(The Quick Way to Build Reading Power) Taken from Milada Broukal’s TOEFL Reading Flash

To improve your reading speed and comprehension, remember these general points: Read as widely as possible Read carefully and critically What is the main idea? What are the details? What can be inferred? What conclusions can be drawn? What can this word mean? What is the purpose of the author?

Read the question first. Read the question, not answer choices. When you know the kinds of questions you must answer, it will be easier to find the answers. Skim or read the passage quickly. Do not read word for word or in detail. Read quickly to find the main idea and general organization. Go back to the passage to answer questions. If you know the answer, you don’t need to go back to the passage. Leave the difficult questions until last. Take a guess when you don’t know the answer.

Answer all questions. Take a guess when you don’t know the answer. When you are taking a guess, first use a process of elimination. All the multiple-choice questions on the TOEFL follow the same principle (there ‘s one stem and four answer choices. One choice is correct, and the three incorrect choices are distracters. In other words, they distract you, or take your attention away from the correct answer.

Stem…… (A) Incorrect (B) Correct (C) Incorrect (D) Incorrect One of the distracters is almost correct, and the other two or more clearly incorrect. Stem…… (A) Almost Correct (B) Correct (C) Incorrect (D) Incorrect

Types of Reading Comprehension Questions

1.Reading for details 2.Reading for reference and vocabulary 3.Reading for main ideas 4.Reading for inference 5.Additional reading skills

1. Reading for Details

1. Reading for Details …(1) A. DETAIL QUESTIONS Detail questions ask you about specific information in the passage. Detail questions usually begin with the words: According to the passage………………….…… To answer detail questions, focus on the key word or words used in the question. Then you must scan the passage. When you scan a passage, you move your eyes quickly over the passage until you find the key words that you are looking for: a name, a date, a number.

1.According to the passage, polygraph tests (A) record a person’s physical reactions (B) measure a person’s thoughts (C) always reveal the truth about a person (D) make guilty people angry 2.According to the passage, what kind of questions are asked on the first part of polygraph test? (A) critical (B) unimportant (C) incriminating (D) emotional

1. Reading for details …(2) B.DETAIL QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT IS NOT IN THE PASSAGE This type of detail question ask about what is not in the passage or what is not true according to the passage. These questions have the word NOT or EXCEPT in capital letters. The following are examples of such questions: Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage? According to the passage, all of the following are true EXCEPT……….

1.Which of the following is NOT mentioned as something that is measured by a polygraph machine? (A) blood pressure (B) heart rate (C) breathing (D) eye movement 2.According to the passage, all the following subjects are mentioned as being taught in colleges in the 1700s EXCEPT (A) languages (B) science (C) medicine (D) economics

1. Reading for details …(3) C. LOCATING DETAILS In some detail questions you are asked where is the passage a particular piece of information is located. The answers to this type of question are line numbers. The following are examples of questions for locating details: At which point in the passage does the author discuss…………? Where in the passage does the author first mention……………? In which line does the author explain……………..? To answer such questions, scan the passage looking for the key words using the same technique as for detail questions.

1.Where in the passage does the author first mention how the test is given? (A) Lines 3-4 (B) Lines 4-5 (C) Lines 5-7 (D) Lines In which line does the author explain how some people learn to trick the polygraph? (A) Lines (B) Lines (C) Lines (D) Lines 23-26

2. Reading for Reference and Vocabulary

Reference words are in many cases pronouns such as “it”, “them”, “they”, or “this.” Reference questions ask what certain reference words, such as “they” or “this,” refer to. When answering reference questions be aware that the noun closest to the reference word may not always be the correct answer. If you are unable to answer a vocabulary-in-context question, try to guess the meaning from the context by looking for clues. Sometimes the meaning of the word is given near the word in the form of a synonym or paraphrase.

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1.The word “some” in line 2 refers to (A) American film (B) direction (C) movies (D) special effects 2.As used in the passage, the word “material” refers to (A) cloth (B) articles (C) matter (D) values 3.In line 7, the word “it” refers to (A) drag force (B) an object (C) the air (D) a plane 4.To which of following does the word “this” in line 12 refer? (A) A decrease in pressure over the wing (B) An increase in the speed of the air stream over the wing (C) Pressure waves preceding the plane (D) A rice in drag encountered by a subsonic plane Reference Questions

1. Influenza is an acute disease of respiratory tract. (A) a sharp (B) an important (C) a cutting (D) a severe 2. In line 12, the word “assumption” could be best replaced with (A) statement (B) belief (C) faith (D) imagining 3. The word “distinct” in line 11 is closest meaning to which of the following? (A) Difficult (B) Comparable (C) Definite (D) Practiced Vocabulary Questions

3. Reading for Main Ideas

3. Main Idea Questions Salah satu pertanyaan yang selalu muncul dalam Reading Comprehension adalah pertanyaan seputar ide utama (main idea). Ide utama adalah ide yang paling penting dalam sebuah teks atau menggambarkan tentang isi teks. Setiap teks memiliki sebuah ide utama yang terdiri dari beberapa sub bagian dalam setiap paragrafnya. Beberapa contoh pertanyaan-pertanyaan ide utama adalah What is the main idea of the passage? ………………………….. (1) What is the main idea expressed in the passage? ……………. (2) What does the passage mainly discuss? ………………………….. (3) With what topic is the passage mainly concerned? …………. (4) The primary idea of the passage is…… ……………….……………. (5) The main topic of the passage is…… ………………………………... (6)

