TOEFL: Speaking

Speaking Task 1 :-

• Independent Task
• Only speaking
• Sample questions :-
• Choose a place in your home that you enjoy spending time in. Explain why you like it.
• The clock
• Read the question
• 15 seconds to prepare
• 45 seconds to speak

TOEFL : Listening

Lectures

• 4-6 minutes long
• One person talking
• Similar to texts in reading section
• Pictures :-
• Picture of the professor
• Important words on black board
• Some diagrams or illustrations

Conversation

• 2-4 minutes long
• One student, one university employee
• Picture :-
• Picture of 2 people at start
• No important information
• Helps to stay focused (helps you to imagine real people in real place)

Classroom Discussion

• Its not really a discussion, merely a lecture. We call it discussion because some student do ask some question or answer something
• 4-6 minutes long
• Mostly just the professor
•  Questions and comments from 2-3 students
• Basically the same as lectures
• Picture
• Picture of professor/class
• Diagram or illustrations

 Question Types

• Main Idea
• First question after each recording
•  Main
• Topic (what)
• Purpose (why)      (Especially for conversation)
• Remember the beginning of conversation
• No later details are important
• Later sections as a whole are important
•  Question Format
• What is the main topic of the conversation?
• What trend in child development does the professor mainly discuss?
• What is the main purpose of the lecture?
• Why does the student go to speak with his advisor?
• Where is the main idea?
• Beginning and the rest
• The main idea is in first 10 seconds or first 20 seconds
• Especially in conversations as conversation purpose can change
• Normally it is in the beginning
•  Don't ignore the rest
• All details connect
• Detail
• One fact or idea
• Understand the concepts and meaning
• Not usually about the numbers or years
• 2 facts or 3 facts if toefl ask multiple answer questions
• ~2 per recording
• Very High Frequency
• In order to answer them correctly, Focus is everything
• Question Format
• According to the professor, what is "heat lightning"?
• What does the student say about his car?
• What point does the professor make about modern psychology?
• According to the secretary,  who should the student contact?
• Use your notes to answer the Detail Question
• Understand, don't memorize

• Function
• Why something is said
• 0-2 per recording(~1 on average)
• Medium Frequency
• Think about context - the big picture
•  Question Format
• Why does the professor say this? (Listen again)
•  What does the student mean when she say this?(Listen again)
• What does the student imply about her knowledge of European history when she say this? (Listen again) (seems like a inference but it is a function question)
• Why does the student describe her friend's appearance?
• Get in the speaker's head
• Imagine the scene
• No notes during replays
• Pay attention to asides(A->B->A)
•  sudden speed change
• Question in the middle of sentence
• Signals like "by the way" or "incidentally"
• Focus on the context, not the words

• Attitude
• What are they thinking? (Similar to function questions)
•  Function question don't ask about opinion but attitude question ask about opinion
• 0-1 per recording
• Low Frequency
• Both what is said and how it's said
• Question Format
• What is the professor's opinion of algae that is grown for fuel?
• What is the women's attitude towards the professor's suggestion  for working with a classmate?
• What can be inferred about the man's opinion of his class schedule?
• What is the professor's attitude toward modernism?

• Using Tone of Voice
• helpful in function and attitude question
• Pay attention to 
• certainty -  "They are clearly quite different from coal, right?"
• hesitation and repetition
• "My friend Amy ..... Amy Mahon, who sits next to me .."
• questions
• "If there is no rhyming, then we can use any word we want, right? That sounds easy."
• stressed words
• "I don't know if me talking with these other students would really help all that much"
• Organization
• How is the lecture structured?
• 0-1 per recording
• Low Frequency
•  Note : examples, stories, cause and effect, problems and solutions, comparison, etc.
• Question Format
• How is the lecture organized?
• Why does the professor describe the coastal weather patterns?(its like a function question of big topic)
• How does the professor introduce insect reproduction?

• Structural Keywords
•  Compare/Contrast
• Meanwhile
• On the other hand
• Conversely
• In contrast
• Nevertheless
• Similarly
• Likewise
• Listing
• Secondly
• Besides
• Next
• Moving on
• Finally
• Cause and Effect
• As a result 
• Consequently
• Because of that
• It's for that reason that
•  Examples
• For example
• For instance
• Picture/ Imagine
• By the way of illustration
• Take _____/ Take the case of 
• Summarizing
• Basically
• In short
• Essentially 
• So that's how/what/...

