I just took another TOEIC test. No study or taking classes. Just self evaluating about how well do I know my English. Then I ended up evaluating the test. So here's some opinions.
But before I continue, some information for those who never heard about TOEIC : It's a bit of an international standard English test which South Koreans are quite highly obsessed with. There are other related tests with different difficulties or measurements, such as TOEIC Speaking Test or TOEFL. Getting high scores in these things gets people better jobs in this country.
So, TOEIC today.
Some bits of the test were too easy and they sounded like they're trying to trick 5 years old kids. Other bits were less bits about testing English and more bits about the Society Structure, Human Behavior comprehensions.
Those 'Human' bits troubled me years ago when sometimes all 4 answers to a question were potential good answers and the questions were telling me to pick 'which one is the most likely answer'. I was all about 'be creative' and 'open the mind' at the time. My mind didn't like the limitations of the test.
None of it troubled me today, fortunately. No, I still don't agree with 'how things should be, as it should be' kind of concepts. But this time I knew how they're there. So I just threw them the stuff they wanted to hear.
I'm not quite fond of reading as much as I do with doing. As a deep reader, every 10 minutes reading is an hour of mind rape. And some latter questions kept making me read 5 decent paragraphs to find 3 words that I needed to answer a single question. It got worse when the question was about 'find an answer that is NOT'. So basically, I can't skip through just finding clues. I actually do have to read all of it, and reread them if I ever forget anything.
An example : A pointlessly long mail to talk about celebrating a company's promotion. And the first question is 'Why Dr. Ruusuvouri did NOT make a purchase?' And my thoughts would be like, 'What purchase? I thought they were celebrating!', 'Who the hell is Ruusuvouri?', 'What doctor? This company doesn't have a doctor!' Then I spend another 5 minutes reading it carefully until I find 'blablabla Anne Ruusuvouri M.A. has been blablabla' and my blood pressure goes up a little bit.
200 questions total. 100 of them about listening, quite easy if you can listen. About 50 of them are relatives of Dr. Ruusuvouri. And I didn't even get to read the last 15 questions, again.
Last time I did about the same, I still got little over 80% score. I never have to do this again if I'm over 90%. It's sort of my personal goal, and it'll makes my life easier about getting jobs in South Korea and even some oversea employments.
I'm pretty sure I got below 90% from today's test. If so, my evaluation would be complete. Then I get to figure out what will happen to the score if I actually study before I take the test.
But before I continue, some information for those who never heard about TOEIC : It's a bit of an international standard English test which South Koreans are quite highly obsessed with. There are other related tests with different difficulties or measurements, such as TOEIC Speaking Test or TOEFL. Getting high scores in these things gets people better jobs in this country.
So, TOEIC today.
Some bits of the test were too easy and they sounded like they're trying to trick 5 years old kids. Other bits were less bits about testing English and more bits about the Society Structure, Human Behavior comprehensions.
Those 'Human' bits troubled me years ago when sometimes all 4 answers to a question were potential good answers and the questions were telling me to pick 'which one is the most likely answer'. I was all about 'be creative' and 'open the mind' at the time. My mind didn't like the limitations of the test.
None of it troubled me today, fortunately. No, I still don't agree with 'how things should be, as it should be' kind of concepts. But this time I knew how they're there. So I just threw them the stuff they wanted to hear.
I'm not quite fond of reading as much as I do with doing. As a deep reader, every 10 minutes reading is an hour of mind rape. And some latter questions kept making me read 5 decent paragraphs to find 3 words that I needed to answer a single question. It got worse when the question was about 'find an answer that is NOT'. So basically, I can't skip through just finding clues. I actually do have to read all of it, and reread them if I ever forget anything.
An example : A pointlessly long mail to talk about celebrating a company's promotion. And the first question is 'Why Dr. Ruusuvouri did NOT make a purchase?' And my thoughts would be like, 'What purchase? I thought they were celebrating!', 'Who the hell is Ruusuvouri?', 'What doctor? This company doesn't have a doctor!' Then I spend another 5 minutes reading it carefully until I find 'blablabla Anne Ruusuvouri M.A. has been blablabla' and my blood pressure goes up a little bit.
Last time I did about the same, I still got little over 80% score. I never have to do this again if I'm over 90%. It's sort of my personal goal, and it'll makes my life easier about getting jobs in South Korea and even some oversea employments.
I'm pretty sure I got below 90% from today's test. If so, my evaluation would be complete. Then I get to figure out what will happen to the score if I actually study before I take the test.
2 Comments
This not just a novel but a societal based study of India.The Author in a very sarcastic way, hammers and explains castism, bureaucratic system, class struggle, sanitation,poverty, politics , fraternity among the INFLUENTIALS, etc in India. This book may seem ordinary to people from small towns or villages ( as these incidents are part of the their "NORMAL" life ) but may surprise the urban people.
ReplyDeleteThanks for providing information it is very useful for students
ReplyDeleteTOEFL Listening Tips