Practice Your Methodology

In one of my earlier blog entries, I suggested that one of the best ways to get high marks in the TOEIC exam is to think of yourself as a detective looking for evidence (http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1072977324321164354#editor/target=post;postID=7370930501862566810). I compared the situation to the TV show 'Les Experts' (Or, CSI for those outside France). This is great advice because if you can understand the logic of the questions, you are far more likely to be able to answer them. It is important to look for vocabulary clues and for grammar clues and to use those clues in your thought process when you answer.

I recently thought about the above blog article and realized that I had missed something very important. The advice is fantastic for your exam, but it is also vital for your preparation. If you follow the logic whilst you are preparing, it will make it easier to do the same when the pressure is on in the exam. As teachers often say "Practice Makes Perfect".

With all this in mind, I have listed two practice questions and have shown how you can go about answering them.

Tom prepared the ____________ for the meeting.

• lunch
• clothes
• agent
• agenda

This question looks rather easy, doesn't it? I am sure a lot of you can see straight away that the answer is "agenda". But, it is important when you are preparing to show your logic - even if you are preparing alone. Therefore, I tell my students to answer the question like this:

Tom prepared the ____________ for the meeting.

• lunch
• clothes
• agent
• agenda

We know that the answer is agenda because the question asks about a meeting. I have added a few other exmaples here. Please look at the photos I have attached:

This one is from section 5. In Question 117 we have chosen "since" because we see the phrase "eight years ago". Question 118, we choose discretion because it is a noun and we can see the possessive "her" before.

The idea of using evidence is not just for sections 5 and 6, you can use it also in section 7. Here is an example question where I have found the vocabulary that links to the answers in the text provided.

The more you follow this process, the easier it will be for you in the exam. Obviously, in the exam you cannot make a lark on the question book, but you can look at the questions and pick the correct answer using the logic you have practiced.