Reading Section Tip: Scanning for Information
One of the skills you will be tested on in the Reading section is reading to find information. This
skill is tested using questions that require you to identify factual information that is explicitly
stated in the text.
Sometimes you can remember the facts from the passage well enough to answer these types
of questions. But often you will need to review the passage again, and you won’t have time to
read the whole thing. That’s when your ability to scan the text for key facts and other
important information will be useful.
Scanning is when we read only until we find the information we are looking for. It’s a
technique we use every day, such as when we look up a telephone number, or a word in the
dictionary. On the TOEFL® test, you may need to scan information to check the meaning of a
word, or find a particular fact in the reading passage. Scanning will help you to locate the
information you need quickly, and devote more time to the question and answer choices.
Here are a few quick tips to practice scanning for information:
• Scan passages to find and highlight key facts (such as dates or names) and information.
• Look for capital letters, numbers and symbols, and special formatting (such as bolded
words or italics) as you scan
• To prepare for the TOEFL® Reading questions, practice scanning academic materials
that cover a variety of subject areas.Remember to practice scanning regularly to increase your
reading rate and fluency.
Tip 1: You may need to refer back to the passage in order to know what exactly is said about
the subject of the question. Since the question may be about detail, you may not recall the
information from your first reading of the passage.
Tip 2: Eliminate choices that present information that is contradicted in the passage.
Tip 3: Do not select an answer just because it is mentioned in the passage. Your choice should
answer the specific question that was asked.
Tips Negative factual information questions
Tip 1: Usually a negative factual information question requires you to check more of the
passage than a factual information question. The three choices that are mentioned in the
passage may be spread across a paragraph or several paragraphs.
Tip 2: In these types of questions, the correct answer either directly contradicts one or more
statements in the passage or is not mentioned in the passage at all.
Focus on Reading Skills: Vocabulary and Text Organization
When it comes to preparing for the Reading section of the TOEFL® test, engaging in activities
to improve specific skills can be helpful. Two areas that are important to work on for test day
are your vocabulary skills and your understanding of how academic texts are organized.
Increasing your vocabulary
The more words you know in English, the better prepared you’ll be for the Reading section.
That’s because expanding your vocabulary increases your ability to understand reading
passages. Keeping a journal of new words as you learn them is a good idea. Here are some tips:
• Put the words in groups by academic subject areas, such as geology, biology and
history
• Create flash cards with the new vocabulary words
• Review these words frequently to keep them fresh in your memory
• Start recognizing the meanings of prefixes, suffixes and common roots of these words
Studying how academic texts are organized
In order to understand the meaning of what you are reading, it is important to understand
how the text is organized. Seeing how sentences are related to one another can help you
comprehend the text and allow you to answer questions about it more effectively on test day.
Try out these tips for figuring out how texts are organized:
• Make a list of the main points and supporting details
• Think about how these ideas are related to one another
• Pay attention to how the end of one sentence relates to the beginning of the next
sentence
• Write a summary of the passage (if the text is comparing or arguing two points of view,
be sure to mention both in your summary)
Focusing on learning new words and knowing how academic texts are organized will help you
improve your comprehension skills. These skills are important for the Reading section of the
test, and for lots of other things that you will be reading in English.
