General Tips for TOEIC



Preparing for the Test

Tip 1



The TOEIC test focuses on English communication, so the best way to prepare for it is to listen to and read as much real English as possible. Listen to radio and books on CD or cassette, watch TV and videos, talk to native English speakers - and listen to their conversations with each other! Read books, magazines, newspapers, websites, and any other examples of real English you can find.



Tip 2



The topics covered in the TOEIC test are connected with the working world. For example, general business, manufacturing, finance, personnel, purchasing, technology, property, offices, travel, dining out, entertainment, and health. You do not need to have specialist knowledge of any of these areas, but it will help you prepare for the test if you get used to this type of material. Read a wide variety of business texts like catalogs, training manuals, application forms, train schedules, and menus.



Tip 3



Improving your vocabulary will help you to achieve the scores that you need for the TOEIC test. Every time you read something in English, pick three words or expressions that you do not know. Write them down and then look them up in a dictionary and/or thesaurus. Keep a vocabulary notebook of new words, with their meaning, their pronunciation, the sentence you found them in, and any other useful information such as similar words and opposites. It is also a good idea to create a sentence of your own with these words too. This will help you to remember them.



Tip 4



The English you will hear in the Listening Comprehension section of the test will be U.S. English, spoken at the normal speed of native speakers. Some of it will be informal and include idiomatic language. You will also hear contractions like I'll (I will), she's (she is), gonna (going to), and yea (yes). Get as much practice as you can of listening to this type of English from radio, TV, and native speakers.



Tip 5



When you listen to English, get into the habit of asking yourself questions like: Who is talking? Who are they talking to? What are they talking about? Where are they talking? Why are they talking? These are the type of questions you will often be asked in the Listening Comprehension section of the test.



Tip 6



Make yourself a study schedule. Try to get into a routine where you study at the same time every day. Do not study for too long. It is better to study for 10 minutes a day and learn something really well, than study for 2 hours once a week and try to learn too much at one time. This will keep English constantly in your head too! Also, vary what you do each day - do not just study grammar.



Tip 7



Although your writing skills are not tested in the TOEIC test, practicing writing in English will help you to learn and improve your grammar and vocabulary. Find a friend that you can communicate with regularly by email. Keep a journal too of what you have done and your thoughts.



Tip 8



Always keep your goal in your mind. Why are you taking the TOEIC test? Is it for your career? What score do you need? If you keep this in your mind, it will really help to motivate you to study and practice.



Tip 9



Be positive! Tell yourself that you will do well in the TOEIC test and get the score you need. Sports people use this technique. If you believe you can do something, it is much more likely to happen!



Part 1: Picture: Tips

Look at the photograph quickly before you listen to the four statements. Think about who is in the picture, where it is, and what is happening. This will make it much easier to pick out the correct answer when you listen to the statements.

Example:

Who is in the picture?

A man, a woman, and a check-in clerk



Where was it taken?

In the airport



What is happening?

They are checking in.



It is important to listen to the whole of each statement carefully. Part of a statement may be true, but not all of it. A statement must be completely true to be the correct answer.

Example:

He is sitting on a bench in a park.

This statement is incorrect because it is only partly true. He is sitting on a bench, but he is in the street, not in a park.

When you are choosing which statement is the correct answer, be careful of words that have a meaning which is connected with what is in the picture - they may be there to mislead you! For example, if the picture shows a car, and there is a statement with the word chauffeur in it, this may lead you to think this is the correct answer even if it is not. This applies to Part 2, 3, and 4 also.

Example:

The chauffeur is getting in the car.

The picture has a car in it, and the word chauffeur is connected with cars. However, this is not the correct answer because the person in the picture is not getting in a car. He is washing the car.





Part 2: Question-Response Tips

Always listen to ALL the answer choices before answering. There may be more than one answer choice that seems correct, or an answer choice to mislead you, so wait until you have heard them all before you decide which one is correct.

Example:



Question-Response

Where did you go for dinner?

A: Why don't we go at 9 o'clock?

B: We tried that new restaurant.

C: Let's go to the restaurant in the hotel.

Response C is connected to the question word where, but it is incorrect because the question refers to the past, not the future.



Part 3: Question-Response Tips

Listen carefully for question words like what, where, when, who, which,and how at the beginning of the questions. These tell you what kind of response is needed. If the question does not begin with a question word, then it needs a yes or no type answer.

Example:



Where are you going on vacation?

This question begins with where, so the correct response will probably contain a place, like I'm going to Australia.

Is it OK if I pay by credit card?

This question does not begin with a question word, so the correct response will probably contain yes or no, like Yes sir, that'll be fine.

However, remember that sometimes people do not know, or are not sure of the answer to a question. So the correct answer to any type of question could also be a response which expresses uncertainty like I think so, I haven't decided yet, or It might do.

Be careful of questions that try to mislead you by using or referring to words that sound the same or similar, but have different meanings. For example, words like write and right which have the same pronunciation, hungry and angry which have a similar pronunciation, and book (thing you read) and book (to reserve) which have the same pronunciation and spelling. Listen carefully for the meaning of the question and the responses, not just the sound of the words. This also applies to Part 1.

