TOEIC FAQs

8/13/2019 TOEIC FAQs

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will probably have changed.Is there a #reak #etween the listening and reading se"tions of theTOEIC test?

3oWhat "an I do if I need to go to toilet during the TOEIC test?

6erhaps to make sure you don#t drink too much before the e"am andtherefore don#t disturb the other students, no information is given aboutthis by %T&. t may be possible to go to the toilet during the reading test,but as people usually run out of time during this test it could have a verynegative impact on your marks.How well re"ogni&ed is TOEIC outside Asia?

T)% / is also popular in the (&A, /anada and 7e"ico, and is used inside

some large corporations in %urope. Although an employer in the (- mightnot have heard of T)% /, it is still better known than $(+AT& theequivalent /ambridge e"am , and you should easily be able to e"plain onyour /4 and8 or in the interview that it is the world#s most popular$usiness %nglish test and what your level means.Where "an I get real 'ast e am 'a'ers to do e am 'ra"ti"e with?

You can#t. %T& does not make past papers available to either students orte"tbook writers. f you see a book that claims to be based on real pastpapers or the analysis of past papers, it is not true. The closest thing you

can find is probably a book with the official %T& logo on the cover.What is the most diffi"ult 'art of the TOEIC test?

&tatistically, candidates score higher on the 9eading paper than on the+istening test, but this might be at least partly due to these tests beingmost popular in countries where %nglish listening skills are generally weak.%o I need to take a "lass to im'ro(e my TOEIC s"ore?

*or most students, studying with a teacher is better than studying athome alone. You might want to particularly think about taking a class if:

1. You are unmotivated5. The practice materials that you are using tell you which answers arewrong but not why;. You have taken the test or practice tests several times and your scoreshave not been rising<. You keep making the same kinds of mistakesIf a #ook says )TOEIC *) on it+ does that mean it is an offi"ial ET,e am #ook?

3o. %T& gives official recognition to very few T)% / preparation te"tbooks

and test practice books, and although many of the others might also begood practice there are many e"amples of cheaply made and unrealistic



T)% / books out there who have not been checked by anyone. You shouldbe particularly careful when choosing materials for the new after 500=

T)% / e"am, as many small publishers printed books before the finaldetails of the e"am were made public by %T&.What le(el should I #e #efore I take the TOEIC test?

Although there is no fail in T)% /, students who are less than ntermediatelevel will find that their scores go up and down quite a lot every time thatthey take the test because they have to guess quite a lot of questions.+ow level students will also find that doing a T)% / course or practice

T)% / e"am papers will not teach them the language they need toimprove their general %nglish level. 6erhaps for this reason, T)% / hasintroduced the lower level >T)% / $ridge test>, but as yet it is notrecogni2ed by many employers and so might not be as useful on your /4as a T)% / score.

Can I eat and drink in the TOEIC test?

3o, you cannot take food and drink into the test. This probably also meansno chewing gum and no sweets.How "an I e 'lain what my TOEIC s"ore means to someone whodoesn!t know the e am?

?hen you get your test score you will also be given a >can do> sheet thattells you what the score means that you can copy onto your /4 and8 ore"plain in an interview when you apply for a ob. t is also worth

mentioning that T)% / is the most popular test of $usiness %nglish in theworld.Is the new style TOEIC more diffi"ult than the old one?

Although the new test sounds more difficult because it has longer listeningand reading te"ts and less of the easier +istening 6art )ne photographquestions, %T& say that the tests are equivalent, and the first batch ofofficial test takers in 7ay 500= in @apan did not especially complain of thedifficulty or see an une"pected change in their scores. The skills neededare, however, slightly different, so some people will find one version of the

test slightly more difficult than the other.How long does it take to get the TOEIC test results?

t depends on the country you are in, but is usually less than a week.What ha''ens if I am late for the test?

You will not be allowed into the test centre, you will not be able to take thetest on another day without paying the full fee again, and you will not getany refund. 6lease make sure you arrive at least 50 minutes before thearrival time you are told.

If I do really #adly+ will I still get a "ertifi"ate?



As there is no pass and fail mark in T)% /, everyone gets a certificate.If I don!t know the answer+ should I lea(e it #lank?

3o, never leave a blank. As no marks are taken off for wrong answers, ifyou don#t know the answer try to eliminate any you think are wrong andthen quickly guess between those that are left and move onto the ne"tquestion. n the reading test, if you finish everything and have time at theend you can go back and try these questions one more time if you like, butmake sure you write down some answer the first time you try it in caseyou run out of time.Can you "ram for the TOEIC test?

3o. You can improve your score with some tips and tactics for reading andlistening, but as grammar is not a big part of the test there is no list oflanguage points that you are sure to come up in the test that you can

learn in a short time. T)% / is a test of all proficiency levels up to veryadvanced, so virtually all standard American %nglish could come up in thee"am.%o I need to #e working- #e a #usinessman to do the test?

(sing %nglish in your working life or studying a $usiness or %conomicssub ect in %nglish can help a lot for the test, but having a generally highlevel of %nglish and being prepared for the test are much more important.Is TOEF$ a .eneral English (ersion of TOEIC?

7any people use T)%*+ that way, but in fact T)%*+ was specificallydesigned to prepare people to study in American universities, and there isas much specialist academic language in T)%*+ as there is $usiness%nglish in T)% /. n both tests, however, all of the >specialist> languageused is stuff that native speakers who are not businessmen or universitystudents would also use./any 'eo'le say they "an!t finish the reading 'a'er0 ,hould I takea s'eed reading "ourse?

