Lesson 1 of 9 · Introduction
The TOEIC Listening & Reading test and how to prepare
Before you practice a single question, you need a clear picture of the test: what it measures, how it is organized, how the score is calculated and what a realistic improvement looks like. This lecture gives you that picture, then turns it into a study plan built on what learning research says actually works.
Free extract from the Noto Tracks TOEIC course
In the full lesson you will learn to
- describe the seven parts of the TOEIC Listening & Reading test, their number of questions and their timing;
- read a score correctly: scaled scores, measurement error, CEFR levels and the ten abilities on the score report;
- set a realistic target for the time you have before the test;
- build a 2-week, 30-day, 60-day or 90-day study plan;
- use study techniques that research supports, and drop the ones that only feel productive;
- apply eight general test-taking strategies and prepare for test day;
- use the Noto tools (drills, mock exams, flashcards, plan and insights) as one system.
1. What the TOEIC Listening & Reading test is
The TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) is a family of English tests developed by ETS, a US nonprofit organization that also designs other large-scale tests. The best-known member of the family is the TOEIC Listening & Reading test (often shortened to "L&R"). It measures how well you understand spoken and written English in everyday working life: meetings, phone calls, e-mails, schedules, advertisements, invoices, travel, hiring and similar situations. A separate test, TOEIC Speaking & Writing, measures productive skills; it is covered later in this course.
Three features define the L&R test, and each one has consequences for how you prepare:
- It is a workplace test, not a business test. You need the English of the office, the shop, the airport and the e-mail inbox, but you never need specialist knowledge of finance, law or marketing. If a text mentions a quarterly budget, the question is about what the text says, not about accounting.
- It is not a pass/fail test. Everyone receives a score. Organizations decide which score they require, so your target depends on your goal (a job application, a promotion, a graduation requirement, a program admission).
- It measures receptive skills only. You choose answers; you never speak or write. Your listening and reading are scored separately, then added together.
Who uses the scores? Employers use them for hiring, for placing staff in training programs and for deciding who is ready for an international role. Universities and schools use them as a graduation or exchange requirement and to place students in English courses. Some public bodies use them for recruitment. Many organizations prefer recent scores, often no older than two years, so plan your test date around the deadline you are working toward and check the exact requirement with the organization itself.
2. The format, part by part
The test contains 200 multiple-choice questions and lasts about two hours: about 45 minutes of Listening, then 75 minutes of Reading. Expect your session to be longer than that in total, because identification checks, instructions and personal details on the answer sheet come first.
| Section | Part | Name | Questions | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Listening (about 45 min, 100 questions) | 1 | Photographs | 6 | You see a photograph and hear four statements, (A) to (D). You choose the one that best describes the photo. The statements are not printed. |
| 2 | Question–Response | 25 | You hear a question or statement, then three responses, (A) to (C). Nothing is printed: not the question, not the responses. | |
| 3 | Conversations | 39 | 13 conversations, 3 questions each, four options. Some conversations have three speakers; some questions refer to a graphic; some ask what a speaker means by a quoted phrase. The questions and options are printed, and the questions are also read aloud. | |
| 4 | Talks | 30 | 10 short talks by one speaker (announcements, voicemails, tours, advertisements, broadcasts), 3 questions each. Same question types as Part 3. | |
| Reading (75 min, 100 questions) | 5 | Incomplete Sentences | 30 | One sentence with one blank and four options: grammar or vocabulary. |
| 6 | Text Completion | 16 | 4 short texts with 4 blanks each. In each text, one blank asks you to choose a whole sentence. | |
| 7 | Reading Comprehension | 54 | Single passages (29 questions) and multiple passages (25 questions, in sets of two or three linked documents). Texts include e-mails, notices, articles, forms, advertisements, text-message chains and online chats. |
What the Listening section feels like
The audio is played once. You cannot pause it, replay it or go back. Speakers have American, British, Canadian and Australian accents, so practice with all four. In Parts 1 and 2 nothing is printed except the photographs, which makes these parts a pure test of listening concentration. In Parts 3 and 4 the questions are printed in your test book, which gives you an advantage if you read them before the audio starts. The pause after each question is short, so the rhythm is: answer, then immediately read the next set of questions.
What the Reading section feels like
The Reading section is self-paced: 75 minutes for 100 questions, in any order you like. This sounds generous, but many test takers do not finish. Part 7 alone contains 54 questions and a large amount of text. Pacing is therefore a skill in itself, and Lecture 9 is devoted to it. As a first benchmark, aim for about 20 minutes for Parts 5 and 6 together, which leaves about 55 minutes for Part 7.
3. How scoring works
Scaled scores
You receive a Listening score from 5 to 495 and a Reading score from 5 to 495, in steps of 5. The total is the sum, from 10 to 990. These are scaled scores. Your number of correct answers (your raw score) is converted to the scale with a conversion table built for that specific test form. This process, called equating, makes scores comparable across forms: if one form is slightly harder than another, the same scaled score requires slightly fewer correct answers. ETS does not publish these conversion tables, so be careful with any website that claims "one correct answer = 5 points". It is not that simple, and no unofficial table can tell you your exact official score.
No penalty for wrong answers
Only correct answers count. A wrong answer and a blank answer have exactly the same effect: zero. This gives you a simple and absolute rule: never leave a question blank. If you run out of time in Reading, fill in every remaining circle. With four options, a random guess still has a one-in-four chance.
