TOEFL Reading Practice: Take a Free TOEFL

Reading Test with Answers & Learn About the

10 Reading Question Types
In this guide you will find a free TOEFL reading test with answers, a lot of TOEFL
reading practice questions, and information on the 10 different reading question types to
help you prepare successfully for your TOEFL reading test. This page contains
everything you need to know and the essential skills for a high reading score.

First off, if you're looking to take a free TOEFL reading practice test or are just curious
what taking an official TOEFL reading test is like, then click the START TOEFL
READING SAMPLE TEST button below.

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If you want to practice TOEFL reading questions on the go and don't have an internet
connection, then BestMyTest's free TOEFL reading practice test PDF download will
come in handy. It includes a complete TOEFL reading passage with questions and
answers.

BestMyTest TOEFL Reading Practice Test View & Download PDF File

Next up is a list of all our TOEFL reading questions where you can study each question
at your own pace. To start a free TOEFL reading test question, click the Mock Test
1 link.

TOEFL Reading Practice Questions

Reading Mock Test 1 - 12

Mock Test 1 Mock Test 2 Mock Test 3 Mock Test 4 Mock Test 5 Mock Test 6 Mock Test
7 Mock Test 8 Mock Test 9 Mock Test 10 Mock Test 11 Mock Test 12

Reading Mock Test 13 - 24

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19 Mock Test 20 Mock Test 21 Mock Test 22 Mock Test 23 Mock Test 24

Reading Mock Test 25 - 36

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Reading Mock Test 37 - 48

Mock Test 37 Mock Test 38 Mock Test 39 Mock Test 40 Mock Test 41 Mock Test 42 Mock Test
43 Mock Test 44 Mock Test 45 Mock Test 46 Mock Test 47 Mock Test 48

Reading Mock Test 49 - 60

 Mock Test 49 Mock Test 50 Mock Test 51 Mock Test 52 Mock Test 53 Mock Test 54 Mock Test
55 Mock Test 56 Mock Test 57 Mock Test 58 Mock Test 59 Mock Test 60

Reading Mock Test 61 - 72

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65

Table Of Contents

1. TOEFL Reading Introduction

2. How to prepare for TOEFL Reading
3. TOEFL Reading Practice Questions
4. Free TOEFL Reading English Resources

TOEFL Reading Introduction

The reading section is the first section of the TOEFL iBT test. It tests your ability to read
and answer questions at an academic level. It contain 3-4 passages with each passage
containing 10 questions for a total of 30-40 questions. Each passage is generally 600 to
700 words long. You'll have 54–72 minutes in which to finish this section.

When you are taking the reading test, you can skip answers and come back to them
later. You can come back and change your answers at any time during the reading
testing period.

Reading Difficulty Level

The TOEFL reading difficulty level is equivalent to an introductory undergraduate

university textbook. Most of the passages' context is North American, but you may also
see some international contexts from United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. The
passages cover a wide range of topics such as
  Social science including anthropology, economics, psychology, urban studies,
and sociology
 Science and technology including astronomy, geology, chemistry, biology,
physics, engineering
 History, government, biography, geography, and culture
 Art including literature, painting, sculpture, drama, and architecture

Even though the reading passages can be difficult to understand, you don't necessarily
have to understand it all. By learning the strategies to answer each reading question
type, you can get a high TOEFL score without fully understanding the reading passage.
The first thing you need to learn are the different types of TOEFL reading question
types.

The 10 TOEFL Reading Question Types

The TOEFL reading questions can be broken down into 10 different reading question
types:

1. Vocabulary
2. Reference
3. Inference
4. Purpose
5. Negative Factual Information
6. Essential Information
7. Detail
8. Sentence Insertion
9. Complete the Summary
10. Complete the Table

Our comprehensive lessons will tackle each of these question types in detail. To view
them, create a free account and start your 7 day free trial.

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Below you will find 12 TOEFL reading sample questions.

Detail Question
1. According to paragraph 1, which of the following is true of the Late Cretaceous climate?

A. Summers were very warm and winters were very cold.

B. Shallow seas on the continents caused frequent temperature changes.
 C. The climate was very similar to today’s climate.
D. The climate did not change dramatically from season to season.

