toefl reading strategies
A debate is raging in my classes on how to attack the TOEFL Reading section. In CESL we still have the Institutional TOEFL, which gives a Reading section, 50 questions, 55 minutes, questions divided into about 5-8 distinct passages, 6-10 questions each, more or less.As far as I know, the difficulty is evenly and randomly distributed, both within each set of questions, and throughout the entire section, so that if passage one is statistically harder than passage two, it's only a coincidence, and may not hold up on every test. The questions are distributed in relative spatial order, that is, questions derived from line 4 will appear before questions derived from line 7, but questions from the entire passage could be placed anywhere, and are.
The three pertinent attack strategies are:
1. Read the entire passage once through, trying to get main idea and purpose of the paragraphs; if you are unable to, read again. THEN do the questions. (this is my favorite)
2. Read the questions first. Then you know what you're looking for as you read.
3. Read the first and last sentence of each paragraph before you start. That way you know what the main purpose of the passage is.
I have vocally chosen #1 but told my students, by all means, practice a lot; try all three; do whatever works best. It's my impression that #2 and #3 were originally developed for native speakers (for use on tests like the SAT, ACT, GRE, etc.); because they have quicker and better inferencing and skimming skills, they can spot it more easily when the first sentence doesn't match the rest of the paragraph, or when a question requires careful clue-digging. But I feel that for international students, particularly lower-level ones trying to improve from 420 to 480, #2 & #3 are not the best choices.
I am curious about what the TOEFL world says about this issue. I would like to do research. I would like to know more.
Here's another question: Is using CCCCC at the end, still better than BBBBB? or AAAAAA? I stuck my neck out and said no, TOEFL was onto that, long ago, and changed it to get the CCCCs & teach them a lesson. Besides, if you get to the end, and have to go CCCCCC, you've already lost. You're staying in AE2. You failed to follow the cardinal rule of TOEFL Reading, which is FINISH & GET THE EASY ONES. You're a poor gambler. You shouldn't even be asking that question!
More later. By the way, it's an open debate. Your comments are welcome. Any pertinent sources, etc. would also be appreciated.
posted by tom @ 9:14 AM
4 Comments:
hi how are ya?
i think you are right to read through the passage and then do the qusetions to get he main ideas i think this is the best way to read the passage.
do you think 50 munites are enough to read the whole reading section?
how are you? sorry.. long time i didn't put comment.
i would like share you in this point, it was very important how can the student choose the answer, because many ways we can use it in the TOFEL teast. Also something very important that is mangement time that what Faisal ask about it.
have a nice weekend gyes.
how are you? sorry.. long time i didn't put comment.
i would like share you in this point, it was very important how can the student choose the answer, because many ways we can use it in the TOFEL teast. Also something very important that is mangement time that what Faisal ask about it.
have a nice weekend gyes.
Faisal, obviously 55 minutes puts a lot of pressure on you. The question is not, is it possible? The question is, how can I use that 55 minutes most effectively? How can I get every easy question, and some of the hard ones? How can I get the most points I am capable of?
Don't give up- keep practicing. Practice at every opportunity! Good luck!
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