The Princeton Review Cracking the * 2009 Edition from the test-prep experts (/// Strategies for improving your score on all sections of the test New chapter to help you practice your speaking, including sample responses Audio exercises on CD to hone your listening skills Summaries for all Core Concepts Tips on organizing and focusing your writing Additional grammar review to. [0 brush up on your basics More than 175 practice questions, plus 1 full-length simulated TOEFL iBT with aidio sections on CD Pierce and Sean Kinsell Updated by Vanessa CoggshallThe (Princeton Review Cracking the TOEFL iBT Douglas Pierce and Sean Kinsell Updated by Vanessa Coggshall PrincetonReview.com abi Random House, Inc. New YorkThe Independent Education Consultants Association recognizes The Princeton Review as a valuable resource for high school and college students applying to college and graduate schoo! The Princeton Review, nc 2318 Broadway New York, NY 10024 Email editoralsuppor@review.com Copyright © 2008 by Princeton Review, Inc Al rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House, Inc "New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. ISBN: 978-0-375-42855-5 ISSN: 1941-2029 Ector Rebecca Lessem Produetion sit: Heather Brady Production Coordinator: Mary Kinzl TOEFLO is a registered trademark f Educational Testing Service, which ‘does not endorse this book woe76s4a324 2009 tition Jolin Katzman, Chaitman, Founder Michael J. Prk, President, CEO Stephen Richards, C00, CFO John Marshall, President, Test Preparation Services Rob Franek, VP Test Prep Books, Publisher Editorial Seamus Mulackey, Editorial Director Rebecca Lessem, Editor Selena Coppock, Editor Heather Brady, Editor Production Services Scott Haris, Executive Director, Production Senvices ‘Suzanne Barker, Director, Production Services| Kim Howie, Senior Graphic Designer Production Editorial ‘Meave Shelton, Production Editor Research & Development cia MeCioskey, Managing Editor Caroll, Agent for National Content Directors Briana Gordon, Senior Project Editor Liz Ruze, Project itor Random House Publishi Tom Russell, Publisher Nicole Benhabib, Publishing Manager Ellen. Reed, Production Manager ‘Alison Skrabok, Associate Managing Editor Elham Shabeahat, Publishing Assistant TeamPart |: Orientation Part Il: Core Concepts Contents Introduction... Welcome! ... What Is the TOEFL?.. What Is The Princeton Review? What's in This Book ...... What's Notin This Book. How to Use This Book...... Can | Really Improve My Score? Taking the TOEFL iBT Core Concept: Reading Reading on the TOEFL. Step 1: Find the Purpose... Step 2: Understand the Structure Step 3: State the Main Idea. Dealing with Difficult Passages Core Concept: Listening . Listening on the TOEFL Challenges in the Listening Section Taking Notes... Active Listening... Core Concept: Speaking . Scoring for the Speaking Section Port 1: Stating Your Purpose... Part 2: Organizing Your Ideas.. Putting it All Together. Wrapping Things Up: The Conclusior Core Concept: Writing... Scoring for the Writing Section Part 1: Expressing Your Purpost Part 2: Organizing Your dea Part 3: Using Examples Concluding Your Response... Grammar Review... 101 102 103 104 104 113 "4 15 ng 125 128 133, 134 135 11 148. 162 1666 Cracking the Reading Section Cracking the Reading Section: Basic Principles Cracking the Reading Section: Basic Approach Putting It all Together... 7 Reading Practice Drills Reading Drill #1 Reading Dril #2... Reading Drill #3, Reading Drill #4 8 Reading Practice Answers and Explanations Reading Drill #1 Reading Drill #2 Reading Drill #3 Reading Drill #4 9 Cracking the Listening Section Listening Directions.. Cracking the Listening Section: Basic Principles... Cracking the Listening Section: Basic Approach 10 Listening Practice Drills . Drill #1: A Conversation. Drill #2: A Conversation .. Drill #3: A Lecture. Drill #4: A Lecture. Drill #5: A Lecture 11_Listening Practice Answers and Explanations .. Drill #1: A Conversation Drill #2: A Conversation Drill #3: A Lecture... Drill #4: A Lecture... Drill #5: A Lecture... Contents m 174 7 185 21 222 226 231 236 aM 202 246 252 258 263 265 265 m2 293 294 299 301 306 310 315 316 319 322 326 330 Part Ill: Cracking Each Section of the TOEFL12 13 4 5 16 W Cracking the Speaking Section How the Speaking Section Is Scored .. Speaking Section Directions Cracking the Speaking Section: Basic Principles... Cracking the Speaking Section: Basic Approach... Speaking Practice Drills. 1. Personal Preference Question (Template #1). 2. Choose an Option Question (Template #2) 3. Summarize an Opinion Question (Template #3) 4, Summarize/Contrast Question (Template #4), 5. Summarize/Preference Question (Template #5) .. 8, Summarize Question (Template #6). Speaking Practice Answers and Explanations . 1. Personal Preference Question (Template #1). 2. Choose an Option Question (Template #2) 3, Summarize an Opinion Question (Template #3) 4. Summarize/Contrast Question (Template #4).... 5, Summarize/Preference Question (Template #5) 6. Summarize Question (Template #6) . Cracking the Writing Section. How the Writing Section Is Score Writing Section Directions... Cracking the Writing Section: Basic Principles... Cracking the Writing Section: Basic Approach. Writing Practice Drills. Writing Practice Drill 1. Writing Practice Drill #2... Writing Practice Drill #3, Writing Practice Drill # Writing Practice Drill #5. Writing Answers and Explanations Writing Practice Drill #1 335 336 337 338 351 m1 373 374 375 378 381 384 387 388 388 389 390 392 394 397 398 398 399 401 a3, m4 420 423 426 429 433, 434 Contents viiWriting Practice Drill #2... Writing Practice Drill #3, Writing Practice Dril #4 Writing Practice Dril #5... 