10 TOEFL Reading Tips and Strategies to Improve Your Score

TOEFL is undoubtedly the most popular English proficiency exam taken up by international students, which is accepted by almost every university abroad. It consists of 4 components: Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing, to test your skills of the language. In this article, we will discuss in detail about the top 10 TOEFL reading tips and strategies to improve your score.

The TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) Reading section is a crucial component of the exam that assesses your ability to understand and analyze written academic texts. The TOEFL Reading section is an important part of the TOEFL exam, which measures your ability to understand and analyze written English. For many students, especially those from India, this section can be challenging due to the complex vocabulary and academic style of the passages. However, with the right tips and strategies, you can improve your reading skills and boost your score.

There are two ways to prepare for the TOEFL iBT test. Either you can go for self-study or join a coaching centre for preparing for the TOEFL test. Even with self-study, aspirants can get good TOEFL Scores and get the desired result. The TOEFL Reading section can have 3-4 passages, each having 12-14 questions. The TOEFL Reading Section comprises a total of 36-56 questions. You need to answer these questions in 60-80 minutes.

The Reading section of the TOEFL test measures the ability of the candidates whether they understand university-level academic texts and passages. First things first, you should know when to start preparing for the TOEFL or IELTS? In this article, we will inform you about the tips and strategies for preparing for the TOEFL Reading section.

Understanding the TOEFL Reading Section

Before diving into strategies, it’s important to understand the structure of the TOEFL Reading section. Typically, this section includes:

• 3 to 4 passages: Each passage is approximately 700 words long.
• 36 to 56 questions: These questions test various skills, including comprehension, vocabulary, and the ability to identify main ideas and details.

You will have 60 to 80 minutes to complete this section, depending on the number of passages. Effective time management is key.

TOEFL Reading Tips: Key Strategies for Success

1. Skimming and Scanning Techniques

• Skimming: Quickly read the first sentence of each paragraph and the last sentence of the introduction and conclusion. This helps you grasp the main idea and structure without getting bogged down in details.
• Scanning: After skimming, look for specific information related to the questions. This technique allows you to locate answers quickly without reading every word.

2. Active Reading

Engage with the text as you read. Take notes or highlight key points, which helps retain information better. Ask yourself questions about the content and try to summarize paragraphs in your own words.

3. Familiarize Yourself with Question Types

Understanding the types of questions you may encounter can significantly enhance your preparation. Common question types include:

• Main idea questions
• Detail questions
• Vocabulary questions
• Inference questions

Familiarizing yourself with these types will help you know what to look for in the passages.

4. Time Management Skills

With only a limited time for each passage, managing your time effectively is crucial:

• Aim to spend about 8 minutes per passage, leaving enough time (around 48 minutes) for answering questions.
• If a question takes too long, skip it and return later if time permits.

5. Focus on Keywords

As you read, pay attention to keywords that indicate important concepts or transitions (e.g., however, therefore, in addition). These words can help you understand relationships between ideas and locate answers more efficiently.

6. Practice Regularly

Regular practice is essential for improving reading speed and comprehension:

• Read academic texts from various fields (science, humanities, etc.) to get accustomed to different writing styles.
• Use TOEFL practice materials that mimic real test conditions.

7. Guess Meaning from Context

When encountering unfamiliar words, try to infer their meanings based on surrounding sentences or context clues. This skill can be particularly useful for vocabulary questions.

8. Review Your Mistakes

After practicing with sample tests or exercises, review any mistakes you made:

• Analyze why you got an answer wrong.
• Understand the correct answer and how it relates to the passage.

This reflection helps reinforce learning and improves future performance.

Important points to keep in mind:

• Understand the types of questions in the TOEFL Reading section.
• Read regularly university textbooks or other materials that cover a variety of subject areas (e.g., sciences, social sciences, arts, business, etc.) and are written in an academic style. A wide variety of academic texts are available on the Internet as well as in magazines and journals.
• Practice scanning the passage quickly to get a general impression of the main idea rather than reading each word and each sentence.
• After scanning the passage, read it again carefully and note the main idea of the passage along with the important facts.
• Go through all the four options of the answers carefully. Even if you find the first option suitable, make sure to read all the remaining options as well. These questions are tricky, so make sure to read all the options and then select the best one.
• Practice continuously to increase reading rate, fluency and speed.
• Choose some unfamiliar words in the passage and guess the meaning from the context (surrounding sentences). Then, look them up to determine their meaning.
• Underline all pronouns (e.g., he, him, they, them, etc.) and identify the nouns to which they refer in the passage.
• Practice making inferences and drawing conclusions based on what is implied in the passage as a whole.
• Identify the passage type (e.g., classification, cause/effect, compare/contrast, problem/solution, description, narration, etc.) and its organization.
• Create an outline of the passage to distinguish between major and minor points.
• Create an oral or written summary of the passage using the charts and outlines.
• Paraphrase individual sentences in a passage. Then, paraphrase entire paragraphs.
• Keep an eye on your speed. Try to spend around 20 minutes on a passage, so you can spend a little more than one minute on every question and also have some time, in the end, to go back revise your answers.

Note: According to ETS, TOEFL’s Reading section can best be prepared by improving your vocabulary. You can refine your English-language reading skills by reading different kinds of materials available to read like newspapers, magazines, books and online.

You can also check out:

• Best Books and Resources for TOEFL
• Important Tips for TOEFL
• TOEFL Practice Test
• TOEFL Preparation Tips