INTRO to TOEFL Reading Answering Strategy
Hello everyone, today is TOEFL Reading Answering Strategy Day! Today we will show you how to answer questions that essentially ask you to compare and contrast. These are very common types of questions because one of the best ways to explain something is by comparing it with something else.
Today, we have six questions. I'll give you an overview of the difficulty level and what to expect for each type of question.
The first two questions are medium-hard. For these, you'll need to read between the lines and look for clue words to find the information asked in the question.
The third question can be tricky. It may take some time because you'll need to identify all the different properties given, and then figure out which one is not different from the others. However, once you understand the trick behind this type of question, it can actually become very easy.
The fourth question is straightforward. It's a three-way comparison, so you'll need to carefully write down the given information for each item being compared. As long as you organize the data properly, this one should be easy.
Now, the fifth and sixth questions can be challenging because the passage only contains information that is the opposite of what the questions are asking. But don't worry, Dr. Byrnes has a tip for these types of questions, and in this lecture video you will learn the tip. Once you know that tip, these questions will become the easiest and most time-saving for you. Find all the strategies you need to answer TOEFL reading questions correctly and quickly in Dr. Byrnes' TOEFL reading books and courses. Go visit www.nanheebyrnes.com.
Step-by-step Answering Strategy
Before moving on to the questions, let’s first recap the step-by-step way to answer TOEFL reading questions. If you want to tackle the questions directly, fast forward to here. Otherwise, this is how you should approach the TOEFL reading questions.
First, skim the passage. Given the very short amount of time you have for this reading section, you should never read the whole passage carefully. It’s perfectly okay if you don’t understand most of the content in the passage since the questions are designed that way. Even if you understand all the information, it’s wasted effort since most of it is not on the exam! Most information in the passage is just filler. However, having some background information and context can help situate yourself better to understand the questions. The strategy Dr. Byrnes recommends is to skim the passage for about a minute to grasp its main topic. Focus on reading the first few sentences and the last few sentences of each paragraph.
Second, read the question carefully, understanding what it is asking you to do. Is it asking you to find a specific property of something, compare two items and identify common attributes, or something else? Then, identify keywords in the question to search for sentences that contain these keywords in the passage. The sentence that holds the key, along with its surrounding sentences, provides the clues to answer the question.
Third, scan the relevant paragraph to locate the sentence with the keyword from the question. Once you find it, read it closely along with its surrounding sentences.If the required information isn't explicitly stated, you must be able to “read between the lines.” Various techniques for finding implicit information can be found in Dr. Byrnes' book on TOEFL reading.It's crucial that you formulate your own answer based on the evidence in the reading, as all incorrect choices are designed to deceive you, much like the sirens' song leading sailors to shipwreck. While all options may seem plausible, incorrect choices are wrong for a reason—either they contradict what is mentioned in the passage or are not mentioned at all. The correct answer is the one supported by evidence in the passage. This evidence-based reasoning is what truly validates the correct answer.
Fourth, then look for the choice that is most consistent with what you found in the passage. When considering choices, some are often phrased in such a way that you can quickly eliminate them without even considering their meaning. Dr. Byrnes teaches you two tips for elimination. First, eliminate an option that is extreme or absolute, like "all," "none," "never," "only," "the most." The TOEFL passage is borrowed from an academic discipline exploring empirical knowledge—knowledge obtained through experience and material evidence. All human knowledge, except relating to logic and mathematics, is true with only high likelihood. There can always be exceptions, counterexamples and conflicting interpretations, which is why scholars disagree. From this, we can safely conclude that choices with absolute terms are the best candidates to eliminate.
Elimination strategy
The second tip is to eliminate a choice that closely replicates a sentence from the passage. Such an option is usually incorrect because it's too straightforward. The original sentence in the passage often includes limiting words like "some," "only," or other restrictive modifiers that qualify the statement. However, these limiting words are often omitted in the answer choices. For instance, if the passage states, “some mystery books written by the author are sold on Amazon,” a wrong option might say, “almost all books written by the author are sold on Amazon,” which goes beyond what the passage explicitly states.
Words for comparing and contrasting
Now that we have the step-by-step method, let’s apply it to answering the questions. Today, we will examine questions that involve comparing and contrasting, so pay close attention to specific keywords that indicate similarities and differences. For instance, words such as "Similarly," "Likewise," "In the same way," "Just as," "Equally," "Correspondingly," "Like," "Also," and "As well as" signal similarities between items. On the other hand, words like "However," "On the other hand," "In contrast," "Conversely," "Nevertheless," "Yet," "Whereas," "Unlike," "Instead," and "Although/Though" highlight differences.
