Reading Section of TOEFL

What is reading section?

The third part of TOEFL is the Reading section. This section consists of
50 questions (generally 10-12 questions per text; a total of 3-5 texts)
and has a maximum duration of 55 minutes.
 1. Historical or biographical texts
2. Argumentative texts

Types of Texts in 3. Natural science texts

Reading Section All of these texts are written in a

formal and academical manner
 1. Read the questions first
2. Read the text chronologically
and simultaneously as you jump
How to approach from one question to another
3. No need to memorize or read
Reading Section every single thing in the text
4. Use both skimming and
scanning techniques of reading
Differences between Skimming and Scanning
Skimming
1. Reading a text quickly to find out its
general topic, theme, or meaning
2. No need to read every single word in the
text
3. It is the first technique to be used in
approaching TOEFL texts
4. Feel the need, the need for speed
Scanning
1. Reading a text quickly to find out its
specific details and facts
2. You need to search for specific, relevant
words in the body of the text
3. The technique to be used after you skim the
text
4. Focus on particular words or lexis, ignore
irrelevant information
Type 1: Overview
Three Types of Overview Questions

● What is the main idea of the passage?

01 Main Idea
●

●
Which of the following best summarizes the author’s
main idea?
What is the primary idea of the passage?

● Why did the author write the passage?

02 Main Purpose ●
●
The author's purpose in writing is to ...
What is the author's main purpose in the passage?

● What tone does the author take in writing this

03 Tone ●
passage?
The tone of this passage could best be described as
...
 Common
Distractors in
Overview 1. They are too specific
2. They are too general
Questions 3. They are incorrect according to
the passage
Specifically for number 1 and 2 4. They are irrelevant to the main
(Main Idea and Main Purpose) idea of the passage

Main Idea
Direction: Read the passage.
Then mark each answer choice
according to the following system
S Too specific
G Too general
X Incorrect
I Irrelevant
C Correct
The keystone arch was used by almost every
early civilization. To build a keystone arch,
stones are cut so that the opposite sides taper
toward each other slightly. The upper and
lower surfaces are carved so that when several
stones are placed side by side, the upper and
lower surfaces meet in smooth, continuous
curves. Some form of scaffolding is built under
the arch and shaped to accept the curved
underside of the stones. Then the stones are
fitted in place one by one. The keystone is the
top center stone, the last to be dropped into
position. Afterwards, the scaffolding is
removed and the arch is self-supporting.
The passage mainly concerns the ..
(A) basic principles of building keystone arches
(B) uses of arches in modern architecture
(C) role of scaffolding in building keystone
arches

Main Idea
Direction: Read the passage.
Then mark each answer choice
according to the following system
S Too specific
G Too general
X Incorrect
I Irrelevant
C Correct
There are two main types of cell division. Most
cells are produced by a process called mitosis. In
mitosis, a cell divides and forms two identical
daughter cells, each with an identical number of
chromosomes. Most one-celled creatures reproduce
by this method, as do most of the cells in
multicelled plants and animals. Sex cells, however,
are formed in a special type of cell division called
meiosis. This process reduces the number of
chromosomes in a sex cell to half the number found
in other kinds of cells. Then, when sex cells unite,
they produce a single cell with the original number
of chromosomes.
What is the main topic of this passage?
(A) The method by which one-celled organisms
reproduce
(B) A comparison between mitosis and meiosis
(C) Meiosis, the process by which identical cells
are reproduced

Main Idea
Direction: Read the passage.
Then mark each answer choice
according to the following system
S Too specific
G Too general
X Incorrect
I Irrelevant
C Correct
The story of the motel business from 1920 to the
start of World War II in 1941 is one of
uninterrupted growth. Motels spread from the
West and the Midwest all the way to Maine and
Florida. They clustered along transcontinental
highways such as U.S. routes 40 and 66 and along
the north-south routes running up and down both
the East and West coast. There were 16,000
motels by 1930 and 24,000 by 1940. The motel
industry was one of the few industries that was not
hurt by the Depression of the 1930's. Their cheap
rates attracted travelers who had very little
money.
What does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) How the Depression hurt US motels
(B) The impact of transcontinental highways
(C) Two decades of growth for motel industry
What is the main topic of
this passage?
(A)The early history of
jazz
(B)The music of World
War I
(C)The relationship
between melody and
rhythm in jazz
(D)The New York
recording industry in
the 1920s

Main Purpose
Direction: Read the passage.
Then mark each answer choice
according to the following system
S Too specific
G Too general
X Incorrect
I Irrelevant
C Correct
The last gold rush belongs as much to Canadian history
as it does to American. The discovery of gold along the
Klondike River, which flows from Canada's Yukon
Territory into Alaska, drew some 30,000 fortune
hunters to the north. The Yukon became a territory,
and its capital of the time, Dawson, would not have
existed without the gold rush. The gold strike
furnished material for a dozen of Jack London's novels.
It inspired Robert Service to write "The Shooting of
Dan McGrew" and other poems, and it provided the
background for the wonderful Charlie Chaplin movie,
The Gold Rush. It also marked the beginnings of
modern Alaska.
The author’s main purpose in writing is to …
(A) discuss the significance of mining in Canada
and US
(B) show the influence of Klondike gold strike
on creative arts
(C) point out the impact of Klondike gold strike

