TOEIC vs OPIc: Format, Scoring, Difficulty, Conversion and Jobs

The comparison that does exist is TOEIC Speaking versus OPIc, and one 2019 ETS study links those two with a warning attached. In the Korean job market employers usually ask for a TOEIC score and a separate speaking grade, not one or the other.

Seven questions settle which test you actually need, in the order this page answers them.

What Is the TOEIC Test?

The TOEIC Listening & Reading test is ETS's two-hour measure of workplace listening and reading. It holds 200 questions, every one of them multiple choice, and reports a total on the 10-990 scale.

The paper splits in two halves. Listening runs 45 minutes over 100 questions, and Reading runs 75 minutes over another 100. Nothing is spoken, and nothing is written.

ETS owns the test, but national administrators deliver it, so fees and sitting frequency differ by country. IIBC administers it in Japan. YBM and the Korea TOEIC Committee administer it in Korea, where 990prep reports registration at 52,500 won.

The family has a second member, and this is the part most comparisons skip. TOEIC Speaking & Writing is a separate test, and it is the one OPIc actually competes with. Korean postings routinely pair L&R, the local shorthand, with a speaking result.

What Is the OPIc Test?

The OPIc, or Oral Proficiency Interview - Computer, is ACTFL's computer-delivered test of spoken proficiency. ACTFL developed it in 2006, and Language Testing International delivers it over the internet as the exclusive provider. An avatar named Ava speaks the prompts, and a sitting lasts 20 to 40 minutes.

Two steps run before you say a word. A Background Survey asks about your work, your study and your interests, and a Self-Assessment asks how well you rate your own speaking. Together they select one of five forms, and those forms span Novice Low to Superior.

Certified raters then score the recording holistically against four factors: function, accuracy, content and context, and text type. No section marks sit behind the result.

One fact catches most candidates out. ACTFL publishes no practice materials, by design, because the test targets spontaneous unrehearsed speech.

How Do TOEIC and OPIc Differ in Format?

TOEIC Listening & Reading runs two hours as a fixed paper of multiple choice questions. OPIc runs 20 to 40 minutes as a spoken interview whose questions are assembled from your own survey answers.

That difference changes how you prepare. A fixed form rewards pattern drilling on the same question types. A test built on survey-driven prompts rewards having real material ready about your work and your life, since you picked those topics yourself.

TOEIC Speaking sits between the two. It is spoken, but built from fixed task types, which is why candidates who dislike improvising prefer it to avatar delivery and unscripted follow-ups.

Six criteria separate the three tests, and every row changes something about test day.

How Are TOEIC and OPIc Scored?

TOEIC reports a number and OPIc reports a level, and the two scales answer different questions.

On the TOEIC side, Listening carries 5-495 and Reading carries another 5-495, which gives the 10-990 total. Each score comes from a raw to scaled conversion done form by form rather than a direct count. That is why two candidates with the same raw count can finish a few points apart.

OPIc gives one holistic level: no numeric score, no section marks. Its ladder runs NL NM NH IL IM IH AL, lowest to highest.

TOEIC Speaking is the hybrid. It reports 0-200 alongside levels 1 to 8, and that number makes any comparison with OPIc possible.

Each scale hands an employer a different kind of evidence.

• TOEIC Listening & Reading: 10-990, from Listening 5-495 plus Reading 5-495, converted form by form so the same raw count can score slightly differently.
• TOEIC Speaking: 0-200, reported with a level from 1 to 8, which gives an employer a number to filter on and a band to interpret.
• OPIc: a level only - NL, NM, NH, IL, IM, IH, AL, rated holistically by certified raters, with no section breakdown behind it.

Which Test Is Easier, TOEIC or OPIc?

Neither, across the board. Each test is easier for a different candidate profile, because the two measure different skills.

TOEIC Listening & Reading is the easier one for many people. It is familiar, it asks nothing spoken, and its drillable patterns repeat across forms.

OPIc is easier for others. Nothing needs memorizing from a vocabulary list, the topics come from your own survey answers, and a level can be earned on fluency and coherence even when grammar slips.

The fair difficulty comparison is TOEIC Speaking against OPIc. Language Testing International draws that line cleanly: TOEIC Speaking assesses controlled workplace communication, while the Korean OPIc samples spontaneous discourse. Candidates who rehearse answer patterns find TOEIC Speaking easier, and candidates who freeze on fixed prompts find OPIc easier.

Which one is easier depends on which of these profiles you recognize.

• Strong reader, weak speaker: TOEIC Listening & Reading is the easier score to raise, because reading gains follow drilling.
• Comfortable improvising, weak on grammar detail: OPIc is the easier grade to earn, since raters judge the whole performance.
• Prefers rehearsed structure: TOEIC Speaking over OPIc, because its fixed task types can be practiced in advance at home.
• Short timeline with existing vocabulary: TOEIC Listening & Reading first, since a scaled number moves faster than a holistic level.

Can an OPIc Level Be Converted to a TOEIC Speaking Score?

