MICHAEL: Hi, I'm Michael from ETS. Today on Inside the TOEFL Test, we're going inside the TOEFL iBT Reading section.
Specifically, the Prose Summary questions. And we'll also look at a similar but less common question type, the Fill in a Table questions.
The Prose Summary questions are designed to show that you recognize the major ideas and the relative importance of information in a reading passage. In a Prose Summary question, there are 6 answer choices, and you will need to select the 3 correct choices that express the most important ideas in the passage.
The incorrect answer choices will misrepresent information in the passage or will discuss minor points. In the real test, you will drag and drop your answers into the box.
Prose Summary questions are worth 2 points toward your raw score. You get 2 points if you choose all 3 correct answers.
You get one point if you choose 2 correct answers. And you get zero points for 1 or no correct answers.
Note that your answers don't have to be in any particular order. And you can change your answers at any point during the allotted time for the reading section.
The Fill In A Table questions are similar except that instead of choosing the three most important ideas, you will need to drag and drop your answers into two (or three) categories. Each reading passage will have one Prose Summary question, or one Fill In A Table Question, but not both.
Let's look at a sample Prose Summary question. This type of question covers the whole reading passage, not just a single sentence or paragraph.
Here's the passage about meteorites and dinosaur extinction. And here's the question.
