TOEFL test structure
The test consists of four sections (reading, listening, speaking, and writing) and takes about three hours. You can get more information on each section below. Since TOEFL is used mainly for educational admission, most of the content (texts and audios) are related to either different academic topics or campus-related issues and situations. It may be an excerpt from a biology or marketing textbook, a dialogue on campus, or a theatre history lecture. But don’t be afraid of terms. We’ll dive deeper into why you shouldn’t be afraid of them later on. The TOEFL is quite famous for its multiple-choice… and its logic. We’ll see how it works in the reading and listening sections where it’s used.
Timing
55 - 70 minutes
Workload
3-4 lectures (3-5 minutes each) 6 questions.
2-3 conversations (3 minutes each) 5 questions.
Overall - 30-40 questions
Automated scoring
Advanced (24–30)
High-Intermediate (18–23)
Low-Intermediate (4–17)
Below Low-Intermediate (0–3)
55 - 70 minutes
The reading section is designed to assess your reading comprehension of academic texts. It consists of three or four reading passages, which are usually excerpts from an academic textbook or an article about 700 words long.
The assessment process is automated. Each reading passage has 12-13 questions aimed at measuring your understanding of the text.
Maximum raw score: 45 raw points
Factual information and negative factual information questions are probably the simplest questions there are. You are supposed to simply recognize directly stated information such as major ideas, supporting details, or definitions.
- Read the paragraph
It should be obvious that cetaceans – whales, porpoises, and dolphins-are mammals. They breathe through lungs, not through gills, and give birth to live young. Their streamlined bodies, the absence of hind legs, and the presence of a fluke and blowhole cannot disguise their affinities with land-dwelling mammals. However, unlike the cases of sea otters and pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses, whose limbs are functional both on land and at sea), it is not easy to envision what the first whales looked like. Extinct but already fully marine cetaceans are known from the fossil record. How was the gap between a walking mammal and a swimming whale bridged? Missing until recently were fossils clearly intermediate, or transitional, between land mammals and cetaceans.
- Read the question and answer options:
1. In paragraph 1, what does the author say about the presence of a blow-hole in cetaceans?
1.It clearly indicates that cetaceans are mammals.
2. It can’t conceal the fact that cetaceans are mammals.
3. It is the main difference between cetaceans and land-dwelling mammals.
4. It cannot yield clues about the origins of cetaceans.
Here you can see that this question is asking you to recognize a specific piece of information given in the text. And it’s option 2. It’s paraphrased, but you can recognize it:
It can’t conceal the fact that cetaceans are mammals = Their streamlined bodies, the absence of hind legs, and the presence of a fluke and blowhole cannot disguise their affinities with land-dwelling mammals.
Usually, such questions will start with words like “In paragraph 1 what does the author say about…?” or something alike.
- Read the paragraph
The cinema did not emerge as a form of mass consumption until its technology evolved from the initial “peepshow” format to the point where images were projected on a screen in a darkened theater. In the peepshow format, a film was viewed through a small opening in a machine that was created for that purpose. Thomas Edison’s peepshow device, the Kinetoscope, was introduced to the public in 1894. It was designed for use in Kinetoscope parlors, or arcades, which contained only a few individual machines and permitted only one customer to view a short, 50-foot film at any one time. The first Kinetoscope parlors contained five machines. For the price of 25 cents (or 5 cents per machine), customers moved from machine to machine to watch five different films (or, in the case of famous prizefights, successive rounds of a single fight).
- Read the question and answer options:
According to the paragraph, all of the following were true of viewing films in Kinetoscope parlors EXCEPT:
1. One individual at a time viewed a film.
2. Customers could view one film after another.
3. Prizefights were the most popular subjects for films.
4. Each film was short.
Negative factual information questions are opposite to factual information questions. They ask you to identify false information, something that hasn’t been mentioned in the text or is not true. In this example, we can see that it’s option (3) – “Prizefights were the most popular subjects for films” that hasn’t been mentioned. We can see all the other options in the paragraph:
The cinema did not emerge as a form of mass consumption until its technology evolved from the initial “peepshow” format to the point where images were projected on a screen in a darkened theater. In the peepshow format, a film was viewed through a small opening in a machine that was created for that purpose. Thomas Edison’s peepshow device, the Kinetoscope, was introduced to the public in 1894. It was designed for use in Kinetoscope parlors, or arcades, which contained only a few individual machines and permitted only one customer to view a short, 50-foot film at any one time. The first Kinetoscope parlors contained five machines. For the price of 25 cents (or 5 cents per machine), customers moved from machine to machine to watch five different films (or, in the case of famous prizefights, successive rounds of a single fight).
