3 Reading Section: Skimming and Scanning

READING SECTION GENERAL STRATEGIES

On the TOEFL test, the third section is called Reading Comprehension. This section
consists of five passages and fifty questions (although some tests may be longer). You have
fifty-five minutes to complete the fifty questions in this section. There is only one type of
question in the Reading Comprehension section of the paper TOEFL test; Multiple-Choice
Questions.
Multiple-Choice questions ask you to select the best answer to questions about the
information given in the reading passages. A multiple-choice question on the paper test may
ask about the main ideas, directly answered details, indirectly answered details,
vocabulary, or overall review ideas.
The questions on the paper test are presented in linear order. The passages progress
from easy to difficult, and the questions are presented in the order in which they appear in the
passage. Here are the general strategies of doing the reading section in TOEFL test:
1. Be familiar with the directions. The directions on every paper TOEFL test are the
same, so it is not necessary to spend time reading the directions carefully when you
take the test. You should be completely familiar with the directions before the day of
the test.
2. Do not spend too much time reading the passages. You do not have time to read
each passage in depth, and it is quite possible to answer the questions correctly
without first reading the passages in depth      
3. Do not worry if a reading passage is on a topic you are unfamiliar with. All of the
information that you need to answer the questions is included in the passages. You do
not need any background knowledge to answer the questions.
4. Do not spend too much time on a question you are unsure of. If you do not
know the answer to a question, simply guess and go on. You can return to this
question later in the section if you have time.
 5. Guess to complete the section before time is up. There is no penalty for guessing,
so it can only increase your score to guess the answers to questions that you do not
have time to complete.                 
6. Read the questions first. As you likely know, finishing a reading section in 20
minutes is difficult. Reading the whole passage in detail is perhaps the biggest
mistake in the reading section.
In addition, acquiring information from long passages can take quite a long time. This can be
a major obstacle to completing the reading section of English language tests. Therefore, to
work on this section in an efficient way, you need to be good at speed reading. And you can
be better at it by mastering skimming and scanning skills. 

SKIMMING

Skimming is a reading technique that enables you to read information quickly to get
the gist of an article or passage. You are simply trying to get a general idea of what is written.
Based on your skimming, you may decide whether the information is relevant to your needs
at the time.
Skimming involves reading through a passage quickly to gain a basic understanding
of the topic and main points. When you skim through a passage, you only read the essay’s
title, the topic sentence, concluding sentences and keywords. You read quickly through
the text instead of reading the entire essay word by word.
The best way to skim is by looking at the first sentence of each paragraph, as
highlighted in the image below. The first sentence usually explains the main point or idea of
the entire paragraph. The sentences that follow contain either the supporting content or an
explanation of the paragraph's first sentence.

ADVANTAGES OF DOING SKIMMING

 Doing skimming, you can identify keywords, determine the points of each paragraph,
and understand the organization of the text. In some cases, you can even find the conclusion
the paragraph heads towards. Sometimes, you can also indicate the attitude of the author
towards the mentioned topic.

HOW TO DO SKIMMING

Step 1
Read the title of the reading passage and any headlines or captions that appear within it. This
will give you clues to what it is about and help your brain prepare for the reading that will
follow.
Step 2
Skim the passage. As we discussed above, this means reading quickly in order to get the main
idea of the article. Read from start to finish very fast, not worrying about any particular
words. Focus on the start and end of the article and the first and last sentence of each
paragraph. These contain the most pertinent information.
Step 3
Read the questions. Go through them one by one, thinking of synonyms for each of the
important words within the senter e. Remember that you may not find exactly the same words
within the text, so this is essential.
Step 4
For each question, you must now scan the passage. Keep in mind the main idea of the
question and the synonyms that you have noted down. Read quickly until you find the part of
the text that contains these words, and then when you find it, stop. You now have to finally
read more carefully and slowly. Don't read too much. Just read the part that you need to find
the answer to the question.
Step 5
Repeat these steps for each of the questions. Once you have finished, you can check your
answers again if you still have any available time left. If you have left any answers blank, you
can review the text and take an educated guess at anything you were unable to specifically
find.
READING EXERCISE 1

Practice your Skimming skill on the following passage.

 Civic virtue became a matter of public interest and discussion during the 18th century, in
part because of the American Revolutionary War. An anecdote first published in 1906
has Benjamin Franklin answer a woman who asked him, "Well, Doctor, what have we got
– a Republic or a Monarchy?" He responded: "A Republic, if you can keep it." The current
use for this quotation is to bolster with Franklin's authority the opinion that republics
require the cultivation of specific political beliefs, interests, and habits among their
citizens, and that if those habits are not cultivated, they are in danger of falling back into
some sort of authoritarian rule, such as a monarchy.
(Retrieved from “Republican Revolutions of the 18th Century”; http://Civic_virtue)

Answer the following questions!

