TOEFL iBT -test feelings

"The TOEFL iBT test measures your ability to use and understand English at the university level. And it evaluates how well you combine your listening, reading, speaking and writing skills to perform academic tasks." 

I participated to this TOEFL-test last week on saturday. Waking up at 5am wasn't fun at all to begin the day with and I had some hard time figuring out how to use a tram in Helsinki. Believe or not I missed the first tram because I didn't know how to open a door (hah and I still don't know how because at the second try there were others going in before me so I just followed them). Luckily I had enough time and arrived an hour early for the test even though I had to walk and search for the place for a while. The whole day was horrible but the test was definitely the worst part of it. I don't have any idea how it went yet but I can say that I failed to present my english skills at the most important moment. I wish I reached at least the needed amount of points for applying to university or I'll be very disappointed in myself. 

Let me say this, if you have not experienced the same or similiar test before _Do not automatically think it's going to be easy_. The information I found all over the internet written by other people was basicly telling me not to worry at all because it should be easy to pass with just some basic english knownledge. Couldn't I be more careless to believe that. It was nothing like english "YO" or "Ylioppilas"-test either (= final exam in High School in Finland) as many finnish people had written. Don't repeat the same mistake I did and be prepared for the worst too. Maybe some extra practising for speaking and how to use time effectively would have done a lot in a positive way in my case. I thought speaking would be my strenght but actually I think that was the most difficult part for me in the end.

If you are planning on taking TOEFL-test for the first time I really recommend you to buy the practise pack along with your test. I hesistated a lot but in the end afforded to buy it and that was one of those good choices I made. You can choose if you want to do the practise with or without the timer. With the timer you'll be able to see how short the time really is for answering all the questions. Believe me, you don't want to realize that in the real situation. Do your preparation for the test and good luck :)

After I finished TOEFL I wasn't very happy to realize it was raining cold watery snow outside. The bus I planned to take back to Tampere was sold out and at that time there were only those quicker (<--tickets cost more) trains leaving towards Tampere. Without a plan I went to Forum and sat down only to realize that I would have to wait hours if I wanted to save some money. Usually I would have been happy to waste time shopping and walking around but not at that moment so I gave up and took the next train. What a day.