READING SECTION HACKS!!!

Hi everyone,

Thanks for reading this article, I hope you find it helpful. To help us maximize the hacks in this article, we need to understand the question types in the reading section. They include;

• FACTS/DETAILS: Fact/Detail questions want to know specific information found in the passage.  The easiest thing about this question type?  It’s always possible to find the answer, since it’s found directly in the passage!

• NEGATIVE FACTS/DETAILS: These questions sometimes confuse students because they often ask for the wrong answer, not the right answer.  These questions are easily identified because they contain the words “NOT” or “EXCEPT.”

• REFERENT: Another word for “referent” is “pronoun.”  These questions require a sharp eye and a solid knowledge of singular/plural, masculine/plural pronouns.

• VOCABULARY: Vocabulary questions ask for definitions of specific words that are closest in meaning out of all four possible answers.

• INFERENCE: Inference questions can be difficult because they are asking you to infer or imply something about the passage, meaning it’s not stated outright, like in a fact/detail question.

• PURPOSE: This question type asks the reason, or purpose behind a reading passage or portion of a reading passage.  Often times, the word “purpose” is actually found in this type of question.

• PARAPHRASE: Paraphrasing means saying the same thing in similar words.  On the TOEFL, paraphrase questions will ask you to choose a sentence that is most like a specific highlighted sentence within the passage.

• COHERENCE: Another phrase for coherence questions is “sentence insertion.”  For these questions, you are required to take a sentence in bold and replace it within the most appropriate place within the passage.  Coherence questions require an eye for where a sentence is specifically placed within a sentence.

• SUMMARIZING: Summarizing questions ask you to form a summary based off of six possible sentences.  You are often asked to choose three out of six that most closely resemble a topic sentence given to you – all of which are related to the reading passage.

• CATEGORIZING INFORMATION: When approaching categorizing information questions, you are asked to place specific bits of information into categories related to the passage.  Often, categorizing questions are found at the end of a 20-minute reading section.

The general procedure for answering questions in the reading section is;

1. DO NOT bother to read the entire passage before answering the questions. Go straight to the questions because time is a scarce commodity in the TOEFL-iBT. Also, you are not required to learn and understand any information from the passage, you're only required to ANSWER QUESTIONS with the information in the passage.

2. Determine the question type before answering it. 

3. Understand what the question is asking, this will guide you towards picking the right answer.

4. Find the keywords in the article. The keyword(s) assert the idea in the passage, hence making it easier to tackle the questions.

5. Read ONLY as much as you need to answer the question. The passage usually contains a lot of information which might distract/ confuse you. ALWAYS use keyword(s) or IDEAS to guide yourself to the best answer.

6. Eliminate wrong choices using POE method. In the TOEFL-iBT, there is no such thing as the RIGHT answer, there is only the BEST answer. When answer choices seem very identical , use process of elimination (POE) to filter off the LESS ACCURATE answers.

7. Study and UNDERSTAND the different types of 'distracters' and how to avoid choosing them. 

If you follow these guidelines in your test, i can guarantee you a score of 24. To up your scores, kindly subscribe and stay tuned for more hacks. Thank you for reading this article, as always your questions, comments and suggestions are welcome. 

**Kindly comment on this article, I'd love to know what you think** Please note that some parts of this article were obtained from MANHATTAN REVIEW.