How to Practice TOEFL Reading: Over Half of the New Test is Vocabulary Completion, So Master Spelling and Word Forms First

If your impression of the TOEFL Reading section is still "three long academic passages with ten questions each," it's time for an update. In the new TOEFL Reading section starting in January 2026, long academic passages are no longer the main focus; according to the test specifications published by ETS, more than half of the questions are "Complete the Words". This article, based on ETS's official question type descriptions, explains what each of the three new question types tests and how to practice for them.

What the New Reading Section Tests

According to the ETS website, the Reading section has about 50 questions and a 30-minute time limit, and it is multistage adaptive: your performance in the first stage determines the difficulty of the questions in the second stage. ETS also notes that the number of questions and the time limit may change as the test adapts.

Here is how ETS's test specifications describe the composition of the three question types:

This table highlights a crucial point: Complete the Words makes up more than half of the Reading questions. If you still follow the old approach and spend all your time on long passages, you are only practicing for a small portion of the test.

Under the new 1–6 score scale, a score of 5 in Reading is equivalent to 24–26 on the old scale (we discussed the score conversions for each section in this article about scoring 100 on the TOEFL).

Complete the Words: Testing Whether You Can Actually Spell the Word

This question type gives you a short academic passage where some words are only partially spelled out, and you need to fill in the missing letters. ETS describes it as: using a combination of word order rules, vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension to construct meaningful text.

This means three skills are absolutely essential:

• Spelling. Recognizing a word and being able to spell it correctly are two different things. Many students memorize vocabulary by only looking at the Chinese definitions and never practice writing them from memory.
• Word forms. Changes between nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs (decide / decision / decisive / decisively), as well as plurals, tenses, and third-person singular. The missing part is often the end of the word; if you get the ending wrong, the whole word is wrong.
• Context. The same starting letters could correspond to several different words. You need to rely on the meaning and grammar of the sentence to determine which one it is.

How to practice:

1. Dictate high-frequency academic words. Regularly write your memorized academic vocabulary from memory instead of just looking at it. Pay special attention to common spelling challenges: double consonants, silent letters, and easily confused endings like -ance / -ence and -able / -ible.
2. Practice word forms. Every time you memorize a word, write out its noun, verb, adjective, and adverb forms together.
3. "Cover the ending" reading. Find an academic passage, cover the second half of some words, read and fill in the blanks as you go, and then check against the original text. This is practically a simulation of this question type.
4. Read the whole sentence before writing. During the test, don't rush to fill in a blank as soon as you see it. Read the entire sentence first to determine what part of speech and meaning are needed.

Read in Daily Life: Understand the Purpose, Not Just the Literal Meaning

This question type uses short texts common in daily life: notices, messages, emails, and instructions. The skills tested, as listed by ETS, include: understanding informal language (including common idiomatic expressions), making inferences based on the text, understanding abbreviated "telegraphic" language (such as headlines and notes), and quickly scanning and locating information.

ETS provided an example: a notice asking users to opt for paperless statements and view their monthly savings account statements via a mobile app; the question asks, "What type of institution issued this notice?" The notice doesn't explicitly say "bank," but "savings account statements" already gives you the answer. This is a classic inference.

How to practice:

• When reading any practical text, ask three questions first: Who wrote it, who is it for, and what does the writer want the reader to do.
• Expose yourself to real-life English practical texts: school and company notices, event posters, emails, and product instructions. The vocabulary in these texts isn't difficult, but they contain many abbreviations and idiomatic expressions.
• Practice quick locating. Questions often ask for specific information (time, place, conditions). Read the question first, then find the answer in the text.

Read an Academic Passage: Short, but Must Be Read Accurately

The academic passages in the new version are shorter than in the old version, but the content tested remains the same: main idea, key details, inferred meanings, relationships between ideas, text structure, and important vocabulary.

• Summarize each paragraph in one sentence. After reading the whole passage, you will have an outline, which is essential for main idea and structure questions.
• Inference questions must be based on the text. The correct answer is not explicitly stated in the text, but it can definitely be inferred from it; do not substitute reasoning with common sense.
• For relationship and structure questions, look at why the author wrote it this way. Is this paragraph giving an example, making a comparison, raising a question, or providing an explanation?
• Vocabulary questions depend on context. A familiar word might have an unfamiliar meaning here.

What Does Adaptive Mean?

Reading is multistage adaptive: if you do well in the first stage, the second stage will be harder. Here are a few practical implications:

• Don't rush through the first stage. Your accuracy in the first stage determines whether you advance to the set of questions that can earn you a high score.
• It is normal for it to get harder later on, which usually means you did well in the first part; there is no need to panic.
• Manage your time well. With 30 minutes and about 50 questions, you need to complete the Complete the Words section quickly and accurately to save time for the later passages.

A Practice Schedule You Can Follow

1. Spend 15 minutes daily practicing spelling and word forms: dictate academic vocabulary, practice word forms, and do "cover the ending" reading.
2. Spend 15 minutes daily reading English: read one academic passage and a few practical texts, and summarize each in one sentence after reading.
3. Take a full Reading section practice test once a week, strictly time yourself, and categorize your wrong answers by the three question types.

ETS's official test prep portal offers free Reading practice that explains why each option is correct or incorrect; the website also has a full-length new version practice test. We reviewed how to use these official materials in this article.

Final Thoughts

The focus of the new TOEFL Reading section has shifted: more than half of the questions test whether you can correctly spell a word in an academic context, rather than just understanding a long passage. Solidifying your spelling and word forms, combined with reading daily texts and short academic passages, is much more effective than just practicing long passages from the old version.

If you are not sure whether your Reading struggles lie in vocabulary spelling or passage comprehension, you can take a diagnostic test first, and our instructors will analyze your performance based on the new question types.

Verification note: The number of questions, time limits, adaptive design, tested content for each question type, and official examples in this article were verified against the following ETS official pages and documents on September 26, 2026. ETS notes that the number of questions and time limits may change as the test adapts; the number of questions for each type is subject to ETS's latest announcements.

References:

• ETS: TOEFL iBT Test Content (Number of questions and time for each section)
• ETS: TOEFL iBT Reading Section (Description of the three question types)
• ETS: TOEFL iBT 2026 Update Test Blueprint and Specifications (Number of questions and tested skills for each type)
• ETS: Updated TOEFL iBT Test Overview (Adaptive design, official examples)
• ETS: TOEFL iBT Score Scale Update (Reading score conversion)