TOEFL STRATEGIES
Strategies for the Listening Part A questions: 1. As you listen listen to each each conversa conversatio tion, n, focus focus on the the second second line of the conversation. The answer to the question is generally found in the second line. 2. Kee in in !ind that that the correct correct answer answer is ro"a"ly ro"a"ly a restate restate!ent !ent #a new new or different way to say so!ething$ of a %ey word or idea in the second line of the conversation conversation.. &hile listening listening to the second sea%er, thin% of ossi"le restate!ents. '. Kee Kee in !ind !ind that that cert certai ain n stru struct ctur ures es and and e(r e(res essi sion onss are are test tested ed regu regula larl rly y in List Listen enin ing g Part Part A. List Listen en for for thes thesee stru struct ctur ures es and and e(ressions: Structures: assives, negatives, wishes and conditions. • )unctional )unctional e(ression e(ressions: s: agree!ent, agree!ent, uncertain uncertainty, ty, suggestion suggestion and • surrise. *dio!atic e(ressions: hrasal ver"s and idio!s. • +. Kee Kee in !ind !ind that that these questi questions ons genera generally lly rogre rogress ss fro! easy to difficult. This !eans that questions 1 - will "e the easiest, and questions '/- will "e the hardest ones. -. 0ven if you do do not understan understand d the co!lete co!lete convers conversation ation,, you can still still find the correct answer: •
•
•
if you understood a few words or ideas in the second line, choose the answer that contains a restate!ent of those words or ideas. if you did not understand anything at all in the second line of the conversation, choose the answer that sounds !ost different fro! what you heard. never choose an answer "ecause it sounds li%e what you heard in the conversation.
. se any re!aini re!aining ng ti!e to loo% loo% ahead ahead at the answers answers to the the questions questions that follow.
Strategies for the Listening Parts 345 questions: 1. *f you have ti!e, try to review the answers to the Listening Part 3 and 5 questions. &hile you are loo%ing at the answers, you should try to do the following: a. anticiate the toics of the conversations or tal%s you will hear. ". anticiate the questions for each of the grous of answers. 2. Listen carefully to the first line of the conversation or tal%. The first line often contains the !ain idea, su"6ect, or toic of the conversation or tal%, and you will often "e as%ed to answer such questions. '. As you listen to the conversation or tal%, draw conclusions a"out the situation of the conversation or tal%: a. who is tal%ing. ". where the conversation or tal% ta%es lace. c. when it ta%es lace. 7ou will often "e as%ed to !a%e such inferences a"out the conversation or tal%. +. As you listen to the conversation or tal%, follow along with the answers in your test "oo% and try to deter!ine the correct answers. 8etail questions are generally answered in order in the conversation or tal%, and the answers often sound the sa!e as what is said on the recording. -. se any re!aining ti!e to loo% ahead at the answers to the questions that follow. . Kee in !ind that the directions on the T90)L test are the sa!e, so it is not necessary to listen carefully to the! each ti!e. 7ou should "e co!letely fa!iliar with the directions "efore the day of the test. Strategies for the Structure questions: 1. )irst, study the sentence. 7our urose is to deter!ine what is needed to co!lete the sentence correctly.
2. Then, study each answer "ased on how well it co!letes the sentence. 0li!inate answers that do not co!lete the sentence correctly. '. 8o not try to eli!inate incorrect answers "y loo%ing only at the answers. The incorrect answers are generally correct "y the!selves. The incorrect answers are generally incorrect only when used to co!lete the sentence. +. 8o not send too !uch ti!e on the Structure questions.
Strategies for the &ritten 0(ression questions: 1. )irst, loo% at the underlined word or grous of words. 7ou want to see if you can sot which of the four answer choices is not correct. 2. *f you have "een una"le to find the error "y loo%ing only at the four underlined e(ressions, then read the co!lete sentence. 9ften an underlined e(ression is incorrect "ecause of so!ething in another art of the sentence. Strategies for the eading 5o!rehension questions: 1. S%i! #read quic%ly$ the reading assage to deter!ine the !ain idea and the overall organi;ation of ideas in the assage. 7ou do not need to understand every detail in each assage to answer the questions correctly. *t is therefore a waste of ti!e to read the assage with the intent of understanding every single detail "efore you try to answer the questions. 2. Loo% ahead at the questions to deter!ine what tyes of questions you !ust answer. 0ach tye of question is answered in a different way. '. )ind the section of the assage that deals with each question. The question/tye tells you e(actly where to loo% in the assage to find correct answers: •
for !ain idea questions, loo% at the first line of each aragrah.
•
•
•
for detail questions, choose a %ey word in the question, and s%i! for that %ey word #or related idea$ in order in the assage. for voca"ulary questions, the question will tell you where the word is located in the assage. for overall review questions, the answers are found anywhere in the assage.
+. ead the art of the assage that contains the answer carefully. The answer will ro"a"ly "e in the sa!e sentence #or one sentence "efore or after$ the %ey word or idea. -. 5hoose the "est answer to the question according to what is given in the aroriate section of the assage and eli!inate definitely wrong answers. . 8o not send too !uch ti!e reading the assages. 7ou do not have ti!e to read each assage in deth, and it is quite ossi"le to answer the questions correctly without first reading the assages in deth. So!e students refer to send a !inute or two on each assage reading for the !ain idea "efore starting the questions. 9ther students refer to !ove directly to the questions without reading the assages first. <. 8o not worry if a reading assage is on a toic that you are unfa!iliar with. All of the infor!ation that you need to answer the questions is included in the assages. 7ou do not need any "ac%ground %nowledge to answer the questions.