2. Which of the following reasons is suggested in paragraph 2 for the extinction of the
dinosaurs?

A. Changes in the lengths of the days and nights during the Late Cretaceous period
B. Droughts caused by the movement of seaways back into the ocean
C. The change from mild to severe climates during the Late Cretaceous period
D. An extreme decrease in the average yearly temperature over 10,000 years

Detail Question
Quesiton 1 and Question 2 are detail questions. Detail questions ask you about information
that’s specifically stated in a small part of the passage. They generally focus on the “who,”
“what,” “when,” “where,” and “why” as explained by the author.
 spellcheckAnswers
[1] Paleontologists have argued for a long time that the demise of the dinosaurs was caused by
climatic alterations associated with slow changes in the positions of continents and seas resulting
from plate tectonics. Off and on throughout the Cretaceous (the last period of the Mesozoic era,
during which dinosaurs flourished), large shallow seas covered extensive areas of the continents.
Data from diverse sources, including geochemical evidence preserved in seafloor sediments,
indicate that the Late Cretaceous climate was milder than today’s. The days were not too hot, nor
the nights too cold. The summers were not too warm, nor the winters too frigid. The shallow seas on
the continents probably buffered the temperature of the nearby air, keeping it relatively constant.

[2] At the end of the Cretaceous, the geological record shows that these seaways retreated from the
continents back into the major ocean basins. No one knows why. Over a period of about 100,000
years, while the seas pulled back, climates around the world became dramatically more extreme:
warmer days, cooler nights; hotter summers, colder winters. Perhaps dinosaurs could not tolerate
these extreme temperature changes and became extinct.

Purpose Question
3. Why does the author mention the survival of “snakes, lizards, turtles, and crocodiles” in
paragraph 3?

A. To argue that dinosaurs may have become extinct because they were not cold-
blooded animals
B. To question the adequacy of the hypothesis that climatic change related to sea
levels caused the extinction of the dinosaurs
C. To present examples of animals that could maintain a livable body temperature more
easily than dinosaurs
D. To support a hypothesis that these animals were not as sensitive to climate changes
in the Cretaceous period as they are today

Purpose Question
Purpose questions require you to understand why the author has included pieces of
information. The answer is not directly stated in the reading passage. To solve this type of
 question, you need to understand the main point of the paragraph and how the referenced
information is related to the main point of the paragraph. You will see the question phrased
something like the following: Why does the author mention XXX in paragraph 2? Here is an
example.
 spellcheckAnswer
[3] If true, though, why did cold-blooded animals such as snakes, lizards, turtles, and crocodiles
survive the freezing winters and torrid summers? These animals are at the mercy of the climate to
maintain a livable body temperature. It’s hard to understand why they would not be affected,
whereas dinosaurs were left too crippled to cope, especially if, as some scientists believe, dinosaurs
were warm-blooded. Critics also point out that the shallow seaways had retreated from and
advanced on the continents numerous times during the Mesozoic, so why did the dinosaurs survive
the climatic changes associated with the earlier fluctuations but not with this one? Although initially
appealing, the hypothesis of a simple climatic change related to sea levels is insufficient to explain
all the data.

Vocabulary Question
4. The word “cope” in the passage is closest in meaning to?

A. adapt
B. move
C. continue
D. compete

5. The word “fluctuations” in the passage is closest in meaning to?

A. extreme
B. retreats
C. periods
D. variations

Vocabulary Question
Question 4 and 5 are vocabulary questions. In a "Vocabulary question", you are asked what
a word or phrase is closest in meaning to and are given 4 answer options. You need to be
able to understand the meaning of the word as it is used in the passage.
 spellcheckAnswers
[3] If true, though, why did cold-blooded animals such as snakes, lizards, turtles, and crocodiles
survive the freezing winters and torrid summers? These animals are at the mercy of the climate to
maintain a livable body temperature. It’s hard to understand why they would not be affected,
whereas dinosaurs were left too crippled to cope, especially if, as some scientists believe, dinosaurs
were warm-blooded. Critics also point out that the shallow seaways had retreated from and
advanced on the continents numerous times during the Mesozoic, so why did the dinosaurs survive
the climatic changes associated with the earlier fluctuations but not with this one? Although initially
appealing, the hypothesis of a simple climatic change related to sea levels is insufficient to explain
all the data.

Essential Information Question

 6. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted
sentence in paragraph 4? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave
out essential information.

