How to Get High TOEFL scores on Reading Comprehension

As you know, the TOEFL test all aspects of English language skills, ie speaking, writing, listening and reading. Each section would have difficulty each. In reading comprehension, a major problem often encountered is the lack of time available to do all the questions, because usually the time consumed for reading comprehension. Therefore, the necessary tips and tricks to be able to overcome these problems and how to get a high TOEFL scores on the reading comprehension.

The first one, you do not need to spend your time just to read about. Typically, you will be hooked to understand the overall readings given, let alone what it was interesting when reading or even elusive. If you try to understand all the contents of the reading, of course it will spend your time. When in fact you do not have to understand the whole readings to be able to work on the given problem. Actually you quite understand the main idea of ​​each paragraph. Generally, the basic idea can be found at the beginning or end of a paragraph. The basic idea is to represent the contents of a paragraph, so enough with the basic idea of ​​course you've got information about the paragraph.After that, try to observe the keywords of each question, because generally each question has a certain keyword related to reading. Keywords that will be very important because it will allow you to find the answer in reading. With these keywords, you can more quickly get information from reading, and then match it with a question and answer options are available. You can imagine how long you have to understand the reading if you can not find the keyword on the matter and readings. With the keywords of the question, search for information on reading it will be more focused.

Third, you should not panic if you have any long readings or already understood. If you encounter such problems, you need to use your ability to guess the intent of the passage. This can be done by finding key ideas, or important words from the text. Then, you also need to understand the context of the reading well, especially for the type of questions to ask the meaning of a word. A word may change the meaning in context, and you need to be careful and observant in understanding the context of this passage. In addition, use the same scanning method to obtain specific information on the given problem. Scanning can be done by using the words the principal of the question. This will certainly save you time over having to read one by one. In addition, if you find it difficult to get the right answer, you can use the elimination method, namely by eliminating answer choices that are likely not related to the matter. In this test, you will be given 20 minutes to complete six questions. The first two are still a matter of a simple test. You will be asked to give an answer that is accompanied by a certain reason. The questions tend to be simple however, you are only given a short amount of time to think.

In addition, if you find a problem that if difficult, try to skip that question and move on to another matter and do about that later. This is very important in relation to the use of the allocation of the available time. If you are too focused on the difficult problem, you will be a lot of wasted time and it is not enough to work on another topic. In addition, you need to try to stay focused. Concentration will be needed. In addition, physical health is well prepared, so that when the test condition your body healthy. In addition, you can also bring a watch so you can control your time with good workmanship.

 Example for reading compprehension

Choose the best answer to each question based on the information which is stated or implied in the text.
No student of a foreign language needs to be told that grammar is complex.  By changing word sequences and by adding a range of auxiliary verbs and suffixes, we are able to communicate tiny variations in meaning.  We can turn a statement into a question, state whether an action has taken place or is soon to take place, and perform many other word tricks to convey subtle differences in meaning.  Nor is this complexity inherent to the English language.  All languages, even those of so-called ‘primitive’ tribes have clever grammatical components.  The Cherokee pronoun system, for example, can distinguish between ‘you and I’, ‘several other people and I’ and ‘you, another person and I’.  In English, all these meanings are summed up in the one, crude pronoun ‘we’.  Grammar is universal and plays a part in every language, no matter how widespread it is.  So the question which has baffled many linguists is – who created grammar?

At first, it would appear that this question is impossible to answer.  To find out how grammar is created, someone needs to be present at the time of a language’s creation, documenting its emergence.  Many historical linguists are able to trace modern complex languages back to earlier languages, but in order to answer the question of how complex languages are actually formed, the researcher needs to observe how languages are started from scratch.  Amazingly, however, this is possible.