18 The Princeton Review TOEFL iBT Practice Test. The Reading Section The Listening Section... The Speaking Section. The Writing Section... 19 Answer Key.. 20. Answers and Explanations .. The Reading Section The Listening Section . The Speaking Section: Sample Responses... The Writing Section: Sample Responses wit | Contents 437 433 agi 443 451 452 500 535 547 555 559 560 sn 586 592 Part lV Taking a Practice TestPart I Orientation 1 Introduction Sam ho FO FS ES ry ee — sey % eS wee a ae oeChapter 1 Introduction4 | Cracking the TOERL iBT WELCOME! Welcome to The Princeton Review's thorough test preparation guide for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). In this book, you will find everything you need to prepare for the TOEFL— information on the test format, test-taking strategies, drills, and, of course, a full-length practice exam. Part I of this book gives a brief outline on how the test is organized. Part II helps you familiarize yourself with the basic concepts tested on the TOEFL. Part III presents you with strategies and tips for the questions and tasks on the test. Part TV provides you with a full-length practice exam with answers and explanations. WHAT IS THE TOEFL? “The TOEFL is a test that assesses your proficiency in the type of English used in an academic environment. The test is administered on the Internet, which we'll explain in more detail on page 6. “The exam takes about four hours to complete and integrates four essential skills— reading, listening, writing, and speaking, This means that any given question ot task may require you to use one or more of these skills. For example, before at- tempting a writing task on the TOEFL, you may have to first read a passage and listen to a lecture on the topic. Fortunately, the TOEFL is not as daunting as it may seem because it rests each of the four skills in a fairly specific way. By working through this book in its entirety, you'll become comfortable with the type of writing, speaking, reading, and listen- ing skills that are required to get a good score on the exam. The Structure of the Test “The TOEFL is broken down into four distinct sections, one each for the skills listed. However, each section may require you to use more than one of the above four skills The structure of the tes is a followsOne Reading section, consisting of three to five passages that are roughly 550 to 700 words each. Each passage will be fol- lowed by 12 to 14 multiple-choice questions about the content of the passage. Most of these questions will be worth one point each, though a few toward the end of the section may be worth more. You will have 60 to 100 minutes to complete the entire section. One Listening section, consisting of six to nine audio selec- tions, each of which are three to five minutes long. The selec- tions will be either academic lectures or casual conversations. After each selection, there will be five to six multiple-choice questions about the content of the lecture of conversation. You will have 60 to 90 minutes to complete the entire section. ‘One Speaking section, consisting of approximately six speak- ing tasks. Most speaking tasks will also require some listening, and some reading. You will have to speak for 45 or 60 seconds, depending on the task, and you will have 20 minutes to com- plete the entire section. One Writing section, consisting of two writing assignments. As with the speaking section, the writing section also requires listening and reading. You will have 50 minutes to complete the entire section. How the Test Is Scored After finishing the TOEFL, you will receive a score from 0 to 30 for each of the four sections. You will also receive a total score on a 0 to 120 scale. Each score corresponds to a percentile ranking. This number shows how your score compares with the scores of other test takers. For example, a total score of 100 would put you in the 89th percentile, meaning that you scored higher than 89 out of 100 test takers, whereas a score of 50 would put you in the 26th percentile, The average TOEFL score is around 68. Notice that the 0 to 30 scores are scaled scores, meaning that the 0 to 30 number doesn't represent how many questions you answered correctly or how many points your essay was awarded. For example, the Reading and Listening sections each con- tain roughly 40 questions. You will get a point for each correct answer and a penalty for each incorrect answer. At the end of the section, your raw score, which represents how many points you've carned, is allied and converted to a number on the 0 to 30 scale. “The Writing and Speaking sections are scored somewhat differently. Each writing sample receives a score between 0 and 5. These raw scores are then converted to the 0 to 30 scale. Similarly, each speaking task receives a score from 0 to 4, ‘The scores from all six speaking tasks are averaged and converted to the 0 to 30 scale To find the right college for You, regist Review.com! at Princeton Introduction6 | Cracking the TOEFLiBT How Are the Scores Used? Colleges and universities will look at your TOEFL score when considering your application. Of course, your TOEFL score is not the only factor that affects your chance of admission. Colleges and universities also look at your academic perfor- mance, letters of recommendation, application essays, and scores on other stan- dardized tests. Although a high TOEFL score will not