5 Fatal Mistakes on the TOEFL ITP and How to Avoid Them
5 fatal TOEFL ITP mistakes that drag scores down, from skipping Listening practice to never taking a full simulation, and practical ways to avoid each.
Plenty of TOEFLĀ® candidates walk out of the test room thinking āI should have scored higher.ā Their score dropped not because they didnāt know the material, but because of strategy mistakes that could have been prevented.
The good news: these mistakes look the same from one candidate to the next. If you know them in advance, you can prepare. Here are the 5 most damaging mistakes on the TOEFL ITP and how to avoid them. (The slides below are in Indonesian.)
The TOEFL ITP Format at a Glance
For context, here is the TOEFL ITP Level 1 format:
| Section | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Listening Comprehension | 50 (Part A 30, Part B 8, Part C 12) | about 35 minutes |
| Structure & Written Expression | 40 (Structure 15, Written Expression 25) | 25 minutes |
| Reading Comprehension | 50 | 55 minutes |
| Total | 140 | about 115 minutes |
The total score runs from 310 to 677, and wrong answers donāt cost you points. Keep these two facts in mind, because several of the mistakes below are tied to them.
Mistake 1: Not Practicing Listening Beforehand
Many candidates spend their time on grammar and Reading and assume Listening will ājust happenā. But Listening has its own challenges:
- The audio plays only once and canāt be replayed.
- You need to get used to the speakersā speed and accents.
- The gap between questions is short, so you have to decide fast.
Without practice, your brain is caught off guard on test day, you fall a question or two behind, and panic sets in.
How to avoid it: start regular Listening practice at least a few weeks before the test. Listen to English podcasts or videos every day, and work through Listening Part A, B, and C questions with audio. For Part A, also learn the common idioms in 10 Listening Part A Idioms.
Mistake 2: Spending Too Long on Hard Questions
Structure gives you 40 questions in 25 minutes, roughly 37 seconds each. Reading gives you 50 questions in 55 minutes, just over a minute each. Getting stuck for 3 minutes on one question means sacrificing several easy ones later.
How to avoid it:
- Do the easy ones first, mark the hard ones, and come back if time allows. This skip and return technique works in Structure and Reading.
- It doesnāt work in Listening. The audio keeps going, so if youāre unsure, pick your best answer and focus on the next question right away.
- Build this rhythm with timed simulations.
Mistake 3: Not Reading the Instructions Carefully
In a rush, people skip the directions. That can be costly, especially in Section 2, which has two different question types:
- Structure (questions 1 to 15): choose the word or phrase that completes the sentence.
- Written Expression (questions 16 to 40): choose the underlined part that is wrong.
Candidates who donāt notice the switch end up looking for the ācorrectā part in questions that ask for the āincorrectā one.
How to avoid it: learn the directions for each section before test day, so during the exam you only need a quick glance to confirm. Also watch for phrases like choose the BEST answer: more than one option may look possible, but only one is the most accurate.
Mistake 4: Guessing Without a Strategy
Guessing is fine, especially since thereās no penalty. The problem is guessing blindly.
How to avoid it:
- Eliminate first. Cross out the obviously wrong options. Removing 2 of 4 options raises your odds from 25% to 50%.
- Structure: identify the grammar point being tested. Does the sentence already have a subject and a verb? Is there a word pair like neither ā¦ nor? Review the basics in the 12 Tenses Guide and Parts of Speech 101.
- Reading: read the question first, then look for the answer in the passage.
- Never leave blanks. Before time runs out, fill in every remaining answer.
Mistake 5: Never Taking a Full Simulation
Doing 10 questions a day is great, but itās very different from staying focused for almost 2 hours across 140 questions. Without a simulation, many candidates are surprised by the length, lose concentration in Reading, and run out of energy at the end.
How to avoid it:
- Take at least 2 to 3 full simulations before test day.
- Make the conditions exam-like: timer running, phone put away, no dictionary, sitting upright.
- After each simulation, review every wrong answer and write down why. A simulation without review trains stamina, not your weak spots.
Summary
| No | Mistake | Quick fix |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | No Listening practice | Listen to English daily, practice with audio questions |
| 2 | Stuck on hard questions | Skip and return in Structure and Reading |
| 3 | Ignoring instructions | Learn Structure vs Written Expression formats before the test |
| 4 | Blind guessing | Eliminate first, identify the grammar point |
| 5 | No simulations | 2 to 3 timed full simulations, then review |
Want more strategies? Read How to Score 500+ on the TOEFL ITP and plan your schedule with the 30-Day TOEFL Study Roadmap.
Avoid These Mistakes Through Practice
The best way to avoid all five mistakes is to practice often under test-like conditions. In Kawan EPT (formerly Kawan TOEFL) you can take a full 140-question simulation with a score estimate from 310 to 677, then read the explanation for every answer option across more than 7,400 questions.
Thereās also a diagnostic test to find your starting point, Weakness Drill to target the areas you miss most, Grammar lessons across 33 topics, 11 Reading Strategies topics, 7 Listening Strategies topics, 1,800 vocabulary flashcards, 3-in-1 quick practice, plus a daily streak and study reminders. Itās free on Google Play.