My Second TOEFL Experience

Hi everyone,

I took my second TOEFL test just an hour ago and I don't feel good about it..

So my story is that the first time I took a TOEFL test was last year. I didn't prepare at all because I was working hardcore and didn't really care about the test. I scored 103, that was way beyond than I expected. I was quite happy about it because it gave me a hope that when I decide to apply to grad schools I can always retake a test but w/a proper prep this time.

So this year because of some important changes in my life I decided to apply for the Fall semester 2011. I checked the requirements of schools I wanted to apply to and because they are not Ivy league except for one(Columbia, SIPA), I was not really sure that my score is not enough to get in. Anyways, I decided to give it a second try. So I registered for the test, planning to improve my RC and Writing scores. Moreover, I also registered for the GMAT, so because RC and Writing are also in the GMAT, I studied for the GMAT only, but that was my mistake I guess. After GMAT RC questions, TOEFL straight forward answers seemed to me false, in fact they are not. Though, I really improved my GMAT Reading, so wasn't really worried about the TOEFL.
So 3 days before the big day (for the TOEFL) I got sick. I couldn't really talk without a heavy cough. So I woke up, had a breakfast, watched Fox news (to get into the English mood, haha), reviewed the templates for writing and speaking and headed to the test center. I arrived 30min earlier so I started earlier than the rest of the students.
And that's when the show began...

Reading: I had 3 passages, not really difficult, they were just extremely boring and long. When I started answering my first questions, all others started adjusting their mics and shouting Describe the city you live in. That was quite distracting. I was trying not to pay attention and just stay focused. But because I felt sick and of all this noise, I was spacing out all the time. Then, a guy who was sitting next to me, started reading his passages almost out loud. I raised my hand and called for an administrator asking politely to tell the guy to be quiet. The administrator was like it's a test, that's the way he deals with the stress! I was like WHAT? I can't concentrate on my RC because of his mumbling!! He told him to stop doing that, and like 2 min later I heard this student saying *complain*. I was like wtf. I wasted so much time and couldn't focus at all. So I am afraid now that I scored on RC even worse than I did the first time.

Listening: it went ok, though I'm not sure about 2-3 questions (again b/c I couldn't concentrate), which means I didn't improve my Listening because last time I scored 28 on Listening.

Speaking: i memorized the templates. It helped a lot. I'm really thankful to rid82 for his post. If it wasn't for my cough, I think my Speaking could be really good

Writing: more or less ok, but because I ran out of time, didn't check my essays at all.

Now, I'm sitting at home, drinking my hot tea and feeling awful. I shouldn't have really retaken the test (

That was an epic fail.

I'll find out the score on Nov, 29th..