Example:



Question-Reponse

What are you going to wear to the interview?

A. It's in the meeting room on the third floor.

B. A suit and tie I think.

C. It went very well, thank you.

The word wear is pronounced the same as the word where. So, if you did not listen carefully for the meaning of the question, you could think that A is the correct response because it tells you where the party is. However, the correct response needs to tell you what clothes the personis going to wear to the interview, so B must be the correct answer.

Have a look at the question before you listen to the conversation. If you already know what question you have to answer, it will make it easier for you to pick out the information from the conversation that you need to answer it. This applies to Part 4 too.



Example:



Conversation

Man:

Do you have any double rooms available on July 2nd?



Woman:

I'm sorry sir. They're all fully-booked on that day. I can offer you a twin room.



Man:

No, it's OK thank you. I'll try somewhere else.



Question

What is the woman's occupation?

A. A librarian

B. A restaurant manager

C. A hotel receptionist

D. A sales assistant

If you have read the question first, you will know that you just have to listen out for clues that tell you what the woman's occupation is, not anything else. The clues are the words double rooms, fully-booked, and twin room which are all connected with a hotel, so C must be the correct answer.

Focus on the words in the recording that are stressed because these will give you the main idea of the conversation. Stressed words in English are usually nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, because these are the words that contain the most information. Words like articles, prepositions, pronouns, and conjunctions that contain much less information usually have little or no stress. This applies to Parts 1, 2, and 4 too.

Example:



We need to finish that report by Friday.

The words that are most likely to be stressed in this sentence are the verbs need and finish, and the nouns report, and Friday. These contain the most important information.

Some questions may ask you about facts and some questions may ask you about a speaker's emotions or relationship. For example, "How does the woman feel?" or "What is the relationship between the man and the woman?" The answer to these types of questions will not be given directly in the conversation. You will have to infer the answer to these questions based on what the speakers say, their tone of voice, the level of formality they use, and so on.

Example:



Conversation

Woman:

This is the second time you've been late for work this week. It's just not good enough.



Man:

I'm really sorry. It won't happen again.



Woman:

Well, just make sure it doesn't.



Question

How does the woman feel?

A. Shocked

B. Sad

C. Angry

D. Worried

The woman does not directly say that she is angry, but from what she says to the man, and probably her tone of voice in the recording too, you can infer that C is the correct answer.

Listen carefully to the announcement before each talk. It will tell you which number questions you need to answer for that talk and what type of talk it is going to be. Each talk does not have the same number of questions, so if you do not know which number questions to answer, you could get confused. If you know what type of talk it is going to be - for example, an advertisement, a news story, a telephone message - you will know the context, which will make it much easier to focus on and understand the talk.

Example:



Questions 84-86 refer to the following weather report.

This tells you that you need to answer questions 84, 85, and 86, and that the talk is going to be a weather report. Now you can focus your mind on the topic of weather and be ready for words like sunny, rain, and so on.



Part 4: Short Talks: Tips

The beginning of the talk is often very important. The first one or two sentences often contain or give clues to basic information, such as who the speaker is, who she/he is talking to, and where the talk is taking place. You will often be asked questions about these things, and knowing this information will also help you to understand the rest of the talk.

Example:

Talk

Good afternoon and welcome aboard Zoom Airways Flight 237 from London to Berlin. This is Captain Toby Smith speaking...

From these first two sentences at the beginning of the talk, you know that the talk is taking place on a plane, the speaker is a pilot, and she/he is talking to the passengers.

Do not answer the questions until you have heard the whole of the talk, even if you think you are sure what the correct answers are. There could be important information at the end of the recording! This applies to Part 3 too.

Example:

Talk

Before I take you around the plant, I'd like to tell you a little about our plans for the company...........After the tour, we will be able to discuss your requirements and how we can meet them.

Question

Who is the man talking to?

The man is probably talking to clients because at the beginning of the talk he mentions plans for the company and at the end of the talk he mentions your requirements.

Part 5: Incomplete Sentences: Tips

Learn to recognize which questions in this part are testing your knowledge of vocabulary. In the vocabulary questions, the answer choices will often be the same part of speech - for example, all adjectives, or all verbs. You should think about the overall meaning of the sentence, so that you can choose the answer which will make the most sense.

Example:

All sales personnel who meet or exceed their sales quota, will receive a _________ of $500 at the end of the year.

A. bonus

B. fine

C. salary

D. charge

All the answer choices are nouns, so this question is testing your knowledge of vocabulary. If you think about the meaning of this sentence, the key words are meet or exceed and end of the year. If a sales person meets or exceeds their sales target, they have done well, so it would make sense to reward them, not punish them with a fine or a charge. You pay a salary every month, not at the end of the year, so the only logical answer is bonus.

Learn to recognize which questions are testing your knowledge of grammar. In the grammar questions, the answer choices will often be different forms of the same word. You should look at the sentence from a grammatical point of view so that you can choose the answer which is the correct grammatical form.