Negative factual information questions usually contain phrases like “which of the following is NOT true?” or “The author mentions all of the above EXCEPT”
The word “infer” actually means “mean” or “imply”. Hence the inference questions are aimed at identifying information that hasn’t been mentioned directly in the text. These questions usually contain words like “imply“, “suggest” or “infer“.
Rhetorical purpose questions are similar, they deal with implications. But unlike the inference questions, they are not aimed at what the author means but recognizing why does the author use this or that phrase or mentions this or that piece of information. And that’s the reason for the name: Rhetorical purpose. These questions usually ask something like “Why does the author mention…“, “Why does the author use the word …”.
Answers for such questions will usually start with something like “To illustrate”, “To explain”, “To contract”, “To refute”, “To note”, “To support”.
1 - Read the paragraph
It should be obvious that cetaceans-whales, porpoises, and dolphins-are mammals. They breathe through lungs, not through gills, and give birth to live young. Their streamlined bodies, the absence of hind legs, and the presence of a fluke(1) and blowhole(2) cannot disguise their affinities with land-dwelling mammals. However, unlike the cases of sea otters and pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses, whose limbs are functional both on land and at sea), it is not easy to envision what the first whales looked like. Extinct but already fully marine cetaceans are known from the fossil record. How was the gap between a walking mammal and a swimming whale bridged? Missing until recently were fossils clearly intermediate, or transitional, between land mammals and cetaceans.
2 - Read the question and answer options:
Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 1 about early sea otters?
1. It is not difficult to imagine what they looked like.
2. There were great numbers of them.
3. They lived in the sea only.
4. They did not leave many fossil remains.
Answer:
In the paragraph we can see:
It should be obvious that cetaceans-whales, porpoises, and dolphins-are mammals. They breathe through lungs, not through gills, and give birth to live young. Their streamlined bodies, the absence of hind legs, and the presence of a fluke(1) and blowhole(2) cannot disguise their affinities with land-dwelling mammals. However, unlike the cases of sea otters and pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses, whose limbs are functional both on land and at sea), it is not easy to envision what the first whales looked like. Extinct but already fully marine cetaceans are known from the fossil record. How was the gap between a walking mammal and a swimming whale bridged? Missing until recently were fossils clearly intermediate, or transitional, between land mammals and cetaceans.
And that means or infers that unlike the first whales it’s not difficult to imagine what they looked like. So, choice 1 is the correct one.
This is how the inference questions work. You have to really understand the content to crack them.
1 - Read the paragraph
An even more exciting find was reported in 1994, also from Pakistan. The now extinct whale Ambulocetus natans ("the walking whale that swam") lived in the Tethys Sea 49 million years ago. It lived around 3 million years after Pakicetus but 9 million years before Basilosaurus. The fossil luckily includes a good portion of the hind legs. The legs were strong and ended in long feet very much like those of a modern pinniped. The legs were certainly functional both on land and at sea. The whale retained a tail and lacked a fluke, the major means of locomotion in modern cetaceans. The structure of the backbone shows, however, that Ambulocetus swam like modern whales by moving the rear portion of its body up and down, even though a fluke was missing. The large hind legs were used for propulsion in water. On land, where it probably bred and gave birth, Ambulocetus may have moved around very much like a modern sea lion. It was undoubtedly a whale that linked life on land with life at sea.
2 - Read the question and answer options
Why does the author use the word “luckily” in mentioning that the Ambulocetus natans fossil included hind legs?
1. Fossil legs of early whales are a rare find.
2. The legs provided important information about the evolution of cetaceans.
3. The discovery allowed scientists to reconstruct a complete skeleton of the whale.
4. Until that time, only the front legs of early whales had been discovered.
Answer:
The paragraph given to us as the context provides that it was the presence of the hind legs that gave the scientists an important piece of information that allowed them to come to very important conclusions impossible otherwise. Therefore we can say that it was a lucky finding. This leads us to answer 2.
