TOEFL Reading: Current Tasks and Worked Examples
Current TOEFL iBT Reading combines word completion, everyday texts and short academic passages. Preparing only with the older two-long-passage format leaves gaps in that practice. The activities below are original teaching examples, not official ETS questions or a full adaptive test.
ETS lists three task types: Complete the Words, Read in Daily Life and Read an Academic Passage. Check the official Reading overview for the current specification.
What to practise for each task
- Word completion: combine sentence grammar, meaning and spelling. A word that fits the topic may still have the wrong ending.
- Everyday reading: establish who wrote the message, why, and what action or detail matters. Read restrictions and exceptions carefully.
- Academic reading: connect the main point to its evidence, follow contrasts and infer only what the passage supports.
Complete the Words: original practice
The reading room is qui___, so students can concentrate.
Complete the partially written word.
Show answer and explanation
quiet
The missing ending is et. The adjective describes the room, and the consequence about concentration supports the meaning.
Read in Daily Life: original practice
Library notice: The second floor is closed on Wednesday for repairs. Reserved books can still be collected at the ground-floor desk.
Can a student collect a reserved book on Wednesday?
Show answer and explanation
Yes, at the ground-floor desk.
The closure applies to one floor. The second sentence explicitly preserves the collection service; closed does not mean every service is unavailable.
Read an Academic Passage: original practice
In a classroom study, two groups learned the same word pairs. One reviewed all pairs in a single session. The other spread the same amount of review time over three days. A week later, the second group recalled more pairs. The researchers suggested that the timing of practice, rather than the total time alone, influenced retention.
Which explanation is supported by this passage?
Show answer and explanation
Distributing the review sessions may have helped later recall.
The total review time was the same. The passage compares the distribution of that time, so more total studying is not the supported explanation. This is an invented practice passage, not a report of a cited study.
Why a tempting answer can still be wrong
An option may repeat a word from the text but attach it to the wrong person, time or cause. Before choosing, restate what the question asks. Then find the smallest piece of text that supports your answer. Reject an option that adds certainty, changes a number, or relies on facts outside the passage.
Build a useful reading error log
Record the question, your choice, the supporting words and the reason your first answer failed. Use concrete labels such as missed exception, wrong word form or unsupported inference. Repeat a similar task after reviewing that reason. A practice percentage is useful for tracking your own work; it is not an official TOEFL score conversion.