TOEFL Reading tips

Tip #1: Memorize the question types

Tip #2: Find keywords and focus on them
Tip #3: Practice reading with a timer
Tip #4: Beware of modifiers in answer choices
Tip #5: Store knowledge of academic vocabulary
Tip #6: Learn word parts and apply to unknown vocabulary
Tip #7: Be an active reader
Tip #8: Study the same test more than once
Tip #9: Explain why you were correct or incorrect
Tip #10: Practice with short passages.

Tip #1: Memorize the question types

The Reading Section Question Types

Question Freque Time to Questi Question Phrasing

Type ncy Answer on
Value

1. 2-4 60 seconds 1 “The word _________ in paragraph 2 is closest in

Vocabular meaning to…"
y

2. Factual 3-6 90 seconds 1 “According to paragraph 4, what….”

Informatio “Which of the following…”
n (Detail) “It is stated in paragraph 4 that…”
3. 2-4 120 seconds 1 “All of the following are mentioned in paragraph 3
Negative EXCEPT…”
Factual “Which of the following is NOT mentioned....”
Informatio
n
(Negative
Detail)

4. 2-4 90 seconds 1 “What can be inferred from paragraph 5 about…”

Inference “Paragraph 5 implies that…”
“Paragraph 5 suggests…”

5. 2-4 90 seconds 1 “In paragraph 6, the author discusses ________ in

Rhetorical order to…”
Purpose “Why does the author mention…”
(Author’s
Purpose)

6. 2-3 120 seconds 1 “Which of the sentences below best expresses the
Sentence essential information in the highlighted sentence in
Simplificat paragraph 4?”
ion
(Paraphras
ing)

7. Insert 2-3 120 seconds 1 “In paragraph 2 there is a missing sentence. Where
Text would the sentence best fit?”
(Sentence
Insertion)
 8. 0-1 60 seconds 1 “The word _________ in paragraph 1 refers to…”
Reference
(Pronoun
Referent)

9. Prose 1-2 150 seconds 1 “An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the
Summary passage is provided below. Complete the summary
(Summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express
) the most important ideas in the passage."

10. Fill In 0-1 150 seconds 2-3 “Complete the table below to summarize information
A Table about _________ in the passage. Match the
(Organizat appropriate statements to _________”
ion)

Tip #2: Find keywords and focus on them

For many of the question types, you can rely on the keywords in both the question and answer choices to help you
find the correct option.
Keywords are important words in the question that you can use to help you find answers quickly.
For example, below is a paraphrase question, and you will notice that it is pretty wordy.
Which of the following best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in paragraph 3?
Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
a. Discoveries of ceratopsian remains suggest that they lived in groups
b. Fossils of individual herds of ceratopsians have been discovered in bone beds
c. The evidence shows ceratopsians of all ages and genders lived, ate, and slept in groups
d. Numerous fossils support the idea that individual ceratopsians differed from each other
First of all, here is a little bonus tip, paraphrase questions are always worded the same. You don’t need to waste
any time reading the question, you should see it and know immediately that it is a paraphrase question.
Let’s get back to the topic, keywords.
What are keywords?
I am going to teach you three ways to identify them. Here are the first two:
 Keywords are almost never prepositions (under/in) or articles (a/an/the)
 Keywords are almost always verbs, nouns or adjectives
Let’s apply these two new rules to the four possible answers:
1. Discoveries of ceratopsian remains suggest that they lived in groups
2. Fossils of individual herds of ceratopsians have been discovered in bone beds
3. The evidence shows ceratopsians of all ages and genders lived, ate, and slept in groups
4. Numerous fossils support the idea that individual ceratopsians differed from each other
So far we have cut about 20% of the text we need to focus on for this particular TOEFL Reading question. Notice
that I cut some other types of words like conjunctions (and). I do NOT want you to get too caught up with the
grammar terminology. In general, pay little attention to these extra little words that don’t carry too much
information. They are sometimes referred to as function words, which implies that they are used as grammatical
tools rather than to carry any valuable information.
Next up…
 Keywords are almost never prepositions (under/in) or articles (a/an/the)
 Keywords are almost always verbs, nouns or adjectives
 Proper nouns are almost always keywords
Proper nouns are words that identify a specific person, place, or thing. For example, “city” is a common noun, but
“New York City” is a proper noun.
Pretty clear from all of the given choices that ceratopsian is a pretty important word.
1. Discoveries of ceratopsian remains suggest that they lived in groups
2. Fossils of individual herds of ceratopsians have been discovered in bone beds
3. The evidence shows ceratopsians of all ages and genders lived, ate, and slept in groups
4. Numerous fossils support the idea that individual ceratopsians differed from each other
Notice that I continued to eliminate other words that were not part of the three rules.
Think of the three keyword rules as a guide, and then use your own common sense to eliminate other words that
are not necessary for you to focus on.

