Entries Tagged 'TOEFL Preparation' ↓

Referent Questions

As the name suggest, these questions involve your ability to connect the referent pronoun to another word, clause, or phrase. For example: Bob’s face always goes red when he is angry. “Bob” is referred to by “he” later in the sentence. There will be at most 2 referent questions on each passage, but some may not even have any.

How to deal:

1. Know your grammar! Get yourself familiar with pronouns and adjective clauses. Remember: “it” refers to an animal, thing or place - not a person. “They” can refer to people, animals, places, or things, and is always plural. Other referents include “he” “she” “we” “them”.
2. Once you have located the referent, read the surrounding sentences carefully to find what the word is referring to. Pay special attention to the context surround the sentence your referent is in, specially the sentence directly before, you may find the antecedent in them.
3. Recognize that the antecedent will only appear after the referent in very specific cases - when the sentence begins with an adverb clause. In these cases the referent and antecedent are almost always in the same sentence - a second independent clause. These sentences look like this: adverb clause which includes the referent*,* independent clause which includes the antecedent. For example: Once he arrived at the school, Billy went directly to the Principal’s office.
4. Pay attention to things like number, gender, and category (ie, person or thing) to help you rule out answers. For example, if the referent is “it” we know it must be singular, and a thing - not a person.
5. After eliminating as many options as possible, replace the referent with each remaining option and read them to yourself. Do they make sense in that context?

Watch out for:

* Wrong answers that fit all of the characteristics, but makes no sense in the context.
* Wrong answers that seem like the “best” option yet don’t fit the grammatical structure of the sentence.

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

Table Completion Questions

Unlike the previous questions, these are not multiple choice. There question require you to “drag and drop’ details from a presented passage into a table (hence their alternative name: “Fill in a table” For these questions you will be using your mouse to sort details into their proper category. Not all of the details belong in categories - some are there purely to distract you, so be careful!

These questions measure you ability to understand and organize conceptual information that is given to you. If you’re familiar with LearnHub’s concept game, you’ll have already had some practice as organizing information into concepts.

How to deal:

1. Get read to recognize paraphrasing and restatements. The ideas present to you in the answer question are very unlike to be direct quotes from the passage
2. Make brief notes as you read so you can refer them later. Remember, these questions are asking you to sort the details you were presented with in the passage.
3. Read the instructions carefully - you may not be required to place all of the options. If there are choices that are not to be used they will be noted in CAPTIAL letters.

Watch out for:

* Using all of the options when only a certain number where asked for
* Choices that include information that was not included in the test
* Choices that included similar information to the next that has been slightly altered or distorted.

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

Not/Except Questions

These questions are similar to fact/details question in that you will be ask questions about factual information, however in these questions you will be asked what is NOT the case. These questions are easy to identify since they will say NOT or EXCEPT directly in the question. Ex: All of the following are mentioned in the above passage except… Which of the following is not listed as an influence on jazz music….

Since the questions are very similar to fact/detail questions, the same strategies apply.

How to deal:

1. Find the key idea in the question, if the key ideas are not located in the question, find the key idea(s) of the answers.
2. Scan the passages for the key idea(s)
3. Read relevant sentences very closely
4. Choose the answer with the missing, altered, or contradictory key idea.

Watch out for:

* Correct answers that have been paraphrased with vocabulary that is not in the passage.
* Correct answers that have combined multiple ideas from the passage.

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

Fact/Detail Questions

These questions are meant to test your basic comprehension abilities as they ask you direct facts or details about the passage you’ve just read. 3 to 6 of the questions you receive on each passage will be detail or fact questions. These questions most often come in the form of who, whom, what, and relate to people, places, times, reasons, methods, etc. Example: What does the author say about… When did x happen … According to paragraph 3, why did y happen?

How to deal:

1. Indentify the key idea or ideas of question. If the question is: According to the author, the early works of Shakespeare, recognize that the key idea of the question is “early works of Shakespeare”
2. Scan the paragraphs for the key idea. Scanning a passage means looking over the passage quickly (as opposed to actively reading the passage) to quickly locate certain words, in this case, “early works” and Shakespeare.
3. Once you’ve found the key ideas in you passage, read closely and carefully. You don’t want to pick the wrong answer because you misread your passage!
4. Check the available answers for paraphrasing of the original idea.
5. Do not make inferences for these questions. These are fact and details questions, there is no need to infer in this instances, so if you cannot find it in the passage, do not select that option.

Watch out for these wrong answers that try to trick you:

* Answer contains information not in the passage
* Answer refers to an idea unrelated to the question
* Answer contains the correct idea, but has reversed the positive/negative state. Ex Passage: Shakespeare’s early works are considered his best. Wrong answer: Shakespeare’s early works are not considered his best.

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

Week 1
Go through the ETS TOEFL Practice Tests, to understand the TOEFL format.

Week 2
Most students who have studied in an English medium school or college, do not have any problems with the TOEFL. If you want to prepare anyway, go through the TOEFL Cliffs, which is available at any Crossword Bookstore.

