TOEFL is a test that evaluates examinees’ overall academic English skills. TOEFL is a requirement for the application for many educational setting in the United States and Canada. Soka University’s exchange programs, too, often request students to submit their TOEFL-iBT scores. (*ask the International Affairs Office for further information).

TOEFL iBT is an Internet-based test that evaluates examinees’ listening, reading, speaking and writing skills in academic settings. This test focuses on checking the test takers’ integrated English skills. That is, you are expected to listen to a lecture about a topic, read a short passage about it, and then present your response in the oral or written form. Examinees need to apply for the test online. Visit the CIEE homepage for further information.

TOEFL ITP consists of listening, grammar and reading sections, aiming to evaluate examinees’ academic English skills. The TOEFL ITP tests are composed of previously administered TOEFL paper-based test forms.

TOEIC is used by most of Japanese companies as a guideline to determine your English level for employment. The test consists of 100 listening and 100 reading questions, and it takes 2 hours to finish the test. On TOEIC, you need not only English ability but also information processing ability, that is, how fast you can get important information. If you have a score more than 600, you can write it down on your resume. By your junior year when you really start job-hunting, you should try to get a score 600-730. The TOEIC IP in Soka University is held 6 times a year (May, June, July, September, November, and December). Please check the specific schedule on the board or on the PLAS site. TOEIC-IP is administered on campus and students will receive the Score Sheet, instead of the Official Score Certificate which is issued for public TOEIC. TOEIC-IP score is considered official as well as public TOEIC. Please note that you might need to submit the Official Score Certificate for job-hunting in rare cases.

IELTS is a test that evaluates examinees’ overall academic English skills, IELTS is a requirement for the application for many educational setting in British English (including England, Australia, New Zealand, etc.). (However, recently many universities permit TOEFL scores.) Similar to TOEFL, this test focuses on assessing the test takers’ comprehensive English skills to see if they are prepared to take classes in English. The test consists of listening, reading, writing, and speaking sections, and it takes approximately 3 hours to finish the test. The speaking test is a type of interview, and it is held on a separate day apart from the written test. Studying abroad programs requires a score of 6.0 - 6.5 (TOEFL iBT 80 – 90) and the graduate school requires 6.5 – 7.0 (TOEFL iBT 90 – 100). Visit the British Council homepage for further information.

The Society for Testing English Proficiency (STEP) has the longest history in Japan as English skill deliverance examination. Especially for teacher employment exams, some prefectures give special measures to STEP qualifiers. As a university student, you should aim for the pre-first, or first grade in STEP.