This document provides tips for preparing for the TOEIC exam. It covers strategies for each section of the exam: 1) For Part 1 (photos), focus on who, what, where questions and pay attention to prepositions and homophones. 2) For Part 2 (short conversations), listen for question words and beware of distractors. 3) For Part 3 (longer conversations), focus on speakers and topics. Predict conversation types from questions. 4) For Part 4 (short speeches), listen for keywords and opinions. Visuals may provide context. It emphasizes pacing, not getting stuck on unknown answers, and using question types to guide listening. Proper preparation is key

1. 1
TOEIC TIPS LIST
TOEIC PART 1
 Don’t listen to the instructions! You can use the 90 seconds to look at the
pictures and predict what you will hear.
 In Part 1, you should think about 5 questions when listening. Who is in the
picture? What are they doing? Where is this place? What is in the picture?
Where are those objects in the picture?
 Be careful of homophones (steel bar, drink bar) and homonyms (plane, plain).
Listening to the whole sentence is important, not just one key word.
 Some questions relate to the general context of the picture (The man is in an
office.), while others relate to more specific context (The man is eating a
sandwich.) Although the sentences seem very different, they could be in the
same picture so be aware of both situations.
 Focus on the middle of the picture and the main people in the picture.
 If you hear present continuous (‘is…ing) , focus on the action, if you don’t, focus
on the general situation or location (prepositions of place).
 There are many prepositions of place ( in, at, on, next to, under, …). Please be
careful of these.
TOEIC Part 2
 Listen for the question word.
 What, when, where, who, how, why, which and whose can help you identify
the purpose of the question.
 Check if there’s a problem with tense and/or number agreement in the
sentence.
 Keep in mind that Wh-questions cannot be answered with ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
 If you hear the same word or similar-sounding word in the question and answer,
there is a good chance (over 80%), that it is wrong. Be careful of distractors.
 For why questions, the answer is not always “Because”… This is another
distractor.
 Separate opinion questions from fact questions. For an opinion question, the
answer must be an opinion and for a fact question, the answer must be a fact.
 Ex(opinion). Q: What does John think?
A: He is unhappy about the situation.
 Ex.(fact) Q: What is the problem?
A: The car won’t start in the cold.

2. 2
TOEIC Part 3
i. Tips and Strategies:
 Read the question only before listening to the tape.
 Don’t read the four possible answers because there is no time and they will
confuse you.
 First, read the question. Think of key words from the questions. Second,
listen. Third, look at the answers.
 If it is a ‘what’ question, listen for things. If it is a ‘who’ question, listen for
people or jobs. If it is a ‘when’ question, listen for times or dates. If it is a
‘why’ (‘how come’) question, listen for reasons. If it is a ‘how long’ or ‘how
much’ question, listen for numbers. If it is a ‘where’ question, listen for
places.
 For a question about “the man”, listen more to what the man has to say. For a
question about “the woman”, listen more to what the woman has to say. However,
there are often three people talking so you must take care if there are two men or
two women.
 Be aware of the following frequently asked questions.
 ‘The conversation topic’, ‘the relationship between people mentioned’, ‘the
place in which the conversation takes place’, and ‘the activity people are
engaged in’.
 Predict the type of conversation before you listen to it by looking at the questions.
These will often tell you what kind of conversation you’re going to hear.
 Don’t be misled by repeating words or phrases from the text. All answer
choices have been mentioned in the text, so listen carefully to how they are used
in context.
 Some questions on Part 3 have a table or graph with them and some questions
relate to the charts or visuals.
 Confirm what kind of visual it is. Is it a graph? A coupon? A map? A
graph?
 Have a look at the visual before listening. It could give you a tip.
 Especially, for 3-person conversations, focus not only on details but on the
general “topic” or flow of the conversation.

3. 3
TOEIC Part 4
 Read the question only before listening to the tape.
 Don’t read the four possible answers because there is no time and they will
confuse you.
 First, read the question. Think of key words from the questions. Second,
listen. Third, look at the answers.
 If it is a ‘what’ question, listen for things. If it is a ‘who’ question, listen for
people or jobs. If it is a ‘when’ question, listen for times or dates. If it is a
‘why’ (‘how come’) question, listen for reasons. If it is a ‘how long’ or ‘how
much’ question, listen for numbers. If it is a ‘where’ question, listen for
places.
 The beginning of the talk is very important because you can hear the topic
clearly.
 Use the questions and answers to identify the speaker’s and audience’s opinions
and emotions. This can help you answer some general information questions.
 Ask yourself: ‘How do they feel? And ‘What do they think?’
 Listen for key words. These can help you find the best answer.
 Be careful for synonyms (coworker-colleague). These are very common on the
test.
 In general, the specific information questions are organized in the order in
which the information is given in the talk, so try to answer the question while
listening to the talk. This may not be true if it’s a general information
question.
 Some questions on Part 4 have a table or graph with them and some questions
relate to the charts or visuals.
 Confirm what kind of visual it is. Is it a graph? A coupon? A map? A
graph?
 Have a look at the visual before listening. It could give you a tip.

