READING SECTION The first section of the TOEFL iBT exam is the Reading one.

It measures your ability to read and understand academic texts ( assages! in English. The Reading "ection consists of #$% texts& each about '(( )ords long. There are *+ $ *, -uestions related to the text after it. The first assage stands alone for a time of +( minutes and the +nd and #rd assages share a total time of ,( minutes for reading and ans)ering the -uestions. The system )ill cut you off right after the time ends. Therefore& you must be not only good at reading but also fast. .ou must read through or scroll to the end of each assage before recei/ing -uestions on that assage. Once the -uestions a ear& the assage is located on the right side of the com uter screen& and the -uestions are on the left. The information needed to ans)er the -uestions is contained in the assages. 0 definition for difficult )ords or hrases in the assage may be ro/ided. The 1( to *(( minutes allotted for this section include the time s ent reading the assages and ans)ering the -uestions. Toefl iBT reading assages are excer ts from college$le/el textboo2s that )ould be used in introductions to a disci line or to ic. They are classified into three basic categories based on author ur ose3 *. Ex osition +. 0rgumentation #. 4istorical Toefl reading question types *. Basic Information and Inferencing -uestions (** to *# -uestions er set! $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Factual information -uestions (# to 1 -uestions er set! 5egati/e factual information -uestions (( to + -uestions er set! Inference -uestions (( to + -uestions er set! Rhetorical ur ose -uestions (( to + -uestions er set! 6ocabulary -uestions (( to + -uestions er set! Reference -uestions (( to + -uestions er set! "entence sim lification -uestions (( to * -uestions er set! Insert text -uestions (( to * -uestions er set!

+. Reading to Learn -uestions (* er set!

$ $

7rose summary Fill in a table

Improving your performance on Toefl i T reading questions *. Read as much a ossible Focus on academic texts Read from /ariety of sub8ects 9 science& social science& business& arts& geogra hy& history& economics& and others. +. Learn ho) to s2im a text. "2imming means reading the text -uic2ly to obtain /ery first general im ression on )hat the text is about& )hat its main idea is. "2imming corres onds )ith Reading to find information ob8ecti/e in TOEFL iBT. .ou should de/elo your ability to s2im -uic2ly but at the same time to identify all ma8or oints in the assage. #. "can the assages of a text to find and highlight 2ey facts (dates& numbers& terms! and information. ,. 7ractice ma2ing general inferences and conclusions based on )hat is im lied in the assage as a )hole. %. :hoose some unfamiliar )ords in the assage and guess the meanings from the context (surrounding sentences!. 1. Learn to organi;e the data resented in the assage in charts and tables. :reate charts )ith categories and lace the im ortant data from the assage in the a re$defined categories. '. Increase your /ocabulary 2no)ledge. <hen reading )ide /ariety of texts on different sub8ects you should ma2e a )ord list. Organi;e your list in to ics for better results. Exam le to ics could be business& geogra hy& science and others. =a2e flashcards to hel you learn those )ord lists. >se the )ords learned in your )ritings and s ea2ing. b "elect all the ronouns (he, him, they, them& etc.! and identify )hich nouns each one refers to in the assage. At t!e e"am Relax? .ou don@t ha/e to be familiar )ith the to ic of the TOEFL iBT Reading assage. 0ll the information needed to ro/ide correct ans)ers is in the text. The ro riate category. In TOEFL iBT charts are ro/ided and you are as2ed to categori;e the information in

definition of some of the sub8ect s ecific )ords is a/ailable during the test. Those )ords are colored and underlined. Be fast but try to a/oid thin2ing about the cloc2. :oncentrate on )hat you read and )hat exactly the -uestions as2 for. Find the ur ose of the assage. Ano)ing the ur ose of the reading you may easily find )hat the )riter is trying to accom lish. The ur ose of the assage in most of the readings is embedded in the introductory aragra h )hich is one of the most im ortant aragra hs in the text. Ta2e notes. Buring all sections of TOEFL iBT note ta2ing is allo)ed. It is a crucial com onent for success. It is difficult to remember all facts and details from a reading text in order to ans)er the -uestions. .ou also don@t ha/e enough time to search for those again in the text. "o& the solution is called note ta2ing. <hen s2imming and reading the texts you should )rite do)n all im ortant facts and details in order to find them fast and easily )hen you need them. "ee also our effecti/e note ta2ing strategies. Try to guess the meaning of unfamiliar )ords from the context 4ighlight some of the ronouns (he& him& they& them& etc.! in the texts. Identify to )hich nouns in the articular text the highlighted ronouns refer. Ta2e a guess. There is no enalty for an incorrect ans)er in TOEFL iBT. Bo not lea/e blan2 ans)ers. If you see you are running out of time& 8ust ta2e a guess and mar2 ans)ers for the remaining -uestions.