Cracking the toefl ibt 2008 part 1

Wrong Answers One of the disadvantages of a multiple-choice test is that the answer to every question is right there on the screen.. For each question in this book, be sure to review b

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Cracking the

TOEFL

iBT) 0

WHAT’S IN THIS BOOK

Cracking the TOEFL iBT contains four parts

1 The Orientation, which is what you're reading now

2 The Core Concepts, which examine each section of the TOEFL and identify the

basic skills necessary for successfully complete the exam By working through the

exercises in this section, you will have a greater understanding of how the integrat-

ed tasks on the TOEFL fit together

3 The Strategies, which give you a detailed look at each question type on the TOEFL,

as well as the appropriate strategies to crack it Questions in the Listening and

Speaking sections are accompanied by an audio CD-ROM

4 The Full-Length Practice Test, which lets you practice under real testing conditions

after you've worked through all the exercises and drills in the previous two sec-

tions The practice exam includes detailed explanations for every question, as well

as sample speaking and writing responses In addition, the audio CD-ROM includes samples of the types of conversations and lectures that test takers will actually hear

to give you a good idea of what to expect and help you develop your listening skills

WHAT’S NOT IN THIS BOOK

This book is primarily designed to aid you in preparing to take the TOEFL It does not provide a comprehensive grammar guide or extensive English vocabulary lessons By working through the book, you'll be able to pick up new vocabulary and some grammar rules, but if you need more help with the basics, there a number of resources available

e The Princeton Review’s Grammar Smart and Word Smart books (available wherever

you purchased this book) provide extensive help with grammar and vocabulary

¢ Reading magazines such as Time, Discover, Entertainment Weekly, Sports Illustrated

and newspapers such as USA Today will help your comprehension and vocabulary

® One of the more enjoyable ways to learn the language is to watch television and

listen to the radio Almost any show or program will be helpful

¢ A quick search of the Internet will turn up a number of helpful websites devoted to

helping people learn English

This book is more useful if you are comfortable with the English language If you are still hav- ing trouble with English, build up your confidence with the language first, then work through this book

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

The material in Cracking the TOEFL iBT is provided to help students of all levels achieve higher scores

on the test Ideally, all students should work through the sections of the book in the order in which they are presented Even students who are fairly comfortable speaking, reading, and writing English will benefit from the information in the Core Concepts section (Part II)

Of course, if you feel that you have a strong grasp of the material, you are free to skip ahead to the

10 MB CRACKING THE TOEFL

Strategies section (Part III) to start working on TOEFL questions If you find you are not progressing

as you'd hoped to, return to Part II and work through it first

The best way to prepare for the TOEFL is to practice as much as possible, and this book gives you the chance to work on more than 200 sample questions However, to get maximum value from this book, you must use the strategies and techniques we present, even if you feel our approach to the TOEFL sometimes feels awkward or inefficient You must trust that our techniques and strategies do work, and you should practice them accordingly

CAN I REALLY IMPROVE MY SCORE?

Yes Doing well on the TOEFLis a skill, and as with any skill, it can be learned This book provides you with the tools necessary to do better on the TOEFL, but it is up to you to apply them Work through the book at a comfortable pace Take time to understand the strategies and techniques and use them

Look back at the questions you've answered: both the ones you answered correctly and the ones you

missed Figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are on the test Many test takers find that if they fail to use the strategies we offer, their scores don’t change However, test takers who do master

our techniques and strategies do, in fact, improve their scores

Berore WE BEGIN

Before we discuss the TOEFL, there are a few basic principles to keep in mind for any standardized

multiple-choice test

Wrong Answers

One of the disadvantages of a multiple-choice test is that the answer to every question is right there

on the screen To minimize this disadvantage, test writers have to make the wrong answers seem cor- rect; often, the wrong answers are particularly appealing, and test takers fall into the trap of picking

answers that seem too good to be true

Learning to recognize and avoid these trap answers is one of the keys to your success on the TOEEL For each question in this book, be sure to review both the right and wrong answers so you

have an idea of what both a good and bad answer look like Also, pay particular attention to our discussion of common trap answers in the Reading and Listening sections

Increase Your Odds

Identifying wrong answers greatly improves your chances of getting a question correct On the TOEFL, each multiple-choice question has four answer choices, which means you have a 25 percent (1

in 4) chance of guessing correctly However, by using Process of Elimination (POE) to remove wrong answers, you greatly increase your odds Finding and eliminating just one wrong answer means you

have a 33 percent (1 in 3) chance of guessing correctly, and eliminating two answers raises your odds

of guessing correctly to 50 percent (1 in 2)! This is an important fact of which to be aware Although

you will not be able to answer every question on the TOEFL correctly, you can increase your score simply by increasing your odds when guessing

TAKING THE TOEFL iBT

Keep the following advice in mind before taking the TOEFL iBT

COMPUTER PRACTICE

The TOEFL is offered only on computer, so make sure you re comfortable with the basic functions

