The Mistake in 'Study Order' That People Who Are Stuck on Their TOEIC Scores Often Make

There is actually one thing that people whose TOEIC scores are not improving have in common. It is not vocabulary size or grammatical knowledge. It is the assumption that the 'number of problems solved' is proportional to their 'score'.

Many people study in an order where they finish one reference book and move to the next, or take one practice test and move to the next. This is because they believe that if they put in the volume, their score will eventually catch up. However, in reality, there are many cases where they just increase the number of problems they solve while repeating the same mistakes. Most people who plateau around 600 points for several months to half a year fall into this category.

People who hit this wall have something in common. Many are the type who believe for the first few months that 'if I do the volume, I will improve,' and they feel satisfied just by stacking up reference books. Every time they buy a new reference book at a bookstore, they feel like they are making progress, but their practice test scores do not move. In fact, their actual test scores can sometimes be lower than their practice test scores.

The scores only started to move after I changed the way I studied itself. Specifically, what I changed was that I stopped setting goals like 'how many books to finish this week' and started setting goals like 'which mistakes to reduce this week.' This seemingly small difference actually changes the entire design of your study.

The reason for this is that a TOEIC score is determined more by 'the speed and accuracy of information processing tailored to the test format' than by English ability itself. While vocabulary and grammar knowledge are necessary as a foundation, the score only comes after you layer the technique of 'how to solve within the time limit' on top of that foundation. Studying by volume works for the former (the foundation), but it does not work very well for the latter (the technique). Many people struggle because they spend most of their study time building up the foundation and leave the technique part neglected.

This approach is closer to a design plan of 'what to do, in what order, and for how much time' rather than a collection of tricks. That is why it is reproducible. It is not a matter of talent or innate intelligence, but a matter of order and method, so even busy working professionals can achieve the same results if they align their methods.

From here on, I will specifically write about the study order I actually used, the time allocation by part, and the weekly review method. In addition, I want to organize the reasons why it is easy to plateau in the 600-point range by score band, and provide the entire 'study blueprint,' such as what order to use materials in and how to utilize practice tests. For those who read this far and feel that 'this sounds familiar,' this content should be especially useful.

Why doesn't doing volume lead to improvement? A more detailed look

In the free part, I talked about 'order over volume.' Here, I will break down the reasons for that in more detail.

TOEIC is broadly composed of 100 listening questions and 100 reading questions, for a total of 200 questions, but these 200 questions each require different 'processing.' Part 1 and 2 require instantaneous power, Part 3 and 4 require reading ahead and anticipating information, Part 5 and 6 require recognition of grammar patterns, and Part 7 requires a reading style that picks up only the necessary information within the time limit. These may seem similar, but the ways to train them are completely different.

The method of solving a reference book from cover to cover means you are trying to train these six different processing abilities simultaneously and indiscriminately. Of course, it is better than zero, but it is quite inefficient. Even if you do a lot of volume without grasping which part you are making mistakes in and for what reason, it is likely that you will only increase your accuracy rate in the parts you are already good at, while the parts you are bad at remain bad.

That is why the step of grasping 'which part you are currently in and what kind of mistakes you are making' is essential before starting to study. This is what you will do in the first three days of the two-week schedule I will explain next.

How to decide the order of study

A common occurrence during periods when scores do not improve is studying listening and reading with the same weight and the same method. Since the 'reasons for making mistakes' are completely different for each part, it is better to separate your countermeasures.

Part 1 & 2: If you can hear the audio but are confused by the options, the cause is often 'sound changes' rather than vocabulary. Especially in Part 2 response questions, if you miss the first 1-2 words of the question (interrogatives or auxiliary verbs), you cannot reach the correct answer no matter how much of the subsequent audio you can hear.
Part 3 & 4: If you cannot read the questions ahead of time, you will lose the leeway to look for information while listening. People with low accuracy in reading ahead tend to choose based on 'I think it was probably this' after the audio ends.
Part 5 & 6: Before suspecting a lack of vocabulary, suspect an oversight of frequent patterns. Since there are many questions with fixed patterns such as part-of-speech questions, tense questions, and preposition questions, whether or not you have memorized these as a template is directly linked to your accuracy rate.
Part 7: People who run out of time often have not broken the habit of intensive reading. If you start reading from the text before checking the questions, you will spend time re-reading to find the relevant parts later, and this adds up, leading to running out of time.

For each of these four groups, first grasp 'where you are stumbling and for what reason.' After that, starting with the area with the most room for improvement is the way to build a study plan that does not take a detour.

Example of a 2-week study schedule

A schedule assuming 30-40 minutes on weekdays and about 1 hour on holidays. It is narrowed down to an amount that even busy working professionals can handle. On the surface, it may look like 'only 2 weeks,' but the purpose of these 2 weeks is not to raise your score all at once, but to 'accurately grasp your weaknesses and create a template for countermeasures.' Once this foundation is built, the way you improve in the following months will be completely different.

