TOEIC vs TOEFL Which test should I take?

November 19th, 2011 | Posted by glenn in English Exams - (0 Comments)

What is the difference? Which one should I take? Thousands of people scour the web for information to answer these questions each and every week.

Background

TOEIC and TOEFL are both English language tests that test your ability to produce and understand t he English language. Both are produced by ETS which is why people are now starting to wonder why they would bother to make two similar tests.

What is the difference between the TOEIC and the TOEFL?

The TOEFL test is designed to indicate your level of English for the purpose of further academic study. It is mostly used for admission into universities, colleges, scholarships, exchange programs, basically all your academic endeavors.

The TOEIC test on the other hand, is designed to test your level of English for the purpose of helping employers to understand your abilities and decide whether you meet their expectations or not. It is used in making decisions about recruitment, promotion and evaluating corporate training programs.

Which one should I take?

Simple, are you going to study or work?

In order to avoid disappointment, it is always wise to check with the institution you are aiming for if you have already made concrete plans for the future but since most people want a little flexibility, or they want to both study and work, you may want to choose the one that you think is most appropriate and try to get by on that one.

exams, TOEFL, TOEIC

TOEIC speaking tips

November 16th, 2011 | Posted by glenn in English Exams - (0 Comments)

TOEIC officials are not allowed to give tips and suggestions to the public about the TOEIC exam but if they were, they may say something like this;

“I want to understand you”

This means that you need to speak clearly and at an appropriate speed. You need to know if you are difficult to understand because you speak too fast or if you speak so slowly that you have no intonation because you will lose points for that too.

This is where rehearsal and recording your voice comes in. Listen to yourself on playback and listen critically. If you have not recorded your voice at least one time, you have not prepared well enough.

“I want to hear your best English”

Don’t use slang. Don’t use informal or impolite language. There is a column on the marking sheet for intonation, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and content but not for coolness or wit. So save the slang for impressing your friends.

“Spice it up a bit”

Imagine your job is to listen to all of those recordings. If all of the candidates speak in boring monotonous voices, this is your opportunity to stand out with just a little intonation and varied pitch and volume. Try it out, changing the pitch, volume and ensuring that you use intonation in your speech will make your voice instantly more attractive to listeners.

“No more vanilla!”

Many students are taught to respond to how are you? with I’m fine. Little known secret here: if a native-English speaker gave me that response, I would think that they don’t want to speak with me. I would think that they are giving me the vanilla response because they have no interest in conversation with me.

Vanilla words are plain. They have no flavor. Words like good and fine and OK when we could be using terrific, fantastic or giving more detail. A good teacher could be a dedicated teacher, a good day could be a memorable day, and a good dessert could be mind-bending.

Markers want to hear the vocabulary that you have so no vanilla when you are recording your answer in TOEIC, break out the double chocolate delight and the passion fruit swirl.

“Practice like you mean it”

When you practice at home or with your English tutor, simulate real conditions which means that you should practice with the distraction of background noise. Turn on the TV and face the other direction to achieve this. Also, when you practice, do all of the things above. Don’t practice just the content, practice your voice, speed, intonation, vocabulary etc.

exam, speaking, tips, TOEIC

How are people liking the new TOEIC?

October 22nd, 2011 | Posted by glenn in English Exams - (0 Comments)

It has been 5 years since the introduction of the new-look TOEIC test so how are people taking to the change?

First, let’s take a look at what the differences are. We start with the division of the skills into two tests. The new TOEIC has two tests; the listening and reading test and the speaking and writing test. So, the first big difference is that now, TOEIC tests your speaking skills.

The listening and reading test

The listening and reading test is a two-hour multiple-choice test with 200 questions. The questions are split evenly between listening comprehension and reading comprehension. The main differences to the old test are:

No error recognition. The error recognition section was removed due to criticism that it was not a practical skill in the business environment. It was replaced with a sentence completion section.
Longer passages. But don’t worry, there are fewer of them. This means that each passage has more questions.
More accents. You will now hear accents from Britain, Australia, New Zealand and North America.
Doubling it up. There are now double-passage questions where you have to read two passages and compare in order to answer questions.
Skills not rules. The new test is attempting to take the focus off knowledge of grammatical rules.

The reaction

So how is the public liking these changes? Soon after the change was made, the Institute for International Business Communication in Japan conducted a survey. It showed that 56.8% of people who did both tests found the new version to be harder. The lower the result that the respondent got, the stronger the opinion that the new test is more difficult. The higher-scoring candidates voted that the test is now easier after the change.

We recommend that you ask the test centre when you book which test you will be doing because as far as I’m aware, there are still some areas administering the old test.

test format, TOEIC

The top 3 tips for the TOEIC listening section

October 9th, 2011 | Posted by glenn in English Exams - (0 Comments)

Don’t spend your time studying what you know

Isolate your weak points. When you are practicing, find the parts that you do not understand and focus on these. You may not understand them because of the grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation or contractions used. Maybe they used a new combination of words or maybe they spoke faster than you are used to.

Find your weak points and work on these parts. I speak to lot of students who like to say that their grammar is bad, but actually they have trouble with listening because they have only ever spoken with teachers who speak slowly because they are asked to. Know yourself to improve yourself.

Words are the pieces of the puzzle

Use word maps to help you to remember new vocabulary but remember to note the nuances in similar words. And when you remember new vocabularies, look at them in sentences, look at the words that are often used with them and look at similar words to help you to remember them.

When you do come across words that you haven’t heard yet, don’t be surprised, just look at the rest of the sentence and the situation and take your best guess.

Don’t fall for red herrings

Get into the habit of eliminating the options that are obviously wrong first and then looking at the two options that are left. A lot of the questions have two answers that are obviously wrong and two that are more likely. Eliminate the first two and your chances are now 50/50.

Of course the only way that you will get the score that you want is to practice regularly. Set a study schedule and practice a listening section 2-3 times a week and you will see your scores getting higher and higher.

I would say best of luck but good technique and practice are much better than luck.

know your strengths, listening, tips, TOEIC, vocabulary

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