Example:

The ______ in our new style cafeteria is on healthy and nutritious food.

A. emphasize

B. emphasis

C. emphatic

D. emphasized

The answer choices are different forms of the same word, so this question is testing your knowledge of grammar. If you look at the grammar of the sentence, you can see that the word before the missing word is the article the. After the, you use a noun, so the correct answer must be B because emphasis is the noun form of this word.

If a question does not seem to be testing your vocabulary or your grammar, and all the answers seem possible, it is probably testing your knowledge of English usage - which words are used together in English. For example, you use the word heavy with rain (heavy rain), but you do not use big (big rain). You use the word take with shower (take a shower), but you do not use do (do a shower). So when you learn a new word, it is important to also learn the words that are commonly used with it.

Example:

Property prices have _________ significantly in the past year and are expected to remain high.

A. expanded

B. enlarged

C. risen

D. grown

The word price is often used with the verb to rise, but it is not used with the verbs expand, enlarge, or grow, so C is the correct answer.

The error can be within the underlined word or phrase, OR in the relationship between the underlined word or phrase and another part of the sentence. So you need to look both inside and outside the underlined parts of the sentence when you are looking for the error.

Example:

The

goods

left our warehouse

in

perfect condition,

so

they



A



B



C



must

have damaged

in transit.



the error can be within the underlined word or phrase, OR in the relationship between the underlined word or phrase and another part of the sentence. So you need to look both inside and outside the underlined parts of the sentence when you are looking for the error.

Example:

The

goods

left our warehouse

in

perfect condition,

so

they





A



B



C



must

have damaged

in transit.



D



The error is contained within phrase D. The goods did not damage something - they were damaged - so you need the passive form have been damaged here.

I have no

hesitation

in

recommending John Simpson,



A



B



which

has been a

most reliable

and hardworking employee.



C



D



The error is in the relationship between word C and the words John Simpson. John Simpson is the name of a person, not a thing, so you need the relative pronoun who here, not which.

Part 6: Error Recognition: Tips

One type of error to look out for is wrong prepositions. Learning which prepositions are used with which words will help you prepare for this part of the test.

Example:



Employees interested

of

attending the IT seminar

on

September 12,





A



B



should return

the

attached form to Personnel

as soon as

possible.





C



D



The error is A. You say that somebody is interested in something, so you need the preposition in, not of here.

Some errors will be in phrasal verbs. Study phrasal verbs so that you can recognize when there is this type of error.

Example:

Mrs. Jefferson

will



take under

Mr.Goddard's responsibilities





A

B

while

he is away

on vacation.



C



D

The error is B. You use the phrasal verb take over to say that someone will take control of something instead of someone else.Part 7: Reading Comprehension: Tips

Make sure you leave yourself plenty of time to do Part 7 because it will take longer than Part 5 or 6. You have 75 minutes to complete the Reading Comprehension section of the test - spend about half of this time (40 minutes) on Part 7.

A good way to train yourself, is to spend about 30 seconds on each question in Parts 5 and 6 of the test. There are 60 questions in Parts 5 and 6, so this will take you 30 minutes.

This will leave you with 45 minutes. You can spend 40 minutes on Part 7 and then have 5 minutes for checking before the test finishes.Read the introduction to the text because it tells you what type of text it is. For example, a letter, a schedule, a memo, an invitation, or an advertisement. If you know the type of text it is going to be, it will be easier for you to understand it and find the information you need to answer the questions.

Example:

Questions 187-190 refer to the following itinerary.

If you read this introduction, your mind will already be prepared for a text in the format of an itinerary, listing times, events, and places.

The best way to approach the texts is this: 1) Have a quick look at the text - read the title and scan the text to get the general idea of it. 2) Read the questions so that you know what information you need to find in the text. 3) Read the text again carefully, looking for that information, and answer the questions.

Example:



Text

Second Chef Wanted

Second chef required for 40-bedroom hotel in beautiful rural location. The style of food is modern European. Duties include stock control and creating daily specials. Must be able to relieve Head Chef on days off and vacations. Qualifications are not necessary, but previous experience is essential, preferably in a hotel environment. Knowledge of seafood an advantage. Live-in position. Five and a half day week. Immediate start. Salary $35,000.

Questions

1. Where is this job?

A. In a hotel in the countryside.

B. In a hotel in a European city.

C. In a hotel by the ocean.

D. In a hotel restaurant with a seafood restaurant.

2. Which of these statements about the job is true?

A. You will only cook fish.

B. You will always work with the Head Chef.

C. You will live in the hotel.

D. You will work Monday to Friday.

The introduction will have already told you that this is a job advertisement. So first you should read the title to see what type of job it is advertising (a chef) and have a quick look at the text, noticing the type of information it gives you (location, style of food, duties, etc.).

Next, you should have a look at the questions to see what information you are going to have to find. For the first question, you will see that you are going to need to look for information about where the job is. The second one is more general and covers many areas, but from the answer choices you can see that you will need to look for sentences or words which are connected to fish, the Head Chef, where the person will live, and when they will work.

Now you should read the text carefully to find this specific information.
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