The TOEFL Exam Structure

THE TOEFL READING SECTION

The first part of the exam is the TOEFL Reading section. In the reading section, there
are three academic passages of approximately 700 words each. The subjects will
consist of texts you might find in a typical university textbook.

Following each passage are 10 questions about the reading passage. You will have one
hour to read the three passages and answer the 30 questions in total.

There are 10 types of questions in the Reading section of the TOEFL. The frequency of
each question type varies. Here is a helpful chart of the question types with examples of
the question phrasing.

The Reading Section Question Types

Frequency
Time to
Question Type (per Question Phrasing
Answer
section)

60 “The word _________ in paragraph 2 is

1. vocabulary 3-6
seconds closest in meaning to…"

“According to paragraph 4, what….”

90
2. factual information 4-8 “Which of the following…”
seconds
“It is stated in paragraph 4 that…”

“All of the following are mentioned in

120
3. negative factual information 2-4 paragraph 3 EXCEPT…”
seconds
“Which of the following is NOT mentioned....”

“What can be inferred from paragraph 5

90 about…”
4. inference 2-4
seconds “Paragraph 5 implies that…”
“Paragraph 5 suggests…”

5. rhetorical purpose 2-4 90 “In paragraph 6, the author discusses

1
 ________ in order to…”
seconds
“Why does the author mention…”

“Which of the sentences below best

120
6. sentence simplification 2-3 expresses the essential information in the
seconds
highlighted sentence in paragraph 4?”

120 “In paragraph 2 there is a missing sentence.

7. insert text 2-3
seconds Where would the sentence best fit?”

60 “The word _________ in paragraph 1 refers

8. reference 0-1
seconds to…”

“An introductory sentence for a brief

summary of the passage is provided below.
150
9. prose summary 2-3 Complete the summary by selecting the
seconds
THREE answer choices that express the most
important ideas in the passage."

“Complete the table below to summarize

150 information about _________ in the passage."
10. organization 0-1
seconds "Match the appropriate statements to
_________”

For more information about the TOEFL Reading section, check out this post by
Professional ESL Test Prep

THE TOEFL LISTENING SECTION

After the Reading section, you will have another hour to complete the Listening section.
The Listening section is divided into two identical parts. In each part, you will have three
listening passages: one conversation, between a student and campus employee, and
two academic lectures. The conversations last 2-4 minutes and the academic lectures
are approximately five minutes each.
You will be asked five questions after the conversation, ten in total, and six questions
after each of the four academic lectures, 24 in total. The question types, like in the
Reading section, vary. This chart explains the question types, with examples of
phrasing, and the frequency of the question type:

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 The Listening Section Question Types

Frequency
Question
Question Type (per Question Phrasing
Value
section)

"What is the topic of the

discussion?"
1. gist - content 6 1
"What is the professor
mainly discussing?"

"Why does the student

visit the professor?"
2. gist - purpose 3-5 1
"Why does the professor
mention...?"

"What is stated in the

passage about..."
3. detail 10-12 1-2
"According to the
speaker..."

"What is the professor's

oppinion of...?"
4. understanding the speaker's attitude 3-5 1
"What can be inferred
about the student?"

"What doest the speaker

mean when he says..."
5. understanding the function 3-4 1
"Why does the professor
say this..."

6. making inferences 5-6 1 "What can be inferred

about...?"
"What does the speaker

3
 imply about..?"

"How does the professor

7. understanding organization 4 1-3 organize the information
about..."

Curious what these conversations and lectures sound like?

Exam English provides some audio samples here.
Then you will get a 10 minutes break…
Use this break wisely. Stand up, stretch your legs, use the restroom, or have a small
snack. When you return, you will still have two hours left in your TOEFL test.

