This study was conducted at Muhammadiyah Aceh University to investigate the
students’ difficulties in passing TOEFL test and their strategies in facing it.
TOEFL test is obligated for students as a condition in thesis Examination
(Munaqasyah). The test is required all of students at Muhammadiyah Aceh
University. In order for the English Language Education Department students to
graduate, the minimum TOEFL score is 450 or more than it and for non-English
Language Education Department’s students, its minimum score is 410. The most
common type of the test is PBT (Paper Based Test). The students are required to
master three major important skills in English, Listening, Grammar and Reading
Comprehension. This study employed quantitative method to explore students’
difficulties and the strategies that use by students in passing the TOEFL test. The
participants of the study were 31 students of UniversitasMuhammadiyah Aceh
who have taken TOEFL test before. In collecting the data, questionnaire was used.
The questionnaire consisted of 18 questions and the questionnaire was distributed
by Google Forms. The results of test showed that most of students face difficulties
in answering the question of listening question, it proving by the percentages of
questionnaire answer that more than a half of participant or 58,1% or 18 students
from 31 answer listening section. Furthermore, the strategies for increasing the
TOEFL score, most of participants prepared themselves with studying TOEFL by
using internet such as watched TikTok or you tube video, TOEFL app or online
class. It could be concluded that online media used for TOEFL preparation
because it easy to access and free. Then metacognitive strategies most selected by
participants for the strategies to increase their score during the TOEFL test.