Some of the most recent languages evolved due to the Atlantic slave trade.  At that time, slaves from a number of different ethnicities were forced to work together under colonizer’s rule.  Since they had no opportunity to learn each other’s languages, they developed a make-shift language called a pidgin.  Pidgins are strings of words copied from the language of the landowner.  They have little in the way of grammar, and in many cases it is difficult for a listener to deduce when an event happened, and who did what to whom.  [A] Speakers need to use circumlocution in order to make their meaning understood.  [B] Interestingly, however, all it takes for a pidgin to become a complex language is for a group of children to be exposed to it at the time when they learn their mother tongue.  [C] Slave children did not simply copy the strings of words uttered by their elders, they adapted their words to create a new, expressive language.  [D] Complex grammar systems which emerge from pidgins are termed creoles, and they are invented by children.

Further evidence of this can be seen in studying sign languages for the deaf.  Sign languages are not simply a series of gestures; they utilise the same grammatical machinery that is found in spoken languages.  Moreover, there are many different languages used worldwide. The creation of one such language was documented quite recently in Nicaragua. Previously, all deaf people were isolated from each other, but in 1979 a new government introduced schools for the deaf.  Although children were taught speech and lip reading in the classroom, in the playgrounds they began to invent their own sign system, using the gestures that they used at home.  It was basically a pidgin.  Each child used the signs differently, and there was no consistent grammar.  However, children who joined the school later, when this inventive sign system was already around, developed a quite different sign language.  Although it was based on the signs of the older children, the younger children’s language was more fluid and compact, and it utilised a large range of grammatical devices to clarify meaning.  What is more, all the children used the signs in the same way.  A new creole was born.
Some linguists believe that many of the world’s most established languages were creoles at first.  The English past tense –ed ending may have evolved from the verb ‘do’.  ‘It ended’mayonce have been’It end-did’.  Therefore it would appear that even the most widespread languages were partly created by children.  Children appear to have innate grammatical machinery in their brains, which springs to life when they are first trying to make sense of the world around them.  Their minds can serve to create logical, complex structures, even when there is no grammar present for them to copy.

1  In paragraph 1, why does the writer include information about the Cherokee language?
(A) To show how simple, traditional cultures can have complicated grammar structures.
(B) To show how English grammar differs from Cherokee grammar.
(C) To prove that complex grammar structures were invented by the Cherokees.
(D) To demonstrate how difficult it is to learn the Cherokee language.

2  What can be inferred about the slaves’ pidgin language?
(A) It contained complex grammar.
(B) It was based on many different languages.
(C) It was difficult to understand, even among slaves.
(D) It was created by the land-owners.

3  All the following sentences about Nicaraguan sign language are true EXCEPT:
(A) The language has been created since 1979.
(B) The language is based on speech and lip reading.
(C) The language incorporates signs which children used at home.
(D) The language was perfected by younger children.

4. In paragraph 3, where can the following sentence be placed?
It included standardised word orders and grammatical markers that existed in neither the pidgin language, nor the language of the colonizers.
(A) A
(B) B
(C) C
(D) D

5  ’From scratch’ in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to:
(A) from the very beginning
(B) in simple cultures
(C) by copying something else
(D) by using written information

6  ’Make-shift’ in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to:
(A) complicated and expressive
(B) simple and temporary
(C) extensive and diverse
(D) private and personal

7  Which sentence is closest in meaning to the highlighted sentence?
Grammar is universal and plays a part in every language, no matter how widespread it is.
(A) All languages, whether they are spoken by a few people or a lot of people, contain grammar.
(B) Some languages include a lot of grammar, whereas other languages contain a little.
(C) Languages which contain a lot of grammar are more common that languages that contain a little.
(D) The grammar of all languages is the same, no matter where the languages evolved.

8  All of the following are features of the new Nicaraguan sign language EXCEPT:
(A) All children used the same gestures to show meaning.
(B) The meaning was clearer than the previous sign language.
(C) The hand movements were smoother and smaller.
(D) New gestures were created for everyday objects and activities.

9  Which idea is presented in the final paragraph?
(A) English was probably once a creole.
(B) The English past tense system is inaccurate.
(C) Linguists have proven that English was created by children.
(D) Children say English past tenses differently from adults.

10  Look at the word ‘consistent’ in paragraph 4. This word could best be replaced by which of the following?
(A) natural
(B) predictable
(C) imaginable
(D) uniform