Nature of TOEFL: TOEFL examination is divided into several sections with

an aim to measure candidates English proficiencies.

-The first section is listening comprehension (forty minutes), that measure
your ability to understand spoken english, divided into three parts : A, B
and C.
In part A, you are required to listen carefully single short sentence and
answer the sentence that is closest in meaning in your test booklet. There
are total 20 questions in this part.
In part B, you will hear short conversations between two speakers and a
third voice will ask about what was said. Just find the answer in your
answersheet. This part contains a total of 15 questions.
The part C has three to five long or short conversations that you have to
hear carefully. Later you will be asked what the speakers say. You have to
complete 15 questions in this part.
- The Section 2 is about structure and written expression, consisting forty
questions that has to be completed in 25 minutes. Divided into two parts
to test your ability to recognise standard english.
Part A comes with 15 incomplete sentences that you have to choose from
given words that is gramatically correct.
Part B consists of four underlined words or phrases that have to selected
in order to make a sentence gramatically correct. There are total of 25
questions in this part.
- The Section III, divided into two parts, tests your ability to read and
understand written material. This vocabulary and reading comprehension
has a total of 60 questions to be completed in 45 minutes.
Part A consists of underlined word or group of words and you have to
select given wor or words that can be substituted for the underlined part
of the sentence without changing the meaning of original sentence.
Part B consists of either single sentence or several paragraphs and you
have to choose the best answer.
- Section IV measures your ability to write a well organised and
gramatically correct essay in English within 30 minutes. You will be given
a topic to compare and contrast two points of view. However, there is also
another type in this section. The second type asks you to interpret charts,
pie graphs, bar graphs or line graphs.1

Skills that are tested in this section (reading section) include the abilities
to:
 Scan for details
 Use context clues to understand the meaning of vocabulary
 Draw inferences
 Recognize coherence
 Understand how the author explain
 Understand why the author uses certain examples or mentions
certain details
 Recognize restatements (paraphrases) and sentences
simplifications
 Distinguish between important ideas and minor ones
 Analyze and categorize information in order to complete summaries
and charts
Reading sections contains three passages which have length generally
from 600 to 700 words long. The passages cover a wide range of topics,
but in general can be classified as follows:
1. Science and technology, including astronomy, geology, chemistry,
mathematics, physics, biology, medicine, and engineering
2. History, government, geography, and culture
3. Art, including literature, painting sculpture, dance, drama, and
architecture

1
http://www.indiastudychannel.com/resources/109453-A-brief-description-
TOEFL.aspx
 4. Social science, including anthropology, economics, psychology,
urban studies, and sociology
5. Biography and autobiography
The types of passages are mainly expository that explains about
something, narrative that tells about the story of an event or a person, or
persuasive that argues in favor of or against some point or issue.
Most of questions in reading section are multiple-choice questions. The
main questions of reading for TOEFL is eight types, they are:
1. Factual questions (detail questions). These ask you to locate and
identify specific information in the passage. Ex: According to … ?/
Which is the following is true … ?
Negative factual questions. These ask which of the answer choices is
not true, according to information in the passage, or is not mentioned
in the passage. Ex: According to the information in paragraph … ?,
which of the following is NOT … ?/ The author mentions all of the
following in the passage EXCEPT … ?
2. Vocabulary questions. These ask you to identify the meaning of a
word or phrase used in passage. Ex: The word … in the passage is
closest meaning to … ?
3. Inference questions. These ask you to draw conclusions based on
information in the passage. Ex: In paragraph … , the author suggest
that … ?
4. Questions about author’s purpose. These ask you why the author
uses a certain word, detail, or example in a passage. Ex: Why does the
author give details about … ?
5. Questions about author’s methods. These ask you to describe how
the author explains or accomplishes something in the passage. Ex:
How does the author explain … ?
6. Questions about author’s attitude. These ask you how the author
feels about a certain issue, idea, or person that is mentioned in the
passage. Ex: What is the author opinion about … ?
7. Sentence restatement/ simplification questions. These ask which
choice best restates and summarizes the information in a sentence
from the passage. Ex: Which of the following sentences best
expresses … ?
8. Reference questions. These ask what word or pronoun or other
reference word refers to. Ex: The word … in the passage refers to … ?