How to approach the TOEFL reading section and answer the questions.

1. TOEFL READING

2. What?
3 Academic Passages
12 to 15 Questions each
1 Hour to Complete

3. A Passage?
About 700 words
5 to 7 Paragraphs
Introduction, Body and
Conclusion

4. The Sentence
Know What
and
Know Why
What = Subject = Topic
Why = Predicate = Verb + Object

5. “Academic Reading requires a lot
of practice.”
What is the topic of the sentence?
Academic Reading
Why are we talking about the topic?
It requires a lot of practice.

6. How
Do Not Read!
Reading is Sleeping!
Skim the passage
Find the What and Why
In all the first sentences
And the last sentences
Of the first and last paragraphs

7. The Topic and Main Idea
All the “Whats” put together
Give you the Topic of the Passage
And all the “Whys” put together
Give you the Main Idea

8. Answering the Questions
• Read and Understand the Question
• Find the Answer in the Passage
• Go back and Read the Choices
• Throw out the Incorrect Choices
• Choose the One that is Left

9. What to throw out
Same word Answers
Extreme Answers
Tempting Answers
Silly Answers
Answers to other questions
Answers not in the passage

10. What to go for
Answers you don’t understand
Longer answers
Words that have been rearranged
and changed
Answers on Topic
Answers following the Main Idea

11. “Eliminate all other factors, and
what you have left must be the
truth.”
Sherlock Holmes