TOEFL ITP, GMAT, GRE-READINGS

Resources:

ETS-GRE, GMAT OFFICIAL PREP,

ITP-PBT PEARSON EDUCATION

THE OBJECTIVES:

How to read/

comprehend better

How to read

faster (more

efficient)

How to think in Englishbetter

Reading Skills

Previewing and predicting

-Scanning

-Guessing word meanings

-Making inferences

-Skimming

-Understanding word reference

Reading Skills:

Previewing and PredictingPreviewing:The purpose: To guess an idea of what the “text” is about

(before reading a text)

What to preview: - a map, before people start traveling

- academic texts

- articles to read in newspapers

- products, before people buy, etc

How to preview: a. read the title

b. look at the pictures (if there are any)

c. read the first few sentences in the first

paragraph

d. read the first line of the other paragraph

e. read the last sentence of the last paragraph

f. watch for names, dates, and number

Reading Skill:

Previewing and Predicting (cont.)

Predicting:The purpose: To tell what will happen next or what might

have happened before

What to predict: - The content of the text

- The next paragraph

- The previous paragraph

- The end of the story, etc

How to predict: a. read the title

b. look at the pictures (if there are any)

c. read the first/the last sentence of the

paragraph

d. guess what the text is about or what will

happen next (before, while or after

Reading Skills:

Scanning

The purpose: to extract specific information without

reading through the whole text.

What to scan: - a telephone book

- a list of movies in the newspaper

- an index in a textbook

- the ads in a newspaper

- a word in a dictionary, etc.

How to scan: a.read the question; find the key word

b.look for the key word in the page

c.run your finger down the page till you find

the answer

Reading Skills:

Guessing word meaningThe purpose: To look up the meaning of “new words”

without looking at a dictionary

How to guess:

1.The meaning of new word sometimes follows the verb be.

(e.g. Confetti is small pieces of colored paper showered on people at weddings or parties).

2.Punctuation may also give clues to the meaning of a new word.

(e.g. I always avoid festivities-joyful event-as best as I can)

3.The conjunction “or”, “and”, “but” may sometimes help determine the meaning of a difficult word in a sentence.

(e.g. We will serve a flat kind of Mexican bread or tortillas)

4.Reader can sometimes find the meaning of a new word in another sentence or sentence part.

(e.g. Barbara is such a meticulous person. She carefully pays attention to every detail of her work.

5.Based on the context of the passage and vocabulary building (prefix & suffix) : pre…, mis…, ir…., ….able, ….less, etc . For example: prewedding, irrational, predictable, useless, etc

Reading skills:

Skimming

The purpose: To find out the purpose of the

text, the topic, the main idea,

and the supporting details

How to skim: It consists of quickly running

one’s eyes across a whole text

to get the gist.

What to skim: a paragraph, an essay, an

article, a chapter, etc

Reading skills:

Making Inferences

The purpose: To infer or figure out the hidden meaning of something

when the writer does not express something directly

How to make inferences:

1. Using our knowledge of a subject

2. Using our cultural knowledge

3. To answer questions on inferences, search for stated information

from which probable conclusions can be made.

4. Read all the option carefully.

5. Locate in the passage the information from which you can make an

inference or draw a probable conclusion.

6. Match your inferences/conclusions with the options. Eliminate the

options that are definitely wrong.

Understanding word reference

To identify the referents of the

pronoun (e.g.it, they, those, them,

one, ones, itself, etc), you should

look in the previous phrases and

sentences, for a noun or an idea

that meaningfully matches with the

pronoun or the word in question.

TOEFL ITP-

READING

Reading is tested in the third section called Reading Comprehension

5 passages, 50 questions, 55 minutes (1.1 min per question)

Only one type: Multiple Choice

TOEFL ITP-READING

Direct detail from a passage

TOEFL ITP-READING

Key word: obsidian

Look at: because of the

speed…….rock results

Answer: A

TOEFL ITP-READING

GRE® General

Test: Verbal

Reasoning

Question Types

• Reading Comprehension

• Text Completion

• Sentence Equivalence

GRE-Reading Comprehension

Multiple-choice Questions — Select One Answer Choice: These are the traditional multiple-choice questions with five answer choices of which you must select one.

Multiple-choice Questions — Select One or More Answer Choices: These provide three answer choices and ask you to select all that are correct; one, two or all three of the answer choices may be correct. To gain credit for these questions, you must select all the correct answers, and only those; there is no credit for partially correct answers.

Select-in-Passage: These questions ask you to select the sentence in the passage that meets a certain description. To select a sentence, click on any word in the sentence or select the sentence with the keyboard. In longer passages, the question will usually apply to only one or two specified paragraphs; you will not be able to select a sentence elsewhere in the passage.

There is a balance among reading comprehension passages across three different subject matter areas: humanities, social sciences (including business) and natural sciences. The passages range in length from one paragraph to four or five paragraphs.

GRE-Reading Comprehension

Questions 1 to 3 are based on this passage

Reviving the practice of using elements of popular music in classical composition, an approach that had been in hibernation in the United States during the 1960s, composer Philip Glass (born 1937) embraced the ethos of popular music in his compositions. Glass based two symphonies on music by rock musicians David Bowie and Brian Eno, but the symphonies' sound is distinctively his. Popular elements do not appear out of place in Glass's classical music, which from its early days has shared certain harmonies and rhythms with rock music. Yet this use of popular elements has not made Glass a composer of popular music. His music is not a version of popular music packaged to attract classical listeners; it is high art for listeners steeped in rock rather than the classics.

