Hi there, it’s Riiid TUTOR! In TOEIC part 2, there are question and answer problems where you listen to 3 possible answers to a question and choose the most appropriate one. Through this, communication skills required in daily life and work environments are evaluated. A total of 25 questions are asked, and neither questions nor options are written out on the test, so it is important to listen to the questions accurately. One good way is to solve the problem by eliminating the wrong answers one by one as you go along. The questions in TOEIC part 2 can be divided largely into interrogative and non-interrogative questions. Let’s take a look at each.
Listen carefully to the first word of the question – WH questions
A WH question refers to a question that begins with one of six interrogatives: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
In the case of interrogative questions in TOEIC part 2, it becomes, to some extent, easy to predict and find the answers if you pay close attention to the first part of the question.
Various forms of non-interrogative questions
There are various forms of non-interrogative questions, and it is helpful to target TOEIC part 2 by understanding what kind of yes-no questions there are.
First of all, yes-no questions are questions that can be answered with a yes or a no, and they start with be-verbs, auxiliary verbs, do / have / will / should, etc. “Did you attend the meeting yesterday?” is an example of a yes-no question which you can answer with “Yes” if you were at the meeting or “No” if you weren’t.
A tag question is a question followed by “right, don’t you,” etc. “It must be your first company picnic, right?” is an example of a tag question.
Negative questions are questions that start with the infinitive type isn’t / doesn’t / won’t. An example of such a question would be: “Haven’t you made a reservation yet?” If you have a reservation, you can say “Yes, I did.” If you haven’t, you can say “No, I didn’t.”
Suggestion/request statements are questions that begin with “Why don’t ~? / Would you ~? / Could you ~?” For example: “Could you review the draft document for me today?” And choice questions include “or,” leading to a choice between A or B. For questions like “Which would you prefer, tea or coffee?”, you can choose tea or coffee. Or you can give a third answer: not A or B, but something like “Water would be enough for me.”
All the questions we’ve looked at so far were started in the order of <WH interrogative + verb + subject>. However, unlike these general questions, there are questions that use the word order <WH interrogative + subject + verb>. These are indirect questions. If you look at the sentence “Do you know where I can get a map?”, the speaker asks, “Do you know ~?”. However, the information the speaker really wants to find out is where the person can get a map. This is the important point of the question above. If you look at the word order of this key question, you can see that it is in the order of <where (WH word) + I (subject) + can get (verb)>. This is an example of what an indirect question is like.
A declarative is a sentence that starts with <subject + verb>, unlike an ordinary question. If a declarative appears in the TOEIC Part 2 question, various patterns of reactions can be followed as an answer depending on the intention of the speech. Such intentions include information delivery, suggestion, request, speaker’s opinion/appreciation/expression of interest, and question raising. For example, to a declarative sentence, “I’ve forgotten how to log in,” you can answer in a variety of ways, such as “Look up the employee manual,” or “That page is accessible without logging in.”
Useful Tips to Quickly Find Answers in TOEIC Part 2
TOEIC part 2 requires a high level of concentration because it goes by quickly for about 20 seconds per question. In order to target TOEIC part 2, it is a good idea to solve problems and learn questions and answers as pairs. This way, you can learn the pattern of frequently asked questions and answers.
There are three main types of TOEIC Part 2 answers. There are “direct answers” that give direct answers to questions, “indirect answers” that indirectly imply the actual answer, and “other types of answers” that either counter-question the original question, replies that the answerer does not know the answer, or provide irrelevant information to the question.
Direct answer: Gives direct answer to the question.
ex.
A: Where is the key to the supply room?
B: On my desk.
Indirect answer: Answers the question, but in an indirect way.
A; Where is the key to the supply room?
B: I saw Mark use it this morning.
Other types of answers: Asks a question back, says I don’t know, or presents information that is not directly relevant to the question.
A: Where is the key to the supply room?
B: Do we have a supply room in our company?
If you hear the question correctly, you can solve the problem by predicting what type of answer will be given when a direct question is given. Recently, however, indirect answers and unfriendly or hostile questions with other types of answers have increased, frustrating a lot of TOEIC test takers. If you have difficulty with questions with indirect answers and other types of answers, it will be helpful to remember the wrong answer pattern along with the type of answer.
1) Incorrect answers using similar pronunciation
Q: How was the interview for the internship?
A: It received mostly positive reviews.
2) Incorrect answers using the same words repeatedly
Q: Why did you leave the office so early yesterday?
A: I’ll leave on Friday.
3) Incorrect answers using derivative relationships of specific words
Q: What should we take with us to the product demonstration?
A: The shop sells only fresh local produce.
These wrong answer patterns are not absolute. However, if you didn’t hear the question well, thinking about this wrong answer pattern can help you solve the problems in TOEIC part 2.
How should I memorize vocabs from TOEIC Part 2?
So far, we’ve learned how to target TOEIC part 2. This time, we’ll tell you the vocabularies and expressions that are frequently asked by type of question.
Who question – title, department related vocabs
As business-related information is frequently presented on the TOEIC test, memorizing various positions and department names in the workplace helps solve part 2 ‘who’ questions.
| president | vice president |
| board members | management |
| head of department | supervisor |
| accounting department | finance department |
| human resources | marketing team |
| customer service team | maintenance |
When Questions – specific time representation & time/sequence relationship representation
The vocabularies that often appear in relation to the ‘when’ questions can be divided into specific time expressions and time/sequence relationships.
<Specific Time Representation>
| at noon | an hour ago |
| last year | early next week |
| by the end of the month | no later than May 1 |
<Time/Post Relationship Representation>
| recently | soon |
| after/before | sometime next week |
| as soon as possible |
Where Questions – place, location related vocabs
‘Where’ questions can be answered with expressions related to places and locations.
| over there | around here |
| on one’s desk | across the street |
| on the opposite side of |
Why Question – reason, purpose related vocabs
‘Why’ questions can be answered with reason, purpose, etc. The following are related vocabularies.
| to discuss | to meet with |
| for advice | because of a traffic jam |
| due to heavy rain |
How Questions – method, frequency, period related vocabs
‘How’ questions can be divided largely into questions that ask how, how often, and for how long.
<Method>
| by e-mail | in person |
| by cash/credit card |
<Frequency>
| every morning | once a month |
| biannually/annually |
<Duration>
| for about an hour | over weeks |
Offer – offer acceptance expressions vs offer rejection expressions
Proposals such as “Why don’t we buy tickets in advance?” may have an answer that accepts or rejects them. If you know what expressions accept and reject an offer, you can predict the answer by listening to the problem.
<Acceptances>
| Sure. | That sounds good. |
| If it’s not too ~. |
<Rejections>
| No, thanks. | I’m sorry, but |
| I’m afraid I can’t. |
Effectively study previous TOEIC Part 2 test sample vocabs!
For TOEIC part 2, accurate listening skills are more important than with any other part of the LC section. The first step of attentive listening is memorizing TOEIC vocabularies from previous sample tests. Try memorizing strategically by figuring out which questions and which vocabularies appear frequently. If you study efficiently like this, you will be able to get the TOEIC score you want in a short period of time.
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