Students Respond to 1st TOEIC Test

The first-ever TOEIC speaking and writing tests took place in Korea. Those who took the tests unanimously said that the questions were plain overall, and having discussions in English helped in the test.

The Korea TOEIC Committee announced on December 10 that it held Korea’s first TOEIC speaking and writing tests in 16 centers nationwide, including Seoul, Busan and Daejeon, on December 9 with the participation of 253 test takers.

The speaking and writing tests were held separately from the existing TOEIC on the basis of Internet-based testing as in the TOEFL.

The speaking test consisted of six patterns and eleven questions (20 minutes).

Applicants reportedly stated the key to sentence-reading questions (Nos. 1 and 2) was pronunciation of proper nouns, and that those on explaining a picture (No. 3) and answering questions (Nos. 4-6) were easy and plain.

On the other hand, the questions on looking at the schedule and answering phone inquiries (Nos. 7-9), answering a phone inquiry as to when the ordered item would arrive (No. 10), and answering what the merits of person-to-person communication had compared to other communication means, such as e-mail and telephone (No. 11), were slightly more difficult than the previous ones.

The writing test, which was held right after the speaking one without a break, was made up of three patterns and eight questions (60 minutes).

The questions on explaining pictures (Nos. 1-5) and writing replies to e-mails (Nos. 6-7) were said to have been plain.

The only question considered relatively difficult was No. 8, which required an essay on the pros and cons of changing jobs frequently and sticking to one for a long time.

“The questions were more about daily lives than about technical issues. They were slightly easier than the sample questions released in July,” said Ji Jeong-ah (32, female), an instructor at Testwise Sisa English Institute who took the tests on December 9. “Developing the habit of having discussions in English will help examinees in both of the tests.”

peacechaos@donga.com