Section 1 of the TOEFL Reading test is designed to rate your comprehension of academic-style writing. Students are expected to quickly read a large portion of text and then answer questions regarding the content. Students are not expected to understand everything that they read, as they are not given enough time to thoroughly read the paragraphs that they are given. To score well in this section, make sure that you know all of the possible questions for the TOEFL Reading Part 1.
Example Questions for TOEFL Reading Part 1
Detail/Fact Questions (3-6 per set of questions)
These begin with sentences like “According to paragraph 1/the author/line 3, . . .”
Negative Fact (0-2 per set of questions)
These questions begins with sentences like “All of the following are mentioned in the passage EXCEPT” or “According to the passage which of the following is NOT…”
Inference/Implication (0-2 per set of questions)
These questions begins with sentences like “Which of the following can be inferred about” or “In paragraph 3, the author implies…”
Vocabulary (3-5 per set of questions)
These questions begins with sentences like “The word…in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to…” OR “When the author says … is….she means…”
Author purpose (0-2 per set of questions)
These questions begins with sentences like “In paragraph 5, why does the author discuss…” or “The author mentions…as an example of…”
Reference questions (0-2 per set of questions)
These questions begins with sentences These questions begins with sentences like “The word … in paragraph 3 refers to…
Inserting a sentence into the reading (0-1 question per set)
This question begins with a sentence like “Where would the sentence fit best?”
Simplifying the sentence (0-1 question per set)
Example: “Which of the following best provides the important information in the highlighted sentence from the passage?”
Summary (0-1 question per set)
“An introductory sentence for a summary of the passage is found below. Complete the summary by choosing the THREE answer choices that contain the most imporant ideas in the passage.
Complete the chart (0-1 question per set)
Complete the table in order to summarize the information about …. Match the statements to the …
TOEFL Reading Section 1 Tips
1. There will be many terms that you do not recognize. Technical words that are not defined in the text will be defined in the glossary.
2. If you need to know the meaning of a word to answer a question and it is not defined in the text or in the glossary, try to identify the root word, stem, and part of speech.
3. The questions are asked in chronological order. In other words, the answers from the first few questions are in the first paragraph.
4. The final question often requires that you understand the passage as a whole.
5. There will be several types of questions. Make sure that you know these types beforehand so that you understand the form of each question you are given.
Click here for Part 2 of this post, where you put this new information use in a Reading Section 1 Practice Test.
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