Tip #3: Practice reading with a timer

You will be given 36 minutes to complete the TOEFL Reading section, and that’s going to be a challenge.
After each reading passage, you will have 10 questions about the text. In other words, you have 36 minutes to read
approximately 1400 words (700 words per passage) and answer 20 questions (10 per passage).
Reading 1400 words and answering 20 questions in 36 minutes is tough.
It’s a good exercise to time yourself while you do TOEFL Reading Practice questions. Simply set a timer on your
computer or phone.
You can start by timing yourself to see how long it takes you to complete each question.
Some questions take longer to answer than others, for example, let’s compare a TOEFL Reading vocabulary
question to a TOEFL reading negative detail question:

VOCABULARY QUESTION
The word extract in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to…
a. Allow
b. Express
c. Obtain
d. Recover

SENTENCE SIMPLIFICATION QUESTION

Which of the following best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in paragraph 3?
Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
a. Discoveries of ceratopsian remains suggest that they lived in groups
b. Fossils of individual herds of ceratopsians have been discovered in bone beds
c. The evidence shows ceratopsians of all ages and genders lived, ate, and slept in groups
d. Numerous fossils support the idea that individual ceratopsians differed from each other
Clearly, some question types will take longer to answer than others. Below is the list of TOEFL Reading question
types along with the average amount of time you should take with each question (each time measurement
represents the maximum amount of time you should take)
 Vocabulary – 60 seconds
 Detail – 60-120 seconds (ideally 90 seconds)
 Negative Detail – 120 seconds
 Paraphrasing – 120 seconds
  Sentence Insertion – 120 seconds
 Inference – 90 seconds
 Author’s Purpose – 90 seconds
 Pronoun Reference – 60 seconds
 Summary – 120 seconds
 Organization – 120 seconds
Of course, you probably won’t be able to answer the questions within these time frames right away. Practice this
skill. Eliminate choices to improve your odds of getting the correct answer and don’t hesitate to take an educated
guess. Sometimes, you will not be 100% certain if you are correct, but you have to move on and answer all of the
questions before time runs out.

Tip #4: Beware of modifiers in answer choices

One way to eliminate wrong choices and select the correct one is to pay close attention to modifiers.
First of all, what’s a modifier?
A modifier is a word, usually an adjective or noun that changes the meaning of the head noun. The wrong
modifier can change the significance of a statement.
The best way to understand is to look at a few examples:
 This event has had a tremendous impact
 This event has had some impact
 This event has had almost no impact

As you can see, modifiers are an easy way to make a possible choice incorrect. All you have to do is change a
single word and it changes the entire meaning of the sentence. This is one of the more infamous trap answers on
the TOEFL, so be sure not to fall for the modifier trap. There is a huge difference between “tremendous
impact” and “almost no impact“.

