TOEFL Practical Guide · Reading Section: Reading Section

Author: Wang Yifeng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: Walking together through wind and rain. Companionship that accompanies the days and nights we have spent is an indelible youth memorial in our lives! The reading topics in TOEFL, roughly speaking, can be divided into 10 types, almost encompassing everything. Each article has 350–400 words, with an average of 10 questions per article, and a total of 5 articles to be completed within 55 minutes. This places high demands on students' vocabulary, common knowledge, and reading speed. From the perspective of TOEFL review and preparation, the main problems that candidates are:
1. Insufficient vocabulary volume There is no doubt that vocabulary volume is the greatest obstacle limiting reading comprehension. If one in five words in a sentence, especially in the first paragraph of an article, is unfamiliar, even if these words do not significantly affect the understanding of the article, they can greatly impact the candidate's mindset, leading to fear and boredom, and thus preventing them from focusing on continuing to read.
2. Low reading speed Many candidates do not accumulate enough reading material, and during the exam, due to nervousness and the fear of losing points, they hesitate to miss any information, which easily makes their already slow reading speed even slower. In fact, reading English articles has certain techniques and patterns. How to discard non-essential information or how to identify relevant information corresponding to the examination points is very important.
3. Lack of common knowledge The reading topics in TOEFL are vast, and typically, 5 articles will touch upon history, science, biology, humanities, and other subjects. During the tense 55-minute reading and answering process, candidates often feel overwhelmed and confused, especially by the last article, to the point of not knowing what to read.
For the above three weak points, corresponding countermeasures can still be found during review and preparation.