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Q-= #10: LEARN TO FIGHT TEST ANXIETY
The TOEFL iBT and similar tests (such as SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT) are often called “high-stakes tests.” This means that a lot depends on these tests They can have a major influence on your plans for your education and career A little nervousness is normal If you were going to participate in a big athletic contest or give an important business presentation, you would feel the same way
There is an idiom in English that describes this nervous feeling quite well: “butterflies in the stomach.” These “butterflies” will mostly fly away once the test starts And a little nervousness can actually help by making you more alert and focused However, too much nervousness can slow you down and cause you to make mistakes
If you begin to feel extremely anxious during the test, try taking a very short break—a “ten-second vacation.” Close your eyes or look away from the monitor, take your hand off the mouse, and lean back in your chair Take a few deep breaths, shake out your hands, roll your head on your neck, and relax Then get right back to work (Don’t use this technique while you are listening to a lecture or giving a speaking response.)
Trang 3The first section of the TOEFL® iBT tests your ability to read and answer questions about passages (readings) It contains three passages, and each passage is followed by twelve to fourteen questions for a total of thirty-nine questions The passages are generally from 600 to 700 words long You have sixty minutes in which to finish this section
Skills that are tested in this section include the abilities to scan for details
use context clues to understand the meaning of vocabulary draw inferences
recognize coherence
understand how the author explains certain points
understand why the author uses certain examples or mentions certain details recognize restatements (paraphrases) and sentence simplifications
distinguish between important ideas and minor ones
analyze and categorize information in order to complete summaries and charts
vvvvvvvvy
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 If you want, you can take notes about the passages while you are reading
THE PASSAGES
The passages are very similar to the type of material that you would find in an introductory undergraduate university textbook
The passages cover a wide range of topics, but in general can be classified as follows:
1, Science and technology, including astronomy, geology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, biology, medicine, and engineering
2 History, government, geography, and culture
3 Art, including literature, painting, sculpture, dance, drama, and architecture 4, Social science, including anthropology, economics, psychology, urban studies,
and sociology
5 Biography and autobiography
Some passages might be classified in more than one way For example, a biography might be about the life of a historical figure, an artist, or a scientist
Trang 4The passages are mainly expository In other words, they explain something However, some passages may be narrative (telling the story of an event or a person) or persuasive (arguing in favor of or against some point or issue) Passages may employ various patterns of organization and development: cause and effect, com- parison and contrast, definition, classification, and analysis
The vocabulary used in the Reading Section is sophisticated but not unrealisti- cally difficult Some specialized vocabulary is “glossed”—in other words, it is marked with a blue underline, and you can get a definition by clicking on the word or phrase If there are words that you don’t know that are not glossed, sometimes you can guess the meaning from the context of the sentence And remember that it is not necessary to understand every word in the passage in order to answer the questions correctly 3 tm = = a2 G THE QUESTIONS Multiple-Choice Questions
‘ Most of the questions in the Reading Section are multiple-choice questions There
are eight main types as shown in the following chart The chart also shows you in which lesson in The Guide you will find more information and practice for this question type Probable i number
Type of question Explanation Example pertest Lesson
{ Factual questions These ask you to locate According to the 7to10 1
j (detail questions) and identify specific information in paragraph
information in the , where did
passage According to the passage,
why did
' Which of the following is
true, according to the author?
Negative factual These ask which of the According to the 1 to 4 1
questions answer choices is not information in paragraph
true, according to _, which of the
information in the following is NOT
passage, or is not mentioned in the passage
The author mentions all of the following in the passage EXCEPT
Trang 5Probable number
Type of question Explanation Example pertest Lesson
Vocabulary These ask you to identify Theword _ inthe 6to10 2
questions the meaning of a word or _ passage is closest in
phrase used in the meaning to
passage
Inference questions These ask you to draw From the information in 3 to6 3
conclusions based on paragraph , it
information in the can be inferred that
memes In paragraph ——,
the author suggests that
Questions about These ask you why the Why does the author 2to3 4
the author“s author uses a certain mention _—— —ïn
purpose word, detail, or example paragraph _?
in a passage Why does the author give
details about - —?
