TOEFL PREPARATION COURSE (READING) #TOEFL REVIEW EXERCISE (Skills 1-7) Part 1

Summary

The video is the first part of a TOEFL Reading review covering Skills 1–7. The instructor explains strategies for common reading-question types and works through 12 practice questions based on two passages.

Advice for Improving Reading

• Read English regularly, including articles, newspapers, and novels.
• Complete practice exercises from the Longman TOEFL book.
• Build vocabulary by looking up unfamiliar words in a dictionary while reading, rather than relying only on instant translations.
• The instructor says the larger review contains 29 questions and will be divided across two videos. This installment covers questions 1–12.

Reading Strategies

• Best title or main idea: Identify the central idea of each paragraph. For a multi-paragraph passage, combine the main ideas—often signaled by the opening sentences—to find a title that covers the whole passage.
• Topic of a single paragraph: Focus especially on the opening sentence, then confirm that the answer covers the paragraph rather than just one detail.
• Inference questions: Find the relevant statement in the passage and draw only a conclusion supported by it.
• Vocabulary or paraphrase questions: Match the meaning of a phrase in the answer choices to the wording in the passage. For example, before and prior to have equivalent meanings.
• “All of the following … except” questions: Check each option against the passage and choose the one that is not supported. The other options should be true.
• Pronoun-reference questions: Read the sentence containing the pronoun and identify the noun or idea it refers to.
• Preceding and following paragraph questions:
  • For a paragraph that precedes the passage, consider what the passage’s opening introduces; it may refer to material already discussed.
  • For a paragraph that follows the passage, focus on the final sentence or idea, which may lead into the next topic.

Practice Passage 1: The Mason-Dixon Line

The first passage describes the Mason-Dixon Line as a boundary associated with the division between the northern and southern United States. According to the lesson, British astronomers Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon surveyed the line after a boundary dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland. It was later associated with the division between non-slave states in the North and slave states in the South, and the boundary was marked with stones.

The instructor uses this passage to demonstrate that:

• A suitable title should cover both paragraphs, so “The History of the Mason-Dixon Line” is more comprehensive than a title focused on only one detail.
• Inference questions should be answered using the passage’s information about Pennsylvania and the regional division over slavery.
• For an “except” question, verify the statements about Mason and Dixon and their surveying work, then select the statement the passage does not support.
• The final reference to stones that remain today may suggest that a following paragraph would discuss the line’s present-day location or status.

Practice Passage 2: Manic Depression

The second passage discusses manic depression as a mental illness that affects mood and involves manic and depressive phases. According to the passage, manic excitement can involve an unusually elevated, intense mood and may lead to insomnia, irritability, anger, or aggression. The depressive phase may last weeks or months and can involve fatigue, feelings of worthlessness or hopelessness, and, in serious cases, suicidal thoughts.

The questions illustrate how to:

• Infer that a preceding paragraph may have discussed other kinds of mental illness.
• Identify the topic as changes in mood associated with manic depression, rather than depression alone or mental illness in general.
• Distinguish the intense mood changes described for manic depression from the occasional day-to-day mood changes experienced by most people.
• Resolve the pronoun “it” by checking the sentence in which it appears; the instructor identifies it as referring to the elevated mood.
• Draw the supported conclusion that the passage presents the depressive phase as potentially more damaging than the manic phase. It does not say that suicide is inevitable.

Speakers and Sources

• Payanto/Yanto Tanjung: The instructor and sole speaker in the video. He identifies himself as an English lecturer at Jambi University and an author of English-learning books.
• Longman TOEFL preparation book: Identified by the instructor as the main source of the lesson’s preparation material and practice passages.
• Practice passages: Passages about the Mason-Dixon Line and manic depression, used for the TOEFL reading exercises.