TOEFL Mock Exam to Debut Next Year
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
An official TOEFL mock exam will be introduced as early as next year.
Paul Ramsey, senior vice president of the Educational Testing Service (ETS), which organizes various English proficiency tests including the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), said that it would provide mock tests from next year for Korean test takers' convenience and also improve the environment of test centers.
Detailed information on the schedule, fee and test locations has not yet been fixed.
Noting that the number of Korean applicants accounts for more than 20 percent of all TOEFL test takers worldwide, Ramsey said the ETS plans to introduce an online practice program _ the ``TOEFL Practice Online'' (TPO) _ from next year.
The mock exam will be made up of questions previously presented in regular TOEFL tests. The TPO also will take place under the same conditions as a regular TOEFL test.
The U.S.-based English test organizer opened its Seoul office in June in the wake of a series of complaints in April over a change in the TOEFL format and resultant backlog in applications.