TOEIC Level

You can use the below charts to find out how many hours of study it will take to reach a target TOEIC level from your current level. For example, if your current level is TOEIC 400, and your target is the 700 point level, it will take you approximately 750 hours of study to achieve your goal. It is important to note that it takes many more hours of study to raise one's TOEIC score at the upper end of the scale than at the lower end. For example, it takes about 100 hours of training to raise a score from 200 to 300 points, but it takes an estimated 400 hours to raise a score from 800 to 900 points.

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Estimated Hours of Study Needed to Progress Between TOEIC Levels TOEIC 200 TOEIC 300 TOEIC 400 TOEIC 500 TOEIC 600 TOEIC 700 TOEIC 800 TOEIC 900 --> 100 hrs 250 hrs 450 hrs 700 hrs 1000 hrs 1350 hrs 1750 hrs --> 150 hrs 350 hrs 600 hrs 900 hrs 1250 hrs 1650 hrs --> 200 hrs 450 hrs 750 hrs 1100 hrs 1500 hrs --> 250 hrs 550 hrs 900 hrs 1300 hrs --> 300 hrs 650 hrs 1050 hrs --> 350 hrs 750 hrs --> 400 hrs X

Please remember that these figures are all rough approximations. Many factors will influence your progress, including how hard you work, your native ability, and the quality of instruction you receive. From these charts, you should be able to get a realistic idea of how long it will take you to reach your goal. If you can estimate how long it will take you to learn English, you can avoid the unrealistic expectations that lead so many students to feel disappointed with their progress. So the next time you see a book in the book store with a title like "Perfect English in Only 20 Days," you will know that that is not only a wild exaggeration, it is impossible!

The TOEIC (Test Of English for International Communication) is probably the most cost effective and readily available way of evaluating an employees English skills, and for this reason, about 2,000 companies in Japan are now using it. The test was developed by ETS (Educational Testing Service), the same company that produces the GMAT test. Scores range from 10 to 990 with steps of five points. As a point of reference, TOEIC 730 (which is approximately equivalent to TOEFL 550*) is considered by most U.S. universities to be the minimum English proficiency level to begin academic work. Most universities will not accept applicants with scores lower than TOEIC 730. TOEIC 875 (which is approximately equivalent to TOEFL 600) is the minimum standard that most Universities set for applicants to programs where a good command of English is required, for example, an MBA Program.

*TOEIC score x .348+296=TOEFL score. This formula is published by ETS.-

It must be said that the TOEIC is not very useful as a precise measure of one’s English skills - It can only indicate an approximate level of development. In fact, the TOEIC is quite ineffective for measuring short term progress. (Short term is defined here as study for approximately 150 hours or less.) Unfortunately, many companies test after only 50 to 100 study hours for the purpose of measuring a students progress. This is wrong. TOEIC has published no guidelines for minimum intervals between testings. This shocking omission may be due to the fact that the more frequently companies use the test, the more money TOEIC makes. Although TOEIC claims an SEM of 25 (SEM = Standard Error of Measurement - an SEM of 25 indicates that 68% of all test takers fall within a range of plus or minus 25 points from their true scores), various independent studies have indicated that the TOEIC SEM more accurately lies in the range of 35 to 47. Corporate training managers who have experience using this test can readily verify this by analyzing their own score distributions.So how many hours of instruction are needed before the TOEIC will yield meaningful results? In a large-scale study conducted by Saegusa (Saugusa 1985), 53% of students who received an average of 84 hours of instruction had made gains of less than 50 points, a number which is less than the SEM and therefore statistically meaningless. Saugusa indicates that from 100 to 200 hours of instruction are needed before meaningful TOEIC scores can be obtained. It is appropriate, however, for corporate training managers to use the TOEIC test to determine the overall effectiveness of their company’s English training program. Using a sample of 30 students or more, it is possible, after a least 100 hours of instruction, to compare group mean pretest and post-test scores and evaluate the results next to the standards indicated on these charts. In a Research Paper titled “Good and Bad Uses of TOEIC by Japanese Companies,” Dr. Marshall Childs reaches the below five conclusions about the TOEIC test. This information is presented here with the permission of Dr. Childs.1) Measuring overall group gains in proficiency. Conclusion: Good under some circumstances. The TOEIC can be used to differentiate some group mean gains between large groups of learners with the caveats that careful measurement of statistical significance is necessary in order to distinguish real gains from illusory ones, and that even if the significance of the gains is established, the causes of the gains may remain problematic.2) Comparing the performance of different schools or treatments. Conclusion: Good under some circumstances. the administrator must be aware that the difficulty of raising a TOEIC score is considerably greater at the upper end of the scale than at the lower end.3) Gauging the progress of individual learners. Conclusion: Bad. The use of the TOEIC for gauging individual learning is, in general, inefficient or wrong. The variability of TOEIC results defeated their usefulness in measuring learning gains because the SEM (standard error of measurement) was in the range of expected individual gains.4) Counseling learners on their progress. Conclusion: Bad. Because of the SEM of TOEIC, test-to-test differences will display very great variability. For example, differences may be negative or they may be very large-and somewhat illusory in both cases. Indeed, the lower results that are frequently encountered in successive tests can have the unfortunate side-effect of demotivating learners.5) Guide the course of study of individual learners. Conclusion: Bad. TOEIC is not a diagnostic test and it can not pinpoint learners’ strengths and weaknesses. It can be a rough guide for gauging a learner’s overall level, if the administrator clearly understands the statistical variability of the results.

TOEIC(Test Of English for International Communication)은 영어가 모국어가 아닌 사람들을 대상으로 의사소통 능력을 평가하는 시험(Standardized Test)이다. 1975년 일본 경단련의 요청으로 1979년 미국 ETS(Education Testing Service)에서 개발하여, 대한민국에는 1982년 도입되었으며 현재 전 세계적으로 해마다 약 500만 명 이상이 응시하고 있다. 托业（Test of English for International Communication,TOEIC）是針對英語非母語人士所設計的英語能力測驗。测验成绩反映受測者在國際職場環境中，與他人透過英語溝通的熟悉程度。測驗內容以日常使用的英語為主，是以職业环境為基準的英語能力測驗，有“商业托福”之称。国際コミュニケーション英語能力テスト（こくさいコミュニケーションえいごのうりょくテスト、Test of English for International Communication）、通称TOEIC（トーイック）は、英語を母語としない者を対象とした、英語によるコミュニケーション能力を検定するための試験である。試験の開発、運営、試験結果の評価は、アメリカ合衆国の非営利団体であるEducational Testing Service（教育試験サービス、ETS）が行っている[1]。TOEIC - ETS