以口语第二题为例，我们先来看一下ETS考官对于一个response的点评。

“This response is sustained and the speech is generally understandable. At times, though, the speaker’s pronunciation makes it difficult to understand the meaning of her ideas. She really gives only reason why she likes shopping. This reason is used repetitively without much elaboration. Shopping is something she likes very much and makes her feel better. She could have added complexity to her ideas by saying something like “when I go shopping, I usually go with friends and we have a good time together without thinking about jobs, or schoolwork.” She also makes some basic grammatical errors and uses a limited range of vocabulary.”

这是对于一篇Middle level的口语回答的评价。从中我们不难发现以下几个问题：

发音：事实上，托福口语考试在发音方面仅仅是要求考生的发音是准确的即可，不论对于某个单词的发音是不是有浓重的口音，只要这个单词的元音发准确，重音不说错即可，因为只要满足了这两条就可以达到“makes one’s ideas/meaning understandable” 的要求。这一条成为影响我们取分的首要因素。

内容：文中评价该考生的口语是仅仅提出了自己为什么喜欢购物的原因，但也只是在简单地重复说自己喜欢购物，却没有用更多的阐述对这一原因进行阐述。我们认为这是导致中国考生失分最核心的因素。考生普遍强于说理却疏于举例，而ETS考官，或者西方人的一个固有观念就是“口说无凭，举例为证”。因此，在回答的过程中，要求speaker用相当的篇幅通过一个具体的事例来证明或解释自己之前提出的观点。

语法：语法问题并不是一个主要的失分点。也就是说口语是靠内容取胜的，而不是华丽的句子。内容出彩的情况下，语法上的失误是可以被原谅的；但是内容部完整或者说得不对的时候，语法便会成为考官扣分的又一理由。