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Time Management for the Reading Section of the TOEFL® Test

Josh MacPherson

Josh MacPherson has taught English language learners in New York, Seoul, and Osaka.
He holds a BA in Secondary Education and an MA in ESL Curriculum and Instruction.

One of the hardest parts of the TOEFL? Time management.  Many students struggle to answer every single question in the TOEFL Reading. And it should come as no surprise, the TOEFL Reading is tough. Let’s look at some of the bullet points. The TOEFL Reading:
  • Includes 20 questions
  • Contains 1400 words (2 passages x 700 words)
  • Provides 36 minutes to complete everything
TOEFL takers wonder how they can possibly read the texts and answer the questions in such a limited amount of time.

After years of trial and error, we have come up with a fool-proof system designed to help students just like you answer every single question in the TOEFL Reading with time to spare.

By the end of this short article, you will know exactly what you have to do to ensure that you never miss a single question on the TOEFL Reading.

Prefer a PDF guide?

You can download Your Guide to Time Management for the TOEFL Reading Section – PDF right here.

Here is a quick rundown of our top ten TOEFL Reading tips:

Rule #1: Take notes and circle

Not a lot of notes, right? All you have to do is write down the question numbers and the choices you eliminate. You do NOT have to write any notes about the actual content of the reading text. Here’s how it works. When you answer the questions in the TOEFL Reading, eliminate choices you believe are incorrect. Once you eliminate one, write it down on the scrap paper. This is an easy way to narrow your focus on the remaining choices. For example, according to my notes, in question one, I eliminated a and c, so I crossed them out. You do not have to do this for every question. You can see that for question three, I haven’t eliminated anything, and that is because the question was easy. Feel free to do the same on questions that require less focus and strategy. Don’t waste time writing notes about questions when you know the answer. The most important component of this note-taking system is the circled questions. Question numbers two and eight are circled because I’m not confident with my answer. You see, on test day, you have a limited amount of time to answer all of the questions. There will be some questions that will take more time to answer. Instead of wasting time thinking about how to answer, just circle the question number in your notes, select the best choice, and move on.

When you take the TOEFL, you get a pencil and a piece of scrap paper.

Use it!

Your task in the TOEFL reading section is more about eliminating choices than answering questions, though most students don’t look at it this way. You need to track the choices that you eliminate. And you can do this by taking notes.

Take a look at the example below:

Not a lot of notes, right?

All you have to do is write down the question numbers and the choices you eliminate.

You do NOT have to write any notes about the actual content of the reading text.

Here’s how it works.

When you answer the questions in the TOEFL Reading, eliminate choices you believe are incorrect. Once you eliminate one, write it down on the scrap paper. This is an easy way to narrow your focus on the remaining choices.

For example, according to my notes, in question one, I eliminated a and c, so I crossed them out.

You do not have to do this for every question. You can see that for question three, I haven’t eliminated anything, and that is because the question was easy. Feel free to do the same on questions that require less focus and strategy. Don’t waste time writing notes about questions when you know the answer.

The most important component of this note-taking system is the circled questions.

Question numbers two and eight are circled because I’m not confident with my answer. You see, on test day, you have a limited amount of time to answer all of the questions. There will be some questions that will take more time to answer. Instead of wasting time thinking about how to answer, just circle the question number in your notes, select the best choice, and move on.

Do NOT skip the question.

Skipping questions will put pressure on you to allocate time, in the end, to go back and answer the ones you missed. Answer the question and circle it in your notes so you can pinpoint the exact questions you need to think more about after you have finished answering everything.

We will talk more about monitoring your time soon so you know when to answer and move on, but for now, plan to have a couple of minutes at the end of the 36 minutes to go back to a couple of questions and double-check your answers.

