Improve Your Score Quickly

What can I do to improve my TOEIC/TOEFL/IELTS score?

I have a few pieces of advice for you below. I will warn you that these steps might be very challenging, but they are the best way to increase your points quickly. Each list is in priority order, so do the first things on the list before you do the things after.

For a long-term strategy to increase your points, I recommend that you study with Anki. Learn how to do that here.

How to Improve Your Reading Score

• Keep taking the test as many times as you can. Sometimes we all have one bad test day, so it is a good idea to try and take the test many times. Taking the test every month would be my advice.

• Study the vocabulary which is most common in the test you want to take and try to MASTER all of the words. Look for lists of words in frequency order (出る順). You can study the most important TOEIC words in English Central. For directions see here: https://sites.google.com/view/vocabularyseiwa/faq 

• Get one or two Reading practice tests and study them slowly until you understand EVERY WORD and EVERY SENTENCE on the test. This includes the questions - answer all of them, and then check your answers. If you don't understand any sentence, any grammar, or any vocabulary - ask a teacher. If you do not understand why an answer is correct - ask a teacher.

• After you are finished reviewing a practice reading test, wait a week and review it again. Anything that you do not remember, look up again or ask for help.

• Practice reading as much as possible. Your brain needs to get used to reading and understanding English sentences. This is called "fluency". The easiest way to do this is using English books called "graded readers", like those in the school library. It is also a good idea to start reading some more difficult English text every day. These can be newspaper articles, online blogs, or more difficult books.

How to Improve Your Listening Score

• Practice taking listening test sections as many times as you can

• Do dictation practice with the audio from practice tests. Keep practicing until you can hear every word they are saying. Follow the steps here: Studying Listening with Dictation

• After finishing the dictation above, wait a week and do it again. (repeat)

• Study a few (only a few is fine!) listening practice tests until you understand EVERY WORD and EVERY SENTENCE on the test. This includes the questions - answer all of them, and then check your answers. If you don't understand any sentence, any grammar, or any vocabulary - ask a teacher. If you do not understand why an answer is correct - ask a teacher.

• Study the vocabulary on the test you want to take, but include pronunciation and listening practice.

• Practice listening to English as much as possible. You can use the audio cds which come with graded readers, or you can find Youtube videos, news broadcasts, podcasts, or whatever else that interests you. Try to include a balance between things that are fun and easy to understand, and things that are more challenging so you have to listen closely.

There is a lot of information above, but the most important advice I can give is to START TODAY, and DO A LITTLE EVERY DAY. 10 minutes every day is better than 5 hours the day before the test. You need to build good habits if you want to increase your points quickly.