Part 7: Single passages

1. Part 7 at a glance

Part 7, Reading Comprehension, contains 54 questions: questions 147–200. They are divided into two groups. The first group, covered in this lecture, is based on single passages. The second group, covered in Lecture 9, is based on sets of two or three linked documents.

Everything in Part 7 is written. You read at your own speed, and there is no separate clock for each part: the whole Reading section (Parts 5, 6 and 7) lasts 75 minutes. Part 7 should normally start with about 55 minutes left.

The single passages usually become longer as you move through the part. The first documents are often short (a text-message chain or a brief notice with two questions); the later ones are longer articles, letters or web pages with three or four questions. This is useful for pacing: you should move faster at the beginning and expect to need more time per document at the end.

2. Document types

The TOEIC test uses realistic documents from offices, stores, travel, housing and services. Each type has a typical layout, and knowing it tells you where to look.

3. The question types

Almost every Part 7 question belongs to one of seven types. Recognizing the type tells you where to look and how carefully to read.

We will look at each type using the same short document. Read it once now.

3.1 Main idea and purpose

Purpose questions ask why the document was written or what it is mainly about. The answer is usually stated or strongly signaled in the first two or three sentences, but the correct option must describe the whole text, not just one detail. Options that are too narrow (one detail) or too broad (a general topic not really discussed) are wrong.

3.2 Detail questions

Detail questions ask for one specific piece of information. Take a keyword from the question (a name, a number, a date, a distinctive noun), scan the text for it or for a synonym, then read that sentence and the one after it carefully.

3.3 NOT and true questions

NOT questions ("What is NOT mentioned…?") have three options that are in the text and one that is not, or is contradicted. You cannot scan for the answer, because the answer is the thing that is missing. Instead, find each of the three true options in the text and cross it out. "What is indicated/true about…?" questions work the same way in reverse: three options are false or not stated, and one is supported by the text. Section 6 gives you a full procedure.

3.4 Inference questions

Inference questions use the words "suggested," "implied," "most likely" or "probably." The answer is not written word for word, but it must follow logically from what is written. A good inference is a small step from the text, not a creative guess. If you need to imagine extra facts to justify an option, it is wrong.

3.5 Vocabulary: "closest in meaning to"

Vocabulary questions ask which option is closest in meaning to a word as it is used in the text. The word usually has several meanings, and the wrong options often include the most common dictionary meaning. Go back to the sentence, replace the word with each option, and choose the one that keeps the meaning of the sentence.

3.6 Sentence insertion

Some Part 7 documents contain four markers: [1], [2], [3] and [4]. A question gives you a sentence and asks where it best belongs. The logic is the same as in Part 6 (see Lecture 7): look for pointers in the given sentence (this, these, such, also, however, they, the + noun) and find the position where they have a target just before them and where the following sentence still makes sense.

3.7 Writer's intent in text messages and chats

Text-message chains and online chats always include at least one question that quotes a short message and asks what the writer means. The quoted words are usually an idiom or a very short reply ("You read my mind," "I'm on it," "That works," "Not again"), and their literal meaning is often a trap. The meaning comes from the conversation: what was said just before the message, and how the other person reacts just after.

4. The method: questions first, then scan

Many students read a long passage carefully from beginning to end, then look at the questions and realize they have forgotten the details. This wastes time. A better method is to know what you are looking for before you read.

1. Read the introduction line. "Questions 153–155 refer to the following invoice." You now know the document type and the number of questions.
2. Read the questions (not the options). Note the type of each question and its keywords. This takes about 10–15 seconds for three questions.
3. Skim the document quickly (headings, first sentences of paragraphs, names, numbers) to understand its purpose and layout.
4. Answer the questions in order. Detail questions usually follow the order of the text: the answer to the first detail question is usually earlier in the text than the answer to the second. Purpose questions usually come first and are answered by the beginning of the text.
5. Scan for each keyword, then read carefully around it. Read the whole sentence that contains the keyword and the next sentence. Answers are often in the sentence after the keyword.
6. Compare with the options and confirm with evidence. Before you mark an answer, point to the words in the text that support it.

Choosing good keywords

The best keywords are easy to spot in a text: names of people and companies, numbers, dates, days, prices, capitalized words and unusual nouns. Weak keywords are common words like "information," "company" or "customers," which may appear many times.