Main Purpose
Direction: Read the passage.
Then mark each answer choice
according to the following system
S Too specific
G Too general
X Incorrect
I Irrelevant
C Correct
Circumstantial evidence is evidence not drawn from the
direct observation of a fact. If, for example, there is evidence
that a piece of rock embedded in a wrapped chocolate bar is
the same type of rock found in the vicinity of the candy
factory, and that rock of this type is found in few other
places, then there is circumstantial evidence that the stone
found its way into the candy during manufacture and
suggests that the candy-maker was negligent. Despite a
popular notion to look down on the quality of circumstantial
evidence, it is of great usefulness if there is enough of it and
if it is properly interpreted. Each circumstance, taken singly,
may mean little, but a whole chain of circumstances can be
as conclusive as direct evidence.
What is the author’s main purpose in writing this passage?
(A) To show that a manufacturer's negligence can be
shown by direct evidence only
(B) To define circumstantial evidence and show its
usefulness
(C) To demonstrate that circumstantial evidence can be
very useful in science

Main Purpose
Direction: Read the passage.
Then mark each answer choice
according to the following system
S Too specific
G Too general
X Incorrect
I Irrelevant
C Correct
Until the late 1700's, metal could not be turned on a lathe to
make it uniformly smooth and round. The operator could not
guide the cutting tool evenly by hand against the turning
piece. This problem was solved by David Wilkinson of
Pawtucket, Rhode Island. In 1798 he invented a machine in
which the cutter was clamped into a movable slide that could
be advanced precisely, by hand crank, parallel to the work.
The slide rest, as it came to be called, has many uses. It
permits the manufacture of parts so uniform that they can
be interchanged. Without it, mass production would not
have been possible. As it turns out, the great English
machinist Henry Maudsley had developed nearly the same
mechanism a few years before, but this was unknown to
Wilkinson and does not diminish his accomplishment
Why did the author write this passage?
(A) To prove that Wilkinson's invention was
based on Maudsley's
(B) To demonstrate the importance of mass
production to American society
(C) To show the usefulness of Wilkinson's
invention
Why does the author most likely
mention George Washington in the
first paragraph?
(A) He was President at the time the
Erie Canal was built.
(B) He was involved in pioneering
efforts to build canals.
(C) He successfully opened the first
canal in the United States.
(D) He commissioned engineers to
study the possibility of building the
Erie Canal.
 The last gold rush belongs as much to Canadian history
as it does to American. The discovery of gold along the
Klondike River, which flows from Canada's Yukon
Territory into Alaska, drew some 30,000 fortune
hunters to the north. The Yukon became a territory,
and its capital of the time, Dawson, would not have
existed without the gold rush. The gold strike
furnished material for a dozen of Jack London's novels.
It inspired Robert Service to write "The Shooting of
Dan McGrew" and other poems, and it provided the
background for the wonderful Charlie Chaplin movie,
The Gold Rush. It also marked the beginnings of
modern Alaska.

Tone The tone of the passage is …

(A) informational
(B) humorous
(C) resentful
 Circumstantial evidence is evidence not drawn from the
direct observation of a fact. If, for example, there is evidence
that a piece of rock embedded in a wrapped chocolate bar is
the same type of rock found in the vicinity of the candy
factory, and that rock of this type is found in few other
places, then there is circumstantial evidence that the stone
found its way into the candy during manufacture and
suggests that the candy-maker was negligent. Despite a
popular notion to look down on the quality of circumstantial
evidence, it is of great usefulness if there is enough of it and
if it is properly interpreted. Each circumstance, taken singly,
may mean little, but a whole chain of circumstances can be
as conclusive as direct evidence.

Tone The tone of the passage is …

(A) astounded
(B) argumentative
(C) happy
Type 2: Specific
 1. Focus on one or two key words as you
read the stem of each question. Lock
these words in your mind.
2. Scan the passage looking for the key
words or their synonyms. Look only
for these words. Do not try to read

Factual every word of the passage.

3. When you find the key words in the
passage, carefully read the sentence in
which they occur. You may have to
5w + 1h read the sentence preceding or
following that sentence as well.
4. Compare the information you read
with the four answer choices.
1. How do deer primarily use
their antlers? (line 2-3)
2. In what way are reindeer
and caribou different from
other types of deer?
3. When do deer that live in
temperate climates begin to
grow their antlers?
4. According to the article,
which of the following does
the skin on deer's antlers
most closely resemble?
5. Which of the following
factors influences the size
and shape of a deer's
antlers?
 Scan the passage to find the answers
that ARE correct or ARE mentioned
in the passage. Sometimes the three
distractors are clustered in one or
Negative two sentences; sometimes they are
scattered throughout the passage.
NOT, EXCEPT, LEAST The correct answer, of course, is the
one that does not appear.
Which of the following is NOT given
in the fourth paragraph as an effect
of the building of the Erie Canal?
(A) It allowed the East Coast to
trade with the Great Lakes area.
(B) It took water traffic away from
the Mississippi River.
(C) It helped determine the outcome
of the Civil War.
(D) It established Boston and
Philadelphia as the most important
centers of trade.
 These questions ask you to find
where in the passage some particular

Scanning information or transition is located.

