Put First Things First: How to Master TOEIC Time Management

“I’m always busy, but my score isn’t improving.”

You study every day.
You feel productive — lots of drills, lots of notes, lots of effort.
But your score barely moves.

Why?

Because busyness is not progress.

In TOEIC, it’s easy to fall into The Speed Trap Block —
focusing on urgent tasks (finish this test, memorize that wordlist)
while ignoring what truly impacts your score.

The Speed Trap — When Urgent Kills Important

Stephen Covey calls this mistake “The tyranny of the urgent.”
You feel like you’re moving fast,
but you’re constantly reacting —
to deadlines, to what feels urgent, to what others are doing.

But the tasks that make the biggest difference —
like mastering Part 2 listening patterns,
or practicing accurate Part 5 question typing —
are often not urgent.
So they get pushed aside.

Result?
You stay busy, but your core weaknesses never improve.

Put First Things First — Prioritize What Truly Matters

Covey’s Third Habit is simple but powerful:
“Put First Things First.”

It means you decide to spend your time
on tasks that are important, but not urgent.
You lead your schedule. You don’t react to it.

For TOEIC learners, this is the difference between:

• Rushing through mock tests to "feel productive"
  vs.

• Taking time to slow down and master your weak sections with targeted drills.

MTC’s Truth: TOEIC Prioritization is Life Prioritization in Disguise

At MTC, we teach that TOEIC is not just about English.
It’s a training ground for how you handle priorities in life.

When you learn to identify high-impact study tasks
and cut out low-value busywork,
you’re building a life skill —
the ability to focus on what truly matters and ignore distractions.

Covey’s matrix is not just a time management tool.
It’s a values alignment exercise.

ALT Habit: The “Quadrant II Focus Filter” Drill

Here’s how to shift your TOEIC study time from busy to effective:

1. List out your current study activities (e.g., Part 7 reading drills, vocabulary lists, random practice tests).

2. For each task, ask:
   “Is this urgent? Is this important?”

3. Identify Quadrant II tasks — important but not urgent (e.g., fixing consistent mistakes, strategy analysis).

4. Schedule Quadrant II tasks first, every day, before anything else.

5. Push Quadrant III (urgent but not important) tasks to the end of your session — or cut them entirely.

Why This Works (Even If You Feel Too Busy to Prioritize)

• It cuts out low-return tasks. You stop wasting energy on busywork.

• It ensures consistent progress on weaknesses. You improve where it matters.

• It rewires your focus habits. Prioritizing important tasks becomes automatic.

Time Management is About Values — Not Speed

Most learners think time management is about cramming more into the day.
Covey teaches the opposite:
It’s about doing less of what doesn’t matter,
and more of what aligns with your real goal.

TOEIC is a perfect practice field for this.
When you learn to manage your study time intentionally,
you’re also learning to manage your life with clarity and purpose.

Want to Learn More?

Our blog is full of practical strategies that help test-takers like you build better habits, overcome common blocks, and improve TOEIC scores through smarter, easier methods. Try our free TOEIC Block quiz now!

⏳ The Speed Trap Block

Why You Run Out of Time — Even When You Know the Answers

You’re halfway through the test… and you realise you’re behind.
You rush.
You guess.
You panic.

Later, when you check the answers, you think:
“I knew that.”
“If I’d had just 10 more minutes…”
“I didn’t finish — again.”

This is the Speed Trap Block.
And it’s not about how fast you read or listen.
It’s about where your time is going — and why.

What is the Speed Trap Block?

The Speed Trap Block isn’t just about being slow.
It’s about spending time in the wrong places.

You focus on tricky words.
You re-read sentences.
You try to translate a phrase mid-audio.
You pause to double-check a grammar point.
And suddenly — you’ve burned 30 seconds on one question.

This happens again.
And again.
Until the clock wins.

Signs You Might Be Caught in This Block

• You often don’t finish all the questions — especially Part 7 or Part 3

• You get stuck on one hard sentence and lose track of the overall passage

• You spend too much time trying to “be sure” — even on easier questions

• You miss the last few questions even though they looked simple

• You feel mentally exhausted from trying to “catch up”

Why Does This Happen?

In school, you were rewarded for caution.
Take your time. Double-check your work.
Go back and re-read if you’re not sure.

But TOEIC rewards speed, prioritisation, and forward motion.
Spending 90 seconds on one question — even if you get it right — is a losing trade if you miss five at the end.

If you’ve also been dealing with:

• The Over Thinker Block: needing to be 100% sure before answering

• The Translator Block: converting English to Japanese mid-sentence

• The Memoriser Block: searching your memory instead of responding

• The Burnout Block: running out of energy before the test is over

…then time management collapses completely.

You’re not careless.
You were just trained to use time differently.

ALT’s Solution: Control the Clock Without Rushing

Accelerated Learning Technology (ALT) doesn’t push you to “go faster.”
It teaches you to spend your time where it counts.

✅ Priority-Based Decision Training
You’ll learn to immediately spot low-value traps — and move on. ALT drills teach you to recognise which questions are worth your time.

✅ Time Awareness Loops
We’ll train you to develop an internal sense of pacing — so you feel when you’re falling behind, without needing to check the clock.

✅ Elimination Confidence
We build your confidence to choose quickly — even when you're unsure — by training you to eliminate wrong answers instinctively.

✅ Recovery Protocols
When you do fall behind, ALT teaches you how to reset your focus, recover lost time, and finish strong.

MTC Coaching: Turning Time Into a Weapon

Time pressure creates panic.
Panic kills performance.
That’s why your coach will help you develop calm, repeatable strategies — not just speed.

🔍 Pinpoint Your Time Leaks
Your coach will analyse where your time disappears — and help you correct those habits in real practice.

🎯 Build a Strategic Mindset
Together, you’ll rehearse real-time decision-making: when to pause, when to guess, when to move.

📣 Train Fast, Calm Thinking
Through weekly drills, your coach will help you stay composed and accurate — even under time limits.

🧠 Shift From “Perfect” to “Effective”
We’ll show you how to stop aiming for 100% certainty — and start aiming for consistent wins across the full test.

Real Example:

H-san (40s, medical researcher) always ran out of time in Part 7. He knew the answers — but only if he had extra time. After just four weeks of ALT’s pacing protocols and elimination training, he finished his first full Reading section — with 10 minutes to spare.

Mini Q&A

Q: I always run out of time. Should I just practice faster?
A: Not exactly. You need to train where to spend time — and where not to. ALT teaches strategic pacing, not just speed.

Q: I freeze when I fall behind. How do I stay calm?
A: We’ll build recovery habits into your training — so you don’t panic when the clock’s ticking. Calm is a skill.

Q: What if I skip a question and miss an easy point?
A: That’s part of the strategy. Missing one is better than missing five. We’ll train you to see the bigger picture and act accordingly.

Ready to Take Back Control of Time?

If you’ve ever felt, “I knew the answers, but I didn’t finish in time…”
That’s the Speed Trap Block.

Take our free Learning Block Diagnostic to see where you’re losing time — and learn how to move with strategy, not stress.