This document provides an overview and tips for the TOEFL PBT (Paper Based Test). It discusses the different sections of the TOEFL PBT - Listening Comprehension, Structure and Written Expression, and Reading Comprehension. For each section, it provides the types of questions, general strategies, and sample questions to help prepare test takers. It also discusses the Test of Written English and strategies for writing the essay portion. Overall, the document aims to introduce and help test takers prepare for the TOEFL PBT exam format and question types.

1. TOEFL PBT
An Introductory Workshop

2. GETTING TO KNOW TOEFL
1. What do you know about TOEFL?
2. Have you ever taken TOEFL?
3. Why do you need TOEFL?
4. How much is your recent TOEFL score?
5. How much score do you urgently need?
6. Is the test difficult? Why?
7. What is your best tip to tackle TOEFL?

3. TOEFL—OVERVIEW
Test Of English as a Foreign Language
3 types:
1. iBT: internet Based Test
Listening – Reading – Speaking – Writing . (Score Range: 0 – 120)
2. PBT: Paper Based Test
Listening – Structure and written expression – Reading.
(score range: 310 – 677)
3. CBT: Computer Based Test (obsolete)
Listening – Structure – Reading. (score range: 0 – 300)

4. TOEFL PBT- OVERVIEW
•Listening comprehension (50 questions in 30-40 minutes)
•Structure and written expression ( 40 questions in 25
minutes)
•Reading comprehension (50 questions in 55 minutes)
(Multiple-choice Questions)

5. WHY TAKE TOEFL PBT?
• English proficiency evidence
• Compulsory admission test
 University—local and international
 Prestigious companies and organizations—national
and multinational
 Scholarship screening test; for example, Australia
Awards Scholarship(AAS)
• Gaining better English skills, especially Listening,
Writing and Reading

6. GENERAL TIPS AND STRATEGIES
General tips:
•Be friends with the test format
•Get in shape!
•Imagine yourself on campus!
•Find a “PW” position!
•Above all: improve your English!

7. LISTENING COMPREHENSION
Question types:
(Multiple choices)
• Short conversations
• Longer dialogues
• Short talks
Ps. NO note taking

8. SHORT-CONVERSATION TIPS
•Close your eyes
•Focus on the second line/speaker
•Don’t miss the question!
•Answers are usually in a form of restatement/synonym
•Beware of diversions! Avoid similar sounds
•Pay attention on the speakers’ intonation (especially when
idiom or implication)
•Use the 10 seconds to answer
•10 seconds up? No clue? GUESS! (Pick an answer with words
that aren’t heard in the recording--restatement)

9. GIVE IT A TRY!
1. a. the coffee is much better this time
b. he’s feeling bitter this morning
c. the coffee isn’t very good
d. he cannot taste the butter
2. a. the two classes meet in an hour and a half
b. the class meets three hours per week
c. each half of the class is an hour long
d. two times a week the class meets for an hour
3. a. a few minutes ago, the flight departed
b. the fight will start in a while
c. they are frightened about the departure
d. the plane is going to take off soon

10. GIVE IT A TRY!
4. a. he hasn’t yet begun his project
b. he’s supposed to do his science project next week
c. he needs to start working on changing the due date
d. he’s been working steadily on his science project
5. a. at the post office
b. in a florist shop
c. in a restaurant
d. in a hospital delivery room
6. a. the professor drowned the cells in a lab
b. the topic was presented in a boring way
c. the professor divided the lecture into parts
d. the biologist tried to sell the results of the experiment

11. GIVE IT A TRY!
7. a. she needs to get a driver license
b. it is impossible to cash a check without two pieces
of identification
c. the man should check to see if he needs credit
d. a credit card can be used to get a driver license
8. a. housing within his budget is hard to locate
b. it’s hard to find his house in New York
c. he can’t afford to move his house to New York
d. housing in New York is unavailable
9. a. the boss was working on the reports
b. he would have to finish the reports before the end of next
month
c. he was directed to stay late and finish some work
d. he could finish the reports at home

12. LONGER DIALOGUES TIPS
•Glance at the options before the recording starts
•Multitask (If able): read the options while listening/ (If
unable) Focus on listening and remember the information
•Answers often appear in order in the recording
•Don’t miss the question!
•Keep an eye out for restatements or synonyms; answers are
mostly in a form of restatement
•Use the 10 seconds to answer
•10 seconds up? No clue? GUESS!