1. Days 1-3: Solve one practice test and record the accuracy rate by part (the point is to look at the accuracy rate, not the score). At this time, it is important to time yourself and solve it with the same tension as the actual test. If you solve it without worrying about time, you will overlook the 'point loss due to running out of time' that occurs in the actual test.
2. Days 4-7: Narrow down to one part with a low accuracy rate and focus intensively on that part. If you try to take countermeasures for multiple parts at the same time, everything tends to end up half-baked, so dare to narrow it down to one.
3. Days 8-10: For vocabulary, spend only 15 minutes every day, prioritizing 'words you have seen but cannot recall the meaning of' over new words. Instead of redoing the vocabulary book from the beginning, picking up words that appeared in the review of the practice test will allow you to fill in the vocabulary you actually need.
4. Days 11-14: Solve the practice test again and compare the difference from the beginning. What you should look at here is not the total score, but how much the accuracy rate of the part you took countermeasures for has changed.

Taking these 2 weeks as one cycle, for the next 2 weeks, choose the 'lowest part' again and repeat. If you continue this for 2-3 cycles, your weaknesses will be leveled out, and you should start to feel that your overall level is rising.

3 indicators to look at in weekly reviews

Trends in accuracy rate by part (prioritize this over the total score). While the total score is affected by luck and physical condition, the accuracy rate by part more honestly reflects the effect of studying.
Classify the questions you got wrong into 'lack of knowledge' or 'lack of time.' If it is a lack of knowledge, you just need to re-memorize it, but if it is a lack of time, re-memorizing alone will not solve it. You need to review your time allocation and the order in which you solve them.
Are you making the same mistake for 2 weeks in a row? If you keep making mistakes for the same reason, it is a sign that you need to change the way you take countermeasures itself.

If you record these three things in a notebook or spreadsheet every time you do a practice test or problem exercise, you will be able to see your own growth when you look back a few months later. In terms of maintaining motivation, this record is quietly effective.

【Template】 Review sheet you can use as-is

Since many people worry about the format for recording, I will provide a template that you can copy and use as-is. Every time you do a practice test or problem exercise, you just need to fill in these four lines.

Date:
Part addressed this time:
Accuracy rate by part (previous time -> this time):
Number of questions with lack of knowledge / Number of questions with lack of time:
Did you make the same mistake last week? (Yes/No):

Just by looking back at this sheet at the end of every 2-week cycle, you can confirm with numbers which indicators moved and how, rather than just 'feeling like I'm improving.' In particular, if 'Yes' appears for two consecutive weeks in the 'Did you make the same mistake last week?' column, please take it as a sign to change the way you take countermeasures itself.

How to think about the order of using materials

The order in which you use reference books actually affects how your score improves. The recommended order is as follows.

1. First, solve 1-2 official problem collections (or practice test-style problem collections based on them) that match your level to grasp your current accuracy rate.
2. Choose one countermeasure book for the part that was your weakness, and focus intensively on that part.
3. Once you have finished the countermeasure book, return to the practice test-style problem collection again to confirm how your accuracy rate has actually changed.
4. While repeating this, proceed with the vocabulary book little by little every day in parallel.

If you do multiple countermeasure books in parallel, everything tends to be half-baked, so it is more efficient to decide, 'This is the period where I am focusing on this part,' and work on it.

Stumbling points and how to deal with them

If you feel that your accuracy rate does not improve even after solving practice tests, in many cases, 're-solving' is insufficient. If you make it a set to not just solve it once and finish, but to re-solve the questions you got wrong one week later, the way it sticks will change significantly.

Another common thing is changing the part you are addressing too frequently. Many people look at other parts because they don't see results immediately even after focusing for a week. Since it often takes at least 1-2 weeks to acquire techniques for each part, it is better to focus on that part for the decided period without switching too much in the middle.

Also, solving practice tests too frequently can be an unexpected pitfall. Practice tests are tools for grasping the current situation, and solving them itself is not very effective as study. You can find a balance if you intend to spend as much or more time reviewing one practice test as you did solving it.

Summary / Next Action

First, I want you to start by deciding on one practice test to do this week and recording the accuracy rate by part. If you can grasp your issues by accuracy rate rather than score, it will naturally become clear what you should do next.

On top of that, I want you to try the 2-week cycle introduced in this article at least once, and if possible, 2-3 times. In the first cycle, it might take time to grasp your weaknesses, but from the second cycle onwards, since you know where your issues are, the speed of your countermeasures should increase.

In this series, I have summarized more in-depth content on grammar countermeasures for Part 5 & 6, listening reading-ahead for Part 3 & 4, and time allocation for Part 7 in separate articles. You should be able to grasp the overall blueprint in this article, so once you see which part you should prioritize, I think you should read the article for that corresponding part.

【Reference Links】
Test Format and Composition | TOEIC Listening & Reading Test | IIBC Official
https://www.iibc-global.org/toeic/test/lr/about/format.html