Score Descriptor Table Score Descriptors Listening Section Score Strength Weakness 495～375 ・They can infer the central idea, purpose, and basic context of short spoken exchanges across a broad range of vocabulary, even when conversational responses are indirect or not easy to predict. ・They can infer the central idea, purpose, and basic context of extended spoken texts across a broad range of vocabulary. They can do this even when the information is not supported by repetition or paraphrase and when it is necessary to connect information across the text. ・They can understand details in short spoken exchanges, even when negative constructions are present, when the language is syntactically complex, or when difficult vocabulary is used. ・They can understand details in extended spoken texts, even when it is necessary to connect information across the text and when this information is not supported by repetition. They can understand details when the information is paraphrased or when negative constructions are present. Test takers who receive a score at this level typically have weaknesses only when uncommon grammar or vocabulary is used. 370～275 ・They can sometimes infer the central idea, purpose, and basic context of short spoken exchanges, especially when the vocabulary is not difficult. ・They can understand the central idea, purpose, and basic context of extended spoken texts when this information is supported by repetition or paraphrase. ・They can understand details in short spoken exchanges when easy or medium-level vocabulary is used. ・They can understand details in extended spoken texts when the information is supported by repetition and when the requested information comes at the beginning or end of the spoken text. They can understand details when the information is slightly paraphrased. ・They have difficulty understanding the central idea, purpose, and basic context of short spoken exchanges when conversational responses are indirect or difficult to predict or when the vocabulary is difficult. ・They do not understand the central idea, purpose, and basic context of extended spoken texts when it is necessary to connect information within the text or when difficult vocabulary is used. ・They do not understand details in short spoken exchanges when language is syntactically complex or when difficult vocabulary is used. They do not usually understand details that include negative constructions. ・They do not understand details in extended spoken texts when it is necessary to connect information across the text or when the information is not supported by repetition. They do not understand most paraphrased information or difficult grammatical constructions. 270～5 ・They can understand short (single-sentence) descriptions of the central idea of a photograph. ・They can sometimes understand the central idea, purpose, and basic context of extended spoken texts when this information is supported by a lot of repetition and easy vocabulary. ・They can understand details in short spoken exchanges and descriptions of photographs when the vocabulary is easy and when there is only a small amount of text that must be understood. ・They can understand details in extended spoken texts when the requested information comes at the beginning or end of the text and when it matches the words in the spoken text. *Test takers who score below 170 may have some of the same strengths as test takers who score around 200, but their performance is likely to be less consistent. Test takers who score around 200 typically have the strengths described in the box above. ・They do not understand the central idea, purpose, or basic context of short spoken exchanges, even when the language is direct and no unexpected information is present. ・They do not understand the central idea, purpose, and basic context of extended spoken texts when it is necessary to connect information across the text or when the vocabulary is somewhat difficult. ・They do not understand details in short spoken exchanges when somewhat difficult vocabulary is used or when the language is syntactically complex. They do not understand details that include negative constructions. ・They do not understand details in extended spoken texts when the requested information is heard in the middle of the text. They do not understand paraphrased information or difficult grammatical constructions. ● Page Top Reading Section Score Strength Weakness 495～425 ・They can infer the central idea and purpose of a written text, and they can make inferences about details. ・They can read for meaning. They can understand factual information, even when it is paraphrased. ・They can connect information across an entire text, and they can make connections between two related texts. ・They can understand a broad range of vocabulary, unusual meanings of common words, and idiomatic usage. They can also make distinctions between the meanings of closely related words. ・They can understand rule-based grammatical structures. They can also understand difficult, complex, and uncommon grammatical constructions. Test takers who score around 450 typically have weaknesses only when the information tested is particularly dense or involves difficult vocabulary. 420～325 ・They can infer the central idea and purpose of a written text, and they can make inferences about details. ・They can read for meaning. They can understand factual information, even when it is paraphrased. ・They can connect information across a small area within a text, even when the vocabulary and grammar of the text are difficult. ・They can understand medium-level vocabulary. They can sometimes understand difficult vocabulary in context, unusual meanings of common words, and idiomatic usage. ・They can understand rule-based grammatical structures. They can also understand difficult, complex, and uncommon grammatical constructions. ・They do not connect information across a wide area within a text. ・They do not consistently understand difficult vocabulary, unusual meanings of common words, or idiomatic usage. They usually cannot make distinctions between the meanings of closely related words. 320～225 ・They can make simple inferences based on a limited amount of text. ・They can locate the correct answer to a factual question when the language of the text matches the information that is required. They can sometimes answer a factual question when the answer is a simple paraphrase of the information in the text. ・They can sometimes connect information within one or two sentences. ・They can understand easy vocabulary, and they can sometimes understand medium-level vocabulary. ・They can understand common, rule-based grammatical structures. They can make correct grammatical choices, even when other features of language, such as difficult vocabulary or the need to connect information, are present. ・They do not understand inferences that require paraphrase or connecting information. ・They have a very limited ability to understand factual information expressed as a paraphrase using difficult vocabulary. They often depend on finding words and phrases in the text that match the same words and phrases in the question. ・They usually do not connect information beyond two sentences. ・They do not understand difficult vocabulary, unusual meanings of common words, or idiomatic usage. They usually cannot make distinctions between the meanings of closely related words. ・They do not understand more-difficult, complex, or uncommon grammatical constructions. 220～5 ・They can locate the correct answer to a factual question when not very much reading is necessary and when the language of the text matches the information that is required. ・They can understand easy vocabulary and common phrases. ・They can understand the most-common, rule-based grammatical structures when not very much reading is necessary. *Test takers who score below 120 may have some of the same strengths as test takers who score around 150, but their performance is likely to be less consistent.Test takers who score around 150 typically have the strengths described in the box above. ・They cannot make inferences about information in written texts. ・They do not understand paraphrased factual information. They rely on matching words and phrases in the text to answer questions. ・They are often unable to connect information even within a single sentence. ・They understand only a limited range of vocabulary. ・They do not understand even easy grammatical constructions when other language features, such as difficult vocabulary or the need to connect information, are also required. 2007.04 ● Page Top