•  Inference
• Figure out the information that is not in the text
• ~1 per recording
• Medium frequency
• Only make a small logical jump

•  Fill in the table
• Drag and Drop sentences into blank tables
• 0-1 per recording
• Low Frequency
•   Ask you 
• Match
• Categorize
• Ordering
• Mark yes/no

TOEFL : Reading

Pacing while reading

Keeping Track

• Check clock regularly
• At specific points (not every few seconds)
• After the passage
• After question 7
• After final question 
• Answer  every question
• Almost every question is equally important
• except last question
• First 2-4 passages - try every question
• Final Passage : Fast questions first
• Vocabulary questions first
• Skip questions that take too long
• Always mark an answer

Question Types

•  Vocabulary in Context
• Choose the synonym for a word or phrase 
• 2 - 5 per passage
• Very high frequency
• Mostly about vocabulary
• Can sometimes infer meaning by the context
• Detail
• Ask about one piece of information
• 2-4 per passage
• High Frequency
• Find the fact
• often about one sentence or phrase
• Sometimes more than one answer
• Except
• Choose the information that is not in the context
• It often uses the word 'except' but sometimes it uses 'not'.
• 1-2 per passage
• Medium Frequency 
•  Answer by process of elimination
• Should be done at last (especially for last passage)

•  Inference
• Ask you to figure something out from the text
• Similar to detail question
• 1-2 per passage
• Medium Frequency

• Purpose
• Why something is in the text
• 1-2 per passage
• Medium Frequency
•  How it relates to big picture
• word
• sentence
• example/idea
• paragraph
• Sample question :- "Why does author mention "------- " in the first paragraph?"

•  Reference
• Ask what a word or phrase refer to.(often a pronoun - it, they, that, etc.)
• Its not about meaning of word. Its about what it refers to in context  
• 0-1 per passage
• Low Frequency
• Find the logical replacement

• Paraphrase
• Choose the restatement of the sentence
• 0 -1 per passage
• Medium Frequency
•  Wrong answer choices seems almost correct sometimes, but they lose information.
• loose information(becomes to general)
• switch roles and relationships
• use tempting vocabulary
• Insert Text
• Place a new sentence in the passage
• 1 per passage
• Medium Frequency
•  Best way to answer them :- use connecting word/phrases.
• Pronouns(they, their, he, she, etc.)
• Transition words(Although, But, etc.)
• Time words(After, Before, Finally, etc)
• Topic words
• Summary
• Ask about passage at a whole
• Choose 3 most important ideas
• 1 per passage
• Medium Frequency
• Unless you get a categorize question
• They are 2 points question (so twice important)
• Need to see the structure of the passage
• Don't choose the less important details

• Category
• Last type of question like Summary question
• Match details with larger topics
• 0-1 per passage
• Low Frequency
• They are 3 or 4 points question (depends on complexity)
• Need to see the structure of the passage
• Find each detail and match it to topic

Format of TOEFL

The 4 sections :-

• Reading                    60 - 100 minutes
• Listening                  60 - 90 minutes
• 10 minute Break     
• Speaking                   20 minutes
• Writing                     60 minutes

Reading

• 3-5 passages
• 700 words
• 20 minutes per passage
• not separated
• 12 -14 questions per passage

• Similar to university textbooks
• Science, history, humanities, etc.

Listening

• 6 or 9 recordings
• Group of 3
• 4 or 6 lectures
• 5  minutes each with 6 questions
• Similar topics to reading
• 2 or 3 conversations
• 3 minutes each with 5 questions
• About living on campus

Speaking

•  6 tasks
• Always the same order
• Task 1 : Independent
• Task 2 : Independent
• Task 3 : Integrated - reading and listening
• Task 4 : Integrated - reading and listening

Writing

• Integrated - Reading, Listening and Write
• 3  minutes to read, 3 minutes lecture
• Write for 20 minutes
• Compare and contrast lecture with reading
•  Independent
• Just write

 Some Important Points :-

• iBT TOEFL scores are valid for 2 years only
• Each of the 4 sections receive a scaled score from 0 to 30
• iBT TOEFL is scored on a scale of 0-120 speaking is initially of score of 0 to 4 and writing is initially given a score of 0 to 5. These scores are converted to scaled scored of 0 to 30
• There is no negative marking.

Basic Knowledge Helpful in Critical Reasoning

1. 100%

• all
• consensus
• unanimous
• complete
• total

2. Majority

• most
• many 
• much
• high degree
• 50%-99%
• always less than all

3. Minority

• little
• few
• less
• low
• 1%-49%
• always less than 50%

4. Some = atleast 1

• 1<=some<=all

5. Only

• Solely
• exclusively
• no other

BASICS CONCEPTS OF ECONOMICS(Sometimes used in GRE)

1. Long Term Goal of any Business - Profit
2. Profit consists of 2 parts:-

• Decrease in Cost
• Increase in Sales

3. Supply(Price, Variety, Innovation) is ------> Demand
4. In case of drought, say supply is less, demand is same , then cost will increase.
5. Production