Questions about These ask you to describe | How does the author 2to3 4
the author's how the author explains explain the concept of
methods or accomplishes — in paragraph
something in the passage ?
Questions about These ask you how the What is the author's 1 to 2 4
the author's author feels about a opinion of ?
attitude certain issue, idea, or Which of the following
person that is mentioned
in th most accurately reflects
nine Passage the author's opinion of
?
Sentence These ask which choice Which of the following 2 to 3 5
restatement/ best restates and sentences best expresses
simplification summarizes the the essential information
questions information in a sentence in the sentence below?
from the passage (Incorrect answer choices omit important information or change the meaning of the original sentence in an important way.)
Reference These ask what word a The word — — inthe 3to4 6
questions pronoun or other passage refers to
Trang 6Other Reading Questions
The last two questions in each set of questions have special directions Sentence Addition Questions
The second-to-last question in each set of questions will generally be a sentence addition question This type of question gives you a sentence that is not in the pas- sage and asks you to put it into the passage Four black squares appear between sentences of the paragraph You must click on one of these squares to put the new sentence into the correct place in the paragraph
There is more information and practice about sentence addition questions in Lesson 7
Complete-the-Summary and Complete-the-Chart Questions
The last question in each set of readings will be either a complete-the-summary or a complete-the-chart question Complete-the-summary questions are worth two points and complete-the-chart questions are worth three or four points (All the other questions in the Reading Section are worth only one point.) You can get par- tial credit if you answer some parts of these questions correctly
For complete-the-summary questions you are given six answer choices and you must choose three of these to create a summary of the passage Incorrect choices are only minor ideas or they are not mentioned in the passage
For complete-the-chart questions, you are given a number of answer choices and you must put them in the proper category in a chart The answer choices will be some important characteristic or example, and the categories will be major con- cepts described in the passage You have to decide which of the answer choices is related to which category and place it in the correct place in the chart Some of these questions have six possible answers and five blanks in the chart These are worth three points Some questions have nine possible answers and seven blanks in the chart, and these are worth four points
Trang 7SPECIAL FEATURES
The Reading Section of the TOEFL iBT includes the following helpful features Titles
Passages in the Reading Section of the TOEFL iBT have titles The titles help you get a quick, overall idea of what the passage is about
Illustrations, Maps, Charts, Drawings, and Pictures
On the TOEFL iBT, maps, charts, drawings, and photographs may be used to clarify points made in the passage and to make the passages seem more like authentic textbook material
Totem Poles
The Native Americans of Washington and Oregon were not totem pole makers, but practically all the tribes from Vancouver Island northward practice their use The totem poles made by the Tlinglit tribe of southern Alaska are particularly large and expressive Huge and intriguing, these carv- ings of animal and human figures have
Trang 8Glossed Vocabulary
If the passage contains difficult idioms, topic-specific vocabulary (words that are usually used only to talk about the topic), or vocabulary that might be unfamiliar to a test-taker, this vocabulary will be glossed These words or phrase will be underlined in blue If you click on the underlined vocabulary, you will get a short definition There will probably not be more than two or three glossed expressions per passage
ee IUDURDT
coat of arms: a special symbol of a family, especially of the noble fami- lies of Europe
Totem Poles
The Native Americans of Washington and Oregon were not
totem pole makers, but practically all the tribes from Vancouver Island northward practice their use The totem poles made by the Tlinglit tribe of southern Alaska are
particularly large and
expressive Huge and
Trang 9
Highlights and Paragraph Markers
Arrows and
text will help you find parts of the passage and specific words or sentences that are asked about Most questions tell you the number of the paragraph where the information to answer a question comes from These para- graphs are not numbered in the TOEFL iBT (although they are numbered in this book) Instead, they are marked with an arrow (=>) that appears at the beginning of the paragraph when you are working on that question
According to the information in paragraph 1, which of the following statements about totem poles is NOT true?