THE TOEFL SPEAKING SECTION

When you return to your computer, you will begin the speaking section. The structure of
this section is different from the reading and listening. In the speaking section, you will
encounter four questions. The first is an independent question, and the next three are
integrated questions. Let’s take a closer look at each since they all follow a different
structure.
The first question is usually a paired-choice question, which means you must decide
between two choices. For example:
“Do you agree or disagree: all high school students should wear school uniforms.”
The questions range in subject matter, so there is no way to prepare a specific answer
before the exam. You might be asked a question about business, travel, education,
family, friendship, and so on. After the question is asked, you will be given 15 seconds to
prepare a response and 45 seconds to speak.
Question two is the first of three integrated speaking questions. This is probably the
easiest of all the integrated speaking questions. First, you will read a short
announcement about a new rule or policy on campus.
Like question two, question three will begin with a short reading passage.
In task four, you are expected to listen to an academic topic for two to three minutes and
then report on the information you heard. You will be given 20 seconds to prepare and
60 seconds to speak. In your response, you must be able to identify the topic of the
lecture and the most important details.

The Speaking Section Question Types

Question Question Question Time Breakdown

4
 Type Details Explanation

Asks about

your general

opinion on a

wide range of
Independent Question 1 15 seconds to prepare
possible
Speaking Paired Choice 45 seconds to speak
issues. You

usually have

just two

options.

Report on the

opinion of one
Question 2
of the 50 seconds to read/take notes
Campus
speakers in the 60-120 seconds to listen/take notes
Announcement
conversation 30 seconds to prepare
and
and explain 60 seconds to speak
Conversation
why he or she

feels that way

Explain the
academic
Integrated
topic
Speaking
introduced in
Question 3 50 seconds to read/take notes
the reading
Academic 60-120 seconds to listen/take notes
and describe
Reading and 30 seconds to prepare
the main
Lecture 60 seconds to speak
points about

the topic

described in

the lecture.

Question 4 Sum up the 120-180 seconds to listen/take notes

5
 topic and main
Academic 20 seconds to prepare
points from the
Lecture 60 seconds to speak
lecture.

Here you can find some TOEFL Speaking topics for the independent speaking task with
sample answers.

THE TOEFL WRITING SECTION

Finally, you have arrived at the last section, the TOEFL Writing section.
The Writing section also lasts one hour.
Here, you will be expected to write an essay in response to two separate writing tasks.
The first is an integrated writing task, and the second is an independent writing task.
The integrated writing is almost identical to question #4 in the Speaking Section above.
You will read a passage, listen to a lecture, and then write about the two.
The last question on the exam is the independent writing task. You will be asked for
your opinion about a topic, similar to Speaking questions #1 and #2 above.

Here is a breakdown of the tasks and the time allocations for the TOEFL Writing section:

The Writing Section Question Types

Question Type Question Explanation Time to Answer

Integrated Essay - Connect the topic of the reading with the academic
3 minutes to read
Academic reading, lecture. Show how the main points in the reading are
2-3 minutes to listen
listening and writing contrasted by the lecturer. Only report on the
20 minutes to write
(250-300 words) information you heard and read

Independent Writing -

Write your opinion on a Write about your opinion. Include supporting reasons
30 minutes to write
random topic and personal anecdotes

(400-500 words)

Looking for more information on the Writing section?

Check out this link from the ETS website.

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Woo hoo! The TOEFL is so exciting, right?
Excited enough to download the PDF version of a free and complete TOEFL practice
test? Download our free Practice Test
Now that you are familiar with the structure of the TOEFL, it’s time to check out some
exclusive TST Prep TOEFL Tips.

Five Tips to Improve your TOEFL Score!

Here are five actions you must take while studying for the TOEFL so you can
improve your score.

TIP 1: GET USED TO THE CLOCK

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This is a timed iBT test! And, each section of the TOEFL lasts somewhere between 30
minutes to an hour. Therefore, it is very important to get used to working with the clock.
When studying at home, ALWAYS do practice tests under the test time constraints. This
will prepare you to work under pressure and manage your time on test day. See the time
breakdowns above for each section of the exam.
If you are struggling, practice without a timer first. Start to incorporate the timer with your
TOEFL studies once you feel more comfortable working under the clock.

