Hi there, it’s Riiid TUTOR! What comes to your mind when you think about TOEIC 900 points? For some people, TOEIC score 900 is a dream score. Some people may even say goodbye to studying TOEIC once they get 900 points. But for some other people, TOEIC 900 may be a score that they want to break through. No matter how hard you study, you may feel frustrated because you can’t get more than 950 points or achieve a perfect score on TOEIC. In any case, TOEIC 900 is objectively a high score.
Then, what kind of level is a TOEIC score 900 exactly? Also, what difference does it make between the score level of a bit over 900 and 950+? To answer your question, I brought two of the TOEIC Part 5 questions that best show the gap between TOEIC score level of 900 and 950 points. If you are curious about your TOEIC level, it will be helpful to check out the two questions I brought today.
The first question to figure out if you can score over 900 in TOEIC
Here’s the first question to find out if you can score over 900 in the TOEIC test.
Question 1.
All executives are pleased that the _______ merger deal is expected to be completed within a month at the latest.
(A) competent
(B) detailing
(C) pending
(D) opposed
Were you able to solve it? For those of you anticipating a TOEIC score of 900, which answer did you choose? Let me take a guess.
Did you choose (A) component or (B) detail? Am I right? If you chose (A) competent or (B) detail, unfortunately, you may not be able to reach 900 points in the TOEIC. But it’s too early to be disappointed just yet. If you improve your skills before you take an actual TOEIC exam, you will definitely be able to reach the 900 points range. I’ll let you know the answer soon, but before that, would you like to know how I was able to guess that you will choose (A) component or (B) detail? I’ll tell you how.
An analysis of the learning data of this problem held by Riiid TUTOR showed that 47.37% of those who have scored 800 points level chose (A) competent or (B) detail. This is about half of the TOEIC users in the 800 score level range. Compared to those who scored above 900 points on TOEIC, the incorrect answer rate was 31.65% higher. Where did such a noticeable difference come from?
The answer to this question was (C) pending. The question required choosing the most appropriate adjective to go into the blank. In the context, ‘the “_____” merger deal is expected to be completed within a month,’ a blank comes before “merger deal”, so the adjective vocabulary should be used to express the characteristics of the merger by modifying the merger deal after the blank. Therefore, the correct answer is (C) pending. (A) competent means ‘able’, (B) detailing means ‘explanatory’, and (D) opposed means ‘against’, which are all incorrect because they don’t match the logical flow of the sentence.
Those who chose (B) detailing as the answer to this question probably didn’t know the meaning of the word “detailing”. In order to get a high score of more than 900 points on the TOEIC test, you need to know a lot of vocabulary that is frequently asked on the test, but you currently may be lacking in vocabulary. Shall we take a look at one more question?
The second question to figure out if you can score over 950 in TOEIC
This time, you can check if you can score over 950 in the TOEIC test.
Question 2.
The manager of the sales department _______ Mr. Perry on securing Norfolk Co., the largest account in the company’s history.
(A) admired
(B) congratulated
(C) appreciated
(D) celebrated
How was this problem? Let me guess which option was chosen by the people aiming for a score level of over 950.
Did you by any chance choose either (A) admired or (C) appreciated? Was my prediction right again this time? If you chose (A) admired or (C) appreciated, you might not be able to reach the TOEIC score level of 950 and above. Again, I’ll tell you why I expected you to choose either (A) admired or (C) appreciated.
An analysis of learning data from this problem held by Riiid TUTOR showed that 58.55% of learners with a TOEIC score level of a bit over 900 who tried solving the problem chose (A) administered or (C) appreciated. More than half of the learners with a TOEIC score level of a bit over 900 chose the wrong answer. Compared to those with a TOEIC score level of 950 or higher, the incorrect answer rate was 27.15% higher.
The answer was (B) congratulated. This problem was about choosing the appropriate verb to go into the blank. This question has a sentence structure including a gerund, which is frequently asked on the TOEIC test. If you look at the following blank, the correct answer is (B) congratulated, which is a vocabulary that can be used in this structure (congratulate A on B) because it has a “person + on + gerund noun” structure. (A), (C), and (D) are incorrect because they don’t match the logical flow of the sentence.
This was a tricky problem as a lot of people with a score level of a bit over 900 got it wrong. If the meaning of the given sentence in the question was not accurately interpreted or the sentence structure was not analyzed properly, the answer would most likely have been wrong. To reach 950 points, and ultimately achieve a perfect score on the TOEIC, you need to accurately interpret and analyze these kinds of tricky problems so you can solve them.
Quickly assess your TOEIC level and only study areas where you are lacking!
Do you now have a rough idea of what the gap between the score level of a bit over 900 and 950+ is? This process of identifying your level before taking the TOEIC test and before you start studying TOEIC is very useful. You need to know your current skill level to know what you need to focus on when studying in the future. A quick diagnosis of your own level and intensive learning of only the parts that you lack is a shortcut to improving TOEIC scores.
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