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Educational Testing Service, the company that administers the TOEFL exam, said that it will address the recent mishandling of the exam registration process by offering more spots for the test.
Paul Ramsey, the senior vice president of the U.S.-based company's global division, apologized for the registration fiasco in a press conference on Saturday.
Ramsey said that an additional 70,000 tests would be made available in Korea this year, meaning a total of 134,000 Koreans will be able to take the exam. This is more than double the number of 64,000 test-takers that ETS originally planned for.
ETS will hold six more Internet-based test (IBT) sessions to accommodate 20,000 people, and a paper-based test (PBT) capable of accommodating 50,000 people will be introduced to handle any overflow. The company said that all universities in the U.S. accept PBT scores.
Ramsey said that ETS will open its own office in Korea, where demand for the TOEFL is highest. He also said the company will set up a Korean website capable of handling 500,000 simultaneous users so that even a large crush of potential applicants won't crash the system.
Addressing complaints about the registration process, Ramsey promised that the company would offer a 72-hour prior notice before taking applications for test seats.
In the past, ETS opened its registration system whenever it had secured a test location, forcing potential registrants to wait in front of their computers for days in hopes of securing a spot.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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