The last seven days before your TOEIC

Xin chào! Many of you have test dates in the next few weeks, so this post comes at the right time. The last week before the TOEIC is for sharpening, not learning. Nothing you meet for the first time this week will be worth points on test day; everything you already half-know can be.

Day 7 to day 4: one last full test, then the journal

• Day 7: your final full, timed practice test. Score it honestly. This is the last one; a test on day 2 only measures nerves.
• Days 6 to 4: no new material. Read your whole mistake journal from the first page, one part per day. The traps you wrote down in July are the ones waiting for you on test day. Keep the fifteen-minute listening routine going every morning; it is the one habit not to break.

Day 3 to day 1: taper

• Light drills only: ten Part 2 questions, ten Part 5 questions, one Part 7 single passage, all timed, all reviewed. Thirty minutes, then stop.
• Fix your sleep. Test time is usually the morning. From day 3, wake up at the time you'll wake up on test day. A tired brain loses Parts 3 and 4 first.
• Day 1, evening: pack the bag, nothing else. The ID you registered with, the confirmation, two pencils, an eraser, a bottle of water. Check the address and how long it takes to get there. Then close the books. Really.

Test morning

• Eat breakfast, something you eat every day. No experiments.
• Arrive at least thirty minutes early; centres do not admit latecomers once the listening has started.
• Once the paper is open, do what you practised: the read-ahead. Eyes on the questions the moment each set of instructions begins.

On the answer sheet

• Bubble as you go, not at the end. Every year someone runs out of time with forty answers still on the question paper.
• No blanks. If time is nearly gone, fill every remaining circle with the same letter.
• Don't change an answer unless you can say why the new one is right. First instincts win more often than second guesses.

Afterwards

Write down, while you remember, which parts felt hard and which questions you guessed. It's the first entry of your next journal, whether you sit again or not.

That closes the study-system series. Thank you for reading, chúc các bạn thi thật tốt, and I'd love to hear your scores when they arrive. Hẹn gặp lại! 🌸