Challenges with the TOEFL and the GRE for Korean Test Takers

When a Korean student attempts to study abroad, standardized tests such as the TOEFL and the GRE play quite an important role as evaluation tools. The admission officers require test takers to submit the test scores because they are a crucial part of the requirements for admission. Due to this, the TOEFL and the GRE have turned into high-stakes tests, playing an important role as screening tools. This paper has looked into problems with the standardized tests by analyzing the ETS test preparation materials, media reports, and articles about the TOEFL and GRE tests. Korean students who take these exams to study abroad encounter several challenges such as test contents that are drastically irrelevant to their majors, distant locations of the test centers, and the inaccessibility of preparation materials. I hope this study would contribute to helping to resolve such problems for Korean students and other international students who want to study in any countries where those test scores are required.