Rule #2: Watch the clock

When you work through the TOEFL Reading section, you will notice that some questions take longer than others. For example, vocabulary questions are rather simple and straightforward, so they should take you no more than 60 seconds to complete. Negative detail questions, on the other hand, could take up to 120 seconds to answer. Below is a breakdown of the maximum amount of time you can spend on a given question based on its type.
  • Vocabulary – 60 seconds
  • Detail – 90 seconds
  • Negative Detail – 120 seconds
  • Paraphrasing – 120 seconds
  • Sentence Insertion – 120 seconds
  • Inference – 90 seconds
  • Author’s Purpose – 90 seconds
  • Pronoun Reference – 60 seconds
  • Summary – 120 seconds
  • Organization – 120 seconds

Even though this time breakdown is good to keep in mind, you do NOT have to look at the clock and count down the seconds for each question. That will only waste time and distract you from focusing on the content of the question and the passage. Instead, you should think of the time in terms of 18-minute chunks.

You will have two passages, 20 questions, and 36 minutes to answer. Answer 10 questions (one passage) every 18 minutes.

Here’s a chart outlining where you should be in five-minute-intervals.

TOEFL Reading Section
Time Breakdown

(20 questions)
5 minutes 3 questions
10 minutes 6 questions
15 minutes 9 questions
20 minutes 12 questions
25 minutes 14 questions
30 minutes 17 questions
35 minutes 20 questions

Ideally, you want to leave yourself a few minutes at the end to go back to the questions you circled. If you are ever unsure of your progress in the reading section, note that on the top middle of the screen will be the question number followed by the total amount.

Focusing on having a rough idea of the number of questions you want to answer every 5 or 10 minutes. Remember, some questions take longer to answer than others, like TOEFL Reading summary questions. Be sure to have a plan for answering each question type.

Rule #3: Never skip a question

This was touched upon in rule #1, but it is so important that I have made it a rule of its own.

Never skip a question.

Our brains like stories. Stories have a beginning, middle, and end.

The questions in the TOEFL reading section go in sequential order, just like a story. When you skip a question, you interrupt the story. It makes the questions that come after the one you skip more difficult to answer. So, instead of skipping questions, you guesstimate.

Yes, guesstimate is a real word. You can ask Mr. Webster. Basically, you have an idea of what the answer might be, but you are not 100% certain. A guess is a blind chance, a guesstimation is made after some thought.

After you guesstimate, circle the question in your notes (like questions two and eight depicted under rule #1), and move on. Keep in mind that your goal is to answer all of the questions. If you skip a question, you can only lose points.

Rule #4: Review your answers

Allocate a few minutes at the end of the reading section to go back and check over your answers one more time. There are four buttons in the top right corner of the test screen; click “Review” to see all the questions listed.

The review page will indicate the questions you answered and the ones you skipped. Check out an example of what the review page will look like.

On the review button page, you will find all of the questions listed. If you did skip a question, it will be mentioned on this screen. In the last few minutes, go back to the questions circled on your scrap paper and double-check your answers.

Since you took notes and circled questions you wanted to review, it will be easy to jump around to specific questions from the review page.

*Bonus Rule: Read and answer at the same time

You do NOT have enough time to read the passage and then answer the questions.

This is crucial, so I’ll say it again.

If you read the passage first without answering the questions, you will run out of time.

So, what should you do? First, take one or two minutes to scan the passage so you have a general sense of the topic of the reading passage. Pay attention to the title and the first sentence of each paragraph.

After that, start answering the questions while reading at the same time. The questions go in sequential order, so you can comfortably answer and read together.

This will help you save time and answer every question before the clock runs out.

In Conclusion

Now you know exactly what you need to do to organize your thoughts and conserve your time in the TOEFL Reading section. Here are the bullet points:
  • Use your scrap paper to take notes
  • Circle questions you need to review
  • Answer 10 questions every 18 minutes
  • Leave a few minutes at the end to review
  • Guesstimate and review later

Now that you know how to manage your TOEFL Reading time, let’s practice.

Practicing will help solidify this new information into your memory so you can actually apply it on test day.

The more you know the less you fear. Download our free and complete Practice test.

Or, if you feel like you want to learn more cool TOEFL Reading tips and tricks like this, check out our Ten Awesome Tips for the Reading Section of the TOEFL Test.

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: [email protected]

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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