Wednesday, May 02, 2007

wowsers


I've hardly had any time for myself ever since I started College studies and the tutor over there isn't exactly perfect so I'm also having some difficulty coping with understanding the subjects that we being taught.

However, that's not to say that I am not having a great time. In fact that would be an understatement. I'm having a wonderful time. Sociality could not be any better there and you get to have fun in your own unique way (mind you; when you're me, you always have fun).

We're about to have a test this upcoming week on the subjects of different types of insurance; not to mention that I have my IELTS exams dates approaching at around the 3rd and 5th of May, 2007.

Amongst other non-academical chores, I have to prepare 3 articles within the weekend, go in for a meeting about part-time job and give my books to be sold on an open day at SQU.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow..that's quite a schedule you have. Good luck in advance! I'll have to try to make it to the SQU event and pick up one of your books.

Sleepless In Muscat said...

yes it is.

Thanks for your well wishes. It's possible that I may not be able to attend the open day because I have two College tests coming.

But that isn't determined as yet.

:o)

Amjad said...

I took my IELTS test last December. I did very well I guess, my IELTS score is 6.5. I also took my TOEFL iBT test last month and I thought it would be easier than the IELTS test, but to my surprise it was WAY harder than the IELTS.

Sleepless In Muscat said...

TOEFL is far easier, in my opinion, than the IELTS.

I scored a 7.0 in the IELTS, although, I can't remember what I got in my TOEFL. I took it back in the year 1998, I think.

Amjad said...

SIM: I was also told that the TOEFL is easier than the IELTS. But the new TOEFL, Internet-Based, is way harder than IELTS.

You probably took the paper-based test of TOEFL. That test is no longer available. Now in Oman only the computer-based and internet-based tests of TOEFL are available.

The computer-based test is similar to the paper-based one, except that it's taken on the PC.

The internet-based [the new one] is completely different than the paper-based and the computer-based. They replaced the grammar section with speaking. The speaking was quite fair I guess and I got the highest score in speaking. And I also got the second high score in writing.

The devils were the reading and listening. I honestly know that I have problems with reading. I got 5.5 in the reading in IELTS and a very bad score in the TOEFL internet-based. I donno if it's because there is no enough time or is it because I suck at understanding the passages they give. The listening was hard because you don't check the questions before listening. You listen to the conversation/lecture, and then you get the questions and answer them.

TOEFL iBT [Internet-Based Test] assesses your ability to use English in your academic life, that's why all the topics given in the test are academic topics. Lectures, conversations between students, Biological issues, environmental issues, etc... IELTS, on the other hand, assesses your ability to use English generally. That's the difference between the two of them. And since I've been studying school in Arabic till today, I'm not used to use English academically. That's why I sucked at the TOEFL iBT. I was not prepared for it. I didn't prepare myself 'cause as people told me it's easier than the IELTS, and I said to myself the IELTS preparation is enough, but I was wrong. People who took the test with me at the same day actually studied a course for this test.

My TOEFL iBT score is 60 out of 120, which is 500 out of 677 compared to the paper-based test. For the college I wanna go to [in the US] I should get not less than 71 out of 120 in TOEFL iBT. I guess I will prefer doing an intensive English program than doing the TOEFL again to get 71.

Anyway, I'm really sorry for the long and boring comment.