TOEFL Reading Questions: Common Question Types and Practice Papers

TOEFL Reading Question Types with Examples

TOEFL comprehension passages are based on purpose and factual information questions TOEFL. The correct answer will be stated in the text, often in just one or two sentences. Here are few TOEFL reading types of questions and tips on how to answer. These types of questions in TOEFL reading is given mentioned below to help you in achieving better scores:

TOEFL Reading Vocabulary Question

The first TOEFL reading section question types include reading vocabulary questions. TOEFL new pattern vocabulary questions are designed to test your knowledge of words or phrases that are commonly used in academic or non-academic contexts. Each Vocabulary item consists of a sentence with 1 word or phrase highlighted. A strong and enhanced vocabulary is needed to answer this question without reading the passage.

Example Vocabulary Question:

TOEFL Reading Purpose Question

TOEFL reading purpose questions will test your ability to understand why a certain idea or argument has been used in the text. They will ask you to draw conclusions about the information that has been stated in the passage. You need to locate the paragraph and read briefly to get the purpose to achieve a good TOEFL reading score.

Example Purpose Question:

TOEFL Reading Reference Question

In reference questions TOEFL: Read one or a few sentences before the highlighted word. 

Here are highlighted words you might be asked about:

1. Subject pronoun: it, they
2. Object pronoun: it, them
3. Demonstrative pronoun: these, those, this, that
4. Possessive adjectives: its, their
5. Other reference words: the former, the latter, one, ones, another, other, others

Example TOEFL Reference Questions:

TOEFL Reading Inference Question

In TOEFL reading inference questions: Understand the passage and consider all the answer options – the answer may not be directly present in the passage. For TOEFL iBT reading inference questions practice you can seek for practice papers from different online platforms. There are three steps to identify the inference questions TOEFL:

• Identify the subject
• Summarize what the passage says about the subject
• Compare your summary to the answers

Example TOEFL Inference Questions Practice :

TOEFL Reading Essential Information Question

Understand the text by using excellent vocabulary as the answer will be different from the given statement but will carry a similar meaning only. Review all the options in TOEFL reading topics for better understanding.

Example Essential Information Question:

TOEFL Reading Detail Question

TOEFL Detail or Factual Information questions you about information of a particular stated in a small part of the passage. Locate the paragraph and read to answer. They generally focus on the “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” and “why” as explained by the author. You can solve TOEFL factual information questions exercises to ace this section. Regular TOEFL reading practice tests can help you ace this section.

Example Detail Question:

TOEFL Reading Negative Factual Information Question

Find out the paragraph and understand the question to answer

Example Negative Factual Question:

TOEFL Reading Rhetorical Purpose Questions 

TOEFL rhetorical purpose questions enquire “why” behind any passage. There would be 1-2 TOEFL rhetorical purpose questions per passage. To understand the reasoning behind the author’s way of presenting information, you need to go through TOEFL reading practice test with answers for the Rhetorical Purpose tasks.

Example Rhetorical Purpose Question:

TOEFL Reading Sentence Simplification 

For TOEFL sentence simplification questions you need to summarize and generalize the information you are given with. There would be 0-1 TOEFL sentence simplification questions per passage.

Example Sentence Simplification Question:

TOEFL Reading Summary Question

In TOEFL summary question reading: Thoroughly understand the entire passage to get the main idea questions toefl to answer. Also, TOEFL reading summary questions practice can help you further.

Example Summary Question:

TOEFL Reading Sentence Insertion Question

Logically read the paragraph with strong grammatical sense to find out where a sentence can fit.

Example Sentence Insertion Question:

TOEFL Reading Complete the Table Question

Organize the ideas in certain categories with relationships and use compare and contrast techniques

Example Complete Table Question:

TOEFL Reading Prose Summary 

In TOEFL reading Prose Summary you will be asked to identify the major arguments of the whole passage. There would be 1 prose summary questions TOEFL per passage. To solve his kind of question you need to learn to recognizing minor details and pay attention to whole idea and the argument of the passage instead. Also, these questions provides 6 options.

Example Prose Summary: