TOEFL IBT

READING SKILLS
4 FORMATS
9 QUESTION TYPES

A. MULTIPLE CHOICE FORMAT

1. Vocabulary

In a reading "Vocabulary question", you are asked what a word or phrase is

closest in meaning to and are given 4 answer options. You need to be able to
understand the meaning of the word as it is used in the passage.

2. Negative Factual Information

You can recognize a negative factual information question by either the word
NOT or EXCEPT in the question. The question can appear like the following:
According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true of X?

3. Essential Information

In an Essential Information question, you will see the question you see an
entire sentence highlighted in the reading passage. The question will ask you to
choose which of the 4 answer option sentences is equal to the highlighted
sentence. The correct sentence will be paragraphed so it is different than the
highlighted one, but still convey all the important information. Incorrect
sentences will represent a detail or concept inaccurately, leave out an important
detail, change the original meaning of the sentence.

4. Reference

In a "Reference" question, you are asked what the highlighted word refers to. If
it's a pronoun then you need to identify what word the pronoun is replacing.

5. Inference

In an "Inference" question, you will see the question phrased something like the
following: In paragraph 5, what does the author imply about .? or What can be
inferred from paragraph 5?
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In this type of question, the answer is not directly stated in the reading passage.
It requires you to draw conclusions based on information that is given in the
passage. You need to find out the correct conclusion from the choices.

6. Rhetorical Purpose

This type of question requires you to understand why the author has included
pieces of information. The answer is not directly stated in the reading passage.
To solve this type of question, you need to understand the main point of the
paragraph and how the referenced information is related to the main point of the
paragraph. You will see the question phrased something like the following: Why
does the author mention XXX in paragraph 2?

B. INSERT A SENTENCE FORMAT

7. Insert a Sentence

In an "Insert a Sentence" question, you will be asked to decide where a new

sentence best fits into the reading passage. This question type tests your
understanding of the logic in the passage. It also tests your ability to understand
the grammatical connections from one sentence to another.

C. COMPLETE THE SUMMARY FORMAT

8. Complete the Summary

In a Complete the Summary question, you are given a summary statement of

the reading passage and 6 answer options. You need to drag and drop 3 answers
that represent major ideas or contain important information from the passage.
You need to drag and drop them from the bottom area of your computer screen
into a blank area above with 3 positions marked off . The 3 correct options will
NOT have the exact wording of any sentence in the passage. The other 3 will
have errors in detail, or state an unimportant concept.

This question always has a value of 2 points. You will get 1 point if you get 2 out
of 3 correct.

D. COMPLETE THE TABLE FORMAT

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9. Complete the Table

In a Complete a table question, you will see 2 or 3 categories in an empty

table. From the options provided, you must select which ones correctly belong to
each category. There will also be 2 options that won't be used. There will either
be 5 or 7 correct options depending on the question.

This question has a value of 3 or 4 points. Questions with 5 correct options are
worth 3 points, and ones with 7 are worth 4 points. You get 1 point if you get
3/5 or 4/7 correct. You get 2 points if get 4/5 or 5/7 correct. You get 3 points if
you get 5/5 or 6/7 correct

This question tests your ability to organize major ideas of the reading passage
and important information. It also tests your understandings of cause-effect
relationships and compare and contrast relationships.