TIP 2: TYPE WITHOUT SPELLCHECK

On the TOEFL exam, you will not have access to spellcheck. Therefore, you should be
practicing with spellcheck turned off! You are going to be responsible for finding your
own grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes on test day, so start practicing this
now!
This is especially true for the Writing section, where you will be writing 300 to 400-word
essays. Give yourself extra time to edit and proofread your answers since you won’t
have spellcheck there to do it for you.
Want more tips for how to tackle the Writing section?
Check out our Ten Awesome Tips for the Writing Section of the TOEFL® Test

TIP 3: TAKE NOTES LIKE A TOEFL PRO

Throughout the test, one of the most important things to do is to take notes! You will
need to give yourself a little extra time to gather your thoughts and plan your answers.
So, during the exam, you need to take good notes. Therefore, you should practice taking
notes on your practice tests too.
I can’t emphasize this enough.
Note taking is important for EVERY section of the exam!
Want to know more about taking notes in the Reading section?
Check out Guide to TOEFL Reading Time Management

TIP 4: STUDY LIKE AN AMERICAN!

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As you prepare for the TOEFL, you should do a lot of TOEFL practice tests. Grading the
TOEFL Reading and Listening sections of the exam is easy, but the speaking and
writing sections will require professional help from a teacher or TOEFL expert.
Don’t make the same mistake as others. You need someone who knows about the
TOEFL to listen to your speaking and read your writing responses. They will tell you your
strengths, weaknesses and exactly what you need to do to improve.

If you just download the free TOEFL practice PDF without asking someone to grade your
speaking and writing, then you are NOT putting yourself in a position to improve.
That’s why there are certified English teachers out there who are available to give you
feedback on your practice exams, especially for the Speaking and Writing sections.
Reach out to them to get the help you need while preparing for the TOEFL.
We offer Writing Evaluations from professional TOEFL teachers

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TIP 5: PREPARE FOR A NOISY TOEFL TEST

Be prepared for a noisy room on test day. At the test center, you will hear the voices of
other students because everyone will be responding to the speaking section questions at
different times.
There will also be noise from people dropping their pencils, coughing, opening, and
closing doors, etc. Trust us, it is not going to be ideal for test-taking.
So, in order to simulate this kind of test environment, take your complete TOEFL iBT
practice tests in a coffee shop or in another, louder area. That way, you will already
know how to ignore these kinds of distractions on test day!
Look, we know the TOEFL exam is a huge undertaking, and kudos to you for taking it
on!

10
The fastest and easiest way to your TOEFL score is through practice. Use this free test
to get started:

11
 Complete Test #13
Did you find these TOEFL tips helpful? Is there another TOEFL tip you believe is
useful?
Let us know in the comments section below.
And we are always here to help if you have any questions: contact@[Link]

But wait…
Do you notice something strange about this TOEFL Reading exercise?
It’s short! Usually, a TOEFL iBT Reading passage is 700 words, but this is just 100
words.
And there’s only one question after the passage (usually there are 10).
This unique approach to practicing the TOEFL Reading section is designed to help you
improve your reading skills and speed. But if you want to know how to use these TOEFL
Reading practice questions with answers to improve your reading score, here are five
easy steps to follow.

TOEFL Reading Practice Step 1:

Practice with short passages

If you’re like most students, then you want to practice in a way that looks exactly like the
test. You want to read a 700-word passage and answer 14 TOEFL reading questions in
less than 20 minutes.
Practicing for the test and replicating the conditions will help you prepare for the format
of the TOEFL, but it will not help you increase your reading comprehension or English
fluency.
Improvement comes when you reflect on your answers and identify why you did
something wrong.
Practice alone is not enough to help you improve, you must also reflect.
When you do a single reading passage and answer 14 questions about it, you are
reflecting on the entire experience, a 20-minute reading exercise, instead of a single
question. When you use these short reading passages, you get more immediate
feedback on your responses. This, in turn, will help you quickly identify the question
types and TOEFL reading topics you struggle with.
Besides providing you with more specific and immediate feedback, here are a few more
benefits of using short passages to practice:
1. More exposure to various topics
2. Study in short intervals of less than five minutes
3. Learn more vocabulary in less time
4. Build your reading skills
5. Master question and answer strategy
Once you dive in and start to answer the questions you will find these short passages to
be the exact answer you have been looking for to help you improve your TOEFL
Reading skills.

