All About TOEIC

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March 20, 2023

All About TOEIC by Learnhall Contributor Queendaleen Okeke-Izuagwu

Globally, English proficiency tests are now a necessity for employment in many organizations and admission into many universities and colleges. There are different English proficiency tests all over the world. Some are required for employment and some are for academics; meanwhile, others serve both purposes. Some of the proficiency tests are TOEIC, TOEFL, IELTS, FCE, CPE, GESE, etc. In this article, I’ll be talking about TOEIC and its recent worldwide statistics as of 2021.

All about TOEIC

The full meaning of TOEIC is Test Of English for International Communication. It is an international standardized test of English language proficiency for non-native speakers. It is an exam that shows the language skills to live and work in an English-speaking country. It assesses English communication skills relevant to each position in the workplace. However, it can be needed for admission into a higher education program or at the end of the program to validate a degree. Alternatively, some individuals also take the exam to check the level of their English proficiency and improve on it for learning purposes.

TOEIC is divided into two components:

Listening and Reading
Speaking and Writing

The Listening and Reading component assesses the ability of the individual to comprehend spoken and written words. They are two equally-graded tests totaling a score of 990, or 495 for each of them. The test takes about 2 hours and 45 minutes for the listening part and 75 minutes for the reading part.

The speaking and writing component assesses the ability of the individual to make correct sentences with both spoken and written words. The speaking part checks the pronunciation, intonation and stress, vocabulary, grammar, cohesion, the relevance of the content, and completion of content while the writing part measures the grammar, relevance of sentences to the pictures, quality, and variety of sentences, vocabulary, organization, and whether the opinion is supported with reason and/or examples. This component lasts for a bit over an hour; 20 minutes for speaking and 60 minutes for writing with a score of 200 for each part. Depending on the organization, speaking and writing skills may/may not be required.

There’s also the TOEIC Bridge Test which was developed for beginners and intermediate students in English. It comprises 100 questions for the Listening and Reading component and lasts for about an hour while the speaking and writing part comprises 17 questions and lasts for about an hour. It is less difficult than the actual TOEIC exam, but it’s not accepted by the majority of organizations.

TOEIC also has two components: the secure program (SP) and the institutional program (IP). The SP is largely for individuals while the IP is for organizations, schools, or any institutional body. The SP is taken at a time and place specified by IIBC (Institute for International Business Communication) whereas the IP is taken at a time and place chosen by a company, organization, and school.

TOEIC was developed in 1979 by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) based on a request from the Japanese ministry of international trade and industry. The listening and reading aspect of TOEIC was first developed before the inclusion of the speaking and writing component in 2006.

Over time, modifications have been made to further strengthen its ability to measure an individual’s English proficiency. Studies carried out after each revised edition of the test showed that with each modification the test becomes more difficult, yet more accurate. Both TOEIC and TOEIC Bridge test scores have a validity of 2 years.

TOEIC STATISTICS WORLDWIDE

TOEIC is accepted and trusted by 14,000+ organizations. It is taken in over 180 countries and has ~one million test-takers annually. After the test, a questionnaire is administered to every participant to get certain information that will help in the annual statistics.

Below are the 2021 statistics by ETS. It shows the percentage of test-takers by gender, age, level of education, and years spent studying English and their average scores in each component of TOEIC.

Statistics for Listening and Reading

The largest proportion of test takers (44%) was between 21 and 25 years of age;
51% of test takers were male and 49% were female;
59% of test takers had an undergraduate degree as their highest level of education or were pursuing one;
81% of test takers had spent more than 6 years studying English

Below are the Tables:

Age	% of Test takers	Listening (Mean score)	Reading (Mean score)	Total (Mean score)
20 or under	19.1	301	237	538
21 – 25	43.9	350	289	639
26 – 30	16.2	368	307	675
31 – 35	7.2	351	294	645
36 – 40	4.8	336	281	617
41 – 45	3.5	328	277	605
Over 45	5.3	331	281	612

Gender

% of Test

takers

Listening

(Mean score)

Reading

(Mean score)

Total

(Mean score)

Female

48.6

351

285

636

Male

51.4

332

277

609

Level of education	% of Test takers	Listening (Mean score)	Reading (Mean score)	Total (Mean score)
Graduate school	12.9	362	321	683
Undergraduate college	58.9	350	294	644
High school	7.3	304	245	549
Junior high school	0.6	302	227	529
Elementary school	0.2	289	225	515
Community college	12.3	289	224	512
Language institution	1.4	280	195	475
Vocational school	2.8	256	186	442
Vocational school after high school	3.6	277	206	482

Years spent studying English	% of Test takers	Listening (Mean score)	Reading (Mean score)	Total (Mean score)
> 10 years	48.2	369	314	683
> 6 – 10 years	33.0	317	261	578
> 4 – 6 years	9.8	295	234	529
< = 4 years	9.0	285	220	504

Statistics for Speaking

58% of test takers were male;
Most test takers (69%) had an undergraduate degree as their highest level of education or were pursuing one;
80% of test takers had spent more than 6 years studying English

Below are the tables:

Gender

% of Test

takers

Listening

(Mean score)

Female

41.7

133

Male

58.3

124

Level of education	% of Test takers	Listening (Mean score)
Graduate school	14.0	128
Undergraduate college	69.4	130
High school	3.8	120
Junior high school	0.9	106
Elementary school	1.9	107
Community college	5.0	113
Language institution	3.8	127
Vocational school	0.5	114
Vocational school after high school	0.6	114

Years spent studying English	% of Test takers	Listening (Mean score)
> 10 years	58.5	132
> 6 – 10 years	21.9	126
> 4 – 6 years	9.1	122
< = 4 years	10.5	113

Statistics for Writing

52.9% of test takers were female;
Most test takers (49.6%) had an undergraduate degree as their highest level of education or were pursuing one;
Approximately 70% of test takers had spent more than 6 years studying English

Below are the Tables:

Gender

% of Test

takers

Listening

(Mean score)

Female

52.9

146

Male

47.1

148

Level of education	% of Test takers	Listening (Mean score)
Graduate school	18.6	156
Undergraduate college	49.6	155
High school	11.2	117
Junior high school	4.1	118
Elementary school	7.8	123
Community college	4.4	134
Language institution	1.1	138
Vocational school	1.1	126
Vocational school after high school	2.1	136

Years spent studying English	% of Test takers	Listening (Mean score)
> 10 years	51.1	157
> 6 – 10 years	19.0	149
> 4 – 6 years	10.4	140
< = 4 years	19.5	127

Conclusion

TOEIC is accepted by many organizations and countries across the globe. It’s a plus for employment, especially in places like Japan and surrounding countries. Statistics have also shown that the more years you spend studying English, the better the score. If you’re not in a hurry to take the exam or your organization/prospective employer isn’t requesting it, it’s best to take your time and study it well before taking the test.