They are easy to identify: the
answers are usually line numbers.
In which line does this
passage discuss the efforts
taken by Franklin Street
residents in coping up with
pollution?

(A)Line 7-9
(B)Line 13-15
(C)Line 18-20
(D)Line 22-25
Type 3: Inference
 The answers to these questions are

Inference not directly provided in the passage-

you must "read between the lines."

Looking for something outside

the text
 Blood cholesterol used to be thought

Inference: A short of as a problem only for adults.

(A)Blood cholesterol is no longer a

example problem for adults.
(B)Only children have a problem
with blood cholesterol.
(C)Blood cholesterol affects both
adults and children.
 A star very similar to the Sun is one of the nearest
stars to Earth. That star is Alpha Centauri, just 4.3
light-years away. Other than our own Sun, the nearest
star to the Earth is a tiny red star, not visible without a
Inference: A short telescope, called Proxima Centauri.

It can be inferred from the passage that …

example (A) Proxima Centauri is similar to the Earth's Sun.
(B) Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the
Earth.
(C) Alpha Centauri is invisible from the Earth.
(D) Proxima Centauri is less than 4.3 light-years
from the Earth.
 William Faulkner set many of his novels in and around
an imaginary town, Jefferson, Mississippi,which he
closely patterned after his hometown of Oxford,

Inference: A short Mississippi.

It can be inferred from the passage that …

example (A) William Faulkner wrote many of his novels

while living in Jefferson, Mississippi.
(B) The town of Oxford, Mississippi, exists only in
Faulkner's novels.
(C) Faulkner actually wrote about his hometown but
did not use its real name.
What can be inferred about railroads in
1849 from the information in the last
paragraph?

(A) They were being planned but had not

yet been built.
(B) They were seriously underdeveloped.
(C) They had begun to compete with the
Erie Canal for traffic.
(D) They were weakened by the
expansion of the canal.
 These questions ask why the author
of a passage mentions some piece of

Specific Purpose information, includes a quotation

from a person or a study, or uses
some particular word or phrase.
Why does the author mention the
experiments conducted several years
ago at the University of Iowa?

(A) They proved that pigeons

were not the only kind of
animal with the ability to
recognize facial expressions.
(B) They were contradicted by
more recent experiments.
(C) They proved that the ability
to recognize human
expressions was not innate in
human babies.
(D) They showed the similarities
between the mental
organization of pigeons and
that of humans.
Type 4: Meaning (a game
of substitution)
 1. Often directed towards
Synonym adjective, but not limited to
2. A substitution whose answer is
outside the text
 In Britain's North American colonies, university trained
physicians were at a premium. At the time of the
Revolution, there were probably only around 400 physicians
and some 3,000 practitioners who had on-the-job training

Synonym: A short as barber-surgeons or physicians' apprentices. Whether

university trained or not, none had much knowledge of the
causes of disease, and the "cures" they often recommended-
bleeding, blistering, and the use of violent purgatives-were

example at best ineffective and at worst lethal.

The phrase at a premium in the first sentence can be

replaced with …

(A) well-paid
(B) not numerous
(C) very experienced
(D) not well-respected
 In Britain's North American colonies, university trained
physicians were at a premium. At the time of the
Revolution, there were probably only around 400 physicians
and some 3,000 practitioners who had on-the-job training

Synonym: A short as barber-surgeons or physicians' apprentices. Whether

university trained or not, none had much knowledge of the
causes of disease, and the "cures" they often recommended-
bleeding, blistering, and the use of violent purgatives-were

example at best ineffective and at worst lethal.

Which of the following words could best be substituted for

the word "lethal"?

(A) Impractical
(B) Brutal
(C) Impossible
(D) Deadly
The word "feasibility" in
line 4 is closest in
meaning to
(A) profitability
(B) difficulty
(C) possibility
(D) capability
 Reference questions ask what noun
(called the referent) a pronoun or some
other expression refers to. The correct
answer is not always the noun that is
closest to the pronoun in the passage.
Incorrect choices are usually other
Reference nouns that appear in the passage. If
you are unable to decide immediately
which answer is correct, substitute the
four choices for the word that is being
asked about. Which one is the most
logical substitute?
 Reference: A
short example
 Wooly mammoths were hunted by
big cats called sabertooth tigers,
which also became extinct by the end
Reference: A of the last Ice Age. They were also
hunted by early men armed with
short example spears and clubs.

(A)Sabertooth tigers
(B)Early men
(C)Wooly mammoths
 Florists often refrigerate cut flowers
Reference: A to protect their fresh appearance.

short example
(A)Florists
(B)Flowers
The word “it" in line 4
refers to
(A) George Washington
(B) The first company
(C) Ohio and Potomac
Rivers
(D) First attempt to build
a canal