Why the TOEFL Exam? Why Me?

Proficiency in English is essential if you are to follow class discussions and complete the reading and writing assignments in most college classes. In many courses, you may also be required to deliver oral presentations. And if you are applying to a graduate program, you may be given a position as a teaching assistant, which means you will be expected to help undergraduate students with their schoolwork, instruct them, and grade their assignments. In order to ensure that you can succeed even though you are not studying in your native language, and that you will be a competent teaching assistant if you are applying to graduate school, colleges and other institutions require you to take the TOEFL exam.

The TOEFL exam is administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS®), the organization that also administers other standardized tests, including the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT®) and the Graduate Record Examination (GRE®). Even if you have lived in the United States or another English-speaking country for several years, you still may be required to take the TOEFL exam if English is not your native language. Don’t be offended—this may be of benefit to you because some schools will look at your verbal SAT score with kinder eyes if you have done well on the TOEFL exam. Look at the TOEFL exam as an opportunity to learn English better if you don’t know it well, or to brush up on what you already know if you are already proficient.