&peed reading is not recommended for most non'native speakers, and

some e"perts do not recommend it even for native speakers either. &peedreading is a way of reading a whole te"t quickly, whereas the best tactic inthe T)% / for reading quickly is usually to read the questions first and tryto find the place where the right information is, or at least to skipunimportant parts like the tops and bottoms of emails.Is TOEIC or TOEF$ #etter known internationally?

n some parts of Asia T)%*+ is not as well known as T)% /, but in most ofthe rest of the world T)%*+ is more famous. n Australia, the (- and partsof %urope, %+T& and the other /ambridge tests such as */% are better

known. owever, if you can properly e"plain what the test consists of,what organisation gives the certificates and what the level means on your



/4 or in conversation, any of these international qualifications should beuseful.Is TOEIC a test of Ameri"an English?

t certainly helps to study American %nglish for the T)% /, especially forthe +istening part of the test. f, for e"ample, you only know $ritish %nglishbusiness terms, some time spent studying the American equivalents canbe very useful. owever, the new format e"am also includes some $ritish%nglish and Australian %nglish speakers, and people who have onlystudied American %nglish since school can find these parts difficult tounderstand.What are the differen"es #etween the (ersions of the TOEIC#efore and after the 1223 "hanges?

The main changes are that in the new style test there is no error

correction section and some of the listening and reading te"ts are longerwith more questions per te"t. The length of the e"am and the number ofthe questions stays the same, and although the new version seems moredifficult %T& say the level of difficulty is also the same.What TOEIC le(el is good enough to get a 4o# in English?

Although some obs such as translators ask for scores of B00 or above, anyscore above about ;00 shows a basic ability to use %nglish in theworkplace, it simply depends on the ob.I!(e heard different o'inions on whether TOEIC is a 5usiness

English test or not0 Is it?

T)% / was specifically designed to be a test of $usiness %nglish and the%nglish that people need to use in the workplace. As business is part of allof our lives nowadays, however, it is perfectly useable as a eneral%nglish test.How long do I need to study #efore I take the e am?

n terms of doing e"am practice, it is perfectly possible to do the testwithout any practice at all but even ust doing one practice test is very

useful at least for making you feel less nervous on the day of the testbecause you know what you are doing in each part of the test. 7ake sure,however, that you do not do any practice on the night before the e"am.

The longest you will probably want to do ust e"am practice is a month'any longer than that and a good proportion of your preparation for thee"am should focus on getting your general %nglish and $usiness %nglishlevel up. *or e"ample, a one year course or self study plan shouldprobably be C0 to B0D general practice of %nglish and the rest grammar,vocabulary, skills and e"am practice for the T)% /.Why did my last TOEIC s"ore go down e(en though my English is

at the same le(el?



t could be due to outside factors like you being tired or stressed.Alternatively, it could ust be a statistical blip because you were or unluckyin the match between the questions and te"ts in a particular paper andyour knowledge. n some cases, silly mistakes like writing the answersne"t to the wrong question number can also have an impact.Why did my TOEIC s"ore stay the same+ e(en though I ha(e #eenstudying lots of English?

Apart from the reasons given in the question above, this could be becauseyou have been studying lots of new language that you can#t yet usequickly in test conditions and8 or haven#t been revising the language youknew before and so have got slower at understanding it. Another commonproblem is that as your ability to understand the reading and listeningte"ts increases you start trying to understand every word rather thanlooking out for the most important information.

What TOEIC materials should I #uy?

n terms of making sure it is close to what you will see in the e"am, it isbest to choose something officially certified and recommended by %T&

the company that writes the T)% / and T)%*+ e"ams . You will need tocarefully read the back of the book to make sure this is true, as manyother publishers understandably want their materials to look official too. fyou can#t find anything with the %T& logo on, have already finished thosebooks or will be using them in class and want something different for self'study, books from the other big international publishers are also usually

okay.n terms of the kind of book you want to buy, that will depend on how

much time you have before the e"am, if you are taking a class and whatmaterials you are using in it, and what your own strengths andweaknesses are.What is the single most im'ortant 'art of my English to im'ro(e ifI want to im'ro(e my TOEIC s"ore?

7ost people find that a lack of $usiness %nglish and eneral %nglishvocabulary is what is most holding down their score. The second biggest

factor is often a lack of reading speed, and the third is often notunderstanding fast, natural speech.Why does my TOEIC tea"her ha(e s'eaking and 'ronun"iation'arts in "lass+ e(en though I am only going to do listening andreading in the e am?

&peaking in a T)% / class can be very useful' in getting you ready to listento or read something, in discussing e"am tactics, and in practisingvocabulary and pronunciation so that you understand it when it is spokenat natural speed during the test.

Is TOEIC an Ad(an"ed le(el e am?



To get BE0 points or above in T)% / is a proof that you have Advancedlistening and reading skills and can use those skills quickly and efficientlyin a business setting. owever, some people find it possible to reach thatmark without having truly Advanced level writing and8 or speaking skills,and employers might want to give you an additional test on these skills inorder to check your all round %nglish level. @obs that only ask for T)% /=00 or below might not need an Advanced level of %nglish, but studentsgenerally need to be at least ntermediate in order to benefit fully fromstudying for the test.%o I need to do well in #oth the 6eading and the $istening'a'ers?

3ot necessarily. The final mark is the total score from both papers, so ifyou make some mistakes in one paper it might be possible to make thosemarks up by doing better in the other one.

Although there is no grammar 'a'er+ I heard that they se"retlytest your grammar in the reading and listening 'a'ers0 Is thattrue?

There are a few questions that you can get wrong by, for e"ample, mi"ingup the meaning of tenses. owever, most people find that the vocabularyis more difficult and more important for passing the e"am.

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