TOEIC

The TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) evaluates English proficiency for use in the workplace. It is used primarily by businesses and government agencies to make decisions about recruiting and promoting employees, for assessing employees' suitability for overseas assignments or postings, and to have a standard system of measurement and assessment. It is also used on English language programs for placement and assessment purposes.

TOEIC test takers are primarily employees in international corporations, and students enrolled on business English programs and on business, technical or vocational courses.

who administers the TOEIC?

The TOEIC is run by Educational Testing Service (ETS)

structure

The 2 hour test is divided into two sections, Listening Comprehension (Section 1) and Reading Comprehension (Section 2).

ETS phased in the New TOEIC during 2006 and 2007. The New TOEIC is designed to be more authentic and more reflective of scenarios which happen in today's workplace. The overall structure of the original and New TOEIC are the same, but there are some differences in the question types:

new TOEIC test

Section 1 (45 minutes, 100 multiple choice questions)
Photographs - 10 questions
Question-Response - 30 questions
Conversations - 30 questions (10 conversations, 3 questions each)
Short talks - 30 questions (10 talks, 3 questions each)

Section 2 (75 minutes, 100 multiple choice questions)
Incomplete sentences - 40 questions
Text completion - 12 questions (4 reading sets, 3 questions each)
Reading comprehension - 48 questions (single passages 28 questions, double passages 20 questions)

Test questions are taken from a range of contexts, including travel, entertainment, human resources, finance, corporate development and health.

original TOEIC test

Section 1 (45 minutes, 100 multiple choice questions)
Photographs - 20 questions
Question-Response - 30 questions
Short conversations - 30 questions (30 conversations, 1 question each)
Short talks - 30 questions (6-9 talks, 2-4 questions each)

Section 2 (75 minutes, 100 multiple choice questions)
Incomplete sentences - 40 questions
Error recognition - 20 questions
Reading comprehension - 40 questions

scoring

Each section is scored in a range from 5-495. The correct number of answers in each section (the raw score) is taken and converted to a scaled score using a conversion chart. The two scaled scores are added together to give a total score of between 10 and 990. You can see how TOEIC scores compare to a common framework here.

where can my students take the TOEIC?

The TOEIC can be taken at open public sessions, and at companies and language schools around the world.

TOEIC and TOEFL

The purpose of the TOEIC is to evaluate English proficiency for use in the workplace, and so is primarily used by businesses to make decisions about recruiting, promoting or training employees. The TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), on the other hand, evaluates English proficiency for academic study and is used primarily by higher education institutions as an admission requirement or to assess progress. You can read more about the TOEFL here or have a look at the ETS comparison of TOEIC and TOEFL.

more resources

ESL exams index
ETS website

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