Things you must know about TOEIC Part 7【TOEICパート7】いつも時間が足りない！絶対知っておくべき5つのこと
Many people have trouble running out of time on the TOEIC L&R test. This is especially true for TOEIC Part 7, the last part of the Reading section in the second half of the test, which is a typical case of just filling in the mark sheets and leaving the rest to chance.
So, in this article, we will tell you 5 things you must know if you are having trouble with running out of time in TOEIC Part 7. Here is an example of TOEIC Part 7.
This is important information that will help you improve your score just by knowing it, so please check it out until the end.
- Part 7 is the most important part with 27% of the total questions
- Three types of questions in TOEIC Part 7
- Distribution of TOEIC Part 7 Questions
- Time Allocation for TOEIC Part 7
- Part 7 Score Improvement Techniques
First, Familiarize yourself with TOEIC Part 7
One of the reasons why you may run out of time in Part 7 is that you are not familiar with the outline and features of Part 7 and are taking the test in a vague way. To avoid running out of time, it is first important to familiarize yourself with Part 7.
Point.
Understand it theoretically, not vaguely.
①Part 7 is the most important part with 27% of the total questions
The total number of TOEIC questions is 200. Part 7 contains 54 questions, which is about 27% of the total number of questions. In other words, Part 7 is the most important part of the TOEIC, and you cannot aim for a high score if you are not good at this part.
However, conversely speaking, if you can master part 7, you can expect to achieve a high score or a significant score increase. In any case, you should be aware that Part 7 is an important part that accounts for more than a quarter of the entire TOEIC score.
②Three types of questions in TOEIC Part 7
There are three question types in TOEIC Part 7.
Single Passage・・・Questions in which only one passage is presented
Double Passage・・・Questions in which two passages are presented
Triple Passage・・・Questions in which three passages are presented
All of the questions are based on situations that may occur in business or everyday life and are similar to the other parts of the test. For example, such situational themes as below.
Situation
Letter・
E-mail・
Multiple People Online Chat・
One on One Chat : Text Message Chain t・
Customer Reviews・
Advertisement ・
Website Post・
Web Page・
Online Customer Service・
Information・
Announcement ・
Press release・
Form・
Memo・
Article・
Report・
Invoice・
Sign・
Agenda・
Schedule
You will need to work on practice questions until you can instantly identify which of the above applies to each question.
③Distribution of TOEIC Part 7 Questions
It is important to know the distribution of questions in Part 7. If you do not know this, you will not know the “pace during the test” and this will lead to the act of running out of time and filling up the mark sheets.
The number of questions for each passage of the three question types (single, double, and triple) that we have already told you about is as follows
Single passage・・・10questions
Double passage・・・2questions
Triple Passage・・・3questions
Ten single passages means that there are 10 single-passage question types.
Each single passage has two to four questions, each double passage has five questions, and each triple passage has three questions. The total number of questions in Part 7 is 54.
④Time Allocation for TOEIC Part 7
This section describes the ideal time allocation for the TOEIC Part 7. This section is especially important, so please read it carefully.
The Reading section of the TOEIC is 75 minutes long. There are three parts to the Reading section: Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7.
As we have already told you, Part 7 is an important part, accounting for more than a quarter of the entire TOEIC. However, if you are aiming for a high score, you should not discard Part 5 and Part 6. The ideal time allocation is as follows, considering the overall balance.
Ideal TIme Allocation
Finish Parts 5 and 6 in 15 minutes, and allocate the remaining 60 minutes to Part 7 (54 questions in total).
If you want to find out more about Best Ways to score high on the TOEIC listening part: TOEICのリスニングパートで高得点を取るための学習法. read our blog.
What you should be aware of during the exam is pacing.
The more time you spend on Parts 5 and 6, the less time you will have to work on Part 7, so always be aware of this. Incidentally, the speed at which you can solve Parts 5 and 6 in 15 minutes is essential if you are aiming for a score of 900 or higher.
The TOEIC exam has two start times: morning and afternoon. The start time is fixed, so you will know in advance what time you need to start working on Part 7 for both the morning and afternoon sessions.
If the exam starts in the morning, you must begin part 7 at 11:20 am. If the exam starts in the afternoon, you must begin part 7 at 4:00 p.m. This is the time allocation/time to allocate 60 minutes for part 7.
