G'day, how are you mate? To smash TOEIC or any other English exams, what you should be proficient in? Well, simply speaking, they have to be in basic English, read aloud as well as internal monologue. Without further ado, let me elaborate.
Well, above all, you've got to make sure that you could confidently say I can explain all grammar rule to you using some example sentences. Grammar is one of the most important elements to construct English sentences that lead to communicative tools in daily lives. Without knowing grammar, there's no way of communicating with each other or one another. But in here "Basic English" also contains pronunciation and some basic etymology like prefix and suffix as well. So please make sure you study the whole basic element thoroughly.
The sole purpose of the TOEIC exam per se is not to test your prepared knowledge, but to test the practicality and application of your basic skills. Hence, strictly speaking, you shouldn't buy any official past exam questions, nor should you study TOEIC-specific preparation textbooks. I have to say too much preparation is nonsense, but if I say like this, then many of you guys would criticise me, right? But nonetheless, that's the way it is. Studying English itself is totally fine, and it's rather a must-do thing, but studying TOEIC-specific preparation isn't really necessary if you wanna strictly test your English proficiency. Otherwise, it's gonna be so hard to gauge the practical skills whether or not you've got them on a daily basis.
Next up, read aloud, or "Ondoku" in Japanese. Some people might argue that to tackle the TOEIC exam, you don't need speaking skills like pronunciation and Ondoku. This is entirely incorrect. Yes, you could get certain scores without speaking skills in the TOEIC exam, but the more you're good at pronouncing words, reading aloud articles, the smoother and easier you'll be able to crack the exam. An impeccable pronunciation gives you a wonderful opportunity to remember and get used to new words, expressions, grammar structures quite easily compared to the situation where you don't know how to pronounce a couple of phonemic symbols. The people putting so much effort to polish their pronunciation can only obtain this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Last up, internal monologue, which is called "Hitorigoto" in Japanese. This is extremely important for improving not just speaking skills, but also listening, writing and reading as well as English exams. The ability to talk to yourself leads to everything, to be honest with you. Conversely speaking, if you can't do this, then it's gonna be extremely difficult to develop any aspect of English skills in a short period of time. There is, I reckon, surely a knack to speaking to yourself with ease. Apparently, it depends on how good you can pronounce 44 patterns of the IPA phonemic symbols. And also, it hinges on how capable you could explain each English grammar rule in your own words. Internal monologue doesn't have to be a highly sophisticated speech like Steve Jobs, Barack Obama, etc. You should say simple sentences to explain things you wanna talk about. The more complex you're trying to say, the harder you feel to start talking, and the unclearer the meaning you're trying to say due to some incorrect grammar or usage within the context. As a consequence, you're gonna be stuck or probably be lost in obscurity.
All in all, that's totally fine if you stick to the TOEIC-specific or any other exam preparations, but I'd say you wouldn't be able to develop the practicality and application of your English ability without studying basic English, read aloud and talking to yourself. These three pilers are the cornerstone of the English language.
That's all for today. Thanks for reading.