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 TOEFL Reading Practice Step 2:
Don’t forget to review the structure
These short TOEFL Reading samples are just like the TOEFL, only shorter. It’s still
important for you, however, to get a clear understanding of exactly what to expect from
the TOEFL Reading section on test day.
Here are some of the most important points:
 Read three academic passages of 700 words
 Take 18 minutes per passage, 54 minutes in total
 Answer 10 questions per passage
There is no way to predict what kind of passages you will receive in your TOEFL test,
but here are some of the more popular TOEFL reading topics:

✔Biology ✔Ecology

✔History ✔Astronomy

✔Geology ✔Education

✔Psychology ✔Art

✔Environmental Science ✔Archaeology

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Learn exactly what to expect on test day. Download your free complete TOEFL Test
Now, you might be confused by all of the question types in the TOEFL Reading
practice test PDF…
…and you’re not alone!

14
There are ten reading question types and some have strange names like rhetorical
purpose and pronoun referent questions.
But don’t worry.
In the chart below, all of the question types have been laid out and separated based on
frequency, common lexical structure, and the time it should take you to answer each.

The Reading Section Question Types

Frequency
Time to
Question Type (per Question Phrasing
Answer
section)

60 “The word _________ in paragraph 2 is closest

1. vocabulary 3-6
seconds in meaning to…"

“According to paragraph 4, what….”

90
2. factual information 4-8 “Which of the following…”
seconds
“It is stated in paragraph 4 that…”

“All of the following are mentioned in

120
3. negative factual information 2-4 paragraph 3 EXCEPT…”
seconds
“Which of the following is NOT mentioned....”

“What can be inferred from paragraph 5

90 about…”
4. inference 2-4
seconds “Paragraph 5 implies that…”
“Paragraph 5 suggests…”

“In paragraph 6, the author discusses ________

90
5. rhetorical purpose 2-4 in order to…”
seconds
“Why does the author mention…”

6. sentence simplification 2-3 120 “Which of the sentences below best expresses
seconds the essential information in the highlighted

15
 sentence in paragraph 4?”

120 “In paragraph 2 there is a missing sentence.

7. insert text 2-3
seconds Where would the sentence best fit?”

60
8. reference 0-1 “The word _________ in paragraph 1 refers to…”
seconds

“An introductory sentence for a brief summary

of the passage is provided below. Complete
150
9. prose summary 2-3 the summary by selecting the THREE answer
seconds
choices that express the most important ideas
in the passage."

“Complete the table below to summarize

150 information about _________ in the passage."
10. organization 0-1
seconds "Match the appropriate statements to
_________”

TOEFL Reading Practice Step 3:

Practice with a timer

16
 If you have done some TOEFL Reading practice tests already, then you know that time
management is an issue for the reading section. Few people can read the entire
passage and answer all of the questions in a given passage in less than 18 minutes.
It takes skill to read a question, understand the meaning, identify the key words, and find
that information in the passage in less than two minutes. Even if you understand the
question and know where to look, it may still be challenging to identify which information
is essential to help you answer the question.
When you work through these short passages, you can answer based on question type.
Each passage will be followed by a single and predictable question.
But I can’t emphasize this enough…
…be sure to challenge yourself by setting a timer. And keep in mind that some TOEFL
questions take longer than others.
For example, in the case of vocabulary questions, give yourself only 60 seconds to
answer. However, if you are working on detail questions, set the timer for 90
seconds. (refer to the chart above for each question type’s timing)
 Question 2
 Answer Key
Human Anatomy
Human anatomy is the scientific study of the body’s structures. Some of these structures are
very small and can only be observed and analyzed with the assistance of a microscope. Other
larger structures can readily be seen, manipulated, measured, and weighed. The word
“anatomy” comes from a Greek root that means “to cut apart.” Human anatomy was first studied
by observing the exterior of the body and observing the wounds of soldiers and other injuries.
17
Later, physicians were allowed to dissect bodies of the dead to augment their knowledge. When
a body is dissected, its structures are cut apart in order to observe their physical attributes and
their relationships to one another. Dissection is still used in medical schools, anatomy courses,
and in pathology labs.
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 8.5