A. The fossil record suggests that there was an abrupt extinction of many plants and
animals at the end of the Mesozoic era.
B. Few fossils of the Mesozoic era have survived in the rocks that mark the end of the
Cretaceous.
C. Fossils from the Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic up to the beginning of the
Cenozoic era have been removed from the layers of rock that surrounded them.
D. Plants and animals from the Mesozoic era were unable to survive in the Cenozoic
era.

Essential Information Question

In an “Essential Information question”, you will see the question you see an entire sentence
highlighted in the reading passage. The question will ask you to choose which of the 4
answer option sentences is equal to the highlighted sentence. The correct sentence will be
paragraphed so it is different than the highlighted one, but still convey all the important
information. Incorrect sentences will represent a detail or concept inaccurately, leave out an
important detail, change the original meaning of the sentence
 spellcheckAnswer
[4] Dissatisfaction with conventional explanations for dinosaur extinctions led to a surprising
observation that, in turn, has suggested a new hypothesis. Many plants and animals disappear
abruptly from the fossil record as one moves from layers of rock documenting the end of the
Cretaceous up into rocks representing the beginning of the Cenozoic (the era after the
Mesozoic). Between the last layer of Cretaceous rock and the first layer of Cenozoic rock, there is
often a thin layer of clay. Scientists felt that they could get an idea of how long the extinctions took
by determining how long it took to deposit this one centimeter of clay and they thought they could
determine the time it took to deposit the clay by determining the amount of the element iridium (Ir) it
contained.

Negative Factual Information Question

7. In paragraph 4, all the following questions are answered EXCEPT:

A. Why is there a layer of clay between the rocks of the Cretaceous and Cenozoic?
B. Why were scientists interested in determining how long it took to deposit the layer of
clay at the end of the Cretaceous?
C. What was the effect of the surprising observation scientists made?
D. Why did scientists want more information about the dinosaur extinction at the end of
the Cretaceous?

Negative Factual Information Question

You can recognize a negative factual information question by either the word “NOT” or
“EXCEPT” in the question. The question can appear like the following: According to the
passage, which of the following is NOT true of X?.
 spellcheckAnswer
 [4] Dissatisfaction with conventional explanations for dinosaur extinctions led to a surprising
observation that, in turn, has suggested a new hypothesis. Many plants and animals disappear
abruptly from the fossil record as one moves from layers of rock documenting the end of the
Cretaceous up into rocks representing the beginning of the Cenozoic (the era after the
Mesozoic). Between the last layer of Cretaceous rock and the first layer of Cenozoic rock, there is
often a thin layer of clay. Scientists felt that they could get an idea of how long the extinctions took
by determining how long it took to deposit this one centimeter of clay and they thought they could
determine the time it took to deposit the clay by determining the amount of the element iridium (Ir) it
contained.

Inference Question
8. Paragraph 5 implies that a special explanation of the Ir in the boundary clay is needed
because

A. the Ir in microscopic meteorites reaching Earth during the Cretaceous period would
have been incorporated into Earth’s core
B. the Ir in the boundary clay was deposited much more than a million years ago
C. the concentration of Ir in the boundary clay is higher than in microscopic meteorites
D. the amount of Ir in the boundary clay is too great to have come from microscopic
meteorites during the time the boundary clay was deposited

Inference Question
In an "Inference" question, you will see the question phrased something like the following: In
paragraph 5, what does the author imply about ….? or What can be inferred from paragraph
5? In this type of question, the answer is not directly stated in the reading passage. It
requires you to draw conclusions based on information that is given in the passage. You
need to find out the correct conclusion from the choices.
 spellcheckAnswer
[5] Ir has not been common at Earth’s surface since the very beginning of the planet’s history.
Because it usually exists in a metallic state, it was preferentially incorporated in Earth’s core as the
planet cooled and consolidated. Ir is found in high concentrations in some meteorites, in which the
solar system’s original chemical composition is preserved. Even today, microscopic meteorites
continually bombard Earth, falling on both land and sea. By measuring how many of these
meteorites fall to Earth over a given period of time, scientists can estimate how long it might have
taken to deposit the observed amount of Ir in the boundary clay. (A) These calculations suggest that
a period of about one million years would have been required. (B) However, other reliable evidence
suggests that the deposition of the boundary clay could not have taken one million years. (C) So the
unusually high concentration of Ir seems to require a special explanation. (D)

Sentence Insertion Question

9. In paragraph 5 of the passage, there is a missing sentence. The paragraph is repeated
below and shows four letters (A, B, C, and D) that indicate where the following sentence
could be added.