Tip #5: Store knowledge of academic vocabulary

SENTENCE SIMPLIFICATION QUESTION
Which of the following best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in paragraph 3?
Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
a. Discoveries of ceratopsian remains suggest that they lived in groups
b. Fossils of individual herds of ceratopsians have been discovered in bone beds
c. The evidence shows ceratopsians of all ages and genders lived, ate, and slept in groups
d. Numerous fossils support the idea that individual ceratopsians differed from each other
Since the passages on the TOEFL Reading are all academic texts, the vocabulary is also at the academic level.
So, why does this matter?
You probably already know that you should study academic vocabulary, but did you know that there is an
actual Academic Word List? It was created by linguist Averil Coxhead in 2001 and it contains 570 of the most
common academic words used in scholarly journals and texts.
You can get yourself a copy of the Ultimate TOEFL Vocabulary List.
Here’s a quick example of one of the academic vocabulary words and all of its variations:
 Verb form(s) – acquire
 Noun form(s) – acquisition, acquirement, acquirer
 Adjective form(s) – acquisitive, acquirable
 Adverb form(s) – acquisitively
Let me make something clear…
You do NOT have to know all the forms of a single word. The point is that if you know the simple verb form, (i.e.
acquire), then you can probably figure out the meaning of the other forms of the same word. Don’t memorize every
word in each word family, just focus on familiarizing yourself with the headword.
Understanding these words won’t guarantee that you will know every word you encounter in the TOEFL Reading
but this is the most concise vocabulary list you can find.
There are other sites that promote TOEFL Vocabulary Lists of thousands of words, but all you need for the TOEFL
Reading section is to focus on these 570 words.

Tip #6: Learn word parts and apply to unknown vocabulary

In addition to learning academic vocabulary, it’s beneficial to learn the parts of words, i.e.,
the prefixes, suffixes, and roots of words.
Knowing that “ex-” means “out of or not“, or that “pro-” means “before or forward” will you give you the
advantage of being able to dissect words that you do not completely understand.
Whether you like it or not, there will be words in the TOEFL Reading section that you simply do not know. This
TOEFL Reading tip will not only help you with vocabulary questions but for any part of the text you do not fully
comprehend.
The problem is that there are literally thousands of word parts and some are more useful than others. Her is a link
to our Essential Word Parts List, which includes all 219 word parts that can help you discern the meaning of a word,
even if you are unfamiliar with it.
Below is a list of our 54 most common prefixes. You can find the rest in our Essential Word Parts List.
Group 1 – Location and Movement
1. ab – away from, down – abandon, abstain, abnormal, absurd, abominable
2. ad – at, towards – admire, adapt, adjacent, admonish, adversary
3. circum – to go around, circle – circumvent, circumstance, circumstantial, circumference, circumcise
4. con-/co-/com-/col – together – collect, company, concentrate, converge, coexist
5. dia – through, across – dialogue, diachronic, diameter, diatribe, diagram
6. equi – equal – equidistant, equity, equilibrium, equinox, equivalent.
7. ex – out of, not – exposure, exaggerate, exonerate, exude, exclusion
8. fore – front, in advance – foreground, forearm, forecast, foreclose, foreshadow
9. in – in, on, not – inception, intone, insinuate, incorrect, inaccurate
10. inter – among, between – interaction, intercept, intermediate, interject, international
11. para – besides, irregular, beyond – paramedic, paranormal, paragraph, paraphrase, paranoid
12. per – thoroughly, through – perceive, persist, peruse, persevere
13. peri – about, around, near – periodical, periscope, perimeter, peripheral
14. pro – before, forward – procession, proficiency, prominent, prologue, prognosis
15. sub – under, below, slightly imperfect – subatomic, subconscious, subdivide, subjugate, submission
16. syn-/sym – with, together – sympathetic, synergy, synonym, symbiotic, symmetrical
17. tele – afar, at a distance – telecast, telecommunication, telephone, telescope, television
18. trans – through, across, beyond – transcript, transfer, transcendence, transport, transaction
Group 2 – Numbers
1. bi-/du – two – duplicate, dual, bisexual, biweekly, bipolar
2. cent – 100 – centenarian, century, centigrade, centimeter, centipede
3. mill – 1000 – millennium, milliliter, milligram, millennial, millipede
 4. mono – one – monochrome, monotone, monogamy, monopolize, monotheism
5. multi – more than one – multicellular, multicultural, multimillionaire, multitask, multifaceted
6. poly – many – polyglot, polygamy, polyphonic, polytheism, polygon
7. quad – four – quad, quadriplegic, quadrangle, quadruplet, quadriceps
8. tri – three – tricycle, tripod, trio, trimester, triad
9. uni – one, together – unicorn, unicycle, unify, uniform, universal
Group 3 – Negatives

