TOEFL experience and preparation - 112

Hi all,

This post is going to be a path down the memory lane for me.
I gave TOEFL last year in December when I abruptly decided to go for masters for one of the courses that didn't require a GMAT/GRE score. I have had approx 12 days to prepare for this test since there was a dearth of time and deadlines were approaching. So I googled for the prep resources and came across the ultimate boon for TOEFL test takers. i.e Noteful videos on youtube.

DAY 1 -6 I went through all the videos from Noteful for all the sections except speaking. Reading and listening sections were my strongest but these videos provided me the most accurate techniques to tackle questions in a timely manner.

DAY 6-9 Time to practice speaking questions. Again Noteful came to the rescue! the key thing with this section is practice. Practice by speaking while allocating yourself the same amount of time as there will be in the real exam. I made templates as suggested in the videos and practiced with them. Also practiced with full-length tests.

DAY 10-12 time to revise and practice questions using all the techniques learned including those for writing. I watched the videos again just to reinforce the ideas.

Finally, on the day I revised the speaking templates and went in for the test. My test experience was alright. I couldn't complete the 6th question of speaking question which reflected in marks as well. I was happy with the scores - R 29 , L 29 , S 26 , W 28.

Resources that I used.
NOTEFUL VIDEOS- https://www.youtube.com/user/NoteFulldotcom
Her experience and tricks were helpful as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBr4eSka7wg

I used the practice tests from Cambridge IBT s/w. It mimicked the test quite accurately and would recommend everyone to practice at least speaking section from this software.