Consequently, the idea that the Ir in the boundary clay came from microscopic
meteorites cannot be accepted.

Where would the sentence best fit?

 o (A)
o (B)
o (C)
o (D)

Sentence Insertion Question

In a "Sentence Insertion" question, you will be asked to decide where a new sentence best
fits into the reading passage. This question type tests your understanding of the logic in the
passage. It also tests your ability to understand the grammatical connections from one
sentence to another.
 spellcheckAnswer
[5] Ir has not been common at Earth’s surface since the very beginning of the planet’s history.
Because it usually exists in a metallic state, it was preferentially incorporated in Earth’s core as the
planet cooled and consolidated. Ir is found in high concentrations in some meteorites, in which the
solar system’s original chemical composition is preserved. Even today, microscopic meteorites
continually bombard Earth, falling on both land and sea. By measuring how many of these
meteorites fall to Earth over a given period of time, scientists can estimate how long it might have
taken to deposit the observed amount of Ir in the boundary clay. (A) These calculations suggest that
a period of about one million years would have been required. (B) However, other reliable evidence
suggests that the deposition of the boundary clay could not have taken one million years. (C) So the
unusually high concentration of Ir seems to require a special explanation. (D)

Complete the Summary Question

14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided
below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the
most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary
because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the
passage. This question is worth 2 points.

Drag your answer choices to the spaces where they belong. To remove an answer choice,
drag it back.

For a long time scientists have argued that the extinction of the dinosaurs was
related to climate change.

a. Extreme changes in daily and seasonal climates preceded the retreat of the seas
back into the major ocean basins.
b. A simple climate change does not explain some important data related to the
extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous.
c. The retreat of the seaways at the end of the Cretaceous has not been fully
explained.
d. The abruptness of extinctions at the end of the Cretaceous and the high
concentration of Ir found in clay deposited at that time have fueled the development of a
new hypothesis.
 e. Some scientists hypothesize that the extinction of the dinosaurs resulted from the
effects of an asteroid collision with Earth.
f. Boundary clay layers like the one between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic are used by
scientists to determine the rate at which an extinct species declined.

Complete the Summary Question

In a ‘Complete the Summary’ question, you are given a summary statement of the reading
passage and 6 answer options. You need to drag and drop 3 answers that represent major
ideas or contain important information from the passage.

You need to drag and drop them from the bottom area of your computer screen into a blank
area above with 3 positions marked off . The 3 correct options will NOT have the exact
wording of any sentence in the passage. The other 3 will have errors in detail, or state an
unimportant concept. This question always has a value of 2 points. You will get 1 point if
you get 2 out of 3 correct.
 spellcheckAnswer
[1] Paleontologists have argued for a long time that the demise of the dinosaurs was caused by
climatic alterations associated with slow changes in the positions of continents and seas resulting
from plate tectonics. Off and on throughout the Cretaceous (the last period of the Mesozoic era,
during which dinosaurs flourished), large shallow seas covered extensive areas of the continents.
Data from diverse sources, including geochemical evidence preserved in seafloor sediments,
indicate that the Late Cretaceous climate was milder than today’s. The days were not too hot, nor
the nights too cold. The summers were not too warm, nor the winters too frigid. The shallow seas on
the continents probably buffered the temperature of the nearby air, keeping it relatively constant.

[2] At the end of the Cretaceous, the geological record shows that these seaways retreated from the
continents back into the major ocean basins. No one knows why. Over a period of about 100,000
years, while the seas pulled back, climates around the world became dramatically more extreme:
warmer days, cooler nights; hotter summers, colder winters. Perhaps dinosaurs could not tolerate
these extreme temperature changes and became extinct.

[3] If true, though, why did cold-blooded animals such as snakes, lizards, turtles, and crocodiles
survive the freezing winters and torrid summers? These animals are at the mercy of the climate to
maintain a livable body temperature. It’s hard to understand why they would not be affected,
whereas dinosaurs were left too crippled to cope, especially if, as some scientists believe, dinosaurs
were warm-blooded. Critics also point out that the shallow seaways had retreated from and
advanced on the continents numerous times during the Mesozoic, so why did the dinosaurs survive
the climatic changes associated with the earlier fluctuations but not with this one? Although initially
appealing, the hypothesis of a simple climatic change related to sea levels is insufficient to explain
all the data.

