TOEIC Speaking course

1. The test at a glance

The TOEIC Speaking test contains 11 questions and takes about 20 minutes. You speak into a microphone; there is no live examiner. Instructions appear on the screen and are also read aloud. Each task gives you a short preparation time and then a fixed response time, shown by a countdown. When the time ends, recording stops, even in the middle of a sentence.

How your answers are scored

On the real test, your recorded responses are scored by certified human raters trained by ETS, not by a machine. Raters use a scoring guide for each task type. For Questions 1–2 they give two separate scores, one for pronunciation and one for intonation and stress. For the other tasks they give one overall score that considers whether your answer is relevant and complete, and how well you use grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and fluency. The task scores are then converted into a final score on a scale from 0 to 200, reported in steps of 10.

ETS also maps Speaking scores to the CEFR. The minimum scores used in this course are 90 for A2, 120 for B1, 160 for B2 and 180 for C1.

Three principles for every task

1. Answer the task, all of it. A response that is fluent but incomplete loses points. If a question has two parts, answer both.
2. Keep talking until the time is almost up. Silence cannot be scored. A simple sentence said clearly is always better than a perfect sentence you never finish.
3. Be understandable, not native-like. Raters do not expect an American or British accent. They expect clear sounds, clear word endings and sentence stress that helps the listener.

2. Questions 1–2 · Read a text aloud

Timing: 45 seconds to prepare, 45 seconds to read. Texts: short announcements, advertisements, recorded telephone messages, introductions of speakers, radio news or tour information, usually 50–70 words long. Scoring: pronunciation 0–3 and intonation & stress 0–3, for each text.

What raters listen for

• Pronunciation: individual sounds, word stress and word endings are clear, so that every word is easy to recognize. Minor lapses are acceptable at the top level.
• Intonation and stress: you pause in the right places, stress the important words and use rising and falling pitch to show the structure of the sentence. The reading sounds like a message, not a list of separate words.

The five skills of reading aloud

1. Thought groups. English speakers divide sentences into short groups of words that belong together, with a small pause between them. Pause at commas and periods, and before a long phrase that starts a new idea. Never pause inside a noun phrase such as customer service department or between a preposition and its noun (at | the front desk is wrong).

2. Sentence stress. In each thought group, one word carries the main stress. It is usually the last content word, or the word that gives new information: a time, a price, a name, a contrast. Small grammar words (a, the, of, to, and, is) are short and weak.

3. Intonation. Statements end with a falling tone. Yes/no questions usually rise at the end (Are you looking for a new car? ↗). Wh- questions usually fall (Where can you find better prices? ↘).

4. Lists. In a list, the voice rises on each item and falls on the last one: sofas ↗, tables ↗, and outdoor furniture ↘. Lists appear in almost every read-aloud text, because they are an easy way for raters to check intonation.

5. Numbers, dates and names. Practice these during preparation. Say fifteen with stress on the second syllable and fifty with stress on the first. Read 9:30 as "nine thirty," $24.99 as "twenty-four ninety-nine," March 3 as "March third," and a web address with "dot." For an unfamiliar name, choose one pronunciation and use it confidently every time.

Step-by-step method (45 seconds)

1. 0–10 s: Identify the text type and choose a tone: an advertisement is enthusiastic, a news item is neutral, a telephone message is friendly and clear.
2. 10–35 s: Read the text aloud quietly from beginning to end. Repeat any difficult word, name or number twice.
3. 35–45 s: Find the list(s) and the question(s). Decide where your voice rises and falls. Look at the first sentence again so that you start smoothly.

Common mistakes

• Dropping final sounds: open for opened, product for products, month said as mons.
• Reading word by word with equal stress, so the message has no shape.
• Reading too fast to "finish safely." At a natural pace of about 130–150 words per minute, a 60-word text takes less than 30 seconds; you have time.
• Stopping completely after an error. Simply repeat the word or phrase and continue.
• Rising at the end of every sentence, which makes statements sound like questions.

Practice prompt

Model reading (| = short pause, CAPITALS = main stress, ↗↘ = rising and falling pitch):

Notes: The first sentence is a yes/no question, so it rises. There are two lists of three items; each rises on the first two items and falls on the last. The stress on fifTEEN keeps it different from FIFty. Telephone numbers are read in small groups, digit by digit. The pace is calm: this reading takes about 30–35 seconds, leaving a safety margin.

3. Questions 3–4 · Describe a picture

Timing: 45 seconds to prepare, 30 seconds to speak, for each of two photographs. Scoring: 0–3. A top response describes the main features of the picture, is generally easy to understand, and uses appropriate vocabulary and structures with only minor errors.

The four-part structure

Thirty seconds is about 60–75 words at a natural pace, which is five or six sentences. Use the same order every time so that you never wonder what to say next.

1. Overview (1 sentence): where the picture was taken and what kind of scene it is.
2. Main people and actions (2 sentences): the most important person or group, what they are doing and what they look like.
3. Details (1–2 sentences): other people, objects and the background, using location phrases.
4. Impression (1 sentence): a reasonable guess about the situation or the atmosphere.

Useful language

Step-by-step method (45 seconds)

1. Decide the setting in one sentence.
2. Choose the main person or group and find two actions or features.
3. Choose two details (one on the side, one in the background).
4. Think of one impression sentence.
5. Say the key nouns to yourself so that they come quickly: counter, cart, shelves, apron.

Common mistakes

• Listing nouns without verbs: A table. A laptop. Some cups.
• Agreement errors with groups: The people is…, There is two…
• Spending the whole 30 seconds on one person.
• Stopping to search for one missing word. Describe it instead: a tall metal stand for coats.
• Inventing a story that the picture does not show.

Practice prompt

Notes: The answer follows the four-part order: setting, main action, details with location phrases, impression. It is about 75 words, so it fits in 30 seconds at a steady pace. Every action uses the present continuous, and the vocabulary is precise but simple (stalls, canopies, reusable). If you did not know canopy, striped covers over the tables would work just as well.