TOEIC

Taking the TOEIC

Each term many people ask me for “tips” and “advice” on taking TOEIC. I have some good news and bad news for you. First the bad news: I don’t have any special or secret advice I can give you personally that will help you boost your score—there aren’t really shortcuts that allow you to cheat the test. But now the good news: I have put enormous amounts of energy into creating good materials for people who seriously want to improve their English and raise their TOEFL score. That information and those materials are easy to obtain in widely available books in almost any major bookstore or online from Amazon.

Here’s my overall advice for someone who seriously wants to improve their score to the maximum level.

Step 1 To get started, use the book 新TOEIC テスト直前の技術 、アルク、２００６. ISBN 978-4-7574-1121-0. This book introduces you to the useful test-taking techniques, the types of questions and passages on the TOEIC, and also gives you important strategies for maximizing your score especially on the reading section where most test-takers lose a lot of points because they don’t have enough time to finish. Especially the reading section you need to approach strategically. This book prepares you all around for the test.

Step 2 After you have worked your way through the book above, use the ALC TOEIC Practice Test book with 3 Practice Tests to apply the skills and strategies from 新TOEIC テスト直前模試3回分 ISBN 978-4-7574-1276-7. Go to a quiet place, turn off your ketai, and take the practice tests in the exact same conditions as you will the TOEIC using an alarm clock. These tests are slightly harder than the actual TOEIC but they will get you in shape for the real test (like swinging a heavier bat when warming up to bat). The explanations will also help you understand why you made errors.

Step 3 Boost your business vocabulary. The Goken Quick WordPower vocabulary book, Quick WORDPOWER for the TOEIC Test TOEIC Test クィック ワードパワー、 語研２００２

ISBN 4-87615-070-2 will have a lot of words you already know but several hundred that you don’t know. Since the words are divided into various areas it is especially helpful in identifying vocabulary that may be useful. Depending on your level, you may not need to work your way through the whole book. Quickly skim the vocabulary lists at the beginning of every chapter and just focus on the words you don’t already confidently know. These words may appear in either the Listening or the Reading sections, so they give you a good foundation for the test and they are also very useful to know for the rest of your life. Really.

If you have time, do the same thing with Super Course in TOEIC Vocabulary 新TOEICテストスーパー英単語 アルク 978-4-7574-1494-5 Leaf through the book quickly page by page. Start at the end where the more difficult words are and go through the book backwards. Write down and learn the words that you don’t confidently know.

If you are an ICU student, all of these books are in our library.

Good luck with your study.

--Paul