4. 4
TOEIC Part 5
 There are two types of questions, vocabulary and grammar. If it’s a
vocabulary question, read the sentence, guess, then move on. Thinking for a
long time will not help you. If it’s a grammar question, look at the word before
or after the blank as this is very important for answering.
 To check subject/verb agreement, ask yourself these questions. ‘Is the subject
singular or plural?’ ‘Is the subject countable or non-countable’ ‘Is the correct
form of the verb being used?’
 Read quickly for verbs and their tenses. If there are multiple verbs, confirm
that all the verb tenses are logical and match each other correctly.
 Don’t waste time if you don’t know the answer. Timing and pace are very
important. Answer quickly and continue. Come back if you have time at the
end.
 Sometimes, sentences are divided into two parts. Check the link between the
two parts. If the 1st and 2nd parts are both good or both bad, use a “same”
linking word (i.e. and, also, therefore, thus, …). If the 1st and 2nd parts are
different (one good news, one bad news), use a “different” linking word (i.e. but,
although, however,…)
 Look at the quantity words that precede the nouns. Are they appropriate?
 A is more than B. (correct) A is most than B. (Incorrect)
 There is a lot of energy. (correct) There is many energy. (incorrect)

5. 5
TOEIC Part 6
 There are two types of questions, vocabulary and grammar. If it’s a
vocabulary question, guess then move on. Thinking for a long time will not
help you. If it’s a grammar question, look at the word before or after the blank
as this is very important for answering.
 To check subject/verb agreement, ask yourself these questions. ‘Is the subject
singular or plural?’ ‘Is the subject countable or non-countable’ ‘Is the correct
form of the verb being used?’
 Read quickly for verbs and their tenses. If there are multiple verbs, confirm
that all the verb tenses are logical and match each other correctly.
 Don’t waste time if you don’t know the answer. Timing and pace are very
important. Answer quickly and continue. Come back if you have time at the
end.
 Sometimes, sentences are divided into two parts. Check the link between the
two parts. If the 1st and 2nd parts are both good or both bad, use a “same”
linking word (i.e. and, also, therefore, thus, …). If the 1st and 2nd parts are
different (one good news, one bad news), use a “different” linking word (i.e. but,
although, however,…)
 Look at the quantity words that precede the nouns. Are they appropriate?
 A is more than B. (correct) A is most than B. (Incorrect)
 There is a lot of energy. (correct) There is many energy. (incorrect)
 Don’t read the story. It is not necessary most of the time. “Jump” to the
blank and then answer the question there. Reading the whole email or letter
will only waste time.

6. 6
TOEIC Part 7
 There are 5 types of questions. You must know what each type is.
 1) General topic questions – answers usually found at the beginning or in the
title.
 2) Specific (wh-question) questions – you must look at the Wh-question and
find the information that matches it (i.e. Who- look for a person/job) – Find 1
choice
 3) “Not” questions – you must find 3 of the choices and then the answer is the
4th one (not found).
 4) Inference (opinion) – these questions include the word “likely”, “probably”.
The answer is not in the story. You must imagine it after reading the story.
 5) Meaning questions – the word “…” in paragraph 1, line 7. For these
questions you must guess a synonym (same meaning).
 Answer the questions in the following order. 1st, do general and specific
questions, 2nd, do meaning questions, 3rd, do “Not” questions. Finally, do
“inference questions”. You do not questions and inference ones last because you
have already read the story a few times doing the other questions and this will save
you time and give you an idea about the story to help you answer.
 Read the questions, answer choices and passages quickly to identify the main
topic (or people or places or time) involved. Think of key words from the questions.
Then eliminate and answer that is irrelevant to the main topic (or people or places
or time). This will make your choice easier.
 In the answer choices, look for synonyms and paraphrases, not the exact words.
 There are many new types of questions such as “Instant Message Exchanges”
 Some questions involve 3 passages so the answer could be in one of the three or a
combination of 2 or 3 passages.
 The amount of reading is large so “skimming” and reading quickly is necessary.