TOEFL Reading Test: An overview

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The first section of the TOEFL iBT  test is the Reading section.

This section uses reading passages from university-level textbooks that introduce a topic. The passages may have been changed slightly to make them appropriate for testing purposes, but they are real academic materials.

Topics of the reading passages can vary, but you do not need to have any prior knowledge of the topics. Everything you need to know to answer the questions is in the passages, because the questions are testing your English skills, not your knowledge of the topic.

There are 3 or 4 reading passages of about 700 words each. For each passage, there are 12 to 14 multiple-choice questions.

Most questions have four choices and a single correct answer. Some questions ask you to select two or more correct answers from a larger group of choices.

You will have 60 to 80 minutes to complete the Reading section. During that time, you can return to previous questions to review or change your answers.