The voice of adult women in taking English proficiency test

A lot of studies reported that female learners’ capability in mastering a second language is better than that of male learners. However, adult female test takers experience bigger challenges in dealing with English Proficiency Tests (EPT) since they are usually multi-roles women. The objectives of the study were to analyze the views of adult women test takers on the challenges of English proficiency tests related to the most difficult skill that they have to take and how they cope with their problems. The study applied mixed method study with descriptive quantitative and phenomenology approaches. The data were taken through a questionnaire and structured interview for 77 respondents of the study. Based on the result of the data analysis on 77 respondents, the questionnaire data show that the most difficult part of EPT was listening. The respondents provided many strategies for raising their EPT scores. The most popular method of learning EPT was autonomous learning, which was followed by taking a course, studying with friends, and not trying to improve EPT at all.  Keywords: Adult women; coping mechanism; difficult skill; EPT.