Select only one answer choice

1. The passage addresses which of the following issues related to Glass's use of popular elements in his classical compositions?

A. How it is regarded by listeners who prefer rock to the classics

B. How it has affected the commercial success of Glass's music

C. Whether it has contributed to a revival of interest among other composers in using popular elements in their compositions

D. Whether it has had a detrimental effect on Glass's reputation as a composer of classical music

E. Whether it has caused certain of Glass's works to be derivative in quality

Answer: E

GRE-Reading Comprehension

Reviving the practice of using elements of popular music in classical composition, an approach that had been in hibernation in the United States during the 1960s, composer Philip Glass (born 1937) embraced the ethos of popular music in his compositions. Glass based two symphonies on music by rock musicians David Bowie and Brian Eno, but the symphonies' sound is distinctively his. Popular elements do not appear out of place in Glass's classical music, which from its early days has shared certain harmonies and rhythms with rock music. Yet this use of popular elements has not made Glass a composer of popular music. His music is not a version of popular music packaged to attract classical listeners; it is high art for listeners steeped in rock rather than the classics.

Select One or More Answer Choices

2. The passage suggests that Glass's work displays which

of the following qualities?

A. A return to the use of popular music in

classical compositions

B. An attempt to elevate rock music to an artistic status

more closely approximating that of classical music

C. A long-standing tendency to incorporate elements

from two apparently disparate musical styles

Answer: A and C

Reviving the practice of using elements of popular music in classical composition, an approach that had been in hibernation in the United States during the 1960s, composer Philip Glass (born 1937) embraced the ethos of popular music in his compositions. Glass based two symphonies on music by rock musicians David Bowie and Brian Eno, but the symphonies' sound is distinctively his. Popular elements do not appear out of place in Glass's classical music, which from its early days has shared certain harmonies and rhythms with rock music. Yet this use of popular elements has not made Glass a composer of popular music. His music is not a version of popular music packaged to attract classical listeners; it is high art for listeners steeped in rock rather than the classics.

Select-in-Passage

3. Select the sentence that distinguishes two ways of integrating rock and classical music.

Answer: the last sentence of the passage.

GRE-Reading Comprehension

GRE-Text Completion Questions

Directions: For each blank select one entry from the corresponding column of

choices. Fill all blanks in the way that best completes the text.

It is refreshing to read a book about our planet by an author who does not allow facts to be (i)__________ by politics: well aware of the political disputes about the effects of human activities on climate and biodiversity, this author does not permit them to (ii)__________ his comprehensive description of what we know about our biosphere. He emphasizes the enormous gaps in our knowledge, the sparseness of our observations, and the (iii)__________, calling attention to the many aspects of planetary evolution that must be better understood before we can accurately diagnose the condition of our planet.

Answer: A (overshadowed), E (obscure) and I (superficiality of our theories).

Sample Question 1 Answers.

Blank (i) Blank (ii) Blank (iii)

(A)

overshadowed

(D) enhance (G) plausibility of

our hypotheses

(B) invalidated (E) obscure (H) certainty of

our entitlement

(C) illuminated (F) underscore (I) superficiality

of our theories

GRE-Text Completion Questions

Quiz

Vain and prone to violence,

Caravaggio could not handle

success: the more

his (i)__________ as an

artist increased, the

more (ii)__________ his

life became.

Answer: C and D

Sample Question 3 Answers.

Blank (i) Blank (ii)

(A) temperance (D) tumultuous

(B) notoriety (E) providential

(C) eminence (F) dispassionate

1.Explanation

GRE-Sentence Equivalence

Directions: Select the two answer choices that, when used to complete the sentence, fit the meaning

of the sentence as a whole and produce completed sentences that are alike in meaning.

1. Although it does contain some pioneering ideas, one would hardly characterize the work as __________.

A. orthodox

B. eccentric

C. original

D. trifling

E. conventional

F. innovative

Answer:

C (original) and F (innovative)

GRE-Sentence Equivalence

Quiz

1. It was her view that the country's problems had

been _______ by foreign technocrats, so that to

ask for such assistance again would be

counterproductive.

A. ameliorated

B. ascertained

C. diagnosed

D. exacerbated

E. overlooked

F. worsened

Answer: D and F

GMAT-Reading Comprehension

The Verbal section uses multiple-

choice questions to measure your

ability to read and comprehend

written material, to reason and

evaluate arguments, and to correct

written material to conform to

standard written English.

Verbal section includes content from a

variety of topics.

You may be generally familiar with

some of the material.

Reading comprehension questions

are intermingled with critical

reasoning and sentence correction

questions throughout the Verbal

section of the test.

You will have 65 minutes to complete

the Verbal section, or an average of

about 1 ¾ minutes to answer each

question.

Questions begin with written

passages up to 350 words long.

The passages discuss topics from the

social sciences, humanities, the

physical or biological sciences, and

such business-related fields as

marketing, economics, and human

resource management

Each of the reading comprehension questions is based on the content of a passage.

After reading the passage answer all questions pertaining to it on the basis of what

is stated or implied in the passage. For each question, select the best answer of the

choices given.

Answers: D and D

Quiz

Answer: B