TOEFL Reading Fill in a Table Questions
Instead of prose summary, some passages end with a table-completion task: you sort a set of statements into two or three categories that reflect how the passage organized its information — for example, competing theories, causes vs. effects, or chronological stages.
What This Question Looks Like
"Complete the table by matching the appropriate statements to the theory they support. Two of the answer choices will not be used."
How to Answer It
- Identify the passage's organizing structure before you look at the answer choices — is it comparing two theories, listing stages, or grouping causes?
- Each category usually needs 2–3 correct statements; if you've placed 4+ under one heading, re-check — you've probably misplaced one.
- The unused answer choices are usually true statements taken from the passage that simply don't belong to any of the categories being tested — don't force them in.
The Trap Most Students Fall Into
A statement that's accurate and sounds related, but actually belongs to a different category or wasn't part of the classification the passage set up.
More Reading Question Types
This is the workhorse question of TOEFL Reading — most passages carry three to five of them. You're asked to f...
Inference questions ask what the passage implies without stating it outright. You're combining two pieces of i...
A word or phrase is underlined or highlighted, and you pick the closest synonym as it's used in that specific...
A dense, often long sentence is highlighted in the passage, and you choose which of four shorter sentences bes...