13. LONGER DIALOGUE--GIVE IT A TRY!
1. a. the man’s graduation
b. the couple’s engagement
c. the man’s smoking
d. the man’s stress
2. a. that the man rethink their plan
b. that the man see a family doctor
c. that the man see a psychiatrist
d. that the man concentrate on his studies
3. a. Get a patch to help him stop smoking
b. Stop smoking immediately on his own
c. Smoke less than usual for the next week
d. Think about the woman’s suggestions

14. LONGER DIALOGUE--GIVE IT A TRY!
4. a. patient
b. surprised
c. worried
d. irritated
5. a. she has stopped smoking
b. she does not want to get married to the man
c. she has asked the man to quit smoking many times
d. she is not in love with the man

15. SHORT TALKS TIPS
•Academic topics—familiarity
•Be familiar with the types of questions
•Glance at the options before the recording starts
•Multitask (If able): read the options while listening/ (If
unable) Focus on listening and remember the information
•Answers often appear in order in the recording
•Don’t miss the question!
•Answers are usually in a form of restatement
•Use the 10 seconds to answer
•10 seconds up? No clue? GUESS (use your general
knowledge)

16. SHORT TALK—GIVE IT A TRY!
1. a. Heredity
b. Environment
c. Birth order
d. Motivation
2. a. Birth order may influence personality
b. Heredity and environment play a role in the development of
the personality
c. There is research on birth order at the University of Texas at
Arlington
d. Firstborn children and only children have similar personalities
3. a. A man with younger sisters
b. A man with older sisters
c. A woman with younger sisters
d. A woman with older sisters

17. SHORT TALK—GIVE IT A TRY!
4. a. likeable
b. ambitious
c. sociable
d. talkative
5. a. charming
b. shy
c. motivated
d. happy

18. STRUCTURE AND WRITTEN
EXPRESSION
Question types:
(Multiple choices)
• Structure Question -- Gap Filling
e.g. The president _____ the election by a landslide
(A) won
(B) he won
(C) yesterday
(D) fortunately
• Written Expression Question -- Error Identification
e.g. The books that I read was interesting
A B C D

19. STRUCTURE TIPS
•Identify the Subject and the Verb, and match them
•Ask yourself “What type of word is missing?”
•Eliminate options that are obviously incorrect
•Keep an eye on your time: 30 sec’s for 1 question ideally
•(If helpful)Take out the easy ones and move on to the
difficult ones
•Out of clear confusion, choose basing on a “hunch”
• No clue? Guess and move on!

20. STRUCTURE--GIVE IT A TRY!
1. The North Pole ____ a latitude of 90 degrees north.
(A) has
(B) is having
(C) which is having
(D) it has
2. Rubber ____ from vulcanized silicones with a high molecular weight is
difficult to distinguish from natural rubber.
(A) is produced
(B) producing
(C) that produces
(D) produced
3. ____ appears considerably larger at the horizon than it does overhead is
merely an optical illusion.
(A) the Moon
(B) that the Moon
(C) when the Moon
(D) the Moon which

21. STRUCTURE--GIVE IT A TRY!
4. The green house effect occurs ____ heat radiating from the sun.
(A) when does the Earth’s atmosphere trap
(B) does the Earth’s atmosphere trap
(C) when the Earth’s atmosphere traps
(D) the Earth’s atmosphere traps
5. The Rose Bowl, ___ place on New Year’s Day, is the oldest postseason
collegiate football game in the US
(A) takes
(B) which takes
(C) it takes
(D) took
6. Experiments ___ represent a giant step into the medicine of the future
(A) using gene therapy
(B) use gene therapy
(C) they use
(D) gene therapy uses

22. WRITTEN EXPRESSION TIPS
•Focus on the underlined words
•What types of words are underlined, and are they used
correctly?
•Eliminate options that are obviously correct
•Keep an eye on your time: 30 sec’s for 1 question ideally
•(If helpful)Take out the easy ones and move on to the
difficult ones
•Out of clear confusion, choose basing on a “hunch”
• No clue? Guess and move on!