Strategi dalam menjawab pertanyaan ide utama Ide utama tidak selalu muncul di awal kalimat dalam sebuah paragraf atau teks, karena bisa juga muncul di tengah atau akhir keduanya. Jika ide utama dalam teks sulit ditemukan, maka gabungkanlah setiap ide utama dalam setiap paragraf. Pastikan jawaban ide utama yang anda pilih dapat mewakili teks secara keseluruhan. Jika anda salah dalam menjawab pertanyaan ide utama, maka alasannya adalah a. terlalu spesifik b. terlalu umum

4. Reading for Inference

Inference questions (pertanyaan yang berhubungan dengan kesimpulan) mungkin merupakan pertanyaan tersulit dalam Reading Comprehension karena jawaban dari pertanyaan ini tidak terdapat di dalam teks. Contoh dari pertanyaan inference: a. Which of the following can be inferred about..? b. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage? c. From the passage, it can be inferred that…… d. The passage implies that …… e. The author implies that…. f. The passage suggests that….. g. It is most probable that……. Untuk menjawabnya, anda harus memutuskan kesimpulan logis apa saja yang sesuai dengan fakta yang terdapat di dalam teks. Hal ini bisa berupa apa yang diyakini oleh si penulis tetapi tidak terdapat di dalam teks.

Untuk menjawabnya, anda harus memutuskan kesimpulan logis apa saja yang sesuai dengan fakta yang terdapat di dalam teks. Hal ini bisa berupa apa yang diyakini oleh si penulis tetapi tidak terdapat di dalam teks. Strategi dalam Menjawab Pertanyaan Inference Telusuri informasi yang terdapat di dalam teks. Tentukan sebuah kesimpulan atau alasan tentang apa yang tersembunyi di dalam teks. Ingatlah bahwa jawaban dari pertanyaan ini tidak tercantum di dalam teks.

5. Additional Reading Skills

5. ADDITIONAL READING SKILLS 1.QUESTIONS ON CONTEXT 2.QUESTION ON TONE AND ATTITUDE 3.QUESTIONS ON INFORMATION THAT MIGHT PRECEDE OR PROCEED FROM THE PASSAGE 4.QUESTIONS ON MAIN PURPOSE 5.QUESTIONS ON DRAWING CONCLUSIONS 6.QUESTIONS ON ORGANIZATION

5.1. QUESTIONS ON CONTEXT Pertanyaan seputar konteks bergantung pada jenis teks yang disuguhkan dalam Reading Comprehension. a)Pertanyaan konteks dapat mengacu pada jenis publikasi teks. The passage would most likely be found in……… b)Pertanyaan konteks berhubungan dengan penulis teks. The passage was most probably written by a specialist in….. The passage was written most likely by an expert in……. The author is most likely a….. c)Pertanyaan konteks dapat mengacu pada pembaca teks. For whom has the author probably written the passage? The author had in mind when writing this passage was most likely a group of…………………. The information in this passage would most likely be of interest to… d)Pertanyaan konteks berhubungan dengan mata pelajaran/perkuliahan yang dipelajari. For what course would the passage probably assigned?

5.2. QUESTIONS ON TONE & ATTITUDE Pertanyaan seputar Tone dan Attitude mengacu pada perasaan penulis ketika menulis teks, contohnya: The tone of the passage could best be described as……… What tone does the author take in writing this passage? The author’s attitude toward…..could best be described as….. What is the author’s attitude toward…….? The author’s opinion of…..could best be described as one of How would the author probably feel about…….? Di bawah ini adalah contoh-contoh jawaban pertanyaan tone dan attitude positive negative neutral humorous disbelieving scientific supportive depressing objective favorable unfavorable Impersonal Contoh pertanyaan lain yang berhubungan dengan jenis ini adalah: The author of the passage would most likely agree with which of the following? Which of the following recommendations would the author most likely support?

5.3. QUESTIONS ON INFORMATION THAT MIGHT PRECEDE OR PROCEED FROM THE PASSAGE Bagian ini menanyakan apakah sebuah teks/paragraf merupakan bagian dari teks inti dan kira-kira apa ide utama dari teks sebelumnya atau Sesudahnya, contohnya: The paragraph (s) before this one most probably discussed the…… The paragraph following this one most probably discusses…… What was most probably discussed in the paragraph preceding the passage? What is most likely the topic of the paragraph following this one? 5.4. QUESTIONS ON MAIN PURPOSE Pertanyaan seputar tujuan utama berhubungan dengan sebab utama si penulis menulis teks tersebut, contohnya: What is the author’s main purpose in the passage? The author’s purpose in writing is to….. Why did the author write the passage? Jawaban dari pertanyaan di atas dimulai dengan infinitive seperti to discussto tell how to mentionto distinguish to persuadeto illustrate to summarizeto advise to compareto criticize to describeto explain