Vocabulary questions are aimed at your knowledge of vocabulary. They will ask you something like “The word “…” is closest in meaning to...“, or, “The phrase “…” is closest in meaning to…“, “In stating “…” the author means that …“. The word or the phrase from the question will be highlighted in the text.
1 - Read the paragraph
The fossil consists of a complete skull of an archaeocyte, an extinct group of ancestors of modern cetaceans. Although limited to a skull, the Pakicetus fossil provides precious details on the origins of cetaceans. The skull is cetacean-like but its jawbones lack the enlarged space that is filled with fat or oil and used for receiving underwater sound in modern whales. Pakicetus probably detected sound through the ear opening as in land mammals. The skull also lacks a blowhole, another cetacean adaptation for diving. Other features, however, show experts that Pakicetus is a transitional form between a group of extinct flesh-eating mammals, the mesonychids, and cetaceans. It has been suggested that Pakicetus fed on fish in shallow water and was not yet adapted for life in the open ocean. It probably bred and gave birth on land.
2 - Read the question and answer options
The word "precious" in the passage is closest in meaning to
- exact
- scarce
- valuable
- initial
Answer:
Precious and valuable are almost synonymic. They both mean something of great importance/value/price/meaning. Therefore, answer 3 is correct.
This type of question is relying on your vocabulary knowledge. So, when among the answer options you see a word or a phrase synonymic or close in meaning to the one in question, you may be 90% sure that this is the right answer. That means that these questions may be the least time-consuming. Well, if you know enough words.
If you don't, you can approach such questions from the other side by exclusion. Simply exclude all the wrong answers. Most of the time they are quite obvious.
If you have enough time, better read the context of the word/phrase in question again to be absolutely sure, that you get it the right way.
To avoid the hustle and make this type of question your strong side that will give you a lot of time, simply improve your vocabuary.
Sentence simplification questions are aimed at full understanding of what you read. You are presented with a sentence in the context enough for you to extract all the meaningful information. And then you are given four (usually) sentences. Your task is to pick the one meaning the same. The incorrect options will usually distort meaningful information or miss it. This is how you can exclude wrong answers.
1 - Read the paragraph
An even more exciting find was reported in 1994, also from Pakistan. The now extinct whale Ambulocetus natans ("the walking whale that swam") lived in the Tethys Sea 49 million years ago. It lived around 3 million years after Pakicetus but 9 million years before Basilosaurus. The fossil luckily includes a good portion of the hind legs. The legs were strong and ended in long feet very much like those of a modern pinniped. The legs were certainly functional both on land and at sea. The whale retained a tail and lacked a fluke, the major means of locomotion in modern cetaceans. The structure of the backbone shows, however, that Ambulocetus swam like modern whales by moving the rear portion of its body up and down, even though a fluke was missing. The large hind legs were used for propulsion in water. On land, where it probably bred and gave birth, Ambulocetus may have moved around very much like a modern sea lion. It was undoubtedly a whale that linked life on land with life at sea.
2 - Read the question and answer options
Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
- Even though Ambulocetus swam by moving its body up and down, it did not have a backbone.
- The backbone of Ambulocetus, which allowed it to swim, provides evidence of its missing fluke.
- Although Ambulocetus had no fluke, its backbone structure shows that it swam like modern whales.
- By moving the rear parts of their bodies up and down, modern whales swim in a different way from the way Ambulocetus swam.
Answer:
Choice (3) is the correct answer because it contains all of the key information in the highlighted sentence. Choice (1) is not true because Ambulocetus did have a backbone. Choice (2) is not true because the sentence says that the backbone showed how the Ambulocetus swam, not that it was missing a fluke. Choice (4) is untrue because the sentence states that Ambulocetus and modem whales swam in the same way.
This type of question is very easy to recognize by its wording:
"Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information."
It's the same mantra everywhere.
The correct answer is the one containing all the same key information that the original sentence (the one in the passage) has. It may leave out minor details though.
Also, pay attention to not only presence of the same phrases in the original sentence and the choice options but also to the relations between the pieces of information (cause-effect, subject-object and other relations).
This type of question is also aimed at your understanding of what you read. To be more precise at the understanding of the relations between pieces of information and ideas in the text.
You will be given a sentence to be inserted in a paragraph. And four options for where to put it.
There will be one such question for each reading passage in the reading section.
