I went to Edinburgh last month to take the TOEIC Listening & Reading (L&R). Edinburgh is the nearest place (if you’re in Glasgow) to take this test. I know there is a great choice of books and articles preparing for the test therefore I’ll only give some brief advice of what I think is important to efficiently prepare the test.
First of all: Why take the TOEIC?
It enables you to evaluate your English level in terms of your oral/written ability to understand a situation and respond to it. However the test only gives a “general” indication of your level, I’ll come back to this point at the end.
Most of the time you do not take it for your own pleasure, there are reasons behind it. For me, I needed to provide my TOEIC L&R score for some French business schools. It’s also great to add your score (if it’s good) onto your CV in the foreign languages heading. As an international language test, the TOEIC is world-wide famous and well appreciated by recruiters and schools (according to the required score you can evaluate the school’s “level” of admission).
The preparation
Basically I don’t know really how to prepare this test. That does not mean I haven’t prepared it. But most of the work I have made was done before the test.
- - Watch your favorite movies (with English subtitles), series, video games, news… in English and read English articles on the web all year round or listen to BBC radio broadcasting news: you’ll have done at least 50% of the work while having fun and getting informed about everything
- - Revise your “basic” English grammar (I won’t go into the details but it’s not that useful for this test. It’s only for the parts 5 and 6 with grammar questions, of course it depends on your initial level.
- - Borrow or buy specific books preparing the test. My advice is to borrow books that contain only the original test with CDs and to buy one book specialized in English grammar [I would highly recommend for all French speaking students: Anglais, Pratique de l’anglais de A à Z. Editions Hatier, septembre 2010. 12,10€]
- - Do blank tests (at least 4) to get familiar with the test’s structure. Don’t feel compelled to make at one go for it’s quite long: 1 h 15’, so make some breaks.
- - Pay carefully attention to the corrections and work in the parts where you have made mistakes and where you feel not sure about the answer (basic advice).
On the test day
- Don’t feel disturbed by the other candidates and don’t panic when the instructor gives you the administrative documents to complete (it takes almost 10 minutes). The most important is to keep concentrated. [DON’T forget your passport!]
- STAY CONCENTRATED DURING THE TEST: the speed of the test is quiet slow during some parts!
- Have one or several pencil(s) that “put” directly the black color on the paper without having to circle the box during 3 seconds. I had a pencil that was not really efficient for the test (don’t forget that you have to color the entire circle because the test is corrected by a machine) and I’ve lost a few seconds on this “stupid” aspect.
Special advice for several parts of the test
Parts 3 and 4 (Listening):
Read carefully the questions and answers (optional because it could create some confusion) before listening to the test. You’ll then have a rough idea of what the conversation is about and therefore able to answer the questions with more efficiency by selective listening .
Part 5 (Reading): part where the grammar and vocabulary are the most present during the test.
Part 7 (Reading): the questions seem easy at first glance. However be really careful and do not cross the answer that seems more logical for you. Check the text, because sometimes you’ll have to make some brief mathematical operations to answer correctly to the answer. This part of the test is sometimes tricky. I remember to have lost at least 5 minutes trying to find the right information in the text.
General comments about the part Reading; Manage your time with efficiency. You should keep 10 to 15 minutes to check and confirm the questions you aren’t sure about. [Also you don’t get -1 if you do not answer correctly so, “guess”]. STAY ALSO CONCENTRATE during the test!
My personal impressions
Well it was ok for me. I’ve prepared myself during around 8 hours in total, mainly by doing blank tests and revising the grammar. I insist it really depends on your own level. According to my work and study experiences abroad I’ve been able to improve my English. I’ve obtained 925/990 so I’m satisfied with my first test and hope doing better next time (in two years). It also helps me to prepare the English test for the French Business School (Tremplin 2 and Test IAE) however the funny thing is that I find that those 2 tests are much more difficult than the TOEIC regarding the grammar, vocabulary, that can be explained by the fact that the TOEIC L&R is more focused on the understanding of the everyday life situations and not only on specific grammatical rules: I think I’ve still got a great amount of work in order to master all the subtleties of the English language and grammar especially the literary language…
Good luck!
You can do some mini-test proposed by the official TOIEC’s website, enjoy!
Still to come the TOIEC Speaking and Writing, available soon.
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