23. WRITTEN EXPRESSION--GIVE IT A
TRY!
1. Segregation in public schools was declare unconstitutionally by the Supreme
A B C
Court in 1954
D
2. That water has a very high specific heat means that, without a large
A B
temperature change, water can add or lose a large number of heat.
C D
3. Benny Goodman was equally talented as both a jazz performer as well as a
A B C
classical musician
D

24. WRITTEN EXPRESSION--GIVE IT A
TRY!
4. Some of the most useful resistor material are carbon, metals and metallic
A B C D
alloys
5. The community of Bethesda, Maryland, was previous known as Darcy’s Store
A B C D
6. Alloys of gold and copper have been widely using in various types of coins.
A B C D
7. Like snakes, lizards can be found on all others continents except
A B C D
Antarctica.

25. READING COMPREHENSION
Question types:
(Multiple choices)
• Main Idea and Topic
• Specific Information
• Missing/NOT True Information
• Implied (Hidden) Information
• Synonyms
• Where?
• Reference

26. READING COMPREHENSION:
GENERAL TIPS AND STRATEGIES
Before the test:
1. Improve your academic vocabulary
2. Read, read and read
3. Practice to improve your scanning and skimming ability
During the test:
1. Look at the questions before reading the passage
2. Do NOT READ but SEARCH
3. Do the main idea/topic and implied information
questions lastly
4. Manage your time: 1 minute for 1 question averagely
5. Be aware of answers in restatement
6. Remember that answers’ position is mostly set in order
7. NO blank answers!

27. MAIN IDEA AND TOPIC QUESTION
e.g. Which of the following would be the most appropriate
title for the passage?
•Read the first sentences of every paragraph and
draw a conclusion
•Skim the whole passage really quickly to make sure
•Choose an answer that is neither too broad nor too
specific

28. SPECIFIC INFORMATION QUESTION
e.g. Approximately how many narcoleptics are there in the
USA?
Do The SSS:
1. Select the ‘Keyword’ in the question
2. Scan for the ‘Keyword’ in the passage
3. Skim the sentences around the ‘Keyword’ to get
the answer

29. MISSING/NOT TRUE INFORMATION
QUESTION
e.g. It is NOT mentioned in the passage that, in order to set
up his company, smith needed…
Do the SSS to each of the options

30. IMPLIED (HIDDEN) INFORMATION
QUESTION
e.g. It can be inferred from the passage that Smith selected
Memphis as his hub city because it…
•Do The SSS
•Keep an eye out for restatements

31. SYNONYMS QUESTION
e.g. The word “malfunctioning” in line 1 is closest in meaning
to…
•Use your vocabulary bank and just answer it
•Guess the meaning by skimming through the
sentences around the word

32. “WHERE?” QUESTION
e.g. Where in the passage does the author describe what
seems to precipitate a sudden loss of muscle tone?
Do the SSS

33. REFERENCE QUESTION
e.g. The pronoun “he” in line 8 refers to…
Locate the word and look back—the subject of the
previous sentence is often the reference

34. READING COMPREHENSION—
GIVE IT TRY!

35. TEST OF WRITTEN ENGLISH (TWE)
Task : Writing an essay on a predetermined topic
Time : 30 minutes
Score range: 1 – 6 as the highest

36. TEST OF WRITTEN ENGLISH (TWE):
THE STRATEGIES
• Do as you are instructed
• Organize your essay clearly
• Support any general statement e.g. by examples, reasons or
personal experience
• Stick to vocabulary and sentence structures that you know
• Spare some time to proof-read your essay in the end

37. TRUST ME; IT WORKS!

38. Do these three FINAL steps as a last resort:
1. Look DOWN for CONCENTRATION
2. Look UP for INSPIRATION
3. Look AROUND for INFORMATION
Naahhh! I’m just kidding 
Keep trying and practicing!
IF IT DOESN’T WORK?

39. Thank you for your participation, and apologies for
any hard-feelings and imperfections; as verily only in
God The Almighty does perfection abide.
--Aldyansyah
GOOD LUCK!