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TOEIC Link Part 5: access versus excess

Access is the ability to reach or use something. Excess is an amount beyond what is needed or allowed. They sound alike but belong to different word families, and Part 5 tests whether the slot means entry or surplus.

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TOEIC Link Part 5: access versus excess

Access and excess rhyme and share four letters, so the ear is no help. The meanings, though, point in opposite directions. Access is about getting in or getting at something — the ability to reach, enter, or use it. Excess is about having too much — an amount beyond what is needed, allowed, or normal. In Part 5, the slot is asking one of two questions: can you reach it, or is there too much of it? Answer that and the spelling follows. For another pair where one sounds like the other but the meaning splits cleanly, see accept versus except.

The core rule: entry versus surplus

  • access = the right or ability to reach, enter, or use (noun and verb): Employees have access to the parking garage. / You can access the report from any device.
  • excess = an amount that is more than necessary or permitted (noun and adjective): The airline charges for excess baggage. / Spending was cut to remove excess cost.

A memory hook: access starts like account and acquire — words about getting something you are entitled to. excess starts like extra and exceed — words about going over a limit.

How to read the slot

The grammar around each word makes the choice visible.

  • access is usually followed by to when it is a noun (access to the database, access to the building), and it takes a direct object as a verb (access the file, access the account). Think entry, permission, connection.
  • excess often appears as a noun after a number or as an adjective in front of a noun about quantity: an excess of inventory, excess capacity, excess weight, in excess of $10,000. Think surplus, overage, too much.

So the fastest test: does the slot mean "the ability to get to something" or "more than the limit"? Reaching it is access; too much of it is excess.

Common Part 5 traps

  • "(blank) to the system / network / files" is access. The preposition to plus a resource signals entry rights. Write access, never "excess."
  • "in (blank) of [number]" is excess. The fixed phrase in excess of means "more than": profits in excess of projections. This is a frequent Part 5 collocation.
  • "(blank) baggage / capacity / inventory" is excess. Anything measuring a surplus over a norm takes excess.
  • Verb slot before an object is usually access. to access the portal, can access records. Excess is rarely a verb in business English.

Quick check

Decide whether the slot means "reach or use" (access) or "more than needed" (excess), then choose.

  1. New hires receive (blank) to the shared drive on their first day.
  2. The warehouse is holding (blank) stock from last quarter.
  3. Revenue came in (blank) of the forecast by twelve percent.
  4. You can (blank) your pay statements through the employee portal.

Answers: 1. access (ability to use) 2. excess (surplus stock) 3. excess (the phrase in excess of) 4. access (verb, to reach/use).

The takeaway

Keep the two questions apart: if the slot is about reaching, entering, or using something — especially with to after it or an object after the verb — write access; if it is about an amount beyond the limit — especially in excess of or excess [noun] — write excess. Getting in versus going over. For more pairs where a single idea decides the answer, see economic versus economical and eminent versus imminent.