I had my first TOEIC test experience last week. In order to take the test, I went back to my “hometown” Shimane. For the current pandemic situation, ETS set a limitation on every test center. Considering the extremely high competitive rate of the test enters in the Tokyo area, I deliberately applied to Shimane’s test center.
Before the test, I indeed did some practice to get familiar with the questions. To be honest, the first part of the TOEIC test looked stupid. It lets the examinee choose pictures based on listening to sentences. The last time I saw this kind of question I was in elementary school. After finishing complete set of practice questions, I could say there were no substantial difficulties there. Some questions may be tricky which have nothing to do with one’s English ability.
That’s exactly how I felt about the actual test last week. My performance was not too ideal. I was a little nervous at first so I screwed up on the picture thing which was supposed to be the easiest part of the whole test. Before the test, I drank a cup of Starbucks Americano and took 200 mg caffeine pills. Because of this, I had to go to the restroom two times during the test, making my time management a mess. Yet somehow I managed to finish the test just in time. The poor guy beside me left a fifth of his answer sheet blank.
Compared to TOEFL iBT, TOEIC is totally a joke. TOEFL is a full scale real deal including robust speaking and writing tests. Even the listening and reading parts are more sophisticated and close to real life situations. Many articles even claim that people with TOEIC score of 800 are considered to be able to talk to native speakers actively. How would that be possible if TOEIC doesn’t even have a speaking test by default.
However, TOEIC is still the most popular English benchmark in Japanese society. Everyone needs it including me. After the English presentation I mentioned last time, my supervisor required me to be the English teacher of my department. Helping my colleagues to get a higher TOEIC score is the main purpose. I am still wondering how I can reach that goal since I learned English by simply continuing to use it, but it may be a good thing that TOEIC is a mediocre test.
