Leveraging TOEFL Skills in Your MBA Program

It is very important to think of TOEFL as more than an admissions requirement! In fact, strategic TOEFL preparation can be the key to greater success in business school.  Here’s why:

Let’s say that the school you’re applying to requires a TOEFL score of 104. You take your first TOEFL and get an 86, which breaks down into Reading, 20, Listening 21, Speaking 22 and Writing 23. You know that you have a thick accent and speaking within a 45 second time frame makes you very nervous. In addition, you really do not like to write, not even in your own language. Therefore, you decide to focus your attention primarily on the Reading and Listening sections. With diligent study, you manage to raise your Reading to a 29 and your Listening to a 30, while maintaining your Speaking score of 22 and your Writing score of 23. Congratulations! You got your 104! But does that mean your English is ready for an MBA program?

Not really.

Remember, MBA programs value strong oral and written communication skills, but your TOEFL studies only strengthened your Reading and Listening skills, which are not as valued in MBA programs. Let’s face it: your professors don’t care if it takes you three times longer to do the readings for class. In fact, they will probably never know how long it takes you to read the books for class. Again, your professors probably won’t know if your listening comprehension allows you to understand class lectures or not. And if you do not understand, you can always read the book to figure out what you missed in class.  Basically, your grades are not determined by your ability to read or listen.

On the other hand, so much of your grades in an MBA program are heavily based on your ability to communicate in speech and in writing. So although you avoided improving your TOEFL Speaking score because you do not talk well under time constraints, you cannot avoid giving “rocket pitches” in your MBA classes. A rocket pitch is when you present the main advantages of what you’re selling in less than 1 or 2 minutes. If you had worked on improving your Speaking score on the TOEFL, then you would have learned how to organize your thoughts and present them clearly in a very short period of time.  In addition, MBA programs assign a lot of group projects, which require you to speak clearly with your teammates. If you cannot make your points clearly understood to the other members of your team, they will avoid talking to you about the class assignments. This will result in your being pushed to the side, allowing other members of the team to stand out in the teacher’s eyes. They will be the ones who not only receive higher grades, but also establish meaningful contacts with fellow students, contacts that may be very helpful after they graduate from business school.

Similarly, writing is very important to you grades in an MBA program. As you know, so much of professional communication is now carried out in emails. And if your English is confusing or—worse yet—incomprehensible during your MBA studies, then, again, you will be devalued by your professors and your peers.

Therefore, do not think of TOEFL as a requirement that you need to fulfill regardless of how you do it. Instead, think of TOEFL as providing you with the opportunity to strengthen the oral and written skills that will be the key to your MBA success. I’d be willing to bet that two students, each with 104s will have very different experiences in an MBA program if one scored high on the Reading and Listening while the other student scored high on the Speaking and Writing.

We at Strictly English know that it’s hard to get a score of 26 or higher on the TOEFL. It requires that you have virtually no accent, and that you create coherent opinions and summaries with good details and development of ideas. And aren’t these the skills you want to leverage in your MBA program?  YES!

So when you begin to study for the TOEFL, make sure you prioritize working toward the highest possible Speaking and Writing scores. You’ll love the confidence you feel when no one asks you to repeat what you’ve said, and you’ll love it even more when people ask you to author their group’s report!  These are situations that will forward your business career the quickest!


About the Author


Jon Hodge, Ph.D. has been researching the TOEFL test for more than 16 years. He started Strictly English in 2004 and continues to develop unique methods, strategies, and curriculum for Strictly English clients.




  About Strictly English: Since 2004, Strictly English has been specializing
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