Test de práctica TOEFL

• A. A student who is studying alone
• B. Two friends who want to talk quietly
• C. Four classmates working on a project
• D. A visitor who wants to read in silence

Respuesta: C. Four classmates working on a project

The sign sets one condition for the second-floor rooms: a group of three or more. Four classmates meet it. Someone alone and two friends are both told to use the first-floor tables, and the sign says nothing about silence or visitors. In a notice, look for the rule and the number before you read the choices.

The lecture was so _____ that many students struggled to follow the argument, so the professor offered to _____ the main points at the start of the next class.

Opciones para el hueco 1: dense, brief, familiar

Opciones para el hueco 2: clarify, complicate, postpone

Respuesta: dense, clarify

The students struggled, so the lecture must have been hard to follow. Dense means packed with difficult material. A brief or familiar lecture would not cause trouble. In the second gap the professor is helping, and clarify means to make something clearer. Complicate does the opposite, and postpone would not help students follow the points. Read both gaps together, because the second choice has to fit the first.

• A. Cities spend more on roads than on trees.
• B. Cities now see street trees as useful infrastructure, not just decoration.
• C. Rainwater is the biggest problem that cities face.
• D. Traffic noise is lower in cities that plant trees.

Respuesta: B. Cities now see street trees as useful infrastructure, not just decoration.

The passage moves from the old view, trees as decoration, to the new one, trees as something cities pay for like roads and drains. The correct choice covers that whole movement. The other choices take a detail or invent a claim: the passage never compares spending, never calls rainwater the biggest problem, and says trees soften noise, not that noise is lower in every city that plants them.

• A. Unfair to the people involved
• B. Delayed for a long time
• C. Kept secret from the public
• D. Based on whim, not on a rule or reason

Respuesta: D. Based on whim, not on a rule or reason

The second half of the sentence gives the contrast: the decision followed published criteria. So arbitrary must mean the opposite, a choice made on a whim and not by a rule. A decision can be fair or unfair without being arbitrary, and the sentence says the criteria were public, which rules out secret. When a sentence has a semicolon or a word like not, the contrast is often the clue to the word.

Marca todas las que correspondan.

• A. The lab now starts at 4:00.
• B. A student who cannot attend should email Dr. Reyes by Wednesday at noon.
• C. Safety goggles are optional.
• D. Every student must reply to confirm the new time.
• E. The lab was moved because the equipment room is being cleaned.

Respuesta: A. The lab now starts at 4:00., B. A student who cannot attend should email Dr. Reyes by Wednesday at noon., E. The lab was moved because the equipment room is being cleaned.

Three details are stated directly: the new start time, the Wednesday noon deadline for anyone who cannot come, and the reason for the move. The email says to bring goggles, so they are not optional, and it says students for whom the new time works do not need to reply. On a select-all question, check each choice against the text one at a time and do not stop after the first match.

• A. The oven cooked food more slowly than the engineers wanted.
• B. The oven never got hot enough to cook food.
• C. The engineers stopped working on the oven.
• D. The oven was cheaper than the engineers expected.

Respuesta: A. The oven cooked food more slowly than the engineers wanted.

The engineers hoped for under an hour and got nearly two, so the oven was slower than they wanted. That is what the text supports. The oven did get hot and did cook the meal, so the second choice is wrong, and nothing in the passage mentions stopping the project or the cost. An inference stays close to the text: it is a small step from what is written, not a guess about what happens next.

Researchers expected the new fertilizer to raise yields; _____, crop output in the test fields stayed almost unchanged, which _____ their hypothesis.

Opciones para el hueco 1: however, therefore, moreover

Opciones para el hueco 2: challenged, confirmed, repeated

Respuesta: however, challenged

The first clause says what researchers expected and the second says what happened, and the two do not match. However signals that kind of contrast, while therefore signals a result and moreover adds more of the same. Because the output stayed the same when an increase was expected, the result challenged the hypothesis. It did not confirm it, and repeated does not make sense with a hypothesis.