© They were carved more carefully than other Native American possessions They were found in front of almost every house in a Tlinglit village
They were used by more than one tribe They consisted of carvings of both people and animals 0O 0 Paragraph 1 is marked with an arrow ~> Totem Poles
Trang 10
Words that you are asked about (especially in vocabulary and reference ques- tions) are marked with in meaning to © shocking © pleasing @ fascinating © puzzling Totem Poles
Trang 11Review Feature
This is one of the most useful features of the Internet-Based Test You operate the review feature by clicking on the button marked Review on the toolbar This allows you to see a list of all the questions (actually, the first line of each of the questions) to see if you answered the question or skipped it You can use this feature at any time during the Reading Section It is especially important to use this when you have gone through the test and reached the final question You can then use the review feature to quickly locate the questions that you did not answer
Below is the list of questions in this section The status column shows if a question has been answered, not answered, or not yet seen The question you were looking at last is highlighted first when you enter Review
To review a specific question from the list, click on the question to highlight it, then click on Go to Question at the top of the screen To sort the list by number or status, click on the column heading When there are more questions than will fit on the screen, you can use the scroll bar to view the others
To leave review and return to where you were in the test, click on Return to Where I Was
Number Description Status |
1 According to the information in paragraph 1, which of the Not answered
If you want to review a question from the test, click on the question to highlight
it, and then click on the phrase Go to Question You may scroll down to see other questions
Trang 12How To APPROACH THE PASSAGES AND QUESTIONS
You do not read a newspaper and a textbook in the same way How you read depends on what you are reading and why you are reading it When taking the Reading Section of the test, your purpose is simple It is not to enjoy or even understand the reading perfectly You don’t need to comprehend every word or every detail Your goal is simply to correctly answer as many questions as you possibly can
Here are the steps you should follow to get as many correct answers as possible: NICVAY
4 ey 1 First, look at the title and quickly scroll through the passage to get an idea of
what the passage is generally about Then quickly click through the questions You don’t have to read the answer choices at this time; just look at the questions and try to fix them in you mind
2 Now read the passage at a comfortable speed After you have read the first screen, scroll through the passage at a steady pace Word-by-word reading slows you down and interferes with your comprehension Try to read in units of thought, phrase by phrase rather than word by word
3 During your first reading, don’t worry about understanding or remembering details You can come back and look for that kind of information later if needed 4, Next, answer each question one by one If you believe you know the answer,
answer that question right away If you find the question difficult, skip the ques- tion for now You can later use the review feature to easily locate the questions that you skipped
Important: It’s better to leave difficult questions blank than to answer them imme- diately because the review feature only tells you if you answered the question or not It doesn't tell you that you had trouble with a question
When answering any multiple-choice question on the test (in the Reading and Listening sections), you should use the process of elimination to ensure that you make the best guess (See page xx for more information about using the process of elimination.)
FINDING INFORMATION IN THE PASSAGES
The highlighted words and paragraph markers make it easier for you to find the information you need for many questions
It will also help if you remember that most of the questions in each set follow the order of the passage The information needed to answer the first question will come somewhere near the beginning of the passage The answer for the next ques- tion will be found below that point in the passage For example, if question 1 is a vocabulary question about a word in paragraph 1, the answer for question 2 will be found lower down in paragraph 1 or in the next paragraph or two In general, you will be scrolling downward as you look for information to answer questions
Trang 13TIMING
The computer will highlight the word that is asked about Then let’s say that question 5 is a reference question Again the computer will highlight a word This tells us that the information you need to answer questions 3 and 4 will be found somewhere between the two words that are highlighted - Question 2 is about this highlighted word
Answers for Questions 3 and 4 are somewhere between the highlighted words Question 5 is about this highlighted word : -®=————
To answer some questions—especially complete-the-summary and complete-the- chart questions—you will have to search through the entire passage to find the information that you need
There are usually only three passages on the TOEFL iBT Each passage is from 600 to 700 words long If you read and work at an average speed, you should have no trouble finishing within the sixty-minute time limit (If there are more than three passages, you will have more time to work on them.)
