TOEFL debrief - 114

Just received my TOEFL scores today and I was a little surprised (in a positive way) by the overall score.
Overall 114: Reading 30, Listening 27, Speaking 28, Writing 29.

I had my test day on August 27th and to be honest didn't prepare for more than 3 hours in total.

Now the surprise was big, because during the exam I realized that my greatest issue was the test center itself and not the content of the test. Sure, I had read the forums and was somewhat prepared (bring earplugs!); I expected the site not to be too comfortable, but what I found there shocked me: 15 people crammed into a 10sqm room, with an air conditioner that was probably being run by mice. You'd be surprised by how much this can influence one's performance.

Reading went smoothly, since I was lucky enough to be the fifth to begin the examination and there weren't too many distractions around. The passages are easy to understand and while for the first two I used a 'read entire passage - answer question' strategy, I realized that this takes too much time and decided to switch to a 'read question - look for info - answer question' method which proved to be time saving. Don't worry about this section if you've already prepared for the GMAT.

By the time I began Listening, everybody was at their workstations and the ambient noise levels sky rocketed: 'Describe the city you live in', 'My city is...' etc. This is where the earplugs come in handy. As with reading, listening isn't difficult as long as you can ignore the noise around you. Note taking is good if you feel that you can't concentrate well enough.

Speaking began after a 10 minute break, which I strongly suggest you use for a snack and drink. Now this is where my performance plummeted. Upon reentering the room, I immediately started sweating since the temperature in the room was probably the same as on the outside (+30C). When I began speaking my mouth felt as if it had Superglue instead of saliva and just couldn't open it properly. I wasn't expecting more than 22 on this section, but in the end things turned surprisingly well. As preparation for speaking I used the Youtube templates, which help you deliver to the point answers. They were very useful.

Finally, Writing was a breeze. The integrated task was related to some environmental issue and posed no difficulties at all, while the independent task was to agree/ disagree with a statement that promoted patience as the best strategy for decision taking. Both writing tasks are doable and I personally used the GMAT templates for AWA.

I am not a native speaker, but I work in a predominantly English speaking environment. If you've been through the GMAT, don't worry at all about the TOEFL. Just go through its structure, practice a little with speaking (I didn't do it and it almost cost me) and be prepared for an unfriendly test center. Most of all, bring earplugs!