[4] Dissatisfaction with conventional explanations for dinosaur extinctions led to a surprising
observation that, in turn, has suggested a new hypothesis. Many plants and animals disappear
abruptly from the fossil record as one moves from layers of rock documenting the end of the
Cretaceous up into rocks representing the beginning of the Cenozoic (the era after the
Mesozoic). Between the last layer of Cretaceous rock and the first layer of Cenozoic rock, there is
often a thin layer of clay. Scientists felt that they could get an idea of how long the extinctions took
by determining how long it took to deposit this one centimeter of clay and they thought they could
determine the time it took to deposit the clay by determining the amount of the element iridium (Ir) it
contained.
 [5] Ir has not been common at Earth’s surface since the very beginning of the planet’s history.
Because it usually exists in a metallic state, it was preferentially incorporated in Earth’s core as the
planet cooled and consolidated. Ir is found in high concentrations in some meteorites, in which the
solar system’s original chemical composition is preserved. Even today, microscopic meteorites
continually bombard Earth, falling on both land and sea. By measuring how many of these
meteorites fall to Earth over a given period of time, scientists can estimate how long it might have
taken to deposit the observed amount of Ir in the boundary clay. (A) These calculations suggest that
a period of about one million years would have been required. (B) However, other reliable evidence
suggests that the deposition of the boundary clay could not have taken one million years. (C) So the
unusually high concentration of Ir seems to require a special explanation. (D)

[6] In view of these facts, scientists hypothesized that a single large asteroid, about 10 to 15
kilometers across, collided with Earth, and the resulting fallout created the boundary clay. Their
calculations show that the impact kicked up a dust cloud that cut off sunlight for several months,
inhibiting photosynthesis in plants; decreased surface temperatures on continents to below freezing;
caused extreme episodes of acid rain; and significantly raised long-term global temperatures through
the greenhouse effect. This disruption of food chain and climate would have eradicated the
dinosaurs and other organisms in less than fifty years.

Reference Question
1. The word 'those' in paragraph 1 refers to:

o gene pool
o survival
o natural selection
o traits characteristics

Reference Question
In a "Reference" question, you are asked what the highlighted word refers to. If it's a
pronoun then you need to identify what word the pronoun is replacing.
 spellcheckAnswer
[1] Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution is known as one of the most important and controversial
scientific theories ever published. Natural selection contributes to the basis of Darwin's Theory of
Evolution. One of the core tenets of Darwin's theory is that more offspring are always produced for a
species than can possibly survive. Yet, no two offspring are perfectly alike. As a result, through
random mutation and genetic drift, over time offspring develop new traits and characteristics. Over
time beneficial traits and characteristics that promote survival will be kept in the gene pool
while those that harm survival will be selected against. Therefore, this natural selection ensures that
a species gradually improves itself over an extended duration of time. On the other hand, as a
species continues to 'improve' itself, it branches out to create entirely new species that are no longer
capable of reproducing together.

Complete the Table Question

14. Complete the table by matching the phrases below
 Directions: Select the appropriate phrases from the answer choices and match them to
the Radiocarbon Dating and Faunal Analysis to which they relate. Some of the answer
choices will NOT be used. This question is worth 4 points.

Drag your answer choices to the spaces where they belong. To remove an answer choice,
drag it back. To review the passage, click VIEW TEXT.

Faunal Analysis in Cuba Radiocarbon dating in Two

and California Creeks Fossil Forest

a. Tar and benzene are used in the analytical process.

b. This analytical method has determined when the Pleistocene epoch ended.
c. Initial estimates were made by comparing with similar occurrences in Scandinavia.
d. Over 70 tests were done on fossil samples.
e. Radiocarbon dating tracked the fossils to 13,370 years before present.
f. Successful radiocarbon dating of the forest samples proves the end of glaciations in
North America.

Complete the Table Question

In a “Complete a table” question, you will see 2 or 3 categories in an empty table. From the
options provided, you must select which ones correctly belong to each category. There will
also be 2 options that won't be used. There will either be 5 or 7 correct options depending
on the question.

