13 . B. Ubiquitous means “omni-present” or “existing everywhere.” 14. C. The word stagnant means stale, “out-of-date,” or “not changing.” This passage states that the bar code concept is still being changed. 15 . D. The passage indicates that the bar code has been used in various ways since the ’70s. 16 . A. The passage covers both a review of existing technology and the new two- dimensional code. 17. A. The two-dimensional bar code, with an information density of 1,100 bytes, allows a considerably greater amount of information to be coded than the tradi- tional bar code, including customized information. T hus, the manufacturer is able to add additional information on the bar code that it finds useful for its own tr acking purposes. It also has built-in redundancy, meaning that the identical information is duplicated on the same code. Therefore, if the code is damaged, it can still be read. The technology even allows pictures or text to be contained within the code, as well as barcode encryption. The new technology dramatically reduces the errors of the single dimensional bar code and reduces the enormous costs that some companies have reported in the past. 18 . A. The reading states that the code consists of horizontal lines, black print on a white background, with two and sometimes four different widths, and Arabic nu- merals underneath. 19 . B. The passage states: The bar code used on grocery products, introduced in the 1970s, is called a universal product code (or UPC), and assigns each type of food or grocery product a unique code. 20. A. Width is the noun related to the noun wide. It describes the size from left to right. 21. A. Traditional refers to a long-standing tradition or convention. 22. B. Keeping track of products stocked and sold means the same thing as inventory control. The other uses mentioned are potential uses of the new two-dimensional bar code. 23. D. In this context, considerably means “far” or “much.” 200 Part III: Detailed Review of Items Tested For more material and information, please visit TaiLieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org 201 WRITING As I explain in Part II of this book, the Writing section score makes up half of your Structure score. In this chapter, I explain how the TOEFL essay is graded. Understanding how an essay is scored can help you determine how to tackle this section of the test. Each essay question can receive a score between 0 and 6, with 0 being the lowest and 6 being the highest. Essay scoring is based on a checklist much like the one below. This checklist is adapted from the Writing Scoring Guide contained in the TOEFL test Information Bulletin. How well ■ does the essay address the topic? ■ is the essay organized? ■ does the essay provide appropriate details to support the thesis? ■ does the essay display proper use of language? ■ does the essay show variety and use of words? In other words, to create a successful essay, you need to do the following: ■ Write about the topic. ■ Organize it. ■ Give details. ■ Use correct grammar. ■ Use correct and varied vocabulary. A separate score is given for each of these five aspects of your essay. Each sepa- rate score can range from 0 to 6, in half-point increments. All five scores are then averaged in order to determine the overall score for your essay. For example, you might receive a score like the following: Addressing the topic 5.5 Organization 4 Details 2.5 Grammar 5 Vocabulary 3.5 Average 20.5 / 5 = 4.1 For more material and information, please visit TaiLieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Writing about the essay topic is fairly easy to do: Simply answer the question. Don’t get carried away trying to use impressive vocabulary or display grammati- cal abilities and not end up addressing the question. Use the scratch paper provided at the administration of the TOEFL test to outline your essay topic. You can use any kind of outline technique to organize your thoughts, but don’t skip this part. Proper organization translates into a fifth of your writing score. The particular position that you choose to take on the topic is not important. There isn’t a right or wrong answer on this section of the test. However, make sure that you can justify your position with details or examples. If you use a traditional outline form before you write your essay, it should look something like this: 1. Introduction 2. Major Topic a. Detail b. Detail 3. Major Topic a. Detail b. Detail 4. Major Topic a. Detail b. Detail 5. Conclusion As the outline shows, try to supply at least two (preferably three) supporting de- tails for each major topic. Don’t try to use grammar that you don’t know well. Just make sure that the gram- mar that you use is correct. Likewise, don’t try to use vocabulary that you don’t know well. Use only vocabulary that is correct in the context. 202 Part III: Detailed Review of Items Tested For more material and information, please visit TaiLieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Practice Exercise Directions: This section measures your ability to write in standard English, includ- ing your ability to organize ideas and support your thoughts with sufficient exam- ples and evidence. Address the following topic by writing an essay in 30 minutes. You may make notes on a separate piece of paper. Type or hand-write the essay. It has recently been announced that a large multi-purpose store, similar to those that offer a great number of different items and are open all the time, will be built near your neighborhood. Do you support or oppose this plan? Why? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer. First, create a major outline, such as the following. You may initially include items that you will later eliminate. 1. Introduction 2. Convenience for neighborhood 3. 24-hour shopping 4. More products 5. More jobs 6. Eliminate eyesores 7. Conclusion Next, go back and work on the details. If you can’t provide sufficient details for a topic, eliminate the topic or merge it into another. For example: 1. Introduction 2. Convenience for neighborhood a. Close to home, whereas other stores are farther away b. More products and several classes of products in one place (groceries, electronics, automotive, clothing, and so on) c. Late-night shopping 3. More jobs a. Increased number of jobs for older persons b. Increased number of jobs for students 4. Eliminate eyesores a. The property is currently vacant and unsafe b. The owners don’t keep up on weed and garbage cleanup 5. Conclusion 203 Writing For more material and information, please visit TaiLieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org From this type of outline, you can successfully organize a logical, effective essay: I support the idea of building a new large multi-purpose store near my neigh- borhood. It will provide convenience to me and my neighbors and additional jobs, as well as eliminating unattractive areas of the neighborhood. Having such a store near our neighborhood will provide convenience. Currently we have to travel in one direction for a grocery store, another