No specialized knowledge is required, but you should know how to use a mouse Some basic typing

skills will also be helpful on the Writing section

Tue Week Berore THE TEST

You should allow yourself about four to six weeks of preparation time before you take the TOEFL You cannot cram for the TOEFL, but there are some things you can do on the final week before the test

1 Review strategies: Look back over the strategies in this book Make sure you are

comfortable with them

2 Review tasks: Before the test, review the four different tasks on the TOEFL (Read-

ing, Listening, Speaking, and Writing) Familiarize yourself with the format and the

question types you'll see on test day

3 Know the directions: Don’t waste time on test day reading the directions for each

task Learn the directions ahead of time

4 Warm-up questions: Look back at the questions you've completed Review how

you approached each one Note any trap answers and any question types that were particularly difficult for you

5 Have a plan: Make sure you know the format for your speaking and writing tasks Review the structure your responses should take

Test Day

On the night before the test, put your practice materials aside and give yourself a break Make sure you know where your test center is, and plan to arrive at least 30 minutes before your scheduled test time Be sure to dress comfortably and bring a valid photo ID—such as a passport—to the test center You should also bring two pencils to take notes, although many centers will provide pencils You may not take anything into the testing center, so do not bring food, backpacks, suitcases, or laptops

12 Mi CRACKING THE TOEFL

PART H

Core Concepts

Core Concept #1: The

Reading Section

There are three to five reading passages on the TOEFL, each between 550 and 700 words Although the TOEFL attempts to simulate the type of reading you will do at a school or graduate program, the reading skills required on the test are very different from the skills used in an academic environment Let's take a look at a passage

Scientists at Michigan State University are asking a most challenging question Can a

computer program be considered alive? The members of the Digital Evolution Laboratory say yes Computer scientists at the laboratory have created a program called Avida that has intrigued not only scientists and engineers, but biologists and philosophers as well

The Avida project began in the late 1990s, when Chris Adami, a physicist, sought to create a computer program that could evolve to do simple addition problems The digital “organisms”

he created replicated themselves, and each time they replicated, they had a chance to mutate and thus evolve Initially, the digital creations were unable to process numbers in any way But Adami designed the program to reward programs that were able to work with the numbers

in some way The digital organisms that could process numbers were allowed to reproduce

in higher numbers In only six short months, the primitive program had evolved a number

of mechanisms to perform addition And most surprisingly, not all of the digital creatures

performed addition in the same way

The Avida program now resides at Michigan State University, where it has been growing and changing for years The digital creatures number in the billions and have colonized more than two hundred computers Each digital organism consists of a pattern of code The organisms compete with one another for resources, and the most successful ones are able to make more copies of themselves Just like a living creature, the digital entities also undergo mutations Mutations that are beneficial ensure greater reproduction; harmful mutations have the opposite effect

According to the director of the Avida project, the processes undergone by the digital

creatures are the same as those experienced by biological organisms The only difference is that biological entities are based on strings of DNA, whereas the digital creations from Avida are based on strings of ones and zeros In a living creature, different sequences of DNA

instruct cells to create certain proteins In one of the Avida creations, different sequences

of computer code instruct the program to perform certain functions In both cases, the

reproduction of the organisms is subject to forces such as competition and mutation

Now, some biologists are maintaining that the programs in the Avida project are alive The programs live, die, reproduce, compete, cooperate, and evolve—activities that many biologists consider the hallmarks of life One prominent biologist says, “They don’t have a metabolism—

at least not yet But otherwise, they're alive.”

Of course, not everyone agrees that the program's creations are alive One difficulty is that biologists do not even agree on the definition of life The diversity of life on Earth constantly surprises scientists, and there are simply too many characteristics and qualities to provide one simple definition of life

Despite these misgivings, the directors of the Avida program remain optimistic that their

program, even if not considered alive, is leading to a greater understanding of life in all its forms It may even facilitate future searches for life on other planets According to one member

of the Avida team, “The problem that we have now is that we are focused on looking for DNA- based life But there may be other kinds of life out there that we have never dreamed of.” The Avida program may provide biologists with another avenue to explore

This passage is typical of the passages on the TOEFL It’s about 550 words long (actually it’s on

the shorter side for a TOEFL passage), and it discusses an academic topic It contains some challeng-

ing vocabulary words and requires you to read about a topic in which you may have no interest or

knowledge Although you may end up reading passages such as this at a university or graduate

program, your approach for the TOEFL is very different For example, in a college course, you would

need to read this passage very carefully, paying close attention to the details and facts presented in it However, that type of close reading is neither possible nor necessary on the TOEFL

READING ON THE TOEFL

You will have to face many challenges in the Reading section You've already seen an example of the level of content and vocabulary you may encounter Perhaps the greatest challenge, however, is to attempt to read the passages and deal with the questions in the limited time provided You have only about a minute and a half per question—and that’s without allowing any time for actually reading the passage!

