ETS has just launched a new product called “TOEIC Link.” Details are still a bit vague, but it looks like an at-home implementation of the TOEIC test. You can read the press release here, but note that the actual product website is not available in certain countries.
A few early details are worth mentioning:
- Each section of the test is scored between 0 and 25 points, which is different from the normal TOEIC. The scores are aligned with the CEFR.
- Test takers can choose which sections (reading, writing, listening, speaking) are included in their administration.
- It isn’t clear if there is any difference in content between the TOEIC and the TOEIC Link. The internet rumor mill suggests that it might have new item types, but I’m not certain of that.
- It appears that registration is handled by local partners (EPNs), like the standard TOEIC.
- There are two proctoring options – AI with a human proctor, and AI without a human.
- Research is forthcoming.
The TOEIC doesn’t get as much coverage as the higher stakes exams, but it is extremely popular in certain key markets (Japan, Korea, Taiwan and France are the big ones). In 2023, the TOEIC reading/listening test was taken more than 3.2 million times worldwide. That’s pretty close to the number of people who took the IELTS that year (and way more than the number who took the PTE, TOEFL and DET tests). In 2019 the TOEIC reading/listening test was taken more than 4.8 million times, making it (by far) the most popular commercial English test in the world at that time.
The content of the TOEIC focuses largely on business-related situations. This means test takers might answer questions about an email sent by someone supplying products to a company or about some kind of invoice or receipt. Or a chain of text messages. Or a pamphlet advertising some services. You get the point. It also includes some grammar and usage questions, like on the classic TOEFL. I’ll paste images of some sample questions below.
This test has always had a unique business model. Test takers register via a local EPN (ETS Preferred Network) partner which handles just about everything – registration, payment, score reports, proctoring, etc. In Korea, for instance, that partner is YBM. ETS, meanwhile, generates and scores test items and is paid a royalty for each administration of the test.
TOEIC prep is a huge business here in Korea – the bookstores I visit contain more TOEIC books than IELTS and TOEFL books combined. I’ve been told that Japanese bookstores are similar.
My final office job was a year in a cubical writing practice TOEIC questions for Hackers Education Group in Seoul. Most of the material I generated was sold on to private institutes in Japan, but some of it still pops up in Korean textbooks. If you’re studying for the test and spot an invoice signed by a Nova Scotia radio host or a character from Degrassi, you’re probably reading one of my items.