2. Which of the following is true about human anatomy?

1. The word “anatomy” is derived from a French root that means “cut”
2. The observation of soldiers’ wounds were originally used to study human anatomy
3. Human and animal bodies were dissected in labs to understand human anatomy
4. The smaller structures of the human body need to be observed with a telescope
This TOEFL reading practice example is challenging, but, over time, you will get used to
the time restrictions and it will get easier. You will start to improve the speed and
accuracy of your answers, which will improve your performance on complete TOEFL iBT
Reading practice passages.
Lean more about the how to manage your time better for the Reading section of the
TOEFL test.

TOEFL Reading Practice Step 4:

Review your answers
Think of your favorite professional athlete.
Now imagine the incredible amount of work they endured to become one of the best at
their sport.
Of course, they practiced, but, more importantly, they watched the game film.
After the game, most professional athletes sit in a room and watch their performance. In
American football, players spend dozens of hours every week watching their games
because they understand that improvement comes through the study of what went
wrong in the past.
Improvement comes through the study of past performance.

18
 Your TOEFL test is a performance of your English ability. Use the information you get
from practicing your reading comprehension skills to understand your personal strengths
and weaknesses. After you know what your problem is – for example, you have trouble
answering inference questions – map out a course of action that will help you improve.

Most students only practice. Sure, everyone checks their answers, but only for a score,
not to gain a deeper understanding of why they were wrong and how they can improve
in the future.
Here are some questions to ask yourself after you have answered a question wrong:
 Did I misread the passage or the question?
 Was there difficult vocabulary that I didn’t understand? Is this word part of the Academic Word
List?
 Is there a particular question type I struggle to answer? What’s the answer and how do I fix it?
 What can I do to ensure I don’t make the same mistake again?
In the ELT world (English Language Teaching), this is referred to
as reflective practice. It’s popular in many other fields, like medicine and management,
but it has also become an important component of improving teacher performance.

Failing to review your answers is just one of many mistakes students make when
preparing for the reading section of the TOEFL. You can check out the five most
common TOEFL Reading mistakes and how to avoid them below.

19
TOEFL Reading Practice Step 5:
Improve your vocabulary

Now at this point you:

20
1. Understand why these short reading passages are so helpful
2. Reviewed the overall structure of the TOEFL Reading section
3. Know how important it is to set a timer and develop your time management skills
4. Are ready to not only practice the questions, but review the answers

It’s now time to work on the most critical component of your TOEFL Reading score: your
vocabulary.
How can I improve my reading comprehension for the TOEFL?
Simply put, if you don’t understand the words, you can’t understand the passage.
If you are not getting the score you want in the reading section, then you must invest the
necessary time and energy into studying vocabulary. Now, there are thousands of words
in the English language, so it’s hard to know which are important.

There are a lot of vocabulary lists, but this is the only one you need for the TOEFL
Reading, download The Ultimate Vocabulary List for the TOEFL – free PDF Originally
developed in 2001 by Averil Coxhead, a distinguished linguist and researcher, she found
that there were certain words that consistently show up throughout academic texts,
regardless of the topic.

Unlike other TOEFL vocabulary lists, this one has been academically researched and
verified by working professionals in the English Language Teaching Community.
If you know these 570 words, it will have a dramatic impact on your TOEFL Reading
score.
Read more about our ultimate vocabulary list for the TOEFL test.

21
 Conclusion

So, how can you improve your reading skills for the TOEFL?
 Practice with short passages
 Review the structure
 Use a timer
22
 Review your answers
 Improve your vocabulary
Enough talking…
You’re here to practice!
These 100 questions are an excerpt from our Practice Pack for the TOEFLReading:
500 Questions and Answers.
Nearly unlimited TOEFL practice specifically designed to build your skills.
But if you are just ready to sink your teeth into some free online reading practice: Here
are the first 100 Reading Practice Questions (free download).
Did we miss anything? Any more advice you would like to add about the TOEFL Reading?
Let us know in the comments below.
Thanks for reading!