1. anti – against, opposite of – antidepressant, antitrust, antiwar, antidote, antisocial

2. contra– against, in opposition of – contraband, contraceptive, contrast, contrarian, contradiction
3. dis – away from, the reverse effect – disable, disadvantage, disarm, displace, disrupt
4. il-/im-/in-/ir – not, opposite of – illegal, imbecile, irregular, inability, inconsistent, illogical
5. mal – wrong, badly – malefic, malcontent, malpractice, malnourished, malevolent
6. mis – wrong, incorrect – misjudge, mislead, misprint, mistreat, misfortune
7. non – not – nonchalant, noncompliant, nonexistent, nonrenewable, nonfiction
8. un – negative, opposite force – unacceptable, uneasy, unhinged, unrealistic, unspeakable
Group 4 – Academics
1. astro – the stars, outer space – asteroid, astrology, astrolabe, astronaut, astrophysicist
2. geo – earth – geometry, geothermal, geography, geolocation, geometric
3. hydro – water – hydroelectric, hydrometer, hydrophobia, hydropathic, hydrodynamic
4. neur – nerves, nervous system – neuron, neurological, neuropathy, neurosis, neurosurgeon
5. psych – mind, spirit, that which breathes – psychedelic, psychic, psycho, psychosis, psychotic
6. socio – social, society – sociocultural, socioeconomic, sociolinguistic, sociopolitical, sociopath
Group 5 – More Prefixes
1. ana – back, again, upwards – anagram, analogy, anatomy, anachronism, analyze
2. auto – by oneself, itself – autobiography, autocracy, autograph, automatize, autonomy
3. em, en – to cause to be in, to confine – embark, embezzle, entourage, enjoin, encroach
4. hyper – over, exaggeration – hyperactive, hyperbolic, hyperlink, hypertension
5. meta – after, change, beyond – metamorphosis, metaphysical, metadata, metabolism, metaphor
6. neo – new – neologism, neolithic, neofascist, neon, neonate
7. over – more than usual, too much – overcooked, overachiever, overeducated, overdose, overslept
8. pan – all – pandemic, panorama, Pangea, pan, panacea
 9. post – after – postmortem, postmodernism, posterity, postscript, postseason
10. pre – before – precaution, preconditioned, predestination preordain, preview
11. re – back, again – rebuild, recall, recede, reflect, reconsider
12. super – above, beyond – superimpose, superlative supernova, superstar, superrich
13. ult – last, beyond – ultraconservative, ultrasound, ultimatum, ultimate, ulterior
Remember, using word parts will not always work. The prefix “ab” may mean “away from or down” but
the abs around your stomach have nothing to do with this prefix. These word parts are tools to help you on your
TOEFL journey.

Tip #7: Be an active reader

Let’s face it, TOEFL Reading passages are pretty dull.

Some people may be interested in the phases of the moon or the geopolitics of Ancient Rome, but most tend to
nod off after the first paragraph.
Focus is an enormous part of your grade for the TOEFL Reading. If you can read the words, but don’t understand
what they mean or how they connect with each other, you will not be able to answer the questions.
You can NOT read TOEFL passages the same way you read the newspaper or a novel, you have to read
with certain goals in mind.
You must read actively.
Passive reading is when you read a newspaper and then pretty much forget everything you read besides some
vague main idea. You might remember that you read about the war in Syria, but you will not be able to recall the
first line of the third paragraph in that article.
Active reading will help you remember a lot more of what you read.
While most exams in college test your memory, the TOEFL tests your comprehension. They don’t want to see if you
can remember the material, but if you can understand it. So, your goal is to understand what you read.

