Mahmoud has taken the TOEFL over 30 times. He’s smart, motivated, and fluent — on paper. He even hits 160 words per minute. And yet, his Speaking score hasn’t budged past 25.
He’s not alone.
Many test-takers stuck in the “TOEFL trap” believe that testing themselves — again and again and again — is a form of preparation. But it’s not. It’s assessment. And assessment alone doesn’t lead to improvement.
This post will show you the critical difference between practice and assessment, using Mahmoud’s real case as a teaching moment. It might just save you months of wasted effort — and thousands of dollars.
Assessment Tells You Where You Are
Samuel Messick, the legendary researcher at ETS, defined test prep as “any intervention procedure specifically undertaken to improve test scores, whether by improving the skills measured by the test or by improving the skills for taking the test, or both” (reference).
Assessment is measurement. It gives you a score. It tells you how you're doing right now — not how to improve.
Examples of assessment:
- Taking a TestReady Speaking practice test.
- Recording a My Speaking Score submission.
- Looking at your SpeechRater dimension scores.
All of these activities are useful. But none of them are practice.
In Mahmoud’s case, he was assessing himself dozens of times a week:
“You're just going to go blind with all that data and SpeechRater. You're seeing how fast you can speak.”
It’s like someone who wants to lose weight stepping on the scale ten times a day, hoping the number will magically drop.
That’s not practice. That’s...obsession.
And I get it, this is high-stakes stuff. High-stress stuff.
That's why it's important to know the difference between practice and testing.
Practice Changes Who You Are
Practice is not the same as testing. It's what you do to get better between tests.
Real practice is:
- Targeted
- Repetitive
- Data-informed
- Feedback-driven
When Mahmoud finally spoke with us, his main issue wasn’t mystery. It was strategy.
He thought his fast speech and structured responses were enough. After all, SpeechRater sometimes gave him a 27-equivalent.
But the human raters? They couldn’t understand him.
“You are able to hack through My Speaking Score, and you can speed up and get it up to 160 words per minute... but the human rater is never going to give you a 4.”
That’s because Mahmoud’s delivery — especially his accent and intelligibility — didn’t meet the TOEFL standard for a top score.
What the Rubric Actually Requires
To get a 26 in TOEFL Speaking, you need:
- Two responses scored as a 4 (out of 4).
- Two responses that don’t fall below a 3.
And to get a 4, your delivery must be:
- Clear
- Fluent
- Sustained
- Mostly free from pronunciation and intonation problems
That last bullet? That’s the killer.
“Speech is generally clear, fluid, sustained. It may include minor lapses or minor difficulties with pronunciation and intonation. This is not you. These are major difficulties here.”
Even if everything else is great — vocabulary, grammar, structure — one delivery issue drops your 4 to a 3.
Mahmoud's Mistake: Testing Instead of Training
Mahmoud was using My Speaking Score like a practice tool. But he was really just running assessment after assessment. No change in strategy. No focused drills. Just score after score after score.
“It's a standardized test. You're going to get the same score every single day of the rest of your life unless you change something.”
He wasn’t lazy. He was misinformed.
What Mahmoud needed wasn’t more feedback — it was more practice on the right things:
- Articulation
- Intonation
- Rhythm
- Accent reduction
Instead of trying a new template, he needed to learn how to say “remember it” without rolling his R’s:
“Not RRR-remember it. Just: Remember it.”
Practice vs. Assessment: A Side-by-Side Breakdown
Here’s a quick reference to help you understand the difference:
The Assessment–Practice Cycle (The Right Way)
The best test-takers follow this cycle:
- Assess (once per week using My Speaking Score or TestReady)
- Diagnose (identify the weak dimension)
- Practice (target that issue for 3–7 days)
- Reassess (check if it improved)
Mahmoud wasn’t doing this. He was stuck in a loop:
Assess → Panic → Try Again → Same Score → Try Again → Burn Out
How to Use My Speaking Score the Right Way
We built My Speaking Score to help test-takers like Mahmoud — not trap them.
The SpeechRater scores are incredibly precise. But they’re only valuable if you:
- Use them to identify weaknesses
- Take time to fix those weaknesses
- Come back later to check for improvement
Using it 10 times a day? That’s not prep. That’s procrastination disguised as productivity.
“You just cheated yourself. You didn’t do it. You just did it once.”
Your Real Problem Might Be Fossilization
If you've taken TOEFL 20, 30, 40 times… you might have what linguists call fossilized errors — mistakes that have become habits:
- Mispronounced R’s
- Flat intonation
- Choppy rhythm
- Unintelligible phrasing at high speeds
You can’t fix these just by “trying harder.”
“You’ve been speaking the same way for years and years and years… it’s like learning to walk again after a car accident.”
This is why Mahmoud — and others like him — need targeted speech therapy, not another self-guided practice test.
The Final Takeaways
- Assessment is not practice. It tells you where you are. It doesn't move you forward.
- Real practice targets one weakness. Focus on rhythm, clarity, accent, or structure — not all at once.
- Speed is not fluency. 160 WPM means nothing if the human rater says, “Huh?”
- If you’re stuck at 25, delivery is the problem. Not your grammar, not your ideas — your clarity.
- You need a plan. And that plan needs more training than testing.
FAQ: The Most Common Misconceptions
Q1: Isn’t taking lots of SpeechRater tests a form of practice?
A: No. It’s testing. If you're not making changes between recordings — and testing those changes in isolation — you're just collecting scores, not building skills.
Q2: What should I do if my SpeechRater score is stuck?
A: Identify the dimension that’s pulling your score down (like Rhythm, Vowels, or Intelligibility). Then spend several days targeting it through actual drills before reassessing.
Q3: How often should I use My Speaking Score or TestReady?
A: Once per week is ideal if you’re actively training. You need time to build new habits between assessments.
Q4: I speak fast. Why is my score still low?
A: Speed isn't fluency. Human raters prioritize clarity and natural rhythm over how many words you cram in. Fast speech with unclear articulation earns 3s, not 4s.
Q5: Can I improve without a coach?
A: Yes — especially if you're disciplined and data-aware. My Speaking Score gives you the data. But serious accent issues (like Mahmoud’s) often need expert intervention. If you're stuck after 20+ tests, it’s time to seek help.
Q6: Do I need to pay for expensive coaching?
A: Usually, no. What you need is deliberate practice. Most people aren’t stuck because they can’t afford coaching — they’re stuck because they keep doing the same thing over and over. Free or low-cost tools like shadowing, speech-to-text apps, and imitation drills can take you far. Use paid help only when you’ve hit a clear wall you can’t diagnose or fix alone.
Next step: If you're serious about breaking out of the 23–25 zone, stop hitting “record” and start fixing your sound.
My Speaking Score can tell you what’s wrong. But you have to do the work to fix it.