2019-07-16 TOEFL: overview

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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After August 1, the TOEFL will change a little.
1 Reading
	same: 3 or 4 passages, same question types
	different: 10 questions per passage, 54-72 minutes total (instead of 60-80)
2 Listening
	same: 5 questions about each conversation, 6 about each lecture or discussion
	different: 3-4 lectures (instead of 4-6)
3 Speaking
	same: questions 2, 3, 4, 6
	different: no questions 1 or 5, question 2 might be more complex
4 Writing - everything is the same
https://www.ets.org/toefl/better_test_experience
https://www.toeflresources.com/changes-to-the-toefl-in-2018-and-2019
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p. 406-407 - Sample questions about a reading passage.
- At most, briefly skim the passage to get the main topic of each paragraph before you start answering questions.
404-405 - paragraph topics
1 placebo effect definition
2 dramatic example
3 results
4 research on other diseases
5 neuroscientists
6 neuroscientific evidence
- This can help you look for answers to specific questions, and it can help you with the summary question at the end.
1 fact question (5, 10)
2 vocabulary (8, 12)
3 negative fact (3 groups of the study are b, d, and a, so the answer is c)
4 inference (7)
6 sentence insertion
9 purpose
11 reference
13 summary
- paraphrase (number 20 on p. 414)
- organization/categories (“schematic framework”) (number 24 on p. 415)
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Cambridge exercise R15 - Mark all the correct inferences that can be made from each sentence. (Which answer choices must be true, based on the sentence?)
1 C
2 B D
3 B D
4 A B
5 B C
6 B D
7 A C
8 B
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BREAK
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purpose questions
p. 336-338 has a summary of how to answer purpose questions
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p. 346
question 3 - Can you answer without reading more than a few sentences of the passage?
question 7
p. 354
question 4 - With the relationship between paragraphs, I’d suggest reading all the answer choices first, and then checking the first and last sentences of the paragraphs to see which answer choice makes sense.
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TED talks and TED-Ed videos are good for practicing listening as well as learning a bit about a wide variety of topics.
https://ed.ted.com/
https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-secret-language-of-trees-camille-defrenne-and-suzanne-simard#review
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https://www.etymonline.com/
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Writing Section - two tasks, 20+30 minutes of writing time
1 integrated: read a short article, listen to a lecture on the same topic, write about how the points from the lecture relate to the reading
2 indepentent: read a choice question (agree/disagree, preference, multiple choice), write and support your opinion about it
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The independent response can be a basic five-paragraph essay:
1 Introduction
2-4 Body (one main reason per paragraph)
5 Conclusion
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Time management:
- 3-5 minutes prewriting (brainstorm, choose, outline)
- thesis statement
- 5 minutes per body paragraph (or 7 if you have two) - force yourself to start the next one even if you’re not finished yet
- conclusion statement
- then go back and finish your ideas, fill out the intro and conclusion, make corrections
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The body paragraph has three jobs:
- state the reason
- show that the reason is true
- show that the reason supports your thesis
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Integrated Writing
- 3 minutes to read: note the main idea and three supporting points (you can read again about details while you write)
- The lecture almost always contradicts the points from the text. You might be able to predict some of its points while you read.
- The lecture always addresses the same three points, usually in the same order.

A point-by-point response is organized like this:
paragraph 1 - introduce the topic and summarize the main position of the reading and lecture
paragraph 2 - summarize the first point from the text and explain how the lecture responds
paragraph 3  - summarize the second point from the text and explain how the lecture responds
paragraph 4 - summarize the third point from the text and explain how the lecture responds
(You don’t need a conclusion for integrated writing.)