Measurement error: think in ranges
No test is perfectly precise. If you could take two different forms of the test on the same day, with no learning in between, your two scores would usually differ a little. ETS reports a standard error of measurement of about 25 points per section. In practice, a Listening score of 350 is best understood as "probably somewhere between about 325 and 375".
This matters when you compare two scores. ETS also reports a standard error of the difference of about 35 points per section. Building on that figure, Andrade (2014) suggests a practical rule for progress in one section:
| Change in one section | Reasonable interpretation |
|---|---|
| Less than 40 points | Within the normal margin of error: stable. |
| 40 points or more | Likely progress. |
| 80 points or more | Progress with a high degree of confidence. |
Noto uses these same thresholds for its estimated scores, per section and never on the total.
CEFR levels
Many organizations express requirements as levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), from A1 (beginner) to C2 (mastery). ETS has published a mapping of TOEIC scores to CEFR levels. The table below gives the minimum scores in that mapping. Check the current ETS documentation if a requirement is close to a boundary, because official tables can be revised.
| CEFR level | Listening (minimum) | Reading (minimum) |
|---|---|---|
| A1 | 60 | 60 |
| A2 | 110 | 115 |
| B1 | 275 | 275 |
| B2 | 400 | 385 |
| C1 | 490 | 455 |
Notice two things. First, the levels are set per section: a total of 785 does not "equal B2" unless both sections reach their B2 minimum. Second, the gaps are wide. Moving from B1 to B2 in Listening means a gain of 125 points, which is a long-term proficiency project, not a matter of tricks.
Lucía scored Listening 390 and Reading 400 (total 790). Her employer requires "B2 in both skills". Has she reached it?
Answer: Not yet in Listening. Her Reading score (400) is above the B2 minimum of 385, but her Listening score (390) is below the B2 minimum of 400. The total of 790 is irrelevant here, because the requirement is set per skill. Given the measurement error of about 25 points, her true Listening level is close to the boundary, so a focused listening plan has a realistic chance of getting her over it.
Tomasz took a Noto mock exam in March (Reading estimate 300) and another in April (Reading estimate 330). Has his reading improved?
Answer: We cannot say yet. A change of 30 points is below the 40-point threshold, so it is within the normal margin of error. It may be real progress, or it may be the difference between two forms. He should keep working and look at the trend over several mock exams rather than celebrating, or worrying about, a single number.
4. The ten abilities on the score report
Along with your scaled scores, the official score report shows the percentage of questions you answered correctly for ten "abilities measured", five per section. Many test takers skip this part of the report or find it hard to interpret, which is a pity, because it tells you what kind of question is costing you points. Here is what each ability means in plain language, and what to do if it is low.
Listening
| Ability | In plain language | If it is low |
|---|---|---|
| Infer gist, purpose and basic context in short spoken texts | You understand what a short exchange is about and why someone is speaking (mainly Parts 1 and 2). | Practice Part 2 for the function of the question (request? suggestion? complaint?), not just its words. |
| Infer gist, purpose and basic context in extended spoken texts | You can say where a conversation or talk takes place, who the speakers are and what the main topic is (Parts 3 and 4). | Listen for the first two sentences of each conversation: they usually answer "where" and "what about". |
| Understand details in short spoken texts | You catch the specific time, place, person or object in a short exchange. | Work on sound discrimination: similar-sounding words, numbers, names. |
| Understand details in extended spoken texts | You catch dates, prices, reasons and next steps inside a longer conversation or talk. | Read the questions before the audio so you know which detail to wait for. |
| Understand a speaker's purpose or implied meaning | You understand what a speaker means, not only what they say ("We're already at capacity" can mean "We can't accept your request"). | Practice the "What does the speaker mean when she says…?" questions and always listen to the sentence before the quote. |
Reading
| Ability | In plain language | If it is low |
|---|---|---|
| Make inferences based on written texts | You can work out what is suggested or most likely true, even when the text does not state it word for word. | For "most likely" and "suggested" questions, find the sentence that supports your choice before you mark it. |
| Locate and understand specific information | You can find a date, a price or a name quickly in a form, a table or a passage. | Scan practice: read the question, then hunt for the key word without reading the whole text. |
| Connect information across sentences and texts | You can combine two pieces of information, including from two different documents. | In multiple-passage sets, look for the shared detail (a date, a product code, a name) that links the documents. |
| Understand vocabulary | You know workplace words and collocations and can choose the right word for the context. | Daily spaced-repetition flashcards; learn words in pairs (place an order, meet a deadline). |
| Understand grammar | You can choose the correct form, tense, pronoun or connector (mainly Parts 5 and 6). | Work through the grammar sheets one point at a time and drill Part 5 by grammar point. |
You've reached the end of the free extract
Keep going with the full lesson
The rest of this lesson is in the Noto Tracks TOEIC course, with the practice questions and the answer key.
- 5. How long does it take to improve?
- 6. What learning science says about studying
- 7. Building your study plan
- 8. Eight general test-taking strategies
- 9. Test-day checklist
- 10. How to use Noto for TOEIC
Also in the full lesson
- Practice questions
- Answer key with explanations
- One-page summary
50 questions, free, with an estimated score.
TOEIC is a registered trademark of ETS. This guide is not endorsed or approved by ETS. Noto Studio is not affiliated with ETS. All examples are original.