STEP 1 – Before you start reading any TOEFL paragraph, not TOEFL passage, just a paragraph within the Reading
passage, imagine you are a teacher and ask yourself, “How am I going to explain this paragraph to a six-
year-old?”
And that’s it.
That’s how we are going to read actively. That’s your goal when you read any TOEFL paragraph.
“I need to explain this to a 6-year-old”
So when you see a paragraph before you start to answer the question, imagine you are going to have to teach
about this stuff to a bunch of children. Focus on understanding the main idea of the paragraph in a clear and
simple way before you start to answer the question.
Let me show you a quick example from a paragraph from a reading text.
“The ceratopsians, also known as ceratopsia or ceratopia, are among the most well-known and
distinctive of all dinosaur species. The majority of ceratopsians were four-legged dinosaurs that
ranged in length from one meter (three feet) to nine meters and in weight from 23 kilograms (50
pounds) to 5,400 kilograms. The earliest ceratopsians lived around 161 million years ago, and the last
ones died out approximately 66 million years ago during the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.
The first fossil remains of ceratopsians were discovered in the mid to late nineteenth century, and
they were first classified as separate from other dinosaur species in 1890 by Othniel Charles Marsh,
one of the preeminent paleontologists of the period.”
My own simple summary of this paragraph would be something like, “This paragraph acts as a general
introduction to ceratopsian dinosaurs with details about how they lived and when their bones were
later discovered.”
I think a six-year-old would get that.

Tip #8: Study the same test more than once

The title sums this tip up fairly well, but it is a crucial aspect of studying that most students neglect.
I have seen countless TOEFL takers fall into the practice trap. They feel that the best way to improve their score is
to keep doing TOEFL practice, but they never reflect n what they have learned.
This is why all of our private TOEFL students are taught a specific four-step-system for studying the TOEFL, called
The PARA Framework.
P – Plan
A – Act
R – Reflect
A – Adjust
In this system, taking a practice step is just one step in the four-step process (act). They must also spend a
significant amount of time planning, reflecting and adjusting.
It’s crucial for you to reflect on what you have done and adjust based on what you have learned through reflection.
After you reflect and adjust, it’s time to plan. Plan on taking the same test 1-2 weeks after the first time you did it.
Anticipate that you remember most of the answers visually, not necessarily through comprehension. However,
your goal is not to comprehend more, but to remember what you have already learned and ensure you do not
make the same mistake twice.

Tip #9: Explain why you were correct or incorrect

Reflecting on your answers and explaining why you were correct or incorrect is step 3 in the 4-step PARA
Framework you just learned about: Plan, Act, Reflect, Adjust.
Each part of this 4-step-system is important, but you will experience the most growth through reflection. Reflection
is where you will act as your own teacher. Of course, it is always better to work with a teacher and we have a team
of TOEFL Teachers ready and waiting to help, but if you have to do it on your own, know that there are only three
reasons why you might get a question wrong on the TOEFL Reading.

That’s right, only three.

1. Misread the passage
2. Misread the question
3. Did not understand the vocabulary
It is hard to imagine, but the reason why you might get a question wrong in the TOEFL reading boils down to just
these three possible reasons.
Now that you know how to identify what the problem was when you answered correctly, the next step is to adjust.
When you adjust, you decide what you are going to differently next time to avoid making the same mistake again.
Let me give you an example of each for an incorrect TOEFL Reading question so you can see it in action:
1. Misread the passage – “I have to pay better attention to keywords in the question next time. I
was looking at the wrong place in the passage for the answer.”
2. Misread the question – “I always make the same mistake with negative detail questions, I choose
a correct answer rather than an incorrect one. From now on, I will pay special attention to each
question and keep a sharp eye out for the words “not” or “except”.
 3. Did not understand the vocabulary – “I didn’t understand the word ‘acquire’. I am going to look
up some examples with the word and then practice writing a few sentences on my own. If I have
a teacher, I will ask her to correct my grammatical mistakes.”
This is a tough habit to start because it takes time and thought, two of our most precious resources.
If you are serious about improving your TOEFL Reading abilities, I suggest starting a journal, reflecting on your
answers and making plans on how you intend to adjust your approach based on your scores.

Tip #10: Practice with short passages

Why? So you can focus on understanding what you read and mastering each question type. Not only will practicing
short passages help you understand why you got a certain question wrong but it will also allow you to narrow your
focus on your reading strengths and weaknesses.

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