guarantee admission to a particular program, a low test score could jeopardize your chances. Some schools and programs may require students with TOEFL scores below a certain cutoff score to take supplemental English classes. Others may only accept applicants who score better than a particular cutoff score. Make sure you check with the programs to which you are applying for specific information. The Computer-Based Format Used for Internet-Based Testing (iBT) ‘The TOEFL is a computer-based test that is delivered to testing centers via the Internet. Therefore, the TOEFL can be offered at locations throughout the world. “The test is administered by Educational ‘esting Service (ETS), the same testing organization that administers the GRE, SAT, and other standardized tests. Ac- cording to ETS, Internet-based testing (iBT) allows ETS co capture speech and score responses in a standardized and fair manner. It also makes it possible for them to greatly expand access to test centers, “The iBT format will be new to the untrained eye and may be intimidating, espe- cially if you have never taken a test on a computer. A brief tutorial is offered at the beginning of the TOEFL to allow you time to familiarize yourself with the format. Still, the iBT presents some challenges. For example, when working on a reading passage, you will see something like this:oat The Exoskeleton of the Arthropod There are more arthropods alive on Earth than there are members of any other phylum of animals. Given that not only insects and spiders but also shrimp, crabs, centipedes, and their numerous relatives are arthropods, this fact should not occasion surprise. For all their diversity, arthropods of any type share two defining characteristics: jointed legs (from which the phylum takes its name) and an exoskeleton (the recognizable hard outer shell) Though the shell itself is made of dead tissue like that of human hair and fingernails, it is dotted with sensory cells. These give the arthropod information about its surroundings, much as the nerve endings in human skin do. Also like human skin, the shell protects fragile internal ‘organs from potentially hazardous contact with the environment. It seals in precious moisture that would otherwise evaporate but permits the exchange of gases. Its primary component is chitin, a natural polymer that contains calcium and is very similar in structure to the cellulose in wood. Chitin and proteins are secreted in the epidermis, the living tissue just below the shell, after which they bond to form a thin sheet. Each new sheet is produced 0 that its chitin fibers are not parallel with those directly above, which increases their combined strength The result is the endocuticle, a mesh of molecules that forms the lowest layer of the shell. The endocuticle is not quite tough ‘enough for daily wear and tear. Over time, however, its molecules continue to lock together. As the endocuticle is pushed upward by the formation of new sheets by invoducion | 7ty the epidermis, it becomes the middle shell layer called the exocuticle. With its molecules bonded so tightly, the exocuticle is very durable. There are points on the body where it does not form, since flexibility is needed around joints, This arrangement allows supple movement but provides armor-like protection. Though strong, the chitin and protein exocuticle itself would provide a poor barrier against moisture loss. Therefore, it must be coated with lipids, which are also secreted by the epidermis. These lipids, mostly fatty acids and waxes, form the third, outermost layer of the shell. They spread over the cuticles to form a waterproof seal even in dry weather. This lipid layer gives many arthropods their distinctive luster Combined, the endocuticle, exocuticle, and lipid coating form a shell that provides formidable protection. The external shell has other advantages. One is that, because it has far more surface area than the internal skeleton found in vertebrates, it provides more points at which muscles can be attached. This increased number of muscles permits many arthropods to be stronger and more agile for their body size than birds or mammals. The coloration and markings of the exoskeleton can be beneficial as well Many species of scorpion, for instance, have cuticles that contain hyaline. The hyaline is excited by ultraviolet radiation, so these scorpions glow blue-green when a black light is flashed on them. Scientists are not sure why scorpions have evolved to fluoresce this way, but the reason may be that their glow attracts insects that they can capture and eat. Adaptive as their shells, it leaves arthropods with at least one distinct disadvantage: The 8 | Cracking the TOEFL iBTcuticle cannot expand to accommodate growth. As the animal increases in size, therefore, it must occasionally molt. The existing cuticle separates from newer, more flexible layers being secreted beneath it, gradually splits open, and can be shaken or slipped off. The new chitin and protein will harden and be provided with a fresh lipid coating, but this process can take hours or days after molting occurs. The arthropod must first take in extra air or water to swell its body to greater than its normal size. After the shell has hardened in its expanded form, the arthropod expels the air or water. It then has room for growth. But until it hardens, the new coat is tender and easily penetrated. Accordingly, the arthropod must remain in hiding. Otherwise, it risks being snapped up by a predator clever enough to take advantage of its lowered defenses.