Beginning Again

Jovana’s challenge was finding a resource that would help her identify and improve her weaknesses. She started her TOEFL journey in early 2016. She joined a TOEFL prep course at a local community college in Miami, Florida. But sadly, she didn’t learn much.

On her first attempt at the end of that year, she got the scores she needed in reading and listening. But she was only able to get a 23 in speaking and an 18 in writing. She would need at least a 24 in writing if she was going to pass the TOEFL.

At this point, she started looking for a tutor that could help her improve her writing skills in a one on one setting. When she found a professor that was willing to help, Jovana didn’t hesitate to drive the hour it took to meet him. But he was unable to find out what her weaknesses were…

Finding Help

This drove her to start looking online for a solution. She came across a website that had writing templates that were very helpful. And she began using them whenever she practiced. By this time she had scored a 26 in the speaking section. But she still wasn’t able to reach a 24 in the writing section…

Trying so many unsuccessful ways of preparing for the TOEFL must have been frustrating for her. But Jovana didn’t give up!

“It was at the end of spring in 2017 that I discovered NoteFull. I signed up to receive the free 13 lessons by email, and then I scheduled two tutoring sessions with Mathew. They were really helpful, and when I took the exam afterwards I passed them all except speaking. But I was so close! I got a 25, which apparently is very rare. I tried for a re-score but it didn’t change. Then right after that I had plans to leave for Serbia for 4 months, so I didn’t connect to Mathew again until the end of November.”

When she started her Tutoring Sessions again, Mathew gave her the encouragement she needed to finally get her dream scores. He helped her to avoid overthinking her answers. To trust her notes and keep it simple.

He also advised her to share real life examples in her answers to the independent questions. This gave her more confidence when she was speaking. Then he assured her that she didn’t need to worry about grammar issues. As they wouldn’t affect her scores very much at all.

Finally, Mathew showed her how to shorten her 5 paragraph essay for writing Q2 to 4 paragraphs.

On Their Way

“On December 16, I took the last TOEFL exam that I will ever take, and I got a 26 [on the speaking section]. It wasn’t perfect, but it’s what I needed.”

Jovana was able to pass each section of the TOEFL with several points to spare! Great job, Jovana! We can’t wait to see you working as a licensed pharmacist here in the US. We wish you all the best!

Here For You

We’ve helped countless students get their dream TOEFL scores, just like Jovana. And we WILL help you get yours. Have faith, and never give up, because we’ll never give up on you!

You can check out what Jovana used to succeed on the TOEFL below:

TOEFL Speaking Small Group Tutoring – This is our new version of the one-on-one tutoring sessions that Jovana had. Small group tutoring is our most powerful resource, so be sure to click the link to see what it can do for you!

Share your story

Your success IS coming too!

Review these success stories often to keep you inspired. Study the advice each success story gives for specific guidance. Register for the NoteFull courses you need to get your dream TOEFL score. And, stay in touch with us every step of the way.

We’re here to help and will support you UNTIL you pass. We want to be one of the FIRST to congratulate you when you earn your dream TOEFL score. And, when that happens, we can’t wait to invite you to be our next success story so YOU can inspire 100s of others just like Jovana.

To learn how NoteFull can help you: click here for our getting started with NoteFull guide.

To reach out to us for more personal guidance: click here to email us through our contact us page.