Marco spent his nights hunched over the Cliffs guide, navigating the transition from the old paper tests to the "modern" computer interface. He practiced the four core skills——that the test still evaluates today to measure university-level readiness.
: The CBT was "computer-adaptive." If Marco answered a question correctly, the next one got harder. The Cliffs guide had warned him: "The first few questions are the most critical for your score." TOEFL CBT (Cliffs Test Prep)
: Marco relied on the book's strategy for the Structure section, which was unique to the CBT. He learned to identify "distractors" in multiple-choice questions that often tripped up non-native speakers. Marco spent his nights hunched over the Cliffs