Ch3. TOEIC Strategy — Reading Comprehension: Part 7

Part 7 Structure

Part 7 is the largest section — 54 questions — and tests reading of authentic business documents.

Format	Texts	Questions
Single Passage	10	29
Double Passage	2 sets	10
Triple Passage	3 sets	15
Total		54

Document Types

• Emails / letters: business correspondence, inquiries, complaints, responses
• Notices / memos: internal announcements, event info, policy changes
• Advertisements: job postings, product / service ads
• Articles / news: business news, industry trends
• Forms: order forms, invoices, registration forms
• Text / chat messages: day-to-day work exchanges
• Online reviews: product / service feedback
• Schedules / programs: conference agendas, event programs

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Single Passage Strategy

Core Principle: Read the Questions First

Reading questions before the passage lets you search selectively rather than reading everything.

Recommended sequence:

1. Read all 3–5 questions for the set
2. Identify the document type (email? advertisement? notice?)
3. Skim the passage quickly to locate key information
4. For each question, re-read only the relevant section

Document Structure Templates

Email / letter:

Sender / recipient header
Date
Subject line
─────────────────
Opening: purpose of the email
Body: key content, details
Closing: request, call to action
Signature

Notice / memo:

Heading
Date / recipient
─────────────────
Purpose (reason for notice)
Details
Instructions / warnings
Contact information

Job advertisement:

Company name / job title
Main responsibilities
Requirements / qualifications
How to apply
Benefits / conditions

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Question Type Strategies

Type 1: Main Purpose / Topic

“What is the main purpose of the email?"
"What is the article mainly about?”

Strategy:

• The answer is almost always in the opening paragraph
• Look for “I am writing to…” or “The purpose of this letter is…”
• Eliminate options that are too specific or too broad

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Type 2: Detail Questions

“What does Ms. Brown offer to do?"
"When will the shipment arrive?"
"How much does the service cost?”

Strategy:

• Identify the question keyword (name, date, amount)
• Scan the passage for that keyword
• Read carefully around it
• Watch for paraphrasing — the correct answer uses different words than the passage

Common paraphrase patterns:

Passage says	Answer choice says
send an email	contact by email
is not available	will be absent
at no extra cost	free of charge
prior to	before
personnel	staff / employees
approximately	about / around
require	need / must have

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Type 3: NOT / True Questions

“Which of the following is NOT mentioned?"
"What is TRUE about the company?”

Strategy (most time-consuming type):

• Check all four answer choices against the passage one by one
• The correct answer (for NOT) = information absent from the passage, or contradicted by it
• Use elimination: rule out choices confirmed in the passage
• Time warning: if time is short, skip and return; don’t get stuck here

Common traps:

• Similar content appears in the passage but a detail is slightly different
• Confusion between two passages in double/triple sets

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Type 4: Inference Questions

“What is suggested about the company?"
"What can be inferred from the letter?"
"What does the writer imply?”

Strategy:

• The answer is not stated directly — you must draw a logical conclusion
• Combine information from multiple sentences
• Reject options that require outside knowledge or that go beyond what the text supports

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Type 5: Speaker / Audience Questions

“Who most likely is the writer?"
"Who is the intended audience of this notice?”

Strategy:

• Look for profession-related vocabulary, job titles, and described tasks
• Check the first and last paragraphs — they usually contain the most clues

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Type 6: Vocabulary in Context

“The word ‘secure’ in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to ___”

Strategy:

• Always go back and re-read the sentence containing the word

• Choose the meaning that fits the context, not the dictionary definition

• “secure a deal” → obtain (not “safe”)

• “address a concern” → handle / resolve (not “a postal address”)

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Type 7: Sentence Insertion

“In which position [1][2][3][4] does the following sentence best belong?”

Strategy:

1. Read the sentence to be inserted carefully — note pronouns and key ideas
2. Read the four candidate positions in the passage
3. The sentence must connect logically to what comes before AND after
4. Look for:
   • Pronoun referents (“it,” “this,” “they” — what do they refer to?)
   • Discourse connectors (“However,” “Therefore,” “In addition”)
   • Chronological or cause-effect flow

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Double and Triple Passage Strategy

The core challenge: questions may require information from two or three passages combined.

Signal phrases for cross-passage questions:
"According to the email and the schedule…"
"Based on the advertisement and the letter…"

Strategy:

1. Read all questions first — note which ones require cross-referencing
2. Answer single-passage questions first
3. For cross-passage questions, identify which passages hold the relevant information
4. Avoid mixing up information between passages

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Time Management

Total RC time:   ~75 minutes

Allocation guide:
  Part 5 (30 Qs):  12–15 minutes (25–30 sec/question)
  Part 6 (16 Qs):  8–10 minutes (~3–4 min/text)
  Part 7 (54 Qs):  50–55 minutes remaining

Part 7 time per text type:
  Short single passage (2 questions): ~3 min
  Standard single passage (3–4 questions): ~5–6 min
  Double passage set: ~8 min
  Triple passage set: ~10–12 min

Golden rule: Guessing and moving on is always better than spending 5 minutes on one question.

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Practice Quiz

Q1. A detail question asks about a specific price. You scan the passage and find “complimentary with any purchase over $50.” The answer choice says “free of charge for qualifying orders.” Is this a match?

Yes. “Complimentary” = free; “any purchase over $50” = “qualifying orders.” This is a classic paraphrase. The answer is a match.

Q2. A NOT question has four answer choices. Three of them are confirmed in the passage. What is your answer strategy?

Eliminate the three confirmed options by finding them in the text. The remaining option — the one you cannot find or that contradicts the passage — is the correct “NOT” answer.

Q3. In a sentence-insertion question, the sentence to be inserted begins “This decision…”. What should you look for in the passage?

A previous sentence that describes a decision being made — that sentence must appear immediately before the insertion point, so “This decision” has a clear referent.