This question has a value of 3 or 4 points. Questions with 5 correct options are worth 3
points, and ones with 7 are worth 4 points. You get 1 point if you get 3/5 or 4/7 correct. You
get 2 points if get 4/5 or 5/7 correct. You get 3 points if you get 5/5 or 6/7 correct

This question tests your ability to organize major ideas of the reading passage and
important information. It also tests your understandings of cause-effect relationships and
compare and contrast relationships.
 spellcheckAnswer
[1] The method of Radiocarbon dating was invented in the late 1940s by Willard Libby. It is a method
to determine the age of an object by using radiocarbon properties. Radiocarbon is created in the
atmosphere through the interaction of nitrogen and cosmic rays. When combined with oxygen,
carbon dioxide is produced. CO2 enters plants through photosynthesis; animals and humans
incorporate carbon when they eat plants. After the death of a plant or animal, the rate of carbon
begins to decline – this is called the radioactive decay of carbon. When analysts measure the
amount of carbon in this decayed object, they can calculate when it died. The furthest date that has
been reliably measured back to is around 50,000 years.

[2] Research into the proportion of carbon in the atmosphere has been going on for more than five
decades. Due to the increase in the burning of fossil fuels and nuclear testing in the 20th century,
there was a significant increase in the level of carbon in our atmosphere, so this adds to the
complication of carbon calculation. Originally, scientists used samples of solid carbon for testing.
However, they realized that converting the samples to liquid or gas offered more precise results.
Accelerator mass spectrometry is the current method of analysis. All carbon atoms in the sample are
counted; its results are fast and very accurate.

[3] Archaeology has been profoundly affected by progress in radiocarbon dating. Faunal analysis
has also been impacted by progress in this area. Faunal analysis is the study of the remains of
animals with the aim to help us understand human activities in the past.

[4] At the end of the Pleistocene Era, there were many rapid extinction of megafauna, particularly in
the Americas. There is a notable report by Vartanyan et al. on the extinction of pygmy mammoths,
dating them back to 3700 years before present using radiocarbon dating. Other scientists have used
this method to calculate the age of the extinct species in the La Brea tar pits in California. In their
faunal analysis, they employed a pre-treatment method that included the use of tar. They collected
bones, divided them into small pieces and chips and crushed them. The bone fragments were
treated with a variety of solvents, including benzene, to examine a species of Cuban Caribbean
ground sloth and the Xenarthra armadillo. Carbon was then examined and radiocarbon dates were
obtained from the organic material separated from the tar. Scientists were able to date the sloth
remains to around 5400 before present. This information is important as it may show that the
extinction of the sloth was caused by human arrival in Cuba.

[5] Much work is necessary to further investigate the abundant fossil materials found in Central and
South American pits, including those of Talara, Peru, where there are a lot of remains of extinct
megafauna and human artefacts. Ongoing studies of these sites can help to verify the theories of
extinction and the impact on human behaviour.

[6] One notable achievement in radio carbon dating is Two Creeks Fossil Forest. During the 20th
century, a goal of geologists was to establish the date of transition from the Pleistocene to the
Holocene era. The Pleistocene epoch began 2.6 million years ago and the current, Holocene period
began 11,700 years ago. In Wisconsin, USA, a fossil forest called Two Creeks was discovered. Prior
to radiocarbon dating, the trees in this forest had been dated back to around 24,000 years ago, the
estimated date for the end of the Pleistocene period. This estimate had been made through
correlation with sequences in Scandinavia. Libby and later scientists investigated Two Creeks and
used radiocarbon dating to date the trees more accurately. Samples from the fossil forest were used
in tests in over 70 labs, dating the trees back to 13,730 before present. This achievement is now
considered a notable result in the development of our understanding of glaciation in North America
and the end of the Pleistocene epoch.

How to Prepare for the TOEFL Reading Test

Most students fail on the TOEFL Reading test because of either of the following two
reasons

1. Slow reading speed

2. Poor reading strategies
Improving your reading speed

For you to improve your reading speed, you need to improve your vocabulary and
practice dissecting sentences. One strategy to dissect a sentence is to look for the
subject and verb of the sentence. Finding the subject and verb will help you
better understand the main idea of said sentence. Keep in mind, a common feature
of a TOEFL reading passage is to join strings of ideas to form long compound
sentences. This produces large chunks that students have a hard time absorbing. Do
not get overwhelmed by its length, just look for the subject and verb, the rest of the
ideas will flow. Here is our article on "How to Read Faster By Breaking Down Long
Sentences". By following tips and strategies on this article, you will know how to read
faster and boost your TOEFL reading score.). Alternatively, you can watch the following
3 videos on how to break down long sentences.

