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November 22, 2008
What is the Reading Section of the TOEFL iBT?
Before you spend a large sum of money at an ETS testing center to take the TOEFL iBT, consider if you have the proper level of reading proficiency that will be needed to get a high score.
“What is required during the reading section of the TOEFL iBT?”
1. I really understand English vocabulary and grammar when reading. 2. While reading academic texts in English, I do understand the most important points. 3. I really understand the relative importance of ideas while reading academic texts. 4. I really do organize or outline the important ideas and concepts in academic texts. 5. While reading academic texts in English, I do remember major ideas. 6. I really understand how different ideas in an English text relate to each other. 7. While reading English, I do understand charts and graphs in academic texts. 8. I quickly find information that I am looking for in academic texts in English. 9. While reading academic texts in English, I do understand them well enough to answer questions later. 10. While reading a text in English, I can figure out the meaning of words I do not know by using the context and my background knowledge.
No need to worry if you feel less than competent in one, some, or all of these reading competencies. These are some helpful suggestions to help you really demonstrate a strong command of reading proficiency.
“How can I elevate and strengthen my TOEFL iBT reading skills?”
In order to improve your score on the TOEFL iBT Reading section, you need to improve your abilities to understand university-level texts and reading passages for three main purposes: to identify information, for basic comprehension, and to understand.
First of all, reading academic texts in natural sciences, social sciences, arts, and business provides a great way to prepare for TOEFL iBT Reading. The Internet is another resource for these materials; also, in libraries, you can check out books, magazines, and journals that are academic in style. This is why the Education Testing Service suggests that the more academic the reading material is, the more it will prepare you.
Second, the following will help to improve your reading-for-basic comprehension TOEFL iBT Reading skills, Education Testing Service suggests:
1. An extensive system of using flash-cards can increase your vocabulary abilities. 2. Instead of carefully reading each word and sentence, practice skimming-the process of looking over a passage quickly to get a general feeling of the main ideas. 3. Practice your ability to skim quickly and to identify the major points of a passage. 4. After you have skimmed a passage, read it more slowly and write down the main ideas, major points, and important facts you identify. 5. Select some unfamiliar words in the passage and try to identify the meanings by using the context. 6. Identify the pronouns used (he, him, they, them, it, etc.) and determine which nouns they refer to. 7. Drill yourself on making inferences or drawing conclusions on what is implied in the passage.
Third, in order to improve your reading-to-find information TOEFL iBT Reading skills, Education Testing Service suggests:
1. Skim the passage looking for and highlighting important facts (dates, numbers, terms) and information. 2. Practice scanning so you can increase your reading rate and fluency.
Fourth, if you want to improve your reading-to-learn TOEFL iBT Reading skills, Education Testing Service suggests:
1. Mark the passage that fits into each writing genre: classification, cause- effect, compare-contrast, problem-solution, description, narration, etc.
2. Practice organizing a reading passage by doing the following-Distinguish between the major and minor points by creating an outline of a passage. If the passage describes the order of a process or is a narration, create an outline of the steps in the process or narration. If the passage categorizes information, create a chart and place the information into the correct category.
During the TOEFL iBT Exam, you will be provided with a chart with potential answer choices, and you will be asked to fill in the chart with the correct choices.
If you follow these suggestions for an extended period of time, you will be very surprised at how strong your reading skills will become.
Topics: Languages | 5 Comments »
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