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Manhattan Review offers a variety of TOEFL preparation choices including online live recording library, in-person private tutoring, online tutoring, online courses and classroom courses. It has over 5 years of experience in preparing students for TOEFL around the world and has consistently received student compliments with their score increase. Meanwhile, Manhattan Review has hosted a number of advanced business English programs and communication training for leading institutions including Columbia Business School.

When applying to universities, schools will almost always ask for international students to supply a TOEFL score.  Your TOEFL score is proof you are sufficient in English to the point where you can function properly in an academic environment, listen and comprehend all necessary material, as well as work in the realm of business as an English speaker.  Many universities provide a TOEFL minimum score on their website; if not, it is advisable for all international students to inquire to the admissions office what their minimum score might be.

ETS has generously released some universities’ minimum TOEFL scores on their website, which are seen through the following Undergraduate examples:

• Boston University – College of General Studies, School of Management

-       READING: 25

-       LISTENING: 21

-       SPEAKING: 23

-       WRITING: 22

• Columbia International University

-       TOTAL SCORE: 80

• Oregon State University

-       TOTAL SCORE: 80, with a minimum of 16 for each section

• Syracuse University

-       TOTAL SCORE: 80

• University Of Toronto

-       TOTAL SCORE: 100, with a 22 minimum on the WRITING section

You might be surprised to see schools require specific minimums on certain sections.  Often times, the speaking and writing sections will have these minimums, as colleges and universities consider both speaking and writing critical to success in their programs.  How do you begin to tackle your TOEFL preparation, knowing you might need specific scores on all four sections?

Here is some TOEFL prep advice so you don’t feel too overwhelmed.

1)   Know the grading system.  As you study, keep in mind what the raters are looking for in terms of a good essay and speaking response.  What makes an independent essay get the high score of a 5?  What can I do in order to make my integrated speaking responses gain the high score of a 4?  The better you know how they grade you, the better you will do on test day.

2)   Learn the point system.  In addition to knowing the rating system of speaking and writing responses, get to know what questions are worth their particular number of points.  For example, in the reading or listening section, if you are answering a categorizing question where you are asked to place particular words or phrases into a category – how would they grade your answer if you got three out of four categorizations wrong?  These are important things to know so you have no surprises on test day.

3)   Study the TOEFL on a section-by-section basis.  Occasionally, when you have the time, it’s a great idea to practice all four skills (reading, listening, speaking & writing) all in the same day; however, it’s in your best interest to focus on each of the skills one at a time.  For example, take two days in a row and just work on your speaking.  Warm up with independent speaking tasks and then move on to the more challenging integrated tasks.

Remember, progress on the TOEFL takes time, so be patient with yourself.

Overall, the first step in your admissions process is to find out your TOEFL score requirement, then plan your studies accordingly.

Looking to take the GRE in 2011?

Be mindful that the format and point system will be changing by this time next year.

According to The New York Times, the test will be revamped and even extended in length, with a new grading scale of 130 to 170.  The Educational Testing Service (“ETS”), which administers the GRE, claims the changes are the “largest revisions” in the GRE history.

So, what’s going to change?

While the exam will continue to include verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning and analytical writing – all three sections are being revamped.  In terms of the changes within each section, here is a breakdown of what to expect:

• VERBAL: The verbal section will eliminate all questions on antonyms and analogies.
• QUANTITATIVE: While there are several minor changes, there is an advantage to the quantitative section: an online calculator!
• ANALYTICAL WRITING: While this section will still have two parts, including a question for logical analysis and personal opinion. The questions themselves will be more focused, ultimately allowing the raters to know the answer itself wasn’t memorized, but was actually written in response to the question.

The GRE is unique in that it’s “computer adaptive.”  What does that mean?  Well, when you answer one question correctly the test will then take you to a more difficult question.  Should you answer a question incorrectly, the test will take you to an easier question.  The new GRE. in 2011 will be three and a half hours in length.

Why the changes? It seems the G.R.E. is trying to keep up a presence with the GMAT, an increasingly popular test for graduate admission and business schools, in particular.  While there were announcements as early as 2005 to update the test and lengthen it to four hours, those plans were soon cancelled due to delays in setting up Internet-based test centers.  The plans were then cancelled altogether in 2007.

At this present time, the Internet version of the GRE lasts three hours, whereas the paper-based version lasts three hours and forty-five minutes.  According to the New York Times, over 600,000 students take the GRE annually.

Many of you who are studying for the TOEFL might wonder what raters are looking for, especially out of your independent speaking responses.  The raters, in fact, grade you based on levels broken into the following 4 categories.

