台北美加文教官方部落格

【多益TOEIC學員資料】
多益TOEIC 學員姓名：林安柏
學校及科系：Monash University Foundation Program
多益TOEIC 正式考試成績：Listening：495分、Reading：475分
多益正式考試總分：TOEIC 970分
多益TOEIC 正式考試日期：2018年1月28日

【多益TOEIC準備心得】
Hi! I’m Amber and I took the TOEIC prep class in 2018. I’m 16 (I was 13 when I took TOEIC) and I am currently enrolled in the Foundation Program at Monash University. At the time, I had just moved back to Taiwan after studying in Canada for 3 years and had some free time before school starts, so I decided to take TOEIC just to see how I’d do (and also in case there’s a chance I can use it in the future). 
嗨！我是Amber，我在2018年參加了美加的TOEIC課程。我目前16歲（上課時是13歲），就讀於蒙納士大學的基礎課程。當時，我在加拿大學習了3年後回到台灣，並在開學前有一些空閒時間，所以我決定參加TOEIC測試看看自己的程度到哪（也是以防萬一在未來可能會派上用場）。

I pretty much spent my entire education in a fully English environment (American school then Canada), but I definitely don’t consider myself as fluent as a native speaker and I feel like being semi-fluent in the language isn’t quite the same as taking a standardized test. For one, conversing with someone (or even just listening to a conversation) is not even remotely similar to answering listening questions on a test. Since I’ve never taken a standardized English test like TOEIC, I wasn’t familiar with the types of questions that will be on the test, its format, or anything at all, which is why I went to Merica. I get stressed easily, especially with tests, so the prep classes really helped me not only practice with and understand the contents of the test but also allow me to feel fully prepared with the little tips and tricks come test day.
我的求學過程幾乎都是在全英語環境中（先是美國學校，然後是到加拿大），但我完全不認為自己說英語會像母語人士一樣流利，即便我會說半流利的英語，但這還是跟參加標準化考試不太一樣。對於我來說，與某人交談（甚至只是聽一個對話）與在考試中回答聽力測驗的問題是幾乎沒有相似之處的。由於我從未參加過像TOEIC這樣的標準化英語考試，因此我對考試所涉及的問題類型、考試形式或所有內容都一無所知，這也是為什麼我會選擇到美加上課。我很容易感到壓力，特別是在進行考試時，因此補習班確實幫助我練習和理解考試內容，而且使我對考試當天的一些小技巧和竅門有了很充分的準備。

A lot of people assume I could easily get the full score because I studied in Canada, but this was not the case. Although I wouldn’t necessarily say it was a “struggle” to receive a score in the 900s, I still faced a few problems. Overall, I didn’t have any big challenges, but rather a lot of little problems here and there in each section. 
很多人都認為我在加拿大上過學，應該很輕鬆就可以獲得滿分，但事實並非如此。雖然對我來說，獲得900分以上不會是一件非常困難的事，但我仍然會面臨一些問題。總體而言，我沒有遇到什麼太大的挑戰，但是在每個部分中到處都有很多小問題。

First off, I’ve never properly learned any grammar rules before going to Merica for TOEIC prep because I never actually “learned” English. At first, when we looked at practice questions in class, I was pretty confident with the grammar questions because it didn’t seem very hard to me and most of the answers came to me naturally. However, I found that I didn’t always do as well as I thought I would’ve. Since I haven’t I’ve always just “felt” for the correct answer, usually just by mouthing the sentence to see which answer sounded the best, I never really had any trouble with grammar in writing, but in TOEIC, I feel like actually knowing how to apply grammar rules is very important because it makes the whole process easier and finding the correct answer quicker. The grammar in TOEIC actually isn’t very difficult, and with the help of my teachers, I improved very quickly. 
首先，去美加報名TOEIC課程之前，因為我從未真正“學習過”英文，所以我對文法規則幾乎沒甚麼了解。一開始，在課堂上看練習題時，我對文法問題是很有信心的，因為看起來似乎不太難，而且大多數答案在我看來都還滿理所當然的。但漸漸地我發現自己的表現並不總是像我想的那樣美好。因為我無法總是靠語感找到正確的答案。我從未在文法方面遇到任何麻煩，但是在TOEIC考試中，我意識到正確應用文法規則的重要性，因為這可以使整個解題過程更加輕鬆，並更快地找到正確的答案。TOEIC的文法實際上並不難，在老師的幫助下，我進步得很快。

For listening, I’m not accustomed to the way I have to pay attention to every word that is said, because it’s quite different from a real in-person conversation. But at Merica, my teachers taught me how to listen to the recordings and connect them back to the questions in a more efficient manner, so that I could easily focus on the important aspects of each recording without having to strain myself too much or lose focus near the end of the section. For me, I think the key was to not try too hard (it sounds like weird advice, I know), especially at the beginning where the recordings are shorter. This is because it leaves you with more energy to focus at the end where the recordings are longer. 
聽力部分，我不太習慣要專注於每個說話細節，因為這與真實的面對面交談不太相同。但是美加的老師教我如何更有效地聆聽錄音，並將內容與問題聯繫起來，這樣我就可以比較輕鬆地專注於幾個重點就好，而不必字字都要聽進去，使自己在結尾時容易失去專注力。對我而言，我認為關鍵是不要太努力（我知道這聽起來像是很奇怪的建議），尤其是在聽力內容較短的前幾題，這是因為這樣你會有更多精力專注於錄音較長的後半部分。

Overall, this class really helped me with testing techniques that I, as someone who has not ever had any experience with TOEIC or other tests, would not have known. I would definitely recommend taking classes (it doesn’t have to be long term, just a few classes during break should be fine too) before taking TOEIC, especially if you don’t have prior experience with this kind of testing because prep classes don’t just help people boost their scores, they also help with understanding the structure of the test, which makes testing day so much easier as you’ll be used to the types of question on the test. 
總體而言，這門課程確實為我提供了許多實用的解題技巧及邏輯，這些是我從來不知道的。我相當建議大家在參加TOEIC考試前報名課程（不一定要是長期的，也可以利用空閒時參加短暫的課程），特別是沒有此類考試的經驗人。因為補習課程沒有不僅可以幫助你提高分數，還可以幫助你理解考試結構，這會使你在考試當天，解題變得更容易，因為你會提前習慣考試中的問題類型。

One of the things I’ve noticed is that TOEIC is more affordable than other English tests, so don’t worry if you don’t get your dream score the first time around. Preparing early also helps, because I’ve seen a few people who don’t have more time to retake the test in my class, so if you want more time to prepare, I would definitely suggest doing it earlier rather than later. As TOEIC scores are valid for 2 years, it’s totally fine to take the test a bit earlier, even when you don’t need it at the moment, so that when you do need the score, you already have it (or you can take it again without needing to prepare). Finally, the most important thing is to just relax and do your best!
我注意到的一件事是，TOEIC比其他英語考試更實惠，所以不用擔心在第一次沒有達到自己的理想成績。而儘早準備也有好處，因為我有看見一些沒有多餘時間重新參加考試的人，因此，如果你希望有更於育的時間來準備考試，我絕對建議你早些而不是晚些。由於TOEIC分數的有效期為2年，因此，即使您暫時不需要這份成績，也可以早一點參加考試，這樣一來，當你確實有需要分數時，就已經有現成的了。最後，最重要的就是放輕鬆並盡力而為！