An imagine* Student is America Bound!
A new year will soon be upon us. For many people that means it’s time to think about the future. Some of us will make resolutions to study harder, eat less, exercise more or take-up a new hobby. It was around this time in 2011 that Itsuko, an imagine* student for almost three years, started thinking about her future.
In April 2012 Itsuko would be entering the fourth year of her undergraduate program at Doshisha University, and it was time to think seriously about what she would do after graduating. Would she get a job? Would she enter a master’s degree program? Would she take time off to travel and enjoy life?
None, of the above. Itsuko decided that she wanted to go to graduate school overseas and began taking measures in order to achieve her goal. In April 2012 she took the TOEFL test for the first time and got a score of 72. She realized that if she wanted to be a full time student in another country she would have get a higher score than that as most universities require at least a score of 80.
On December 19th Itsuko got the results of her most recent TOEFL test and found that she had increased her score by an amazing 20 points in just eight months!
In a brief interview Itsuko talks about her hopes for the future and gives advice for other students taking the TOEFL test.
Why did you decide to study overseas?
The first reason is that I like English and I want to communicate with many people. But I also want to use English in my future job.
Do you want to work in a foreign country?
No. In the future I want to stay in Japan and work for a Japanese company. But I want to use English and I would really like to help the company I work for expand internationally.
When you first took the TOEFL test, what score were you hoping to get?
I wanted to get 80, but I got 72. So I knew I had to study hard to get a higher score.
Do you have advice for people studying TOEFL?
The speaking and writing sections on the TEOFL IBT (Internet based test) is special. So I focused a lot on these parts in my English lessons. As well, the TOEFL test has a lot of academic vocabulary, it’s important to learn a lot of new words. Finally, the listening section so you need to practice a lot. I recommend doing a lot of practice tests in ‘real time’ so that you can get used to the timing and speed of the test.
Thanks for the great advice Itsuko! And congratulations on your amazing achievement.
In April 2013 Itsuko will attend the University of California, San Diego and take three month business English course. After that she is planning to attend University of California, Berkeley.