TOEFL Reading Lesson - Breaking down long sentences Part 1 -

General breakdown
TOEFL Reading Lesson - Breaking down long sentences Part 2 -
Turning long sentences into short ones
TOEFL Reading Lesson - Breaking down long sentences Part 3 -
Grammar points

Another disadvantage to having a slow reading speed is it makes skimming or scanning

a reading passage more difficult. The process of quickly skimming through a
reading passage for specific keywords or main ideas is a requirement for you to
employ successful reading strategies to improve your TOEFL reading score. In
other words, skimming is a critical skill to ensure you complete all questions in the
allotted time frame.

Implementing successful TOEFL reading strategies

Once you can read and comprehend a passage with a rate of, at least, 220 words per
minute, you'll be ready to start implementing our strategies. All too often, students
spend too much time reading the passages and not enough time answering the
questions.

Let's do the math on the following scenario:

 3 passages
 30 questions
 54 minutes

Let's say it takes you around 10 minutes to read each passage meaning you've spent
30 minutes of your 54 minutes reading. So now you only have 24 minutes to answer 30
questions.

Now if you do the math that only leaves you with an average 48 seconds to answer
each question. (Let's see...48s x 30q = about 1440secs. Now divide that by 60secs and
we get exactly 24 minutes. Yep the math adds up. )

So the only way to increase the overall average time to answer each question, is to
reduce the amount of time you spend reading each passage...or maybe you don't read
the entire passage at all...maybe you just skim the passage in less than 3 minutes to get
the gist of it. By doing that you would leave yourself with double the average time per
question around 1 minute and 30 seconds.

That's right! We are suggesting you DON'T read the entire passage, at least not at
first. Let's have a look at the step by step guide to this strategy.

1. Read the the first sentence of every paragraph.

First, read the first sentence of every paragraph, so you get a basic idea of what the
whole reading passage is about. You don't want to read the whole passage before
you start answering the questions. That will be inefficient. Many students make this
mistake and find themselves running out of time.
2. The questions first approach Start reading question 1. Remember to only read
the question and not the answer choices; Reading the answer choices is a waste of
your time and energy. It will not help you. Once you understand the question, start
reading the corresponding passage from the beginning in search of the answer.
Once you answer question 1, go onto question 2 repeating the steps you took to
answer question 1. Do this for every single question. The TOEFL questions
proceed in chronological order, so the answer to question 1 is in the beginning of
the passage and the answer to question 12 is towards the end.
3. Don't get stuck! We've discussed this before, but it's so important, we will
discuss it again. If you find yourself spending too much time on a question, you
must skip it and move on to the next question. Finish all the questions you know,
then go back and finish the tougher questions. The absolute worst thing you can do
is get stuck for several minutes on a question worth only 1 point. (Want to test this
strategy out now? Take a free reading mock test.)

3-Step Study System for TOEFL Reading

Now you should have a good understanding of the reading section's test structure and
have experience answering reading questions using the reading timing strategy. It is
time to start your TOEFL reading preparation. Below is our 3 step system for
preparing for the TOEFL reading section.

Step 1: Complete all TOEFL reading lessons

Step 1 may seem obvious, but it is necessary. You need to complete all our TOEFL
reading lessons available to you. Specifically, the reading timing strategy and
techniques found throughout the reading lessons. These techniques will help you
answer questions faster to give you more time to think and decrease stress levels.
Stress can lead to poor performance, so it's important you go into your test prepared
and confident.

Step 2: Practice, practice, practice!

For step 2, you will practice and apply the techniques you learned using our TOEFL
reading practices. You will find all our reading practices in our Question Bank: Click
here to go there now. You can also utilize our TOEFL simulation test software to help
improve things like time and stress management during the TOEFL test. Our test
simulation software looks and feels identical to an actual TOEFL test. We offer 4
reserved TOEFL simulated tests and another 15 non-reserved practice tests. Reserved
tests use questions that are not found in the question bank.

Every time you complete a practice, our TOEFL instructor software will track and record
your score and determine what your strengths and weaknesses are in each TOEFL
section. It will also offer a study schedule based on what you need the most help on.

Step 3: Learning by reviewing

Step 3 is the most important step. You will need to spend a lot of time on step 3 in order
to improve. There is no secret to success. You must work hard. Follow the list below to
complete step 3:

1. Review and redo all questions you got wrong, making sure you understand why
you got it wrong.

Having trouble understanding why you got a question wrong?

Ask one of our TOEFL instructors for help using our Ask an Instructor feature
included with every subscription.

