Svetlana’s story is truly inspiring and I want to share it with you to get you inspired too. What Svetlana felt is what so many TOEFL students feel when they lose belief in themselves and have only an overwhelming sense of impossibility.
She was a serial TOEFL-taker struggling with the test for years. Even though she speaks English all the time in her family, her TOEFL speaking score was stuck at 22-23. However, her dedication and persistence was unbelievable!
Svetlana spent over a year on intensive TOEFL preparation studying with our self-study programs first and then taking private lessons. Getting targeted support from an experienced TOEFL teacher was key for her to get through. Svetlana has an incredible spirit as she found the strength to keep going and continue studying even being extremely frustrated after more than 20 unsuccessful attempts. And finally, she did it – she got her desired speaking score of 26!
Here’s what Svetlana says:
“At the beginning I cried, and my kids got so scared because their mom was crying and I was like “No, I’m not crying, I’m just laughing so hard!” I’m so happy right now!
I graduated from two universities in my life: I was an engineer first and then I was a pharmacist, and it’s not the easiest thing ever. But TOEFL is the most difficult task I’ve ever done in my life. I took my first TOEFL test 5 years ago, then I switched to the FPGEE exam and after passing it, I was fully dedicated to the TOEFL. In total, I’ve taken TOEFL over 20 times. It was so hard… But I actually discovered some things about myself – for example, that I cannot give up.
Jaime, thank you so much! Thank you for your energy! You’ve got so much patience for me and taught me everything. I’m a person again, not just somebody who doesn’t pass TOEFL. And I would like to give a piece of advice to other TOEFL students in a stressful situation: if you feel that you don’t know something, then go and learn this, but stop thinking that you didn’t pass because you’re not smart enough. Just keep going!”