• No. of hours 
• Productivity/ hours

Critical Reasoning Rules

Different Types of Questions:-

1. ASSUMPTION

• Aim is to find the missing link.
• A---> B 
• ? }} Missing Link is assumed
• .'. C---> D

2. PARADOX

• Question consists of 2 statements that contradict each other.
• Answer will be explanation/resolve/solution

3. PARAGRAPH COMPLETION

•  It can further classified into following types of problems:-
• ____Effect______(__Cause___)
• ____Saying Theory______(__Example___)
• ____Cause______(__Effect___)
• ____Example1=logic______(__Example2=logic___) 
• Tone
• _____(+ve)_____(+ve)_____
• _____(+ve)__(but | though | etc)___(-ve)_____
• Style
• Perspective 
• ________(Company)_______(Company)______

4. INFERENCE

• Argument [Premise (stated(facts/findings/example/evidence/statements)) + Assumption (unstated(author/company)) ----> Conclusion(Author has concluded)]
• Statements are given/Premise ------> you are expected to conclude. Your conclusion should be very close to what is stated. 
• There are 3 types of questions in Inference Questions:-
• Data Based
• Data is given in %, numbers, values/amount, ratio, proportion, rates, time, average
• Some As are Bs
• Data = valid
• Sample - representation  increase in sample ----> increase in representation
• Compare only comparables
• General ---> Specific is correct
• Specific ----> General is wrong
•  Only As are Bs ----> Whatever is attached to Only is main set.
• Only Indians wear sarees.
• Answer can contain 'only' only if 'only' is there in paragraph.
• Goal Plan
• Aim/Objective/Goal ---> Plan(How can they achieve Goal) [Inference]
• Example for AWA(Argument)
• Goal: Eradicate Polio
• Argument ------> Plan : Pulse Polio
• Assumption :
• Plan can achieve the goal
• Plan - Practical, cost-effective, accessible
• People will co-operate
• Benefits > Drawbacks
• Benefits ---> Long term/ sustainable
•  These assumptions are very important in AWA
• Cause & Effect

5. STRENGTHEN & WEAKEN

• Argument in simple terms "your opinion"
• Example:- 
• Smoking is bad
• Strengthen
• Prove Smoking is bad
• Finding 
• Example
• Explanation
• Weaken
• Prove Smoking is good
• Finding 
• Example
• Explanation
• Cause & Effect
• A ------> B
• Weaken Cause & Effect
• A---/->B
• C-----> B
• B -----> A
•   Strengthen Cause & Effect(Its only A that causes B)
• yes A ----> yes B
• No A ----> No B

6. BOLD FACE

• always about structure
• role
• relationship
• always about lines in Bold
• not about meaning , only about structure
• Differentiate Between Fact and Non Fact
• Fact - 
• evidence, data, report, finding, statement of fact, quotation
• Fact is something which is measurable.
• Something that happened in past is a fact.
• Not a Fact - 
• Claim, Position, Stand, Argument, View, Judgement, Opinion, Conclusion, Consideration, Situation, Circumstance, Prediction(Claim about future)
•  If As| Because | Since | Clearly [Bold Face Line]......... In such cases, Bold face line is an explanation(not a fact)
• Example:-
• India is Great                                                       Not a Fact
• MG Said: India is a Great                                    Fact

7. EXTRA NOTES:-
1. Critical reasoning is very helpful in AWA.

AWA

• Issue
• Analysis of an Argument
• Evaluate
• Strengthen 
• Weaken

Reading Comprehension Notes

Types of Questions:-

1. Primary Purpose

• Primary also used as following words:-
• Central 
• Main
• Chief
• Purpose also used as following words:-
• theme
• idea
• concern
• argument
• conclusion
• opinion
• judgement
• opinion
• stand
• point of view
• Suitable title is also part of Primary Purpose type of Questions
• Words in primary purpose answer choice should be in paragraph majority no. of times.
• Ways to answer this question:-
• Vertical scanning to find a location of a word
• Individual merits/demerits should not be answer
• Word matching from options
• Quotation/Example will never be primary purpose

2. Factual/Specific Details Questions

• Indicators:-
• According to the passage
• Described
• mentioned
• defined
• Based on the information
• accurate
•  It must not have following words:-
• infer
• suggest 
• indicate
• Ways to answer this question:-
• Vertical scanning to find a location of a fact
• Read the question and identify the keywords 
• Word matching from options
• In factual questions, don't think too much. Just coolely locate the fact and do word matching.

3. Sentence Selection

• Word Matching to find the sentence.

 4. Inference Questions

• Indicators:-
• suggest
• infer
• indicate
• probably 
• likely
• Inference and Assumptions are similar words
• Inference is made by reader and Assumption is made by author
• Example of Assumption
• I want to write, therefore I need a pen
• Assumption:- Pen can be used for writing.