Effective communication with colleagues, customers, and business partners is an essential and highly-demanded skill in today’s workforce. But what if you are a non-native English speaker trying to succeed in an increasingly competitive workplace?
The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC), an internationally standardized exam, assesses English language proficiency for non-native speakers. The exam is trusted and accepted by over 14,000 organizations in 160 countries, and measures a candidate’s ability across four language skills: listening, reading, speaking, and writing.
What’s covered on the exam?
The TOEIC exam measures four skill sets:
- Listening: In this section, test takers are given 45 minutes to listen to a variety of questions and short conversations recorded in English. Then, they answer 100 questions based on what they have heard.
- Reading: Test takers read a variety of materials and are given 75 minutes to respond to 100 questions, ranging in topic from incomplete sentences to error recognition to reading comprehension.
The listening and reading sections take approximately 2½ hours to complete altogether. - Speaking: The speaking portion of the test lasts about 20 minutes and includes 11 questions that measure various aspects of a test taker’s speaking ability, such as reading text aloud, describing a picture, and proposing a solution to a problem.
- Writing: Test takers will be given 60 minutes to answer eight questions that measure different aspects of their writing ability. For example, they will be asked to respond to a written request, and state, explain, and support their opinion in a 300-word essay.
TOEIC Exam Scoring
There is no passing or failing score on the TOEIC Speaking and Writing or Listening and Reading tests. Test responses are scored based on specific evaluation criteria. Depending on which test you take, you will receive a speaking score, a writing score or both with a combined scale score. Scores on the TOEIC Listening and Reading test are determined by the number of correct answers, which is converted to a scaled score. The score report provides listening, reading, and total scaled scores.
Benefits of taking the TOEIC exam
With your TOEIC score, you can demonstrate your English proficiency to potential employers by showing your full range of communication skills, differentiate yourself from the competition, and expand your job opportunities.
Registering for the exam
There are two options to register for the Listening and Reading Test or Speaking and Writing Test:
- Public test sessions are held in various testing locations around the world throughout the year.
- Institutional test sessions are offered by your employer or a language school. To register for institutional testing sessions, contact the instructor/supervisor at your organization or school.
Preparing for the exam
To help you prepare for the TOEIC exam, Peterson’s offers two full-length practice tests covering all four sections of the exam. To learn more, visit our TOEIC exam test prep.