Question 1
Let's begin with this moderately challenging question. this is the question: “According to paragraph 1, before A.D. 900, books in the Islamic world” The question requires you to find information about the characteristics of books in the Islamic world before AD 900. With that in mind, let's skim the passage and look for descriptions of books before AD 900.
So the key words while skimming are "before AD 900". Here we find one property of books before AD 900 that manuscripts of the Koran were probably the most common type. But after AD 900 a wide range of books were produced. And the rest of the passage talks about books after AD 900. With this info that the Koran was the most popular type of books before AD900, we consider the options. “A: included a wide range of subjects.” Since the religious topic was the most common, A is definitely wrong.
But we have no information on the remaining options B, C, and D. Since there are no other sentences in the passage that directly discuss before AD 900, we should read the description of books during AD 900 to 1500 and see if there are any comparison-indicating words. The sentence states that two major developments happened
With this information, let's examine the remaining options: “B: did not contain any calligraphy or decoration”- We cannot know for sure, but B has to be false because of the way it is written. "Not any" implies absolutely none. As Dr. Byrnes emphasizes, options that use absolute terms can often be eliminated because a single counterexample can render them false. It's conceivable that there could be at least one book that contained some calligraphy. Therefore, due to this absolute term, B can be eliminated.
“C: used rounded scripts,” which is false.
“D: were usually written on parchment” D is correct. So the answer is D.
Question 2
Now consider this question about early sea otters. The keyword to look for is "sea otters." Here is the clue sentence: "Unlike the cases of sea otters and pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses, whose limbs are functional both on land and at sea), it is not easy to envision what the first whales looked like."
Because of the contrasting word "unlike," we know that the two situations are in opposite conditions. The sentence doesn't explicitly explain what the situation is about sea otters, but from this information that "it is not easy to envision what the first whales looked like," we infer that the opposite situation must be true for the first sea otters. This implies that "it is easy to envision what the first sea otters looked like."
With this understanding, let’s consider the choices:
A.It is not difficult to imagine what they looked like. A is what we are looking for. so A is the answer..
Question 3
Now let’s examine this challenging question. The question states, “The transmission electron microscope differs from the scanning electron microscope in all of the following ways EXCEPT.” What does this question ask you to do? It is asking you to find the differences between the two microscopes and then identify the property that is not different.
But wait, don’t jump right into reading the passage to find the properties of the two microscopes. I see many students do this, but it is not a smart strategy. Finding all the properties of each microscope can take a lot of time, and you might get confused under the pressure of time. You need to approach TOEFL reading questions like clever Odysseus. So let’s reason about the question clearly. The question says, "X differs from Y in all of these ways except," which means there is one property where X and Y are not different— a property that X and Y share. so, all you need to look for is the property that is common between X and Y. So you should look for clue words of similarity.
Now, Dr. Byrnes has a tip for you on how to scan a long paragraph while looking for keywords. You should read in the unit of transitional words as they are traffic signs in the world of ideas. Transitional words of addition like "moreover" or "for example" indicate similar ideas are ahead, so you can skip sentences with additional indicating transitional words as they keep going in the same direction. In contrastTransitional words of addition like "moreover" or "for example"ideas from the preceding ones are coming. Often, ideas that come after the transitional words of contrast are more important than the ones before, like “You did a great job with the interview, but you didn’t get the job.” The point, clearly, is that you did not get the job.
So let’s read in the unit of transitional words. No transitional words so far. OK, “on the other hand” is the first transitional word of contrast. So we know that something else was discussed in the previous paragraph.
Notice the phrase “just as” that indicates similarity, which is what we are looking for. It states, “The transmission electron microscope aims an electron beam through a section, just as a light microscope aims a beam of light through a specimen.” The sentence talks about a similarity between transmission electron microscopes and light microscopes, but we are looking for the similarity between the transmission electron microscope and the scanning electron microscope. so this is not the clue sentence. Moving on to the next sentence, with “However,” we can infer that a difference between transmission electron microscopes and light microscopes will be mentioned. It says, “Instead of lenses made of glass, the transmission electron microscope uses electromagnets as lenses, as do all electron microscopes.”