• A. To show that the operator made many mistakes
• B. To illustrate the personal service that automation replaced
• C. To argue that small towns had the best telephone networks
• D. To explain how callers were connected by hand

Respuesta: B. To illustrate the personal service that automation replaced

The example is followed by the words that kind of service, which points back to the operator's personal knowledge of the town. The next clause says automation ended it, so the example shows what was lost. It does not show mistakes, and it does not explain the mechanics of connecting calls, which the first sentence only states. The author also never ranks towns. For a purpose question, read the sentence right after the example.

Marca todas las que correspondan.

• A. In short supply
• B. Plentiful
• C. Limited
• D. Abundant
• E. Overflowing

Respuesta: A. In short supply, C. Limited

Scarce describes something there is not enough of, and the farmers sharing wells confirms it. In short supply and limited both fit. Plentiful, abundant and overflowing all mean the opposite. In a synonym question that has several correct choices, decide the meaning from the sentence first, then sort the choices into same meaning and opposite meaning.

Marca todas las que correspondan.

• A. Reefs shelter a share of marine species much larger than the area they cover.
• B. Bleaching happens when corals expel the algae that live in them.
• C. Bleached coral is always dead.
• D. Bleached coral can recover if temperatures drop soon enough.
• E. Corals keep their color when the algae leave.

Respuesta: A. Reefs shelter a share of marine species much larger than the area they cover., B. Bleaching happens when corals expel the algae that live in them., D. Bleached coral can recover if temperatures drop soon enough.

The first sentence contrasts a small area with a large share of species, the second defines bleaching, and the last says bleached coral is not dead and can recover. The passage says the algae give corals their color, so the color does not stay when they leave. Questions that begin with according to the passage want what the text says, not what you know about reefs.

• A. This rule keeps the entrances clear for people with strollers and wheelchairs.
• B. Gym memberships cost less for students.
• C. Bicycles became popular in the 1800s.
• D. The racks were painted last year.

Respuesta: A. This rule keeps the entrances clear for people with strollers and wheelchairs.

The sentence before the gap states a rule and the sentence after it describes how the rule is enforced near the main doors. The correct choice explains why the rule exists and connects to the doors. The other choices are on topic in a loose way, bikes or the gym, but none of them connects the rule to the enforcement. A sentence that fits has to link what comes before and after it.

• A. A founding document kept in the library
• B. Letters from later decades that mention the library
• C. The age of the library building
• D. Records kept by the library's first visitors

Respuesta: B. Letters from later decades that mention the library

The passage says no founding document survived, which rules out the first choice, and that most of the evidence comes from letters written afterward that name the library. It says nothing about the building or about visitors' records. A detail question has a direct answer in the text, and one clause such as yet no document has survived can remove a tempting choice.

The new parking policy will _____ on the first day of the semester, so check the updated rules before then.

Opciones para el hueco 1: take effect, take place, take over

Respuesta: take effect

A rule or policy takes effect, which means it begins to apply. Take place is used for events such as a meeting or a festival, and take over means to assume control. Phrases like this are learned as units, so when you study vocabulary, write down the whole phrase and not just the single word.

• A. To meet Sam at a table by the windows
• B. To walk to the library with Sam
• C. To cancel the meeting because of road work
• D. To take the number 12 bus to the library

Respuesta: D. To take the number 12 bus to the library

The writer says the bus is late and so they will walk instead, which means the first plan was to ride the bus. The table by the windows is a suggestion for Sam, and the meeting is not cancelled, since the writer proposes a time and a place. Words like instead and so often show that a plan changed, and the inference is what the plan was before.

• A. Donations grew the collection, but a lack of funds kept most of it out of view.
• B. Donations stopped because the museum lacked funds.
• C. The museum chose to keep its art in storage to protect it.
• D. The museum spent its funds on displaying donated art.

Respuesta: A. Donations grew the collection, but a lack of funds kept most of it out of view.

The sentence has two linked facts: the collection grew through donations, and without funds most of it was not shown. The correct choice keeps both and the contrast between them. The second choice reverses the cause, the third invents a reason the text never gives, and the fourth says the opposite of lacked the funds. When you shorten a sentence, keep every key fact and keep the relationship between them.