This is the story of how I, who didn't go to school from middle school until my second year of high school, scored 945 on the TOEIC at age 23.
Didn't even know the meaning of "can"
I got hooked on the internet in my first year of middle school and spent all my time in my room on the computer.
My hobby at the time was collecting smartphones.
At 15, I entered a private high school where you could get in just by writing your name, but I remained a truant there for a while as well.
At that point, I don't think I even really understood the meaning of the word "can."
My living space was basically just my bed and my computer desk.
Acquired English through gaming
I was obsessed with online games at the time, and to kill time, I started playing with Korean and Chinese players.
Since none of us were native English speakers, we communicated using broken English or messy machine translations.
The description box of a YouTube video I uploaded in my third year of high school. Looking at it now, there are so many grammatical errors.
In the summer of my second year of high school, a teacher told me I would repeat a grade if I didn't start coming, so I began attending school.
I took an English test for the first time and scored 64, so you really can't underestimate "game English."
High school ended up being fun.
Failed entrance exams
Feeling confident, I even managed to get the Eiken Pre-2 certification. Though I barely passed, and I failed Level 2.
Thinking "I'm actually smart!" in a state of total delusion, I tackled university entrance exams.
The result: I scored 40% on all liberal arts subjects in the Center Test, including English.
I then failed the entrance exam for a vocational school and had nowhere to go, so I ended up at Kawaijuku (cram school).
Enrolled at Kawaijuku Mito branch; Mito Station is still a source of trauma for me.
During my gap year, I think my Center Test English score was around 60-70%.
I stopped going to the cram school halfway through, so I failed one exam after another. I barely managed to pass the exam for my third-choice school, the Department of Chinese at Kanagawa University.
My TOEIC IP test score upon enrollment was in the high 500s.
First attempt: 845 points
Kanagawa University has a system where you get 6 credits and 100,000 yen if you score 850 on the TOEIC.
Since I had neither money nor credits, I decided to try for it in my second year of university.
It seems this system still exists.
For the time being, I used a vocabulary book, a grammar workbook, and TOEIC practice tests I found in the university library.
After going through the vocabulary book once, I used an app called Anki to cycle through words along with their pronunciation.
Since I was particularly bad at grammar, I used "Grammar Express."
I remember using the two practice test books shown below.
TOEIC is a 120-minute test, and including grading and review, it takes about 3 hours to do one set.
Because it was a hassle, I avoided taking mock exams as much as possible.
As a result, I panicked toward the end of the test when I didn't understand the questions and ended up guessing the last 6 questions or so.
The result...
I was 5 points short ;;
Age 23
Before I knew it, I had dropped out of university.
Kanagawa University Minato Mirai Campus, taken on the day I withdrew.
Even after getting 845, I kept in touch with English so I could get my revenge someday.
However, I hated studying, so I basically just watched Western movies and read novels.
For movies, I used English subtitles with English audio; for novels, I struggled through the original versions.
I only managed to finish the three books shown above in two years (I gave up on the others).
I think I watched about 30 movies (though I didn't necessarily understand everything).
Then, at age 23, two years after my previous attempt, I decided to take the TOEIC again.
I figured I might as well aim for 900.
This time, all I used was a TOEIC learning app (Santa, free plan) and the latest official practice tests.
However, the app's predicted score stayed in the high 800s until the very end.
The result...
I got it quite easily.
Afterword
If studying is boring, you should force yourself to interact with the language in a different way.
After getting 845, I changed the language settings on my PC, smartphone, and even my browser to English.
By doing this, you naturally learn words like "Duplicate" for tabs or "Compress" for files.
Of course, using a vocabulary book is more efficient, but if you're going to quit halfway, this way is much better.
However, for those with limited time, like university entrance examinees, please be careful to study efficiently so you don't fail your exams like I did.
I'm currently making a living through YouTube without getting a traditional job, so in the end, I haven't used my TOEIC score even once.