Not officially, and never to a TOEIC Listening & Reading score. No L&R conversion exists, and none can: one measures speaking, the other never asks you to speak.

ETS Research Memorandum RM-19-02 (Qu, Schmidgall, Cid & Chan, 2019) linked OPIc levels to TOEIC Speaking scores using 1,019 South Korean test takers who sat both within a set window. They first tested whether the two measure speaking similarly, over a similar proficiency range, with comparable reliability.

ETS attaches its own caveat: the scores should not be considered interchangeable, given differences in design and in the proficiency range reported.

Language Testing International's rebuttal, by Tschirner, reports a moderate correlation between the two distributions and disputes that linking's strength. A reader choosing between them deserves both papers.

Forum tables are not conversions. The leading English-language competitor labels its own pairing an unofficial job-posting table: recruiter expectation, not measurement.

Checked on 2026-07-28, the full RM-19-02 table sits behind a request-a-copy wall, so the score column here is empty. The equipercentile linking method and every score must be verified against the report before publication.

RM-19-02's pairing is approximate, and every row is owed to that report.

Which Test Do You Need for a Job?

Whichever one the job posting names. In the Korean market that is often both: a TOEIC Listening & Reading score and a separate speaking grade.

Employers read the number as a baseline filter for the application pile, and the speaking grade as evidence the person can work in English. That is why a job posting requirement usually lists both.

Timing follows from two-year validity. All three results expire after two years, and large employers commonly refuse anything older, so plan test dates backwards from the application deadline.

One market claim needs care. Korean-language wiki and community sources report that some large groups prefer OPIc, Samsung among them, where a group affiliate administers the test. Treat that as reported rather than established, and read the posting.

Japan works differently: TOEIC Listening & Reading, administered by IIBC, is the standard corporate measure, and OPIc is essentially absent from postings.

Read the posting for these four things before you book anything.

• Which tests are accepted by name, since "English proficiency" alone never tells you which paper to sit.
• The minimum score or level for each, because a 700 filter and an IH filter demand different months of work.
• How recent the result must be, given that large employers commonly cut off at two years.
• Whether a speaking grade is required or only preferred, which decides whether you book a second test.

Which Test Should You Prepare First, TOEIC or OPIc?

Build the Listening & Reading score first, then add a speaking test. That preparation order costs least, and the reverse wastes months and registration fees.

The reasoning is mechanical. Listening and reading rest on high-frequency vocabulary and question patterns that repeat, so they respond to study faster. That vocabulary then carries into whichever speaking test you sit.

Start a speaking test while the reading base is weak and you pay twice: once for the sitting, once again after it.

The decision point sits in the middle of the sequence. Once the baseline score is secured, make the speaking test choice on the candidate profile from the section above, not on what a friend took. TOEIC.ai covers TOEIC Listening & Reading and TOEIC Speaking & Writing, so the TOEIC speaking stage has materials here; OPIc does not, and needs its own.

Three steps, in this order, with the detail in the questions underneath.

1. Secure the Listening & Reading baseline the posting names, before you book anything else.
2. Choose the speaking test that suits how you answer, rehearsed or unrehearsed.
3. Match the employer's named test and grade before booking the second sitting.

Which TOEIC Score Should You Secure Before Adding a Speaking Test?

Secure the score the posting actually names before spending a single session on speaking practice. A baseline score is a requirement, not an ambition, and the posting requirement decides which parts you drill: a 700 target and an 860 target need different work in Parts 5 and 7.

Fix the number before writing the plan. Score bands carry rough meanings, from workplace-adequate to near-native, so target setting means matching a band to the role. Our TOEIC score guide sets out those bands in full.

Is an OPIc Level Valid for the Same Two Years as a TOEIC Score?

Yes, both results are treated as valid for two years, and large employers commonly reject anything older. With two tests to sit and a two-year validity window on each, the sequence has to fit inside one hiring cycle, or the first result reaches score expiry before the second one arrives.

This is an employer rule as much as a test rule, and the cutoff that binds you is written in the posting. Our TOEIC score validity guide explains how the two years are counted.

How Long Does It Take to Raise a TOEIC Listening and Reading Score?

Consistent timed practice moves most mid-range candidates 50 to 100 points a month, and the rate slows sharply above 800. Turning that into a date takes four steps. Sit one full timed baseline practice test, subtract that score from the target, divide by the monthly gain, then add the speaking test onto the end of that timeline.

The plateau above 800 is where the arithmetic stops holding, so budget extra weeks at the top. Our TOEIC preparation guide covers the drills that move each part.

Do Employers Outside Korea Ask for OPIc?

Rarely - OPIc is overwhelmingly a Korean hiring-market test, and employers elsewhere who want spoken evidence usually name TOEIC Speaking instead. OPIc adoption outside the Korean hiring market stays thin, and the asymmetry matters for anyone reading from Tokyo.

The Japan corporate requirement is the clean counter-example: TOEIC Listening & Reading is the measure, and OPIc barely appears in postings. Where an employer outside Korea does want spoken evidence, the TOEIC Speaking alternative is what they name. One instruction survives every market difference, so read the posting before you book.