Here’s how to improve your vocabulary:

 Step 1: – Identify your vocabulary weaknesses

23
 Step 2: – Find your flashcard app

 Step 3: – Choose your flashcard style

 Step 4: – Create your study schedule

Why is the Ultimate Vocabulary List for the

TOEFL special?
Applied linguist Averil Coxhead developed the Academic Word List in 2001.
She wanted to determine if certain words showed up in an academic text, regardless of
the subject.
 law
 finance
 history
 psychology
 biology
 chemistry
After her research, Professor Coxhead found that these 570 words show up with great
frequency across multiple disciplines, no matter the subject.
This is the only TOEFL vocabulary list you need to study if you need vocabulary help,
especially for the TOEFL reading section.
The TOEFL text in the reading and the content in the listening are academic texts to
contain the same vocabulary from the academic word list.
We have taken her list one step further and included all of the forms of each headword,
so you can see how words are connected.

The Academic Word Family List

WORD VERB NOUN ADJECTIVE ADVERB

abandon (v./n.) abandonment abandoned

abstraction,

abstract abstractor,
abstracted abstractedly, abstractly
(adj./v./n.) abstractionism,

abstractionist

academy (n.) academics, academical, academically

academism, academic

academia,

academicism,

24
 academician

access (n./v.) accessibility accessible accessibly

accommodate accommodation, accommodative,

accommodatingly
(v.) accommodationist accommodating

<="" td="" style="box-sizing:

border-box; vertical-align: middle;
accompaniment, padding: 0.857em 1em; border: 1px
accompany (v.) accompanying
accompanist solid rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12px; -
webkit-font-smoothing:
antialiased;">

accumulation,
accumulate (v.) accumulative
accumulator

accurate (adj.) accuracy accurate accurately

achievement,
achieve (v.) achievable
achiever

After you download this powerful TOEFL Vocabulary pdf list, follow the steps below so
you can actually remember their meaning and use them on test day.

Step 1 – Identify your vocabulary weaknesses

First, review the list and circle the words you don’t know. You should find that there are a
bunch of words you actually already know the meaning of.
Below is an example:

The Academic Word Family List

WORD VERB NOUN ADJECTIVE ADVERB

abandon (v./n.) abandonment abandoned

25
 abstraction,
abstract
abstractor,
abstracted abstractedly, abstractly
(adj./v./n.) abstractionism,

abstractionist

academics,

academism,
academical,
academy (n.) academia, academically
academic
academicism,

academician

access (n./v.) accessibility accessible accessibly

accommodate accommodation, accommodative,

accommodatingly
(v.) accommodationist accommodating

<="" td="" style="box-sizing:

border-box; vertical-align:
middle; padding: 0.857em
accompaniment,
accompany (v.) accompanying 1em; border: 1px solid rgb(0,
accompanist
0, 0); font-size: 12px; -
webkit-font-smoothing:
antialiased;">

accumulation,
accumulate (v.) accumulative
accumulator

accurate (adj.) accuracy accurate accurately

achievement,
achieve (v.) achievable
achiever

Notice how I only circle the headwords on the left. Don’t try to study every single word in
a given row. They all have a similar meaning to the headword. All you need to

26
 understand is that each form of the word (verb, noun, adjective, adverb) is connected to
the meaning of the headword on the left.
If you know the meaning of the headword, you know the meaning of all the other words
in the same row.
Once you have identified the words you need to study, it’s time to move on to flashcards.
Wait, wait, wait… flashcards?
YES!
Flashcards are amazing for studying vocabulary because they use a spaced repetition
system. When you open up your flashcard app, they will show you the vocabulary your
brain is about to forget.

Believe it or not, there is actually an algorithm for how likely you are to remember
something, and it is built into some of the more popular flashcard apps. Check out the
graph:

Source: What is the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve?

