Actual changes from May, 2016

Good morning!

Looking out the hotel window at one of my favorite views. Today is perfectly clear, so we can even see individual ships on the distant horizon!

The main reason for today's post is that I realized many people may not be aware of the actual changes in the TOEIC set to appear in May of next year.

These changes can be seen on the following web page: http://www.toeic.or.jp/info/2015/i025/i025_01.html

Essentially, the changes can be summarized as follows:

In the Listening Section, the number of items in Parts 1, 2, and 3 will change. Part 1 will have only 6 photo items, Part 2 will have 25 items, and Part 3 will have 13 conversations, each with 3 Qs, for a total of 39 Qs. Part 4 will still have  10 3Q talks for the same total of 30 items. The Listening Section will still be administered in 45 minutes. Another change is that there will sometimes be visual prompts in Parts 3 and 4. These will likely be things like charts, tables, maps, etc. with the speaker(s) mentioning information that can only be seen by looking at the visual prompt. This is consistent with TOEIC's recent tendency to increasingly require the synthesis of information from different locations.

In the Reading Section, there will also be a shift in the allocation of items to each Part. Part 5 will still be in the same format, but will have only 30 items in the future. Part 6 will increase slightly by adding one item to each passage for a total of 16 Qs (4 passages, each with 4Qs). There will be one additional item in Part 7 Single Passages for a total of 29Qs. And Part 7 Double Passages will be called Multiple Passages in the future. One additional set will be added for a total of 25 Qs (5 sets of 5Qs). The reason for this is that some of the MP will have 3 passages, instead of the current 2. Exactly how many there will be is not yet open. Also, we're not sure if the number of questions requiring the synthesis of information from multiple locations will increase or not. These are currently called BPQ; we'll need to re-name this item type.

For those of you who were wondering what the specific changes would be, I hope this post helps. To be honest, we won't know for sure until the first test appears next May, however.

Robert  

 

After a long absence

Hello.

This time, uncharacteristically, I won't even try to apologize for my long radio silence. I'd like to think that I'm not just lazy, but actions speak louder than words.

Now I have a few days with my family in Awaji. This is one of our favorite places. We come here two or three times per year. It's not only good family time. It gives me a chance to think about the direction I want to go in the future.

Certainly, with the TOEIC undergoing another relatively substantial revision to be rolled out in May, 2016, there are many opportunities for TOEIC authors to revise their offerings to reflect the changes in the test. One of the big gambles, of course, is whether to produce materials before the actual test is unveiled next May. Naturally, any author that ventures to write a TOEIC book before experiencing the actual test has a big advantage, assuming he or she "gets it right." The problem, to be sure, is that ETS might make some last-minute changes in the test, based on their pilot testing, similar to the changes they made in 2006. One concrete example is that they announced that Part 6 would have 3 passages with 4Q each and the CDQ would comprise the bulk of the questions in Part 6. As we know, the actual test that came out in May, 2006 had 4 passages with 3Q each. Further, there were very few CDQ in the initial offering of the 新型 TOEIC at that time.

Anyway, I look forward to our annual TTT in February so that I can share ideas with other TOEIC specialists and determine the best path to take.

I'll keep you posted.

Robert