Michael Goodine reviewed Skills for the TOEFL iBT Test by HarperCollins (Firm) (Collins English for exams)
Review of 'Skills for the TOEFL iBT Test' on 'GoodReads'
4 stars
A couple of notes before I begin: First, I am only reviewing the writing section of this book, since that is my area of expertise. The reading section looks fine but I could be wrong. Second, this book is based on the version of the TOEFL offered before August 1, 2019. The test changed a bit on that date. Most of the content in the book is still fine, but be aware of the new format of the test.
And now, the review: I like this book just as much as I like the matching speaking and listening book from Collins. Like that book, this title is incredibly accurate in its depictions of TOEFL questions. Indeed, I have never seen a printed book with such accurate TOEFL integrated writing questions. There are only five samples, but they are all perfectly designed to match the real test. In each of them …
A couple of notes before I begin: First, I am only reviewing the writing section of this book, since that is my area of expertise. The reading section looks fine but I could be wrong. Second, this book is based on the version of the TOEFL offered before August 1, 2019. The test changed a bit on that date. Most of the content in the book is still fine, but be aware of the new format of the test.
And now, the review: I like this book just as much as I like the matching speaking and listening book from Collins. Like that book, this title is incredibly accurate in its depictions of TOEFL questions. Indeed, I have never seen a printed book with such accurate TOEFL integrated writing questions. There are only five samples, but they are all perfectly designed to match the real test. In each of them the author makes three points, and the lecturer casts doubt on the three points in the right order. Reading these five questions is a heavenly experience. In contrast, textbooks from more established publishers like Kaplan, Barron’s and the Princeton Review are all ruined by the inclusion of inaccurate questions. Heck, this book is even better than the Official Guide to the TOEFL, which famously contains a couple of incorrectly designed integrated questions.
So if your students need accurate practice writing questions, this is a good source. The book also benefits from a concise explanation of how the questions are put together, though I suppose it could be even more explicit.
The independent questions here are merely adequate, however. The problem is that the book includes only agree/disagree style questions, and totally ignores both paired-choice and multiple choice questions. This is probably because the authors relied too much on materials from ETS, which also emphasize this question type. I’m not too bothered by that, since good practice independent questions are easy to find elsewhere, and they aren’t fundamentally misleading students as some other publishers to when they print shitty integrated questions.
The book also includes concise tips for each task and decent templates. You will have to go elsewhere to learn the fundamentals of writing, but that will always be outside the scope of a good TOEFL book.