• 4 >> If you get a score of a 4, that means you’ve have achieved the highest score possible on the TOEFL independent speaking question.  A 4 means you have effectively addressed the task and generally speaking, your response is organized well and coherent.  With a 4 you have also used both grammar and vocabulary in an effective way, although you might have a few minor errors.  (Remember – to even get a score of a 4, you are allowed minor language errors, so long as they do not interfere with the overall meaning of what you are trying to say.)

Finally, with a 4 you have demonstrated clear speech but also might have minor problems with pronunciation or intonation.  Keep in mind, which you are allowed several minor errors, this is not encouraged when you make your response.

• 3 >> When you have a score of a 3, you have still done a good job, but perhaps your response doesn’t have quite the organization that it would if you had gotten a 4.  In other words, your development in terms of specific examples and details might be limited and perhaps several of your ideas aren’t as clear as they could be.  While a score of a 3 demonstrates effective use of grammar and vocabulary, it’s still not quite what a 4 would be in terms of your mastery of the English language and specific uses of words.

A score of a 3 still means you have done well, it just might mean it takes some extra effort on the part of the rater to understand what you are saying and to make sense of your ideas.

• 2 >> A score of a 2 is a response that is on topic, but where the development is so limited that is becomes unclear what points you are trying to make.  A score of a 2 would be given if you demonstrate an extremely limited use of vocabulary and overall, requires much more effort on the part of the listener to understand what you are saying.  (This type of a response might cause the rater to listen to your response several times in order to make sense of it, which is never a good sign.  Remember – your job is to make the life of a TOEFL independent speaking rater easy!)

• 1 >> A score of a 1 is more than likely not really on topic and filled with very vague ideas with little or no relevant details to support them.  Perhaps, even, the ideas expressed in a response with a scoring of a 4 are inaccurate.  The expression of ideas in this type of response would be very limited, almost to the point of not being able to make sense of anything, and there might even be many pauses where it feels the speaker has no idea what to say next.  Overall, a response of a 1 is not what we are out to obtain for out TOEFL responses, so practice – practice – practice, so you will get a higher score!

It should be noted, that there is a score of 0, if you would believe it.  However, the only way you would get a 0 is if you said nothing or if you talked about your plans for the weekend instead of addressing the task.  Also, raters are known to give half scores – i.e. 2.5, 3.5, etc…

If you ever wonder whether you fit the typical profile of an EMBA applicant or want to know more about the latest trends of EMBA programs, take a look at these important facts!

• The U.S.-based EMBA Council lists about 250 EMBA programs from 180 leading institutions around the world on its web site.
• Because of rapid globalization, most EMBA classes comprise students from a wide range of industry sectors and countries.
• An EMBA program can cost up to $100,000.  Customized courses start at a few hundred dollars. An increasing number of executive education organizations offer online courses.
• Customized executive education programs are on the rise.  Duke University’s corporate education division reports growth of 25 percent a year for custom-made courses.
• A typical EMBA student is likely to be in his/her early 30s and will have six to ten years of working experience.
• Employees taking Executive Master’s of Business Administration Programs in the U.S., Europe & Asia have average salaries of $130,000 to $200,000.
• Executives enrolled in the highest-ranking EMBA programs in the U.S. have salaries of $180,000 to $200,000.  Europe is slightly lower at $130,000 to $160,000.

Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management has offered a prestigious EMBA degree for working professionals for 32 years.  While the program has a cap of 50 students, enrollment has gone up dramatically since the recession in late 2008.  Many of the EMBA students have corporate sponsorship from the corporations who employ them, making the possibility of paying for their EMBA much greater.  Tami Fassinger, associate dean for executive programs at the Owen school notices a change in this, claiming, “Compared to 34 percent who had complete corporate sponsorship a year ago, only 12 percent had full scholarship in 2009.”

Due to the concern of finding time to complete an MBA, the school changed their schedule from an alternating Friday-Saturday to one on Saturday only.  Fassinger explains:

“We watched the economic stress all businesses were under starting in October 2008.  We thought changing the schedule was the right thing to do: Help people do better work, but don’t make them miss work.  After interviewing students and prospective students, the school discovered 90 percent of interested students wanted a Saturday-only option. “

While the economy isn’t what most people would like it to be at this present time, there is one thing to be certain of: people are going back to school with a hunger to be more qualified for the workforce than ever before.  To address such a trend, business schools around the world are adapting their curriculum, schedule and career services.