It is clear, then, that the reading skills necessary for the TOEFL really are different from other types

of reading that you do To do well on the TOEFL, you have to work on active reading

Workinc on Active REApING

Instead of attempting to retain all of the information in the passage, we are going to focus on the big picture Active reading accomplishes three major tasks

1, Finding the purpose: This involves figuring out why the author wrote the piece

2 Understanding the structure: Mapping the passage to find out where key information is

3 Finding the main idea: Stating what the passage is about

By mastering the skill of active reading, you'll be able to not only find the most important informa- tion in a passage but also effectively answer the questions that follow After all, you get no points on the TOEFL for simply reading the passages; you get points only for answering the questions

STEP 1: FIND THE PURPOSE

Writers write for many reasons Some writers write to entertain, whereas others write to inform If you know the purpose of a passage, then you know what the writer is trying to accomplish and you can determine what is important and unimportant in the piece

The majority of passages on the TOEFL will do the following:

1 Explain: The purpose of these passages is to present you with information on spe-

cific topics and contain mostly facts

2 Resolve: The purpose of these passages is to find solutions for some sort of dilem-

ma There is usually a debate or question that needs an answer,

3 Convince: The purpose of these passages is to try to argue the validity of a certain

viewpoint or idea They give opinions and support them with evidence

To find the purpose of the passage, we'll start with the introduction or the first paragraph

CORE CONCEPT #1: THE READING SECTION @@ 17

THE INTRODUCTION PARAGRAPH

Let’s return to the sample passage in this chapter Here’s the first paragraph again

Scientists at Michigan State University are asking a most challenging question Can a

computer program be considered alive? The members of the Digital Evolution Laboratory

say yes Computer scientists at the laboratory have created a program called Avida that has intrigued not only scientists and engineers, but biologists and philosophers as well

The introduction paragraph is one of the most important paragraphs in the passage—it should give

you a pretty good idea of what the author wants to accomplish Let's look at it sentence by sentence

and identify clues that will help us find the purpose

First, we have the opening sentence

Scientists at Michigan State University are asking a most challenging question

Now, let’s focus on the important stuff We do this by asking ourselves what and why

The first question is: What are we reading about? This is the subject of the sentence Write down

the subject :

Now we ask ourselves: Why is the author writing about this? Write down why you think the

So far, we are reading about the scientists And why are we reading about them? Because they are asking a question If you are still unsure about this information after reading the first sentence, then continue to the second sentence

In the second sentence we have

Can a computer program be considered alive?

This clarifies the first sentence Now we know that the passage is about scientists and a computer program that may be considered alive Try to predict why the author wrote this passage—to inform,

to resolve, or to argue—and write it down

Now let’s move on to the body paragraphs

Tue Bopy PARAGRAPHS

When looking for the purpose, don’t get bogged down in the details Read the first sentence or two

of each paragraph Here are the first three body paragraphs

The Avida project began in the late 1990s, when Chris Adami, a physicist, sought to create a computer program that could evolve to do simple addition problems The digital “organisms”

he created replicated themselves, and each time they replicated, they had a chance to mutate and thus evolve Initially, the digital creations were unable to process numbers in any way But Adami designed the program to reward programs that were able to work with the numbers

in some way The digital organisms that could process numbers were allowed to reproduce

in higher numbers In only six short months, the primitive program had evolved a number

of mechanisms to perform addition And most surprisingly, not all of the digital creatures

performed addition in the same way

The Avida program now resides at Michigan State University, where it has been growing and

changing for years The digital creatures number in the billions and have colonized more than

two hundred computers Each digital organism consists of a pattern of code The organisms

compete with one another for resources, and the most successful ones are able to make more

copies of themselves Just like a living creature, the digital entities also undergo mutations

Mutations that are beneficial ensure greater reproduction; harmful mutations have the opposite

effect

According to the director of the Avida project, the processes undergone by the digital

creatures are the same as those experienced by biological organisms The only difference is

that biological entities are based on strings of DNA, whereas the digital creations from Avida

are based on strings of ones.and zeros In a living creature, different sequences of DNA’

instruct cells to create certain proteins In one of the Avida creations, different sequences

of computer code instruct the program to perform certain functions In both cases, the

reproduction of the organisms is subject to forces such as competition and mutation

Now, we are going to read only the first sentence of each paragraph and ask what and why Look

only at the first sentence of the first body paragraph Write down what the author’s subject is and why you think the author is telling us about it

What?

Do the same for the other two paragraphs

What?

What?

Your answers should look something like this

What? Avida project

Why? To tell us how it began

What? Avi

Why? It’s been changing _

What? Digital creatures

Why? They are similar to biological creatures

Check back on the prediction you made earlier Does this new information change it? Let’s look

it the remaining body paragraphs

Now, some biologists are maintaining that the programs in the Avida project are alive The

programs live, die, reproduce, compete, cooperate, and evolve—activities that many biologists

consider the hallmarks of life One prominent biologist says, “They don’t have a metabolism—

at least not yet But otherwise, they're alive.”

Of course, not everyone agrees that the program's creations are alive One difficulty is that

biologists do not even agree on the definition of life The diversity of life on Earth constantly

surprises scientists, and there are simply too many characteristics and qualities to provide one

simple definition of life

CORE CONCEPT #1: THE READING SECTION M@ 19