EQuest Academy Joint Stock Company Add: 44 Hang Chao, Dongda, Hanoi Tel: 84-4-823 6151 Fax: 84-4-823 6151
Introduction to ®
toefl iBT Reading Section
EQA INSTRUCTOR Nguyen Thi Hong Hoa Email:
[email protected] Mobile phone: 0904 308 639
BEFORE WE START Fill in the blank below
Today a________, tomorrow a leader - Margaret Fuller
OVERVIEW Length of Each Passage Approximately _____ words
Number of Passages and Questions • From _____ to _____ passages • From _____ to _____ questions per passage
Timing
From _____ to _____ minutes
1. The Language 2. The Questions 3. General strategies
The language • Read the 3 following passages. • Determine which one is TOEFL-level language
Roger Rosenblatt’s book Black Fiction, in attempt to apply literary rather than sociopolitical criteria to its subject, successfully alters the approach taken by most previous studies. As Rosenblatt notes, criticism of black writing has often served as a pretext for expounding on Black history. Addison Galye’s recent work, for example, judges the value of Black fictions by overtly political standards, rating each work according to the notions of Black identity which it propounds.
After a few agonizing minutes of indecision I decided to abandon the car and take a taxi. But even the taxi took ages to get there because there was a terrible traffic jam. I eventually arrived, ten minutes late, hot, sweaty and really stressed. When I walked into the manager’s office, the first thing she asked me was, ‘Did you have a good journey?’ ‘Oh, yes,’ I said, ‘It was fine.’ But at least the story has a happy ending because I got the job!
The response of most animals when suddenly faced with a predator is to flee. Natural selection has acted in a variety of ways in different species to enhance the efficacy of the behaviors, known as "flight behaviors" or escape behaviors that are used by prey in fleeing predators: Perhaps the most direct adaptation is enhanced flight speed and agility. Adaptations for speed, however, are likely to require sacrifices biter attributes, so we might expect only some species to adopt a simple fast flight strategy. Another way of enhancing the effectiveness of flight is to move in an erratic and unpredictable way. Many species, like ptarmigans, snipes, and various antelopes and gazelles, flee from predators in a characteristic zigzag fashion.
1. The Language 2. The Questions 3. General strategies
1. Factual Information Qs
3-6 Qs/set
2. Negative Factual Information 0-2 Qs/set Qs 3. Inference Qs
0-2 Qs/set
4. Rhetorical Purpose Qs
0-2 Qs/set
5. Vocabulary Qs
3-5 Qs/set
6. Reference Qs
0-2 Qs/set
7. Sentence Simplification Qs
0-1 Qs/set
8. Insert Text Qs
0-1 Qs/set
9. Prose Summary
1 Q/set
10. Fill in a table
1 Q/set
1. The Language 2. The Questions 3. General strategies
GENERAL STRATEGIES • Learn how to read ACTIVELY – 1PLUS – 1 – 1 – 1 – To find the main idea – To find the structure of the passage
• Deal with difficult vocabulary – By learning TOEFL words – By guessing from the contexts – By looking for explanation/examples in the passage – By ignoring unnecessary new words
GENERAL STRATEGIES • Deal with difficult grammar structures – By identifying main components of the sentence – By ignoring unnecessary parts
• Deal with different types of questions and the way ETS design them – Multiple-choice – Wrong answers always look very tempting – Verbatim answers look correct, but usually are wrong
• Improve your vocabulary by learning flashcards • Improve your reading speed and accuracy by PRACTICE – Official Guide – Longman – North Star Intermediate, High Intermediate, Advanced – Delta’s Key – Barron
practice • Dreaming and REM Sleep • 20 minutes
homework • Finish the exercises in the handout – Vocabulary and Reference Questions – Practice Set: The Rise of Marketing – Theme: Plants
• Learn the new words (flashcards)
Official Guide
• • • • •
Designed by ETS General Quite easy Good to start with 01 audio CD
Cracking the TOEFL • Excellent strategies for all sections • Written from the perspective of the test designer • Easy to understand • Excellent templates for Speaking and Writing sections • Quite few exercises • 01 audio CD
Longman • Good overview of each section • Appropriate strategies • A large number of skillbased exercises • 08 Mini-tests and 02 complete tests • Easy level, suitable to practice right after understanding the general format of the test • 08 audio CDs • 01 CD-ROM for sample
Delta Key • Appropriate strategies • A lot of practice exercises, also skill-based (similar to Longman) but more challenging • A lot of practice tests • 10 audio CDs • Pdf version available
Cambridge • Study plan instruction • Study strategies & academic strategies • Skill-based exercises • 2 Practice Tests in book • 7 Practice Tests in CD-ROM
Barron • Clarify academic skills that ETS want to test • 07 model tests with explanations, esp. speaking and writing samples • Very difficult, suitable after all other iBT books have been studied • Particularly challenging listening passages compared with Longman or Delta Key • 10 audio CDs
Kaplan • • • •
theme-based few strategies Challenging tests 01 audio CD, 01 CD-ROM for iBT tests • Available for purchase near the FTU
North Star • 2 levels: Intermediate and High Intermediate • Theme-based • ETS practice tests • Quite easy, suitable for beginners • 04 audio CDs
The Michigan Guide • 300 words for the TOEFL iBT • Best for teachers’ reference
Over 20 more books are coming, including:
Along with more than 50 audio CDs and CD-ROMS
TOEFL iBT Tests • Purchased directly from the United States
How to access these materials?
• EQuest has a library with all its materials accessible – 30,000 a year – A 3x4 photo – Equest Office
• Bookstores: 40B or 80B Ba Trieu Str.
E-materials
• www.ets.org/toefl • http:// petrusky.net/dhvn/tlieu/DeltaKeyTOEFLiBT.pd • http://www.free-english.com/TOEFL-iBT-pract
