Basic Technique:
- Read the questions and answers first. Think about what kind of answer the question needs.
- Skim read the keywords of the reading passage.
- Answer the questions to which you know the answers.
- Scan the reading passage for answers to questions to which you don’t know the answers.
When you read, you don’t need to read and understand every word. In fact, to answer questions in the TOEIC reading sections, you often do not have to understand all the words. You just have to find the answers. You don’t have to understand the answer.
Skim reading will help you read quickly so that you have more time to finish the test or to go back and check your answers. When you skim, you only read the key words in the sentence. You skip over the small words which are not necessary in understanding the content of the lesson.
The passage below has the key words in bold. The bold words are the ones you want to quickly read to "skim" read. Read it quickly and don't worry about understanding it yet:
In terms of personal tax responsibility, Americans don't need to pay income taxes in the United States unless they make more than $84,000 a year. Needless to say, few of us are in any danger of losing our tax-exempt status. We have to file a tax form regardless of whether we owe money or not. This was a fact that my husband and I were unaware of for an extended period of time while living here and there was quite a bit of panic when we discovered we hadn't filed for well over a decade and it may result in some problems despite the fact that we owed nothing. Fortunately, we didn't get in trouble. In fact, the IRS seemed to take it all in stride and sent us 3 years of back tax forms which we filled out and sent in. Now, we're on a regular schedule but it was a bit of a worry for awhile.
The key words are usually:
- Nouns (the subject of the sentence and direct objects especially)
- Verbs
- Adverbs of frequency or time (usually, now, etc.)
- Numbers
- Prepositions (in, on, out)
- Conjunctions (and, but, or)
- Idioms (needless, regardless of, in terms of)
- Descriptive adverbs (fortunately, unfortunately)
Here are some questions for the passage above:
- Do Americans who make $60,000 a year need to pay income taxes?
- Do they have to file a form if they do not need to pay taxes?
- Was the writer worried about not filing a tax form?
- How long had it been since the writer last filed a tax form?
- Did the writer get in trouble with the IRS?
- What did the IRS send the writer?
Can you answer the questions by reading only the key words?
Types of Reading/Questions:
There are two types of questions on the TOEIC test.
Specific information:
A specific information question will ask about a detail mentioned in the passage. For instance, it the passage above, $75,000 is a piece of specific information.
These questions would be “specific information” questions:
How much must you make less than in order to be tax-exempt?
How many years worth of tax forms was the writer sent?
These kind of questions can be answered by scanning a reading passage. Scanning is when you search through a reading passage to find a detail. You don’t have to understand anything but the sentence that contains that information.
“How much” and “how many” questions are often asking for specific information. You can usually scan a reading passage for numbers and find answers to these kinds of questions. These questions are easy to answer compared to the other kind of question.
Overall understanding:
The other kind of question is about overall understanding. This kind of question requires you to read a lot of information and then reach a conclusion about the passage. The conclusion you have to reach is not something that is clearly stated in the reading. You have to understand and decide for yourself.
For example:
John Brown works with animals. He gives them medicine and sometimes performs surgery on them. He works in the afternoon and evenings most of the time because that’s when people have free time to bring their pets to him.
What is John Brown’s job?
You will notice that John Brown’s job is not mentioned in the reading. You have to read the information and then reach a logical conclusion.
Overall understanding questions are more difficult than specific information questions. These questions often take this type of form:
What is this article/passage about?
Who is this advertisement directed at?
What is this advertisement for?
Test Taking Advice:
When you take the test, do not struggle to answer every question. Answer the questions you are sure of the answer to. If a question is tough and taking a lot of time, guess at an answer and continue to take the test. If you finish the test, go back and try to answer those tough questions in the time remaining.
If there are any pictures included as part of a reading lesson, do not rely on them to tell you what a reading passage is about. Sometimes the pictures are misleading in the reading section.
Do not panic if you don’t understand the vocabulary. The grammar of a sentence and the questions can help you answer even if you don’t know the vocabulary.
If you can’t tell which answer is correct, think about which answers are not correct. If you can see that 2 of the 4 answers are wrong, then you have a 50% chance of guessing which one is right instead of a 25% chance.
For example:
The widget was wonky and Wilbur’s knees grew wobbly as he was afraid it would go kablooie.
What was having problems?
a. the widget
b. Wilbur’s knees
c. Wilbur
d. Kablooie
Look at the question. What verb is being used? What is the question word? Which part of the sentence is the likely answer based on the verb and the use of the word “what”?
What was Wilbur afraid of?
a. The widget would be wonky
b. His knees would give out.
c. The widget would break.
d. He wasn’t afraid of anything.
Look at the structure of the sentences and see where “afraid” is positioned. Can Wilbur be afraid of anything mentioned before the word “afraid”?
What does “wobbly” mean?
a. broken
b. weak
c. fearful
d. explosive
Think about what is “wobbly”. Think about what adjective cannot be used to describe “knees”. Even if you don’t know the word, knowing the noun it describes will help you guess the answer. Only one of these words can describe a “knee”.
Ref: The Home Sensai
