Let’s start with the Advanced Speaking Guide…
I began creating and making the Advanced Speaking Guide to Scores of 26+ at TOEFL iBT back in 2012, when I still lived in Istanbul, Turkey. At that point, I had only been guiding students through TOEFL for a couple of years.
I don’t know if you know this, but there’s no actual school or training program for teachers to learn how to help you get your TOEFL scores. TOEFL Speaking teachers learn how to help you through trial and error with their students, and by taking the test themselves. Well, hopefully your teachers take TOEFL iBT but there’s no rule that requires them to, so make sure to ask your teacher if they took it.
In 2012, I had already taken TOEFL and gotten 30/30 on Speaking. Plus, I also had some early success stories with students who were getting Speaking 26 or 27, and so I was able to observe what characteristics were earning those scores. Based on that, I started making bite-sized advice videos which you can watch in my website. I also made a printable workbook with model responses that you can analyze.
The other great feature of Advanced Speaking Guide which I’m really proud of is all of the pronunciation lists. There are lots of pronunciation programs and books out there, but the problem is they don’t focus on TOEFL iBT. The fact is that when you speak your 4 TOEFL responses, you will say certain words and phrases again and again.
I was teaching students whose native language was French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese, Thai and Turkish. In those private lessons, I was hearing certain categories of pronunciation mistakes over and over again.
So, I organized words into lists by pronunciation feature. And you can now study from it.
For years and years, nothing changed with the exam.
Then, in 2019, ETS (the company that writes TOEFL iBT) eliminated 2 of the activities from the TOEFL Speaking test. As a result, it went from 6 activities to just 4. They needed to re-number the tasks.
At that point, in August 2019, I updated the Advanced Speaking Guide to reflect that. I also reorganized the material to be easier to navigate.
What’s different about the Understand How to Get S26 series?
In 2018, I began teaching immersive study experiences for TOEFL iBT. The fact is that students struggle much more with TOEFL Speaking than anything else. Most people don’t have any significant reduction in stress from watching a 2-minute video. Why? Because they don’t experience any change in their habits in 2 minutes. Plus, they have lots of questions, and that can be so overwhelming they are paralyzed and cannot take action.
Instead of short classes, I went the opposite way. I started teaching a series of classes called The 12 Topics and we dedicated 6 class days to the TOEFL Speaking section. Each day when we met for class, it was a 4.5 hour immersive study experience.
I know, it sounds like a lot. I can tell you that the students who took a deep breath and allowed themselves to focus and immerse themselves had the most incredible transformation in their responses.
In these classes, I go step-by-step through taking the TOEFL iBT Speaking test.
- We start with how to organize your paper to take notes for Task 1, 2, 3 and 4.
- We look at the ideal amount of information you should put into each task — both by looking at overall word count, the number of sentences, and you’ll get practice physically feeling what it’s like to talk at the “right” speed.
- We compare and discuss different approaches to answering Task 1 — from the introduction, and your example, to the conclusion.
- On Task 2, again we focus on how to deal with your notes and what kind of details from the announcement text can maximize your score. We also look at how to deal with “mixed reactions” where the main speaker can agree with part of the proposal, but disagree with other parts of it.
- On Task 3 and 4, I really break it down for you so that you understand what kind of information TOEFL Graders need. We cover the organizational structure that makes it super easy for TOEFL Graders to do their job, and how to give a clear definition (most people make super complicated definitions, and as a result, their scores drop), how to summarize the professor, and what style of conclusion can maximize your score.
In these classes, I also spend a whole day on the category called “Delivery.” That is accent, pronunciation, intonation and syllable stress. If a tutor told you that accent and pronunciation don’t matter on TOEFL Speaking, that is a sign that they need more training and experience. And you need a more experienced guide. The fact is that if your accent or pronunciation isn’t clear enough when you speak, then TOEFL Graders can’t understand your message or give you the score you hope for.
The good news for you is that 95% of my students never had any previous training or studies with American pronunciation. So in our classes, I assume that we’re starting from the very beginning. Again, we go step-by-step.
I recorded these 27 hours of presentations and classes. Those are now called, Understand How to Get S26. You can register and pay for them and get all the information that I described above.
In these classes, I refer to and discuss certain pages of the Advanced Speaking Guide. It is like a textbook from any university class that you took. There’s the class that you attend, and then there are reading assignments and texts that enhance class.
How many hours will you have to study?
You might be thinking that 27 hours is too much and you don’t have time for that. The fact is that the people who get results at TOEFL iBT need to study for hundreds of hours.
Hundreds.
I know, it sucks to hear that. But I’ve been watching people take TOEFL since 2010 and most of the time, the reason why you have not been scoring 26+ is because you have fossilized mistakes with grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. You can use all of the right strategies… But until you fix those mistakes, you won’t get your Speaking 26. You must develop a higher level of accuracy.
I’m going to tell you a quick, true story.
In 2014, a physical therapist bought The Advanced Speaking Guide. Literally the same day, she asked for a refund because she said she didn’t have time to follow such a long program. I gave her the refund.
One year later (I’m not kidding… literally a year later), she still had not gotten her score.
So again, she bought Advanced Speaking Guide. This time, she made time for it. She took it seriously. Over many weeks, she invested about 370 hours studying my material and practicing. She also got feedback from me so she knew which types of issues to focus on. (If you find 15 hours a week, that will 25 weeks or about 6 months. She managed to compress it down into 10 weeks.)
3 months later, this physical therapist got a Speaking score of 27. She resisted doing what was necessary for a year. What if she had made time for it the first time she bought it?
Hopefully you avoid wasting a year like she did.
Her story is common. Over the years, I’ve watched lots of people tell me they simply cannot make time to study for TOEFL iBT. But then, months go by, and they never make any meaningful improvement in their level of English, or their understanding of what TOEFL Graders want.
The sooner you give TOEFL Speaking 100% of your focus and prioritize it every day for months, the sooner you will have your results.
Your Speaking score of 26+ will happen when you sit down, focus and study for TOEFL Speaking as if you were getting ready for the most challenging class that you ever needed to ace in university.
When can you start?
Immediately after you register and pay for Advanced Speaking Guide and/or UHG S26, you will be able to log into my website and access the material.
This lets you start studying with it today, without waiting for me. And of course, you can also pause the videos and re-watch anything that’s confusing as many times as you need to… until you understand.
The fact is there’s you and I have a lot to talk about, and we have a lot to cover. I know you want to move forward with your career. Let’s not waste any more time than you already feel that you have.
What about feedback?
Oh, you might be wondering about how to get my feedback on your Speaking. I can definitely help you with that.
The best way for you to save money in the long run is to study Understand How to Get S26 (and use my homework recommendations to guide you through Advanced Speaking Guide) and practice my techniques.
Then in a few weeks, you should register for feedback on 4 Speaking tasks. If you jump to feedback right now, I’ll tell you basic stuff like, “You can maximize your score by studying the videos in Understand How to Get S26.”
How can you pay and register for ASG and UHG Speaking 26?
You can pay with debit card, credit card or PayPal.
If you need both Advanced Speaking Guide and Understand How to Get S26, to make things more convenient for you, I’m putting a link below that lets you put both e-courses into your shopping cart with just one click.
Click the green button below and finish paying.
If you already have one and you’re ready to invest in the other, you can navigate from Register on the blue menu above.
If you’re not sure whether these programs are right for you, you can follow our process for a free consultation using the button below.