In addition, it is important to consider the time allocation within Part 7 in detail: 60 minutes should be allocated to the three question types mentioned above.
Why time allocation is important?
Unless you have very good English skills, you will always run out of time if you solve the questions at an unplanned pace. Running out of time means that you will be filling out the mark sheets in the dark.
What that means is that you will miss some questions that you would normally be able to answer correctly.
If you want to improve your score or achieve a high score, the most important thing is to solve all the problems and avoid missing any. To achieve this, you need to make sure that you have allotted enough time, study hard to practice it, and then take the exam.
Understanding TOEIC Part 7 will lead you to a better score
We have given you an overview of Part 7 and time allocation. If you take the TOEIC exam with an unclear understanding of this part, you will have two main major disadvantages
- Dropping questions that you would normally be able to answer correctly (score down)
- You are studying for an exam without time allocation in mind (inefficiency and time-wasting)
If your current score is 600-700, you can expect a significant score increase simply by eliminating the above and working on Part 7.
Point
Focus on learning English to acquire the reading speed and overall English skills that will allow you to practice the pace of time allocation we have provided.
⑤TOEIC Part 7 Score Improvement Techniques
From here, we will share with you some techniques that you can use right now to improve your score on Part 7. These are detailed techniques, but they are useful to know, so please take a look at them.
▶Skip difficult questions
In the TOEIC, which has 200 questions in total, only a few of them are very difficult. These are the kind of questions that even a person with a high level of English ability, such as someone who scores a perfect 990, would have trouble with.
For such questions, even if you take your time, the probability of a correct answer is low and you may waste your time.
TOEIC scores are statistically processed to ensure objectivity in scoring. Therefore, there is no fixed score distribution of xx points per question, but if the score is 990 points for all 200 questions, then each question is about 5 points.
For example, a person aiming for 800 points can get 800 points even if he/she gets 40 out of 200 questions wrong, and a person aiming for 900 points can get 900 points even if he/she gets 20 questions wrong.
In other words, it is easier to reach the target score if you solve more and more questions that you can answer correctly, rather than focusing on a few particularly difficult questions.
▶Do not skim read
If you have a reading speed of 150 words per minute (150 WPM), you can read the entire text of TOEIC Part 7 in time without skimming.
This speed of 150 WPM is said to be the same as that of a native English speaker in the third grade of elementary school. Incidentally, the average speed of Japanese university students is about 80 wpm.
People who need to skim read are those who overwhelmingly lack reading speed and do it as a last resort. It is more productive to simply make an effort and learn to increase reading speed rather than trying hard to learn to skim reading techniques because you are short on time.
It is recommended to study for a better score with your real competency rather than to master a trick for a better score. The speed of 150 wpm is not that difficult.
▶How to tackle with proper nouns, difficult adverbs and adjectives
Don’t spend too much time reading unfamiliar nouns such as names of people and places. For example, when “Mr. Christopher” is mentioned in a sentence, some people can read it smoothly as “Mr. Christopher,” while others may have trouble reading “Mr. Chris? toph? △□?”
Since this is a person’s name, it is not necessary to read it, so simply understanding it as “Mr. C” will save you time.
Don’t spend your time when you see an adverb or adjective that is not in your vocabulary. You will not understand an adjective or adverb you do not know even if you think about it. Therefore, try to guess the meaning from the context before and after.
If that is also difficult, consider the following.
- Simply take it as “positive meaning” or “negative meaning”.
- If you are not sure at all, just ignore it.
Adverbs and adjectives serve to decorate the whole or part of a sentence. Therefore, in many cases, you can roughly understand the entire sentence even if you do not understand its meaning. The key is to be aware of this and not spend unnecessary time forcing on the parts you don’t understand.
Lastly…
The two main reasons why you may not have enough time for Part 7 are as follows.
- Your reading skill (English skill) is not good enough, to begin with.
- Poor understanding of Part 7 and taking or studying for the test without thinking about the specific pace of the test.
A certain level of English proficiency is essential to eliminate time loss in Part 7. One of the guidelines is a reading speed of 150 WPM. The most reliable way to achieve this is to study English while preparing for the exam so that you can solve part 7 in 60 minutes.
