Analysis of New TOEFL Preparation Materials

Analysis of New TOEFL Preparation Materials To get a better sense of the distribution of questions on the new version of the TOEFL, I have compared the new versions of the TOEFL Reading Practice Sets released by ETS to their old versions. Note that the three sets in the above link are modified versions of the old TPO 7 and 8 sets. The articles are the same, but certain questions have been removed. Heres what I found out about the question types on the new version of the test.Old Set 1Old Set 2Old Set 3New Set 1New Set 2New Set 3Factual Information4433 (-1)3 (-1)3Negative Factual Information2211 (-1)1 (-1)1Rhetorical Purpose112112Vocabulary4432 (-2)2 (-2)1 (-2)Sentence Simplification111111Insert a Sentence111111Inference001000 (-1)Summary111111This confirms my earlier reports that the new test has far fewer vocabulary questions. Factual and Negative Factual questions have also been reduced, it would seem.This also confirms that Reference and Fill in a Table questions will probably not appear on the test much nowadays, as they a re totally absent from the practice materials. Note that even though the single Inference question has been removed from the test, it is still being used quite frequently, according to reports.Next up, Ive done the same analysis of the Free Practice Test provided by ETS. The results are as follows.Old Set 1Old Set 2Old Set 3New Set 1New Set 2New Set 3Factual Information3142 (-1)13 (-1)Negative Factual Information221222Rhetorical Purpose011011Vocabulary4432 (-2)2 (-2)1 (-2)Sentence Simplification11110 (-1)0 (-1)Insert a Sentence111111Function of Paragraph1000 (-1)00Inference13112 (-1)1Summary111111Again, we can see that there are far fewer vocabulary questions. But we can also see that all of the question types are affected, except for the Insert Sentence and Summary types.The odd function of paragraph entry refers to a non-standard question that isnt mentioned in the Official Guide or any other ETS resources. On the original set it was phrased as What function does paragraph 3 serve in the organization of the passage as a whole?. I guess this is sort of like a rhetorical purpose question, but it really surprises students when it comes up. Note that although it has been removed from the practice test, I have had reports that it has appeared on the real test since August 1.