1. The passage is about .... D. an opinion

A. The American Revolutionary
War 3. The author of this passage
B. Benjamin Franklin indicates that before the 18th
C. Civic virtue century Civic virtue ....
D. A doctor A. led to the American
Revolutionary War
2. This passage discusses .... B. was first published in 1906
A. a problem C. was already known
B. a solution D. was a cultivated habit
C. a piece of information

1 Monarchy was the most common form of government until the 19th century, but it is no
longer prevalent. Where it exists, it is now usually a constitutional monarchy, in which
the monarch retains a unique legal and ceremonial role, but exercises limited or no
political power under the written or unwritten constitution, others have governing
5 authority. Currently, 44 sovereign nations in the world have monarchs acting as heads of
state, 16 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their
head of state. All European monarchies are constitutional ones, with the exception of
the Vatican City, but sovereigns in the smaller states exercise greater political influence
than in the larger. The monarchs of Cambodia, Japan, and Malaysia "reign, but do not
10 rule" although there is considerable variation in the degree of authority they wield.
Although they reign under constitutions, the monarchs of Brunei, Oman, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia and Swaziland appear to continue to exercise more political influence than any
other single source of authority in their nations, either by constitutional mandate or by
tradition.
(Retrieved from “Monarchy”, http://americanbuilt.us/governments/monarchy.shtml)

1. This passage is mainly about .... 2. The common belief in this passage
A. common form of government is ....
B. European monarchies A. all monarchies exercise no
C. constitutions political power
D. monarchy B. several nations in the world have
monarchs acting as heads of
state
 C. all european monarchies are
constitutional ones
D. no monarch continues to
exercise political influence

3. In which part of the passage does

the author discuss the recognition of
Queen Elizabeth II as the head of
state ....

A. line 9-10
B. line 7-8
C. line 3-4
D. line 11-15

4. From the passage we learn that

the role of the monarchs in Japan
is ....
A. reign absolutely
B. reign and rule
C. reign but do not rule
D. reign without written
constitution

5. From the passage we learn that

Vatican City ....
A. exercises constitutional
monarchy
B. has monarch that exercises
more political influence
C. is not ruled by a king
D. has monarch that acts as
head of state
 SCANNING

Sometimes people confuse skimming and scanning because they both involve reading
something quite quickly in order to find information. However, skimming is about finding the
main idea of a text, while scanning is quite different. Scanning means looking for specific
information.
We use scanning on our second approach of the text. Usually, this time we have picked a
question and will attempt to answer it. Scanning means knowing what information you need to
find before you read. Scanning is looking for a fact or a detail or a particular vocabulary word.
Scanning can be used to select keywords from the answer options and then locate them in
the text. Then quickly look for it in the main text, by either seeing it straight away or
systematically looking very quickly over the text from the beginning until you see the word in
the text. Then slow down, and read around the keyword, deciding if the sentence has the same
meaning as your answer option.

HOW TO DO SCANNING

  Scanning is actually something you do quite frequently, so mastering this skill may be
easier than you think. Scanning helps you find specific information, so these some few
guidelines to do scanning:
1. Understand clearly what you need to find. At first, see the questions and find the
words of the questions in the passages. Identify which part of the paragraph the
information in questions belongs to. This is why skimming and scanning should be used
at the same time.
2. Move eyes quickly down the passage seeking specific chosen words of phrases.
3. Read the front and back of that word or phrase comparing whether they are about the
one you saw in the answer sheet. Doing so would help you get more details related to
the information.
4. If the word or phrase are transformed, identifying that is related to the answer.
 READING EXERCISE 2

Practice your Scanning skill on the following passage.

Civic virtue became a matter of public interest and discussion during the 18th century, in
part because of the American Revolutionary War. An anecdote first published in 1906
has Benjamin Franklin answer a woman who asked him, "Well, Doctor, what have we got
– a Republic or a Monarchy?" He responded: "A Republic, if you can keep it." The current
use for this quotation is to bolster with Franklin's authority the opinion that republics
require the cultivation of specific political beliefs, interests, and habits among their
citizens, and that if those habits are not cultivated, they are in danger of falling back into
some sort of authoritarian rule, such as a monarchy.
(Retrieved from “Republican Revolutions of the 18th Century”; http://Civic_virtue)

Quickly scan the passage to find the answer to each question.

1. In what part of the world did civic virtue become a matter of public interest and
discussion during the 18th century?
2. At what point in time did Franklin imply that republics require the cultivation of
specific political beliefs, interests, and habits among their citizens?
3. Before the 18th century, what would probably influence civic virtue to become public
interest?

1 Monarchy was the most common form of government until the 19th century, but it is no
longer prevalent. Where it exists, it is now usually a constitutional monarchy, in which
the monarch retains a unique legal and ceremonial role, but exercises limited or no
political power under the written or unwritten constitution, others have governing
5 authority. Currently, 44 sovereign nations in the world have monarchs acting as heads of
state, 16 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their
head of state. All European monarchies are constitutional ones, with the exception of
the Vatican City, but sovereigns in the smaller states exercise greater political influence
than in the larger. The monarchs of Cambodia, Japan, and Malaysia "reign, but do not
10 rule" although there is considerable variation in the degree of authority they wield.
Although they reign under constitutions, the monarchs of Brunei, Oman, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia and Swaziland appear to continue to exercise more political influence than any
other single source of authority in their nations, either by constitutional mandate or by
tradition.
(Retrieved from “Monarchy”, http://americanbuilt.us/governments/monarchy.shtml)
Answer the questions based on the text.
1. What two examples are the roles of monarch now?
2. In what point of time that monarchy was the most common form of government?
3. What is a “constitutional monarchy” as mentioned in the passage?
4. What is the opposite of a constitutional monarchy?
5. Which monarchs reign under constitutions that exercise political influence either by
constitutional mandate or by tradition?