The TOEFL Essentials Reading section measures your ability to understand both academic and nonacademic texts.
There are 30 to 45 questions, and the section takes 22–33 minutes to complete.
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TOEFL Essentials Reading Section
Reading tasks
- Vocabulary
See a word and choose the most similar word from four options. - General Reading: Daily Life
Read a short, nonacademic text (15–150 words) that you might see in everyday life, such as a poster, menu, social media post or news article. Answer two to four multiple-choice questions. - Academic Reading: Tables
Read a short academic text in a grid format. The table will summarize key pieces of information from academic sources such as textbooks, newspapers, magazines or websites. Each table has 50 to 85 words and four questions. Each question has three options: True, False and Not Stated. - Academic Reading: Passages
Read a short passage written at the secondary or postsecondary level. The passage can be on a variety of academic topics, such as science, history, art and business. Each passage is approximately 200 words long and has six questions.
