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There is a conversation I have had dozens of times on the road, in hostels, on night trains, on café terraces. Someone tells me about their semester in Dublin, their master’s degree in Canada, their exchange year in Australia. And when I ask how it all started, the answer is almost never « I found a cheap flight. » It is almost always « I took the English test. »
Going abroad to study is probably the longest and most transforming kind of travel there is. But before the campus, before the shared flat and the first Sundays far from home, there is a far less romantic step: proving your level of English. For many universities in English-speaking countries, that means the TOEFL. This piece is for anyone at that exact moment, when the dream has to turn into an application.
The English test, the first ticket everyone forgets
When people picture a year of study abroad, they picture the departure. They rarely picture the six months before it, and yet that is where everything is decided. Admissions have deadlines, and an English test result is often one of the required documents. Take it too late and you can miss an entire intake.
The TOEFL is one of the tests most often requested by universities in English-speaking countries. It assesses reading, listening, speaking and writing in an academic setting: extracts from lectures, conversations between students, academic texts. This is not holiday English. It is the English you will need to follow a lecture and hand in an essay.
You do not prepare for an English test to get a score. You prepare so you are not lost on your first day of class.
One thing I repeat every time someone asks me about it: each institution sets its own requirements. Some accept several tests, others ask for one in particular, and the expected score varies from one programme to another. Before you start, read the admissions page of the university you are aiming for, in black and white. That page is what counts, not a forum and not a travel blog, this one included.
What I learned from travellers who went through it
I have not taken the TOEFL myself. But after talking with so many people who have, a few patterns keep coming back.
Travel English is not enough
Many people start out thinking their English is good because they get by perfectly well on the road. Ordering food, asking for directions, chatting in a hostel kitchen: all of that matters, but it is not what the test measures. It measures your ability to follow a long argument, take notes, and build a spoken answer under time pressure. It is a different muscle.
The format surprises people more than the content
From what I have been told, the hardest part is not the difficulty of the questions. It is the format: the timer, speaking into a microphone with nobody in front of you, moving from one section to the next without a pause to breathe. The people who did best were the ones who had practised in conditions close to the real exam, several times, until the format was no longer a surprise.
Consistency beats intensity
Nobody has ever told me they succeeded thanks to one week of cramming. Every one of them described preparation spread over time, a little every day, with practice tests to measure progress. Exactly like training for a long trek: you do not get ready by walking forty kilometres the day before you leave.
Preparing online, from anywhere
This is where online preparation really makes sense, especially for people who are already travelling, working, or living far from a test-prep centre. You can practise in the evening, on a train, in a café with decent Wi-Fi, at your own pace.
BestMyTest is one of the platforms offering online TOEFL preparation: lessons, exercises and practice tests designed to get you familiar with the exam format. If you would like to see what they offer, the banner below takes you straight to their site.
I cannot tell you which method will suit you best. That depends on your starting level, how much time you have, and how you learn. What I would suggest is starting with a full practice test to find out where you really stand, then working first on your weakest sections.
Plan your preparation like a trip
When you think about it, preparing for an English test looks a lot like preparing for a big departure. Same stages, same traps.
Start from the arrival date
For a trip, you start from the flight date. Here, you start from the application deadline and work backwards: results date, test date, preparation period. Leave yourself a margin. Some people want to retake the test to improve their score, and the calendar has to allow for that.
Travel in stages
Nobody crosses a country in one go. Break your preparation into weeks, with one goal per week: a section to strengthen, a practice test to sit, a set of academic vocabulary to review.
Live a little in English
Podcasts, online lectures, English-language newspapers, series without subtitles: anything that brings English into everyday life helps, especially for listening. It does not replace practising the test format, but it is an excellent complement.
The campus at the end of the road
I often think of a student I met on a train between Galway and Dublin, who told me her year in Ireland had started one February evening in front of her laptop, with a first practice test that went badly. She laughed about it. She said that was the moment the plan became real.
If you are at that point, where the dream of somewhere else has to pass through some rather austere preparation, treat it as the first leg of the journey, not an obstacle before it. Check your university’s requirements, set yourself a calendar, and if you are looking for a way to practise, you can explore BestMyTest’s TOEFL preparation. The campus will wait for you.
Photos: Jonathan Borba and Yan Krukau via Pexels.
