TOEFL - A first step to my journey to america

One of the requirements to apply for the double degree program in Milwaukee is to achieve more than 80 points in a TOEFL or 6.5 in an IELTS. Therefore, I applied for the TOEFL ibT (internet-based Test) last year in December which costs 245 US dollars.

Hell yeah! I did pass the exam with a quite impressive score of 105/120 Points. It was necessary to get at least 80 points to be able to participate in the exchange program at the UWM as a non-native English-speaking person.

While I normally read a lot in English on websites (often software documentation) and sometimes listen to English news or talks it was still very stressful to learn for TOEFL as I didn’t know how the test will take place. For preparation, I learned a few days with the free TOEFL test course and YouTube videos and also watched the extended versions of Lord of the Rings in English with friends (was a lot of fun!).

The test took place in a room with a few laptops. Every test participant had to go into a separate room for a small listening sample so that TOEFL can verify that the person speaking at the test is actually you. After that, you have to go to a laptop (QWERTY layout) and start your test. There are headphones with a microphone for the test, which are also helpful as noise-canceling from the other participants going to their seat. There were a few software issues with their management program (which makes you really wonder why the test is so expensive). I bet they are using the same software since the introduction of internet-based tests in 2005.
The test is split into two parts with a break of 10 to 15 minutes between. After finishing the test about two and a half hours later I was very exhausted. I did not have a very good feeling about my results as I had some time pressure in the reading section which made me read a few passages a little less carefully. I also struggled with the speaking section as the questions were a little tricky and I did not directly know what to say and had a little fear that I missed the point they wanted as an answer.

But my bad feeling was without reason as my results show.
Today I received a letter sent from the US with my results. The letter looks like it went through a mild paper jam which is quite bad, but I also have a PDF with my score.

It was quite an interesting (and expensive) experience and I really hope that it is worth it i.e. allows me to study in the U.S.