Week 3
The TOEFL has a listening section where you have to listen to people talk and then answer questions. Use the TOEFL Cliffs and the TOEFL sampler (ETS) to practies this section. The TOEFL Sampler is free when you register for the exam.

Week 4
The next section of the TOEFL is structure. This is a basic grammar section which you can practise from the Cliffs.

Week 5
Practise the reading and comprehension section from Barrons TOEFL. The TOEFL sampler CD has practise questions as well. You can get the Barrons TOEFL from any Crossword Bookstore.

Week 6
For essay preparation at the TOEFL, you can look at topics in the Cliffs.

Week 7
Dedicate this entire week to writing essays .

Week 8
Now you can finish all the questions from the TOEFL sampler CD.

Week 9
You can now take a full-length computer TOEFL test. Powerprep software has two full-length tests. Take one test this week.

Week 10
Take the second Powerprep test and complete your TOEFL preparation.

1. Read:
This is the best in quality as one sees the usage and the context. However, it’s not a direct method for vocab improvement and the ROI in terms of new words learnt for an hr put in is low unless one’s vocab is less than average. This is assuming the average Indian English newspaper. Plus, there is additional bother of looking up a dictionary every time.

2. Vocab books like Norman Lewis and Rosenbaum:
These books look at the roots of the words, origins etc. Thus, each word has a history etc. very easy to pick up certain words and also helps to guess the meaning of a word using its roots even the one had never seen it until that moment. Downside, there are only a few words with a story. Also the roots can give misleading results at times.

3. Word lists:
Every coaching/prep book has them. Very direct approach and has a high ROI. But it looks a monumental task to finish a few thousand words. Can be done with regular effort and tools such as flash cards. The key is to learn the usage and not to memorize the words.

One can choose depending upon one’s needs. If you find it difficult to get started, option 2 is probably the best. If you’re pretty strong already reading and combining through word list may be a good way. If your English is particularly weak, read and do the word lists. Option 2 can be a support.

Importance of Essay Writing in TOEFL and a few Tips ‘n’ Tricks to handle it !!
Writing Section
The Writing section measures the ability to write in English, including the ability to generate, organize, and develop ideas, to support those ideas with examples or evidence, and to compose a response to one assigned topic in standard written English.

Choice of Style
You have a 30-minute time limit to write your essay.

Essay Ratings
Each essay is assigned one of the ratings listed at the end of this page by two independent readers. The average of the two ratings is reported on a raw score scale of 1 to 6. A rating between two points on the scale (5.5, 4.5, 3.5, 2.5, 1.5) can also be reported. If there is a discrepancy of more than one point, a third reader independently reads the essay. The essay rating comprises one half of the Structure/Writing score (1/6 of the total score); it is also
reported separately on the score report, for informational purposes.

Writing Strategies
Below are some specific strategies for the Writing section:

A. You should look over the essay topics published in the Bulletin, and practice writing several 30-minute essays using the topics there or on this site.

B. You will be given scratch paper to organize their thoughts; however, only the essays written on the official answer sheet are scored. You should practice handwriting an essay, using a two sided sheet of lined paper. (You will be provided with a twosided sheet on the day of the test.)
You should start writing the essay on the first line of the sheet and use the other side if necessary. You should not use large handwriting, skip lines, or leave large margins to make your essays appear longer; readers look at the development of the essay and how the ideas are expressed and elaborated on, not at how many words are written or appear to be written.

You should also write neatly and legibly. You will not be graded on the neatness of your handwriting, but the readers who evaluate the essays must be able to read the handwriting.

C. You should become familiar with the scoring guide. It can be useful to understand in more detail how the essay readers evaluate the essay. Readers judge essays on how the ideas are presented and developed as well as on the use of language.

The essay question should be answered carefully. You should do your best to write about what the essay question asks for. An essay that is not about the topic presented will receive a score of “0,” and this will have a serious effect on the Structure/Writing score.

Essays are also judged on organization. If an essay is well organized, a reader will be able to read from the beginning to the end without becoming confused.

A term used in the scoring guide is “development.” Development is the gradual expansion of an idea throughout an essay, not simply the number of words written. The same ideas can be communicated in various ways, depending on skill with vocabulary and sentence structure. You should try to cover the topics as well as you can within your own abilities.

Essay readers judge how well details, examples, and reasons support or illustrate the points being made.

The essay will also be judged on the use of language.Naturally the readers will notice grammatical errors and thenumber of errors in a paper. They judge whether the errors make the meaning of the essay difficult to understand. They also judge the variety, effectiveness, and appropriateness of the sentence structures and vocabulary used in an essay.

D. You should plan and organize before beginning to write.
Immediately after reading the essay question, you should take some time to think about the topic before you start to write. Making a brief outline or some notes on scratch paper
may help organize the essay.

E. Time management is the key.
You should keep track of time and allow a few minutes before the 30 minutes have ended to read over your essays and make any changes.