Master the new TOEFL Reading Section

Master the new TOEFL Reading Section IntroductionI get this question a lot. Broadly speaking, heres what I think you should do to prepare for the TOEFL reading section:Learn your current levelLearn how the reading section is designedGet some accurate practice testsImprove your reading comprehensionGet some strategies for solving questionsHire a good tutorDetails about how to do these things are below!Learn Your Current LevelIf you havent taken the test already, make sure you know your current level in the TOEFL reading section. The easiest way to do this is to take the free sample test from ETS. You can also take one of the tests in the Official Guide to the TOEFL. Once you have done this you will know how much you need to improve.Learn How the Reading Section is DesignedOkay, this might be obvious, but you need to know how the TOEFL reading section is designed. If you understand how the test is designed, you will have fewer surprises on test day. Start by checking out the practice reading set from ETS. Read that set ve ry carefully. Pay attention to the length of the passages and the number of questions included with each passage.Pay special attention to the types of reading questions used by ETS. Briefly, the main types are:Factual InformationNegative Factual InformationRhetorical PurposeVocabularySentence SimplificationInsert a SentenceInferenceReferenceSummaryFill in a tableThe best descriptions of these question types is found in the Official Guide to the TOEFL. Note that you dont need to pay for the 5th edition, as every edition of the guide has pretty much the same descriptions. Read them carefully.You can get the same descriptions and advice in the TOEFL Insiders Guide course on edX. This is free, and is mostly video. I like it.I recently analyzed the most recent practice materials. Read my blog post for an indication of how frequently each question type will appear on test day.I should mention a few things before we go on:Since August 1, ETS has used fewer vocabulary questions than before. Expect just one or two per article. In the past, you would get three to five per article.Fill in a table and reference questions seem to be used much less than before. I used to think they were gone forever, but since posting the original version of this guide, Ive gotten some reports that they have reappeared. Be prepared.You might get an unexpected question like how does paragraph 1 relate to paragraph 2 or what function does paragraph 2 serve in the organization of the passage as a whole. These types are not mentioned in most popular study guides. Sorry.Get Some Accurate Practice TestsOnce you understand what the test looks like., you absolutely need to build a collection of accurate reading sets. As you work through the improve your reading comprehension and learn some strategies stuff below, you should complete about one of these tests every week.The Official Guide to the TOEFL (four good tests)The Official iBT Test Collection Volume 1 (five good tests)The Official iBT Test Co llection Volume 2 (five good tests)TSTPreps Test Pack (10 good tests, online) try the coupon code goodine10off for a discount.If you complete one test per week, these materials will be good enough for 6 months of preparation. Adjust the frequency to match the amount of time you have to prepare for the test.Note that I dont recommend any of the following sources of tests:Kaplan TOEFLBarrons TOEFLBest My TestEdusynchImprove Your Reading ComprehensionIf you have more than a month to prepare for the test, you should work on your reading comprehension instead of studying tricks and strategies for answering specific TOEFL reading questions.It seems obvious, but if you can read better, you will get a better score on the TOEFL. When native speakers take the test, they dont use strategies, obviously. I promise I will link to some strategies in a moment, but I hope you dont need to use them.Excessively focusing on strategies might make things too complicated for you on test day. My friend Jo sh MacPherson wrote about this in EFL Magazine last year. His article is meant for teachers, but it does make clear that trying to use a 5-step strategy to answer 10 different question types can be challenging and time-consuming.Of course, I cant really teach you how to read better in this blog post. Sorry. But I can suggest a few things. They are:Read non-TOEFL articles about the sorts of subjects that will appear on the test. My favorite sources are National Geographic and both the science and history sections of Smithsonian Magazine. Try to read three or four of these every day. As you read, make use of something like Merriam-Websters Learners Dictionary to ensure that you comprehension is as high as possible. If you are confused about what you are reading, seek help.You can also find relevant articles in the crappy TOEFL Textbooks I hate. I do want to emphasize that these books are not very accurate when it comes to the TOEFL, but they are full of academic articles you can read for general practice. Consider using: Kaplans Practice Tests, Barrons TOEFL iBT, and Compass Publishings Mastering Skills for the TOEFL. Again, I want to repeat that these books do not have accurate practice tests, but they do have articles about the subjects that ETS uses on the test.Read anything. Seriously. Read newspaper articles about current events that relate to your life. Read good books that you enjoy. Both fiction and non-fiction will help, in the long run. If you want to know what Im reading nowadays, check out my profile on Goodreads. Send me a note and well chat about books.I know this is all vague, but if you have a few months to improve, your goal should be to gradually improve your vocabulary and reading comprehension so that you dont need to use strategies on the test. This can only be done by exposing yourself to written English.Learn Some StrategiesIf you have improved your comprehension and you still cant figure out the answers you will need to try some strategie s. Heres a few of my favorite sources:Kathy Spratts Mastering the Reading Section for the TOEFL iBT ebook from AmazonThe TST Prep TOEFL Emergency Course (try coupon code goodine10off for a 10% discount)Kirstyn Lazurs TOEFL Thrive Guide ebook, also on Amazon.Yeah, you have to pay for these. Right now, there arent very many good free resources online. Im always open to suggestions, though. Leave a comment if you have something for me.Get a Good TOEFL TeacherIf you really want to improve your score, you should hire a tutor to work with you one on one. I recommend the following experts:Katie Mary houseoftoefl@gmail.comJohn Healy Study WIth ItMiguel Marcano elitetoeflprep@gmail.comSherlenTanner TOEFL iBT Academy Jonathan Huggins info@hugginsinternational.comSierra Yohalem sierra.yohalem@gmail.comDanijela Jovanovic proesltestprep.comJosh MacPherson tstprep.comKirstyn Lazur Toeflland@gmail.comJane Birkenhead Birkenhead EnglishMention that you were referred by Michael at TOEFL Res ources for preferential treatment (maybe).