direc- tion for clothing stores, and several other places for other types of stores. All of these stores are at least several miles from our neighborhood. We will have much less travel time to this one store. Because this store combines a number of different product classes, we can avoid going to different stores for every- thing we want to buy. We will be able to buy our groceries, clothing, elec- tronic items and other products all at one time. And we will also have the added convenience of shopping at any hour of the day when we are too busy to shop during normal hours. At the present time, there are students who would like to work after class, but there are not sufficient jobs available. In addition, there are retired people in our neighborhood who would like to supplement their meager income with some light work. A multi-purpose store like the one that is proposed for our neighborhood will provide a number of different job opportunities for these two classes of people as well as others in the community who need full-time jobs. This benefits the overall economic base of the community. Now, there are two abandoned homes, one occupied home with junk cars and another with debris in the yard, and several overgrown vacant lots on the property where this store will be built. There is nothing beneficial about any of these properties. They contribute to rodent and insect growth, contain hid- ing places for criminals, and are dangerous for our young children. Replacing these lots with the contemplated store will eliminate these dangers. Allowing this store to be built will be much more convenient for the people in my neighborhood than our current situation. Because it will provide addi- tional jobs and clean up eyesores in the neighborhood, it has many benefits, and we should all support it. The above essay certainly is not of the highest quality if you compare it to ones prepared for a writing class. But for purposes of the TOEFL test, in which you have a short time to create an essay and no opportunity to research issues, it will likely obtain a high score because it answers the question adequately. The intro- ductory and conclusion paragraphs summarize the three major topics. Each major topic contains two or three subtopics or examples, and there are no major gram- mar, vocabulary, or spelling errors. 204 Part III: Detailed Review of Items Tested For more material and information, please visit TaiLieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org Sample Essay Topics The following writing topics are not identical to those provided in the TOEFL Bulletin, but they are similar in format. If you wish to write an essay to send to my grading service or another service, use one of these essay topics or a topic from the TOEFL Bulletin. Almost all sample questions in the TOEFL Bulletin end with the sentence “Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.” I’ve omitted that sentence from the following topics. 1. A significant effort and significant expense are spent on space travel and research, including sending unmanned spacecraft to faraway planets. Do you agree or disagree with this practice? Why? 2. Some people believe that the public should be able to keep guns for protection. Others believe that guns should be illegal. Give your opinion on the issue. 3. Some students prefer to attend a large university, while others prefer to attend a smaller one. Indicate your opinion of the best choice. 4. Many young people have the opportunity to participate in organized sporting events. The more organized the event, the greater the cost. Do you believe that organized sports are important to young people? Why or why not? 5. What is one of the most important decisions that a teenager will have to make? Why is it so important? 6. Do you agree or disagree with the statement “haste makes waste”? 7. Do you believe that the increasing use of computers and the Internet is beneficial to society or not? 8. What improvement would you make to the city where you live to make it a better place, or in the alternative, why does it require no improvement? 9. Do you believe that home ownership is a goal that is important to many people? 10 . Do you believe that people work better when they have sufficient free time? 205 Writing For more material and information, please visit TaiLieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org 206 Part III: Detailed Review of Items Tested For more material and information, please visit TaiLieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org PUT PUT TI TI N N G IT G IT ALL ALL T T O O G G ETH ETH E E R: R: PR PR A A CTI CTI C C E E TE TE STS STS PART IV For more material and information, please visit TaiLieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org For more material and information, please visit TaiLieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org 209 1. What does the woman mean? A. She is tired of trying to get into the university. B. She has already entered a university. C. She took a job instead of going to college. D. She has continued to try to find a university that will accept her. 2. What will the woman probably do? A. Study linguistics B. Contact Professor Stafford C. Take Professor Stafford’s class D. Decide later PRACTICE TEST 1 Listening Section Time: 45 Minutes 35 Questions To work through the Listening section of the practice test, you need to use the first audio CD that is included in this book. Starting with Track 2 of the CD, you will hear people having brief conversations. At the end of each conversation, you will hear a question that you must answer based on your understanding of what the speaker(s) said. Each question is printed below, along with answer choices. Mark your answer choices as you go along. The CD track numbers that you need to listen to are indicated throughout the section. After you have completed this practice test and checked your answers, turn to the appendix of this book. The conversations that you heard on the CD are transcribed there. If you had any dif- ficulty understanding what a speaker was saying, listen to the CD again, this time reading what is being said at the same time you listen to it. Do not turn to the appendix until you have worked through this practice test at least once by just listening to the CD. Part A Directions: In this part, you will hear short conversations between two people. After the con- versation, a question will be asked. Choose the answer that most accurately answers the ques- tion based on what is stated or implied by the speakers. Mark the answer in your book or on a separate piece of paper. CD A, Track 2 GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE For more material and information, please visit TaiLieu Du Hoc at www.tailieuduhoc.org . As I explain in Part II of this book, the Writing section score makes up half of your Structure score. In this chapter, I explain how the TOEFL essay is. potential uses of the new two-dimensional bar code. 23. D. In this context, considerably means “far” or “much.” 200 Part III: Detailed Review of Items Tested For