1 - Read the paragraph
Extinct but already fully marine cetaceans are known from the fossil record. 1 How was the gap between a walking mammal and a swimming whale bridged? 2 Missing until recently were fossils clearly intermediate, or transitional, between land mammals and cetaceans. 3 Very exciting discoveries have finally allowed scientists to reconstruct the most likely origins of cetaceans. 4 In 1979, a team looking for fossils in northern Pakistan found what proved to be the oldest fossil whale.
2 - Read the question and answer options
Look at the part of the passage that is displayed above. The numbers (1), (2), (3), and (4) indicate where the following sentence could be added.
This is a question that has puzzled scientists for ages.
Where would the sentence best fit?
Choice (1)
Choice (2)
Choice (3)
Choice (4)
Answer:
You can see by the text of the given sentence that there should be a question right before it. And here (right before the placeholder 2) you have it:
How was the gap between a walking mammal and a swimming whale bridged? 2
In this case, we see that option two is the correct one:
How was the gap between a walking mammal and a swimming whale bridged? This is a question that has puzzled scientists for ages.
To make it sure we can try the given sentence in other placeholders:
1 - Extinct but already fully marine cetaceans are known from the fossil record. This is a question that has puzzled scientists for ages.
3 - Missing until recently were fossils clearly intermediate, or transitional, between land mammals and cetaceans. This is a question that has puzzled scientists for ages. Very exciting discoveries have finally allowed scientists to reconstruct the most likely origins of cetaceans.
4 - Very exciting discoveries have finally allowed scientists to reconstruct the most likely origins of cetaceans. This is a question that has puzzled scientists for ages. In 1979, a team looking for fossils in northern Pakistan found what proved to be the oldest fossil whale.
And as we can see none or the options above makes sense.
The key to this type of question is basically finding the logical link between the given sentence and the previous sentence. The given sentence will usually start with "This is the question/reason/criteria/ why ..." And these first words are prompt to what of what you should look for. Since there will only be four options this search shouldn't take too long.
Also, make sure you're ok with possessive and demonstrative pronouns like
This/these
That/those
They/them
Him/her
He/she/it
Which
There may be tricky questions based on minute differences between them.
Prose summary questions are designed to measure your ability to not only recognize the main pieces of information but also to measure how important they are. Such questions will have six choice options three of which are the correct ones (they express the most important information), and the other three express details of secondary importance or simply contradict or misinterpret the information in the reading passage.
Below is the reading workflow aimed at improving your reading skills. You can follow the whole workflow or practice only some steps of it.
Read the first (introductory) paragraph of the passage, then read the first sentence of each of the middle paragraphs, and then the concluding paragraph.
Skim the passage
Read the first (introductory) paragraph of the passage, then read the first sentence of each of the middle paragraphs, and then the concluding paragraph.
After having skimmed the passage you must have a clear understanding of what the passage is about, its main idea, message.
What is it all about?
Maybe an MCQ
After having skimmed the passage you must have a clear understanding of what the passage is about, its main idea, message.
Having read the passage you will be able to not only articulate the main idea but also to specify the main idea of each paragraph. It will usually be stated in the first two sentences of each paragraph.
Read the passage.
Having read the passage you will be able to not only articulate the main idea but also to specify the main idea of each paragraph. It will usually be stated in the first two sentences of each paragraph.
After having read the text you'll be ready to describe the development of the main idea by stating the main idea of each paragraph.
Statement development
Order the main ideas of the paragraphs, excluding false main ideas.
After having read the text you'll be ready to describe the development of the main idea by stating the main idea of each paragraph.
Identify entities & stakeholders of the events described in the passage.
Who's in?
Mark the words in the text.
e.g. "Mark all the words meaning the main character", "mark all the words meaning the main object of the action", etc.
Identify entities & stakeholders of the events described in the passage.
Articulate events like "Stakeholder 1 performed an action such towards object/stakeholders 2 because/to …"
What's happened?
For each paragraph compose the phrase resuming it.
Articulate events like "Stakeholder 1 performed an action such towards object/stakeholders 2 because/to …"
As a result you should be ready to retell the passage in your own words. This reproduction may leave out minor details, but must include the main idea, the main stakeholders/entities and the main events in the right order and with the right logical connections.
Retell
As a result you should be ready to retell the passage in your own words. This reproduction may leave out minor details, but must include the main idea, the main stakeholders/entities and the main events in the right order and with the right logical connections.