Michael Goodine's Blog, page 30

The PTE Turns 15!

I read that the PTE test turned 15 years old last week. The folks at Pearson have accomplished quite a lot since the launch of the test. They’ve played a part in the breaking up of old testing monopolies and have catapulted the PTE from an annual test volume of zero to about 1.2 million, […]

You Should Read More – Part 50!

I’m very happy that I can mark the 50th monthly installment in this column with a few words about Sanaz Toossi’s Pulitzer Prize winning play “English.”  As I’ve mentioned a few times in this space, this play is set entirely in a TOEFL classroom in Iran.  It is a very sparse play, but is a […]

Duolingo English Test Now Requires Secondary Camera

Everyone taking the Duolingo English Test must now use a phone as a “secondary camera” during the test. This involves propping a phone against a heavy option and angling it in such a way that it can record the test taker’s screen and keyboard during the test. This requirement seems designed to target remote-access cheaters. […]

On Syntactic Structures

I just found some photos I took while I was in Pittsburgh this past June. While in the city, I visited the world famous Carnegie Library to read up on Chomsky, in hopes of better understanding the TOEFL writing and speaking rubrics. Sadly, I left the library as perplexed as when I arrived.  It turns […]

More in IDP’s Moves in China via PIE News

This PIE News article by Polly Nash has a ton of relevant details re: IDP’s move to begin direct testing in China.  It notes: IELTS testing in China is valued at about $380 million, or about 40% of the global IELTS value. Morgan Stanley estimates that about 850,000 IELTS tests are taken in China each […]

IDP To Begin Direct Testing in China – What Does it Mean?

IDP Education shares are trading at $13.45 as I write this.  Shares are down 32% since the beginning of the year, and are down quite a lot more from their pandemic high of $38.88. It isn’t necessary to describe once again the challenges that IDP faces, as they are already well known. That said, it […]

On the Growth of Kaplan

I really liked this podcast interview with Melissa Mack about her long tenure at Kaplan and that firm’s growth from a somewhat unprofitable test prep firm to a multi billion dollar education company. Obviously Kaplan does a lot more than test prep now, but they do come up now and then in some of the […]

Demographics of Duolingo English Test Takers!

Duolingo just published a report on the “Demographic and Score Properties of Test Takers,” which contains a ton of useful and interesting data about who takes the Duolingo English Test.  It covers the year ending June 30, 2024.  The report indicates that the overall mean score is 110.5.  Comprehension is the subscore with the highest […]

On the Popularity and Impact of Good Prep Books!

Below are photos of the endcap displays of TOEFL and IELTS books at the big Kyobo Books location near Seoul City Hall.  Even more books of both types are found on the store’s shelves.  Eagle-eyed readers will spot a mixture of both official and third party publications. When trying to account for why certain tests […]

My PTE Core Score Report

In case you are curious, this is what a PTE-Core score report looks like. I think the design is fairly clean and modern. I appreciate that the score report doesn’t contain any personal information, like my home address. That sort of information probably isn’t useful in a downloadable report, and the report is easier to […]