The sentence talks about the difference between transmission electron microscopes and light microscopes in terms of their lens material. “The transmission electron microscope uses electromagnets as lenses, as do all electron microscopes.” Here, “as” has the same meaning as “like,” so we know that all electron microscopes use electromagnets as lenses, unlike the glass lenses of a light microscope. From this, we can infer that both the transmission electron microscope and the scanning electron microscope use the same material for their lenses, which are electromagnets.
With this, let’s consider the choices:
A. Specimens viewed by transmission electron microscopes are divided into cross sections. A is not what we are looking for.
B The transmission electron microscope uses electromagnets as lenses.. This is the property that is not different between the transmission electron microscope and the scanning electron microscope. Both use electromagnets as lenses. so, B is the answer.
Q Question 4
Let's consider this rather easy straightforward question that requires careful data summary. The question is: which of the following symptoms occurs in phosphorus-deficient plants but not in plants deficient in nitrogen or iron? This is a three-way comparison, so we need to find all three deficiencies. These are the summaries of the deficiencies:
Nitrogen-deficiency: chlorosis, short and slender stems, anthocyanin discoloration (on stems, petioles, and lower leaf surfaces).
Phosphorus-deficiency: stunted growth, leaves turning a characteristic dark green color, the accumulation of anthocyanin.
Iron deficiency: chlorosis between veins in young leaves.
Stunted growth is shared with nitrogen deficiency. Leaves turning dark green is not mentioned in either of the other two deficiencies, and the anthocyanin problem is also shared with nitrogen deficiency. So, the answer is that leaves turning a characteristic dark green color is the symptom that occurs in phosphorus-deficient plants but not in plants deficient in nitrogen or iron. So the answer is B. Change in leaf pigmentation to a dark shade of green
Question 5
Let's consider this rather challenging question. The question is, "Which of the following leads to the conclusion that infants are able to differentiate between stimuli in a habituation-dishabituation study?" So, the question is what should happen for us to conclude that infants are able to differentiate between stimuli. When we search the passage with the key phrase "able to differentiate between stimuli," the only relevant phrase we find is this: "the baby is unable to perceive the new stimulus as different." So the passage only has a description that is the opposite of what the question is asking since the question is when the baby is able to see the difference. This type of question is common in Toefl, and can look challenging due to the fact that the passage contains only the opposite information. but actually if you know the trick, this type can be an easy question. the trick is flip it. that is, all you need is to understand the opposite situation described in the passage and then negate it to make the opposite. This is how to do it.
The conclusion is this: It is believed that the baby is unable to perceive the new stimulus as different. So when does this happen? The condition is expressed in the if-clause. So let's follow step by step.
If the infant fails to dishabituate and continues to show habituation, then the baby is believed to be unable to see the difference.
So all we need is the negation of the if clause, which is this: If the infant succeeds to dishabituate or discontinues to show habituation.
Therefore, the answer has to be A: Dishabituation occurs with the introduction of a new stimulus.
Question 6
This is the last question for today. The format of this question is similar to the previous questions as the question asks you to find information, but the passage only describes the opposite situation. The question is: When do parent songbirds normally not feed their babies? So the key phrase is "parent not feeding the babies." The only relevant information in the passage is the situation where parents feed the babies. It says, "One possibility is that a noisy baby bird provides accurate signals of its real hunger and good health, making it worthwhile for the listening parent to give it food in a nest where several other offspring are usually available to be fed." How should we answer this question? Again, we use the same tip: flip it. That is, find the conditional clause and negate that conditional clause. So this is how we rephrase the sentence into a conditional statement:
If a baby bird is noisy, where "being noisy" is viewed as equivalent to being really hungry and healthy, then parents give the baby food.
A baby bird is noisy ( noisy = hungry & healthy) → parents feed the baby
A baby bird is NOT noisy ( noisy = hungry & healthy) → parents DO NOT feed the baby .
The question asks about the negation of the conclusion, which is parents do not feed the baby. So we negate the condition clause, that is, if the baby is not noisy, which is the same as if the baby is not really hungry or not healthy.
Let's examine the choices:
A. "Nestlings that are too weak to beg for food as vigorously as their nestmates." A is consistent with our finding, so A is the answer. B, C, and D sound plausible commonsensically, but there is no evidence for them, and there must be evidence for the claim, so A is the correct answer.
Ok, that’s all we have today. Let me know whether you can apply this strategy for yourself when solving TOEFL reading questions. Also, let me know if any part of the explanation is unclear or if you need more explanation. I will do my best to explain as clearly as possible.