BTomorrowland, UMF, EDC, Defqon… These are some of the most famous EDM festivals that everyone has heard of. But the DJs are the ones who make these festivals as attractive as they are. Alan Walker, Avicii, David Guetta, Tiësto, Martin Garrix, and Nicky Romero — did you know that so many DJs are from Europe?
S.H.(Seunghak), the user we’re meeting today is a university student in Korea who’s worked in a club located in Itaewon called SOAP. SOAP is recognized as one of the most popular underground playgrounds for musicians. Let’s take a look at how a native Korean prepared for the TOEFL, applied as an exchange student to Europe and pursued his dream as a DJ!
Hello S.H.(Seunghak), Please introduce yourself!
Hello, I’m Lee Seunghak, a.k.a S.H., a DJ at Itaewon’s SOAP. I’m currently preparing for the TOEFL through TestGlider.
Is there a reason why you prepared for the TOEFL?
I’ve been working at a club (SOAP) for four years since I was discharged from the military. DJing was fun, but I had a lot of fun talking to the customers. Since I worked in a club, I had frequent conversations with foreign customers. But I didn’t have a grasp of basic English and I haven’t studied English properly since high school so I talked mostly via hand gestures.
So at first, I studied naturally by talking with my friends who were fluent in English, but there was a limit to improving my own English that way since I couldn’t be with them all the time. So I decided that an exchange student program was the best option and from that point on I prepared for the TOEFL. I wanted to go to Northern Europe, the home of DJing.
How did you know about TestGlider?
Most people will probably relate when I say I looked up “TOEFL” on YouTube first. I watched a lot of videos related to the TOEFL test then watched videos from the pros who taught themselves how to pass the TOEFL.
Then, one Korean YouTuber talked about TestGlider (ex. TOEFLBANK) and said that there were lots of good practice problems to solve. So I tried it.
I didn’t use it at first, no, I couldn’t… I didn’t think I could use it because I knew my level was below average.
Then how did you end up using our service?
At that time, 300 USD was all I had and private tutoring was 150 USD per hour. So I started with TOEFL lectures from a random Korean Institute that cost 50 USD per month.
But their problem was that they only provided online lectures with no workbooks included. There were only practice test booklets. TOEFL is a test and the only way to boost my score was to practice lots of questions, not just by listening to online lectures, right?
So I bought quiz books for the whole section. But the catch was that while reading and listening had answers, speaking and writing had no right or wrong answers. There was no place to get my answers graded quickly. That’s when I finally started to use TestGlider.
Did speaking and writing in TestGlider help you?
I think it helped me figure out my level. The first time I tried TestGlider, I saw what my speaking and writing scores were and got an idea of where my skill level was at. Then I got more curious about my full test score and that was when I used TestGlider more often. But as you know, it’s difficult to dramatically improve speaking skills.
So I quickly focused on what I should work on more, and which parts I should give up on through writing. I realized I had to study more than I expected, and started from ground zero with grammar.
Balancing time between school and TOEFL at the same time became challenging, so I asked my parents for permission to take a gap year from school. I studied at the library from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and only focused on studying for the TOEFL until midnight.
Here’s what his study schedule looked like:
- 6AM: Wake up
- 7AM: Arrive at the library, study the Reading Section
- After Lunch: Study reading
- After Dinner: Study speaking (record answers for 5 sets)
- Write 3 writing section answers with a time limit
- 1AM ~ 1:30PM: sleep
In other words, I wanted to practice with a similar test environment to the real TOEFL as much as possible, so I ended up only solving TestGlider mock test in the library computer room. When I went to the library, there were a lot of older people having conversations, so I think it was very helpful to take the mock test in a natural, public environment. (Update: We made a TOEFL background noise ASMR video!)
Oh! There’s one last thing I want to compliment about TestGlider. I always get the “Why” problem wrong in the reading section, but I could retry specific sections of the test on TestGlider and focus on my weakest parts, which was really great.
The Present
At the time of the interview, he had not yet checked his score after taking the TOEFL test, but he said he was not worried because it was his best TOEFL attempt ever.
Fortunately, he received an 83 and is now studying as an exchange student at the University of Oslo in Norway.
During the week he’s at his school but on the weekends he continues to DJ. He let us know that TestGlider became an important stepping stone for achieving his dream.
Traditional education methods are important, but expensive learning isn’t a realistic solution for everyone. Students are achieving their dreams through TestGlider and you can also experience higher levels of education services at a low cost.
Study anywhere anytime with TestGlider mock tests!