Preparing for TOEFL: Tips for the Reading Component, Part 2
Submitted by: Kimi
The Reading Task of the TOEFL exam (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is the first of four sections ESL students must face. This section lasts one hour to 100 minutes in length and requires students to demonstrate their reading ability as it pertains to comprehension and summary. In the previous article, I explained what is expected from you when you answer the Reading Task questions (12 to 14 questions in three to five reading passages). Here, I will go into further detail about the types of questions that will be asked and what is expected from the students.
The passages in the Reading Task deal with many issues over multiple academic subjects. These subjects may be history, geology, biology, geography, and many others; consider the possible courses available at English universities: any academic subject may be present in the Reading Task. Since you are not expected to have a background in the subject, all of the information you will need is contained in the single 700-word reading passage. There are three types of categorization for the question types: Exposition, which means that the reading passage will explain and clarify a specific issue within a subject; Argumentation, which means that the academic text will present a specific opinion about an issue and supply examples and other supportive materials; and finally Historical, which means the text deals with a specific historical event, such as the history of Stonehenge, or the effects of World War II.
Examples of possible questions
Since the reading passages are approximately 700 words in length, I cannot put them here in this article; however, the types of questions – without the actual text – must be explained as they will give you an insight on how to prepare for the TOEFL exam as well as becoming familiar with what is to come.
There are three types of questions in the Reading Task: Multiple-choice with four options; “fill in the blank” questions in which you are expected to insert a sentence into the question; and finally the new “reading to learn” questions which are arguably the most difficult. Let’s look at each individually.
Multiple-choice
The multiple-choice questions are quite common in every form of test taking, not just English tests. They are straight forward questions requiring you to choose one answer that best represents the truth. Here is an example from an actual TOEFL test:
“In Paragraph 2, the author explains the concept of energy expenditure by:
a) identifying types of organisms that become extinct
b) comparing the scientific concept to a familiar human experience
c) arguing that most organisms conserve rather than expend energy
d) describing the process of growth, reproduction, and metabolism”
The question will also indicate the correct paragraph needed to answer this question by placing an arrow at the beginning. Since this is an academic text, some of the words in the passage may be completely foreign to you; for this reason, definitions are provided within the text by simply clicking on a word. The definition will appear in the bottom left corner of your screen. When you answer this question, reread the designated paragraph and identify which of the four choices is correct. In these questions, only one choice is correct; there are no gray areas here. And if you were wondering, the correct answer is “d”. Each answer is worth a single point.
Fill in the blank
Fill in the blank questions are considerably easier than the other two as it simply requires you to organize the key concepts of the academic reading passage. The answers are all in the text, so a strong understanding of where each piece of information is will make the difference in this straight forward question type. Correct answers to these questions are worth one point each. Hopefully, you get more of these than the others!
Reading to learn
Reading to learn questions are rather difficult in comparison to the others. These questions require you comprehend the main ideas of the text and how each point is related to the others. You must organize the information given in the text and sort out what is important while categorizing each piece of information into a category chart and a summary. Summary questions are worth two points each, while the category chart questions are worth three points each if there are five options and four points if there are seven options. In this section, partial points will be awarded if you have some of the answer correct.
You are given Answer Choices – sentences that provide information that are fit into two different categories. It is your responsibility to place each Answer Choice into the appropriate category presented on the screen. In other words, you have to “click and drag” sentences into the correct category. These questions are too long to place here, so here is a rather simplified example; this is not a real question but rather a simple version of what you can expect:
Directions: Select the appropriate phrases and place them into their proper category. This question is worth 4 points.
Answer Choices Fruits
Apples -
Oranges -
Carrots -
Lettuce -
Peaches Vegetables
Onions -
Bananas -
Peppers -
In this question, place the Answer Choices into their proper categories, thanks to what you learned in the reading passage. Reading to learn questions require strict organization skills, so stay focused, especially considering how many points they are worth. These require you to fully understand every issue within the text and then demonstrate your knowledge of the subject.
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Word Count: 1044 Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2011 Time: 1:09 AM
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