Overview
The objective of this course is to master the much underrated TOEFL IBT Reading section allowing students to meet the high entry requirements needed to pursue undergraduate or graduate study in an English speaking university.
Throughout the course the student will be able to have a clearly defined idea on how the complex format of the Toefl Ibt reading section is structured but more importantly how to tackle the many ambiguous question types encountered. They too will receive indispensable tips and advice on dealing with this particular section and cover a series of strategies for boosting their final score.
Finally and most importantly they will be drilled and practiced constantly within the strict time restrictions layed down by Toefl Ibt and under exam conditions, giving the student a clear idea just how far they have progressed.
Strategies for raising your TOEFL reading score
Students will learn that simply reading and understanding a text is not enough. The focus is on the ability to apply logic, make inference, identify cause and effect, find solution to problems as well as summarize on main themes.
Students will learn to scan and skim for essential information and key facts (the time restriction are purposely kept short so as not to allow a student to completely read a text from the start until the end).
Student will learn to feel comfortable with a variety of academic texts coming from the sciences, social sciences, arts, business and so on and to distance themselves from the vocational aspects and focus on the task at hand.
Participants
This course is suitable for candidates willing to take the TOEFL exam as a requirement to enter Northamerican or other English-speaking colleges and universities in order to follow post-graduate studies, or as a requirement to be eligible to take a master, an MBA, or even to get a grant.
Requirements
In order to take this course, students should have an Advanced level of English.
Duration
This course has a duration of 10 hours.
Course Outline
The 10 types of reading questions
Basic information and inferencing questions:
- Factual information questions (identify information explicitly stated in the passage)
- Negative information questions (except/not/least; verify what information is or not true)
e.g. All of the following are mentioned as benefits of the exoskeleton EXCEPT:
a. protection against water
b. distintive coloration and markings
c. ability to take in extra air or water
d. armor-like protection
- Inference questions (comprehension of an idea implied but not explicitly stated in the text)
e.g. It can be inferred from the passage that molting
a. happens regularly during the life of the arthropod
b. always takes days to complete
c. leaves the arthropod without its normal defense
d. causes the arthropod to grow larger
- Rhetorical purpose questions (w hy the author has presented a particular piece of information in a particular manner)
e.g. Why does the author mention carbon dioxide in the passage?
a. to explain the origin of a chemical that can erode rocks
b. to contrast carbon dioxide with carbonic acid
c. to give an example of how rainwater penetrates soil
d. to argue for the desirability of preventing erosion
- Vocabulary questions (identify meanings as they are used in the passage)
e.g. The word seeps in the passage in closest in meaning to
a. dries gradually
b. flows slowly
c. freezes quickly
d. warms slightly
- Reference questions (identify referential relationship between the words in the passage)
- Sentence simplification questions (or paraphrase; choose a sentence as the same meaning as one sentence presented in the passage)
e.g. Which of the following sentences best expresses the essential meaning of the highlighted sentence (incorrect choices will change the meaning or leave out essential information):
a. arthropods are only vulnerable to predators during the period in which their shell is tender and easily penetrated
b. predators typically prefer to eat arthropods that are waiting for their new coats to harden
c. while the arthropods' shell is hardening, the arthropod can not rely on its shell to protect it from predators
d. when the arthropods' defenses are lowered, it will use many different strategies to avoid predators
- Insert text questions (given a sentence, decide where in the passage it would best fit)
Reading to learn questions
- Prose summary (understand, recognize and distinguish main and minor ideas)
e.g. Complete the summary by selecting THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage (six choices are given and some of them do not belong in the summary because they did not appear in the text or they are minor ideas)
- Fill in a table (conceptualize and organize major ideas and other important information)
e.g. Three of the answer choices below are used to illustrate constructive processes and two to illustrate destructive processes. Complete the table by matching appropriate answers to the processes they are used to illustrate.
Vocabulary
This section covers the most common difficulties the students face when dealing with areas such as phrasal verbs, idioms and confusing words and the meaning of a word in a certain context.
The students will learn how to overcome those difficulties and how to increase his vocabulary in order not only to crack the reading section but also to improve scores at the writing and speaking section.
Strategies and test/practice on the following fields:
- Phrasal verbs: a list of the most common English phrasal verbs appearing in the TOEFL.
Recognize and learn their meanings and how to use them:
e.g. sprang off, is not the correct preposition, it is sprang up, meaning to appear suddenly and quickly
e.g. what of the options could best replace the form gobbled up: stuffed ,digested, eaten, liquefied
- Idioms: the 100 most common idioms likely to encounter in the listening section dialogues.
e.g. to have a hunch, to hit it off
- Confusing words:
• Homonyms: words which are written the same or similar but have different meanings (desert, dessert)
• Homophones: words which sound the same or similar but have different meanings (affect, effect)
• Expressions with make and do (make a discovery but do research)
• Use of like, alike, unlike, not like
- Words in context: practice looking for contextual clues such as
• Paraphrases or synonyms that have the same meaning (e.g. strides: reforms, steps forward)
• Implied meaning: guess what the meaning of the word can be (e.g. tremor: in a passage about earthquakes, it would be a shake)
• Straight definitions (sometimes the meaning of a very unusual or specific word is given)
Practice time discipline under exam conditions
The TOEFL reading section consists of:
• Up to 6 reading passages, each approximately 700 words long
• Each passage is followed by about 12 to 14 questions
• You will have a minimum time of 60 minutes to complete the entire section (that makes reading a total of 4200 words and answering about 84 questions in a set-limited time of minimum 60 minutes!)
Learn how to get profit and distribute the set-limited time by using strategies and tips on:
• how to scan the passage just for the information you need
• how to recognize and answer each type of question
• how to find the major idea, minor points and the purpose
By using reading practice sets (passages and questions) similar to those of the TOEFL IBT.
