Higher Civil Service English Exam Change to TOEFL – TOEIC

English examinations for civil service exams for foreign service, administration, technology and other fields are being replaced by the language skills exam used by private organizations and the PSAT in the first round which is a public office qualification assessment test.

The Civil Service Commission and the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs (MOGAHA) decided on November 4 to reorganize the national civil service exam in order to fill the need for knowledge and information.

According to the plan for reorganization, the first round of the exam will reduce the number of formal subjects related to assessing knowledge by one and will be replaced by the PSAT which assesses the basic knowledge and skills necessary for public officials.

Announcement of those who pass the PSAT will be announced only for the year concerned and those who pass the first round will number ten times more than the current personnel who are in line for selection.

The exemption from first round exams has been eliminated, which means that those who fail the second round will have to re-take the first round test.

The English exam will be replaced by TOEFL, TOEIC, TEPS which private organizations use, with 530 for TOEFL, 700 for TOEIC, and 625 for TEPS as the standard score for passing the first round exam.

The plan will make the second round test to focus on vocational subjects directly relevant to the work and reduce the number of subjects by one. The third round assesses the value system that public officials need to have.

In the case of the foreign affairs exam, the first and second sections will be consolidated into one. In order to recruit individuals who have exceptional foreign language skills, those who write their second round exam in a foreign language will qualify for a fixed ratio.

The 7, 9 level exam will also change so that the current seven administration subjects and the six technical subjects in the 7 level exam will be consolidated into six total subjects while the 9 level exam will reduce its administrative and technical subjects to five.

The changes will go into effect by the 2004 foreign service exam in consideration of the test takers` preparation time, while the changes in the administrative exams will be incrementally introduced beginning in 2005 and will be complete by 2007 in order to prevent any possible problems from affecting efficient implementation and operation.

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