TOEFL Reading Section

In this series of posts we will cover the types of questions you will encounter on the Reading section of the TOEFL iBT test, as well as strategies you can use to improve your score in this section.

The Reading section of the TOEFL present you with 3-5 passage of approximately 700 words. While the passages are all basically the same length, they become increasingly difficult as you progress, so while 20 minutes is allotted for reading and answering questions on the first passage, 40 minutes is given for reading and answering questions of the second, third, fourth and fifth passages. Each passage you are given will have between 12-14 questions, and we’ll cover what types of questions you can except.

1) Fact/Detail Questions
2) Not/Except Questions
3) Referent Questions
4) Vocabulary Questions
5) Inference Questions
6) Rhetorical Structure Questions
7) Coherence Questions
8) Paraphrasing Questions
9) Table Completion Questions
10) Prose Summary Questions

Quick tips:
* Familiarize yourself with the basic structure of the passages. These are short essays, expect and Introduction, some body paragraphs in which the details of the thesis will be expanded upon, and a concluding paragraph.
* Read Actively. While completing your initial reading of the passage make brief notes on each paragraph (the key ideas or details given) to refer to later. This notes will come in handy when you answering the questions.
* Get ready to infer meaning. Details will not always be presently openly to you. Be prepared to use the present details, combined with your own logic to figure out what the author is inferring/implying, even when they don’t directly say it.

There are a few things you can do to improve your overall score on this section. Can you guess the number one tip?

READ!
Read English magazines, newspapers, blogs, books - anything that is interesting to you and will expose you to more of the English language. When you come across words you don’t recognize, use your English language dictionary to translate the word and make a record of it in a journal you can refer to later.

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