2. and visiting the writing forum. We frequently post topics for students to write. You can also write summaries of all that you have read and listen to. This will help you to retain and train your brain for when you take the test because you will be better able to pick up the main ideas as well as details and other aspects of the reading or listening you will encounter in the test. Now, all the things I just talked about support your speaking. So what do you need to do to practice speaking? First, take every opportunity to speak English. If you have friends or family members who speak English, only speak English with them. Tell them you are preparing for TOEFL and I'm sure they will gladly help you in this manner. Second, after you read something or listen to a lecture or interview, give a short verbal summary. Summarize what you have read or listened to. You don't need to speak this to someone, just to yourself. Another thing you can do is to read out loud and try to read in a normal and natural voice, with a natural flow and rhythm. To help you out with this, go again to sites like Youtube and watch English music videos that have subtitles (you can even try it without subtitles) and sing along with the songs. This will help you to get the flow and rhythm of English as well as the proper pronunciations. If you have a mobile, or you can use the sound recording on your computer, you can record your voice when you practice speaking. In this manner, you will catch your mistakes much easier. It's hard to catch them otherwise, but in this manner, you should be able to quickly catch them and once you know what they are, you can work quickly to correct them. Train yourself to think in English. You can do this by talking to yourself in English. Do this when you practice and study and when you are alone. When you are alone, no one is going to know and bother you, but what you will be doing is strengthening and building your English speaking skills. The bottom line is really practice. The more you practice the better you will be and the more confident you will be. Remember, you are taking TOEFL to show that you have a certain level of English proficiency. This is the reason why you are here taking and learning how to score high on TOEFL. Now, I do not want to downplay the reasons for your being here (and I'm very happy you are here), but let us put perspective on this. TOEFL is just a test and only a test. What my goal and my hope is that you learn and gain the confidence in using this new skill called English. While a good TOEFL score will get you into a great university and is required by many universities, that is all you are going to get from TOEFL and that is all TOEFL will do. However, good proficiency in English will take you much farther. It will open opportunities you may never have dreamed of. Your world will become bigger and richer, because you will be able to communicate and interact with a larger group of people. This is the beauty of learning English. Again, it all boils down to practice and making a commitment to do this practice. This is what is going to build your confidence. There are really no special tricks or magical charms or spells that will give you confidence. The more you practice, the more your brain gets accustomed to this new skill and the more confident you become in using this skill. Devote as much time as you can practicing, especially speaking, but practice each skill daily. Now..... GO OUT AND PRACTICE!!!!!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll get off my soapbox now. Remember to visit us for anything regarding TOEFL or any other test. TCYonline.com is committed to your success! Cheers!