Our Ask an Instructor feature gives you an opportunity to communicate with our

TOEFL instructors. You can ask them anything regarding TOEFL and English.
 To ask a question, simply click the   button found on every
question in the question bank. Our instructors will answer your question within 1 - 3
business days.
2. Reread paragraphs until you understand what the passage is about.
3. Write down any words that you do not understand and learn what they mean.
4. Study and pay attention to transition words to help you learn to identify and
create relationships between sentences.
5. If you find yourself struggling with a particular academic category, then go
through and learn our list of vocabulary for that particular category. If you can, get
some cue cards and study them everyday. Later, come back to the question and
you will find you are no longer struggling with it!

Our TOEFL Reading Practice Questions

Our TOEFL reading practice questions were designed to look and feel identical to the
official TOEFL test. We made sure everything was the same including difficulty,
formatting, and even how the test functions. If you're curious about the amount of
TOEFL reading practices we have, then open the reading question menu and see for
yourself. Please note we offer 4 simulated TOEFL tests with never before seen
questions. This means that in addition to our mock reading practices there are an
additional 12 waiting for you in the form of a simulated TOEFL test. You just have to go
to our TOEFL Practice Test section. However, you'll need a premium account to access
those tests.

The TOEFL Reading section is the easiest section to prepare for. We believe that once
you can master the reading strategies mentioned earlier in this article and complete all
available TOEFL reading practices before your TOEFL exam, you will get a high score
on the TOEFL reading section.

If you need help with vocabulary to improve your reading speed, you can use our
vocabulary system which includes:

1. TOEFL Vocabulary Lists (There is a mini-lesson for each vocabulary that teaches

you how to use the word correctly.)
2. TOEFL Vocabulary Flashcards (Keep track of which words you know and which
you don't)
3. TOEFL Vocabulary Exercises (Interactive exercises that speeds up learning)

What's next
Sign up for a 7 day free trial to access the following basic TOEFL reading lessons and
start your TOEFL preparation.

 TOEFL Reading Introduction

 TOEFL Reading Strategies for Success
 Vocabulary Question
 Reference Question
 Inference Question
 Essential Information Question
 Sentence Insertion Question
 Purpose Question
 Detail Question
 Negative Factual Information Question
 Complete The Summary Question
 Complete The Table Question

SIGN UP FREE

Free TOEFL Reading English Resources

A strong Reading comprehension is critical to scoring high in the TOEFL reading test.
Utilizing our resources will help you improve your TOEFL reading skills significantly, but
sometimes it's nice to sit back and read something that isn't related to TOEFL. Luke
something relaxing that can still help improve your overall reading comprehension.

Below are a few amazing free resources you can use to train and maintain your
TOEFL reading skills.

1. FluentU - 7 Easy English Reading Resources

This resource doesn't contain any material for improving your reading skills, but what it
does do is provide some really high quality free resources you can use for your reading
comprehension. FYI, you'll need to scroll down a bit to get to the resource list, but it's
worth it.

2. British Council - Read Upper B2 Intermediate Stories with Exercises

Have you heard of the British Council? They help create IELTS test questions. The
page I'm linking you to is a reading comprehension page. It's a little hard to find at first,
so what you need to do is click on either magazine or stories found on the bottom left
 side, you can't miss it. It doesn't matter what you choose, they both offer the same
training. You'll be taken to a new page where you can select the post that interests you.
Within that post, you can start your reading training.

3. ETS TOEFL - Free & Paid TOEFL Resources

you can never go wrong with official TOEFL reading preparation from the makers of
TOEFL. Scroll down and you will find some free resources that will surely help you
improve your TOEFL reading score.

4. Wikipedia

If we're talking about TOEFL reading practice, then Wikipedia deserves a spot. It only
has, basically, unlimited reading resources of almost every single reading topic you can
think of. Definitely has 100% of topics that will appear in your TOEFL reading test.
However, the one downside is the reading can be a bit dry, but if you can make it into a
reading training exercise, that should help keep your attention.

TOEFL Practice Guides

 TOEFL Reading Practice Guide
 TOEFL Listening Practice Guide
 TOEFL Speaking Practice Guide
 TOEFL Writing Practice Guide
 TOEFL Practice Test Guide

 TOEFL Preparation
Prepare for the TOEFL with over 1000 TOEFL questions, 100 lessons, 20 TOEFL practice tests,
speaking and writing reviews, and many more.