There is a countdown clock on the screen that tells you how much time remains in which to finish this section There is also an indicator that tells you which question you are working on (17 of 39, for example) You can use these features to see if your timing is on target
Note: There is also an indicator at the top of the screen that tells you that you are working on the Reading Section—but you should already know that!
Trang 14Since there are three passages, you need to read each passage and answer the questions about them in a little less than twenty minutes (You need to leave your- self a little time at the end of this section to use the review feature to go back and answer questions that you skipped) When you take the Preview Test, see if you can comfortably finish the two passages in forty minutes If not, you need to work on increasing your speed
There is no penalty for incorrect guesses If you are taking the actual test and find that you are not able to complete this section in time, you need to make sure that you have answered every question even if you have to guess However, when possible, you should not guess blindly If you have only a short time remaining (less than five minutes), you should first answer any remaining vocabulary or reference questions because those go quickly Then you should quickly skim any part of the passages that you have not read and answer any other questions If you can't find the information that you need to answer the questions, choose the answer choice that seems most reasonable to you Only in the last minute or so should you guess blindly mg s a S a đe)
TAKING THE TEST ON THE COMPUTER
Only the simplest computer skills are needed for this part of the test: clicking and scrolling
Marking Answers
When you first begin the Reading Section, you will see directions Since you will already be familiar with the directions, you should immediately click on the Dismiss Directions button and begin the test
Trang 15This section tests your ability to comprehend academic reading passages It consists of three reading passages and a set of questions about each of them All of the questions are worth one point except for the last question in each set Special directions for the last ques- tion will tell you how many points it is worth
You have 60 minutes to complete this section of the test
In the passages, some words or phrases are underlined Definitions or explanations for these words are provided at the end of the passage On the actual test, these words will be underlined in blue and you can click on them to get the definition or explanation As soon as you have finished one question, you may move on to the next one (On the actual test, you click on Next to move to the next question.) You may skip questions and come back to them later, and you can change your answers if you wish (On the actual test, you click on Back to return to a previous
question.) ,
To answer a multiple-choice question, simply click on the oval of the choice that you want and the oval will turn black If you want to change your answer, click on the oval of another choice Or, if you want to leave that question blank for now, click on that question again and the oval will appear unmarked
Helpful tip: You don’t even need to click on an oval—you can click anywhere on the answer choice This is faster because the answer choice is a bigger target
To answer a sentence addition question, simply click on the black square where you think the sentence should be placed Clicking on the square again makes the sentence disappear; clicking another square moves it to that position
To answer a complete-the-summary or a complete-the-chart question, you click on the answer choice and then on the blank in the summary or chart where you want to put it Clicking a second time makes the choice disappear from the blank, and clicking another blank moves it there
Navigating through the Passage
Trang 16
Totem Poles
The Native Americans of Washington and ®
Oregon were not totem pole makers, but practically all the
tribes from Vancouver Island northward
practice their use š
The totem poles â
k P
made by the Tlinglit tribe of southern Alaska are particularly large and expressive
Huge and intriguing, :- ®
these carvings of animal and human figures have become the symbol of all Native American peoples of the north Pacific coast They serve as family coats of arms depicting the history and legends of the household These carvings were found in front of almost every house in a Tlinglit village Undeniably the works of great artisans, totem poles— made with only the simplest tools of stone, horn, and bone—were only the more notice- able evidence of the woodcarvers’ skills Practically all possessions—canoes, cooking boxes, house posts, masks, and figures—could be considered fine pieces of wood sculpture
There are a number of ways to move through the passage First, look at the scroll bar It is labeled A
> Ifyou click once on the up or down arrows (labeled B and C), the text will move up or down one line on the screen This may be the most convenient way to scroll when you are looking for specific information in a paragraph
> You can also click on an up or down arrow and hold it down As long as you hold down the arrow, the text will move quickly up or down
> Using your mouse, you can position your cursor (G) on the slider (D) and move through the passage as quickly or as slowly as you like by “pushing” the slider up or down with the cursor