preparation for Toefl Test, which has 7 tests. Both books have CD-Rom simulated CBT.)
5) The Essay section is fair. (for the best essay section buy Cambridge Preparation for the Toefl Test)
Generally, there is no one book for the preparation for the TOEFL. Most likely you will need some combination of them.
For instance,
a) Delta for practice and reading. Moreover, you may wish to buy just Delta CD Rom without book and cassets for practice only;
b)Cliff's or Longman for grammar;
c)Cambridge for essay and for practice.
Good luck!

I have been teaching ESL for 15 years, and Barron's How to Prepare for the TOEFL test is not only the best book for students planning to take the TOEFL, but also for intermediate level students who need to add structure to their learning of grammar, and develop their vocabulary. A very interesting text to work with.

I've already read the book How to prepare for the new toefl test by Pamela Sharpe, I've not found a better book of toefl preparation until now. at the begining of the book it looks difficult to adapt to the way it is structured but as the days are passing by you notice that the way in which She made the book is the best to have a quick reference while you're answering the excercises of "structure and writen expression", I dont know the author but in my opinion is a person extremely intelligent. The excercises are ordered on a methodic way that I've never seen before in other toefl books that present their teachings so clear. I never before had taken classes of grammar but I feel that the book has help me very much. I've read a 70% of the book and in my opinion is the best.

Although I must admit that the book itself provides lot sof useful details espacially in the STRUCTURE section of teh TOEFL, software prvoded on the CD ROM seems to be very raw and not fully tested. Here is what you are about to get:
1. The book claims that CD ROM has 8 model test + one real CAT. While it is true, test questions repeat throughout the tests. SO, do not bothe rto take model tests, go straight to the CAT because that is what you are really after. Otherwise, you will be disappointed to see the same questions again. Nice thing though is that if you re-take CAT it randomly pull squestions out of the pool. So, you just win here in any way.
2. I took the full CAT and when it was time to score it, the program just HUNG. Very diasppointing. I unloaded the CD ROM to my hard drive and retook the test. This time it worked fine, however, my READING results were horrible. I could not believe it and retook just reading section, as it does not allow you to review the results after you have taken the full test. My results were VERY low again, so I checked out what kind of errors I made, and realize dthat I was being graded against WRONG paragraphs. Basically they a problem with their software.
That said, be careful, if you know what you are fater, get the book, it is pretty good, but be very cautios about CD ROM. Oh, this review is about the book with CD ROM not with four audio CDs.

If you are looking for a TOEFL preparation book, this is the one you must go for! This is the best TOEFL preparation book. I've studied with every books out there;Kaplan, Princeton Review, Super Course, Arco..etc. This is the only one that covers everything in detail and make sense! If you study with this one thoroughly, you will do very well on the test. This one is the best for real! Good luck!

The first time I read this book, I look at the study plan to master this whole book. It said it took about 12 weeks to master all material there, which is not adequate for me, because I need to take TOEFL in about a month. So I begin to do accelerated read of this book. Unfortunately it's not an experience that I would like to do again. This book bored me, especially the grammar part.

The grammar part actually is very concise. A number of patterns and styles were given there. But they organized this book in a boringly style. About 140 patterns and 30 styles were there for us to memorize, but only few exercises to be done. For the other parts, this book is not the right book. Besides that, the model test, which consists of 8 models, is quite easy.

A lot of my friends recommended this book for me, but I didn't really appreciate their advice until I took the test. The book leads you step-by-step into establishing a good base of English for the test, or at least refresh the knowledge that you already have. I believe that I owe a significant portion of my 287 CBT (660 paper based equivalent) score to this book. With it's eight model tests on the CD, which are far more difficult than that in the actual test, you'll be well prepared. There seems to be a problem with the Adaptive Test in the CD though, it gives quite strange scores at the end, but overall, this book is the best book that you can buy to get the score that you want in TOEFL.

The only worth section of this book is the Grammar section. Even if you were at intermediate English-level, you'll improve up to Advanced student. The small details are very helpful to determine test tricks, and common rules - to correct them. So, if you want 600 and more, read it carefully and then review it one more time. But, you'll need another source for practice. Its tests are easier than on actual test( I did 100% on Barron's grammar, but scored 630 on actual test).Not worth to spend time on listening or reading. It would be better to do listening on TOEFL Preparation Kit and reading on Cambridge's or Peterson's TOEFL.

If you know English well and you need only to review some important details, this is the book you need to buy. It covers small rules, which are VERY IMPORTANT for the TOEFL, but it does not tell you much, for example, about sequence of tenses.In other words, this book will help you to improve your score, but it can not teach you English if you are a beginner.
For me, the most important part of the book was structur review. IT really helped! Listening part shows the same level of difficulty as in the TOEFL, but reading is much easier then on the test. To understand the reading level of difficulty and to practise the test I would recommend TOEFL Test Preparation Kit.