Notice how likely you are to forget something if you don’t review it after 3 days! That’s
what makes flashcards such a powerful tool for building your TOEFL vocabulary.
Pretty cool, right?
No? Well, I’m a teacher, I get excited by educational apps!
Step 2 – Find your flashcard app
Flashcards are your number one tool for studying TOEFL vocabulary words.
Here are some apps you can try. Find the one that suits you best.
 Anki – The most powerful flashcard app on the market, but hard to use.
 Quizlet – This is a popular choice amongst teachers and students
 Cram – A free and simple flashcard app.
There are dozens of flashcard apps out there. Do a bit of Googling and find the one
that’s right for you!

Step 3 – Choose your flashcard style

27
 Make your own flashcards.
When you start to use these flashcard apps, you will notice pre-made decks. While
downloading a pre-made deck may look like a great way to save time, in the long run, it
will have a negative impact on the amount of information you retain.

One of the best ways to remember new TOEFL vocabulary is to think about it on your
own. Figure out the meaning and write out a few example sentences on your own. You
can even take it one step further and imagine you are a teacher who has to help another
student learn this new word.

Use this list of words to create your own flashcards and feel free to experiment with the
design.

Here’s an example from Magoosh’s flashcard app.

These are the elements included in this example:

1. The vocabulary word along with an audio file of the pronunciation

2. The definition of the word and part of speech
3. An example sentence

28
Here’s another example of one of my own flashcards when I was studying Japanese
with Anki:

29
30
 There are a few things added to this example:
1. An image to provide a visual association with the word
2. The word in Japanese along with an audio file
3. A mnemonic to help me recall the word
4. Three options contingent on how well I remembered the word.
***Also, keep in mind, when you are studying, you will just see the word on one side and
then you will have to guess the meaning or example sentence before revealing the
answer. Think of flashcards like mini-tests.
Testing is how to measure whether you truly know something. Consistent testing is how
to remember what you have learned.
Step 4 – Create your study schedule
I got this idea from a friend of mine who wanted to cook more homecooked meals. He
was eating out for lunch and gaining weight.
Like all of us, he struggled to find the time to prepare well-balanced homecooked meals
daily (and don’t forget all the dishes!).
He started to prepare his meals for the week on Sunday. He batched all of his cooking
and washing time to a single day. He separated his lunch for each day in the refrigerator
to save time each day and eat healthy without even thinking about it.
Do the same for your TOEFL vocabulary studies. Plan out the when and where you plan
to study each day and what material you will go over. Actually, write it down, or use a
spreadsheet like the example below.

1/28 1/29 1/30

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY

8:00 - 8:15 - Review

8:00 - 8:15 - Review flashcards
flashcards
8:00 AM 8:15 - 8:30 - Practice writing
8:15 - 8:30 - Create new
example sentences
flashcards

9:00 AM

9:30 AM

10:00
AM

10:30
AM

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 11:00
AM

11:30
AM

12:00
PM

12:30 - 1:00 - Meet

12:30 teacher,
PM share example sentences,

edit

1:00 PM
The very fact that you physically write out your weekly study schedule will make it far
more likely that you stick to it.

In Conclusion

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 Again, don’t forget to pick up your copy of your Ultimate Vocabulary List for the
TOEFL test.
This Academic Word List has been proven to contain 570 of the most frequent words
that show up in academic texts across multiple disciplines.
But remember…
Downloading this vocabulary list isn’t enough to remember the meaning and usage of all
these words.
You have to practice, and the best way to practice is by creating your very own
flashcards.
Here are the steps you need to take to improve your TOEFL vocabulary with flashcards:
 Step 1: Identify your vocabulary weaknesses
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 Step 2: Find your flashcard app
 Step 3: Choose your flashcard style
 Step 4: Create your study schedule

I know this TOEFL stuff can get a bit frustrating sometimes. So don’t hesitate to reach
out and let me know if you have any questions or concerns: contact@[Link]
Did I miss anything? Or do you have a comment?
Please add your ideas in the comments section below.
I promise to respond to every single one!

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