Causality:

 Because of, due to, based on, owing to, by reason of, as a result of, attributable to, thanks to,
Since, as, caused by, consequently, thus, therefore, accordingly, subsequently, as a result,
correspondingly
 on account of, in respect of, for the sake of, towards, accounting to
o a reason, effect, aim, motive, motivation, intention, purpose, necessary, causative, necessity, out
of necessity, indispensable, essential, requisite, vital, crucial, obligatory, central

additions:
additionally, moreover, furthermore, also, as well, in addition, besides, moreover, further, besides

While:
While, Though, Although, Whereas, Even though, Despite the fact, Despite the fact that, But, However

But:
o Nevertheless, Yet, But, However, Nonetheless, Still, Though, On the other hand, Nevertheless,
o contrary,
words:
o resistive, resist, struggle, counterattack, repel, counter acting,
o admire, appreciate, approve, like, respect, support, backing, assistance, aid, sponsorship,
o protect
o contradict, deny, reverse, oppose, challenge, dispute, refute,
o resort to,
o feel, sense, impression, sensation, atmosphere, insights,
o inference, infer, imply, deduce, conclude
o cause, affect, effect, reason,
o purpose
o gist, substance, essence, central theme, heart of the matter, nub, kernel, core, summary, extract,
essence, abstract, recap,
o Latin and Greek roots of English words: bio (Life, Biology- Science of life), cardi (heart, Cardiac-
relating to the heart), retro (back, Retrospect- review past events), vac (empty, Vacant- not
occupied)
o Directing, recommending, complaining, Agreeing/Disagreeing, Questioning, Conforming
o The stance of the speaker: Calm or emotional, relaxed or nervous, certain or confused,
enthusiastic or bored.
o Signal words:
 (first, next, then, second, finally)
 After, at last, before, during, now, since
 Obviously, of course
 Accordingly, as a result, because, for example, for instance
 In conclusion, to summarize
Toefl sections:
Reading:
Questions’ types: Tips and tricks:
Factual vs. negative factual o According to certain paragraphs
information sections o Evaluate all the options sorted by their estimated correctness
values then accordingly conduct an elimination process.
o Eliminate if not in the paragraph or contradicts information
from the paragraph.
Inference (infer, imply, etc.) and o Not explicitly stated in the reading passage
rhetoric (why) purpose o Eliminate wrong answers first, if the wright one if less
questions apparent.
o For lengthy lists of viable answers, especially for the rhetoric
“why” questions, only first statements of the answers could be
utilized during the elimination process.
Vocabulary  Meanings of words and phrases as they have been introduced
in the reading passage.
 The actual strategy for such questions is merely to raise your
academic vocabulary repository.
 Roots of words as a means for expanding the vocabulary’s
repository.
Sentence simplification  Identify a sentence that maintains the intrinsic meaning of
questions that of the corresponding paragraph.
 Don’t worry about the minor or detailed information, only the
obvious central ideas of the summarized sentence.
 Incorrect choices neglect important information or change the
meaning in important ways.
 Cause/effect or conclusion based on evidence.
 Identify main ideas and the related subordinate, detailed,
ones.
Insert text  Understand the logical order of ideas in the reading passage.
 Always look for the PRONOUNS and then locate the inserted
sentence in a location that maintains the integrity of these
pronouns.
 Common pronouns may include (this/these, that/those,
they/them, him/her, he/she/it, which)
Prose summary or fill in a table  Identify the major ideas and the relative importance of the
ideas in the reading passage.
 In the prose question, you would select three choices out of
six available ones.
 The deserted incorrected choices would either misrepresent
information or discuss minor points.
 The fill in tables categorizes the given statements into two
distinct classes.
 The statements’ inclusion of minor ideas is a significant
indictor of its incorrectness.
Listening:
Questions’ types:
Gist-content / gist-purpose
Detailed questions
Function questions
Attitude questions
Organization questions
Connecting content questions
Tips and tricks:
 The gist is the main point or key idea.
 Gist-content is what is the main idea (mainly about, mainly
discussing). Gist-purpose is “Why” this is happening (why the
student? what is the main purpose?).
 Either of these two types would be present in the questions,
but not both, and they are always the first question.

 Specific facts about the lecture or the conversation.
 Phrases like “according to ” or “what is …?”
 Note-taking for important rather than trivial details.
 Remembering remembering
 A particular meaning of a statement in a given context.
 Directing, recommending, complaining,
Agreeing/Disagreeing, Questioning, Conforming.
 Speaker’s attitude of feelings.
 Phrases like “what I think” or “It seems to me”
 The tone of the speaker’s voice “apologizing, blaming,
suspecting, etc.”
 Calm or emotional, relaxed or nervous, certain or confused,
enthusiastic or bored.
 How a lecture is structured?
 Why is a certain detailed proposition is mentioned by the
professor?
 Listen for signal words that signifies “Introduction, major
ideas, Examples, Conclusions”
 The words at which notes should be taken may include (first,
next, then, second, finally) (After, at last, before, during,
now, since) (Obviously, of course) (Accordingly, as a result,
because, for example, for instance) (In conclusion, to
summarize)
 Relationships amongst ideas in the lecture.
Understanding the paragraphs:
1. Skimming
2. Note taking