This paper examined the usefulness of widely used foreign language tests in Korea, focusing on their purposes. The analyses of secondary data showed that the tests are used for purposes for which they have not been validated, which call into question the appropriateness of interpretations test users make of test scores. The results also indicated that the reliability of test scores could be undermined because of test security violations. Finally, the lack of correspondence of test tasks and real life tasks also question the meaningfulness of the interpretations that test users make on the basis of test scores. Even though the present study was only exploratory in nature, its findings are hoped to contribute to an understanding of the usefulness of language tests for a given purpose.