TOEFL 100+ Vocabulary | 57 words YOU NEED to KNOW to pass the TOEFL test
Summary
TLDRThis video provides essential strategies to help students achieve high scores on the TOEFL reading and listening sections. It emphasizes the importance of expanding vocabulary, both subject-specific and commonly used academic terms. The presenter shares a list of 57 frequently encountered words, explaining their meanings and contexts in TOEFL exams. Viewers are encouraged to test their knowledge and track their progress. The video also highlights the benefits of using synonyms to improve comprehension and offers a comprehensive TOEFL preparation course for further learning.
Takeaways
- 📚 Expanding vocabulary is crucial for scoring high on the TOEFL reading and listening sections.
- 📖 Study subject-specific vocabulary in areas like biology, psychology, and physics to better understand passages.
- 📝 The script provides a list of 57 common academic words that frequently appear in the TOEFL test.
- ⚖️ Words such as 'commodity,' 'exploit,' and 'demise' often appear in reading passages and are essential for answering questions.
- 🗣️ Some words, like 'sophisticated' and 'extensive,' are commonly used across multiple contexts in the TOEFL.
- 🎓 Learning synonyms for difficult words helps with quick recognition during the exam.
- ✏️ Regular practice and noting down words you don't know can improve your vocabulary retention.
- 🚨 Paying attention to transitional words like 'initially' and 'eventually' helps in understanding passage flow.
- 💡 Understanding both literal and metaphorical uses of words like 'cultivate' and 'exploit' is important for the test.
- 🎯 To succeed on the TOEFL, focus on building a comprehensive academic vocabulary, recognizing patterns, and understanding context.
Q & A
What is one common reason students struggle with TOEFL reading and listening tests?
-One common reason students struggle with TOEFL reading and listening tests is that their vocabulary is limited, particularly in understanding common academic words.
How can studying subject-specific vocabulary help students in TOEFL exams?
-Studying subject-specific vocabulary, such as words from biology, psychology, and physics, can help students better understand texts and lectures, increasing their ability to answer questions accurately.
Why is it important to know frequently occurring words in TOEFL reading and listening sections?
-Certain words frequently appear in TOEFL reading passages and lectures, and knowing these common academic terms is essential for answering questions correctly.
What is the meaning of the word 'commodity' in the context of the TOEFL test?
-In the TOEFL test, 'commodity' refers to any useful or valuable thing, especially something that can be bought or sold, such as food, clothes, or electronics.
How does the word 'exploit' typically appear in TOEFL passages?
-In TOEFL passages, 'exploit' usually means making good use of something, such as natural resources, though it can also refer to unfairly using someone or something for personal gain.
What is the significance of the word 'prosperity' in TOEFL reading and listening sections?
-'Prosperity' often appears in contexts related to economic or financial success, such as periods of rising prosperity in history, and understanding this term is critical for answering related questions.
How is the word 'intermittently' used in TOEFL passages?
-'Intermittently' means something that happens at intervals, starting and stopping periodically, and this word is often used in TOEFL passages to describe events or processes that are not continuous.
What does the word 'cultivate' mean in academic texts?
-'Cultivate' typically refers to preparing land for crops or gardening in agricultural contexts, but it can also mean developing or improving skills or relationships in a broader academic sense.
How can knowing synonyms help in the TOEFL exam?
-Knowing synonyms can help students avoid confusion and save time when answering questions, as many TOEFL questions rely on recognizing different words with similar meanings.
Why is the word 'sophisticated' commonly used in TOEFL reading passages?
-The word 'sophisticated' is often used in TOEFL reading passages to describe something complex or intricate, such as advanced computer models or systems, which are frequently discussed in academic contexts.
Outlines
📚 Vocabulary and Success in TOEFL Reading and Listening
The speaker emphasizes the importance of scoring well in the TOEFL reading and listening sections, stating that limited vocabulary is a common challenge for students. They suggest studying subject-specific vocabulary in fields like biology and physics. However, they also highlight the need to learn academic words that frequently appear across multiple TOEFL passages. To help, the speaker has compiled 57 common words to aid students in achieving a higher score.
✍️ Practice Method and Common TOEFL Word: 'Commodity'
In this section, the speaker introduces a method for practicing vocabulary: making two columns on a piece of paper—one for words you know and one for unfamiliar words. They begin the list with 'commodity,' a commonly tested word in TOEFL reading passages. It refers to any useful or valuable item, especially one that can be bought or sold, like food or electronics.
💼 'Exploit' and 'Cultivate': Key TOEFL Words
Here, two more essential TOEFL words are explained: 'exploit' and 'cultivate.' To exploit means using something selfishly or unfairly, but in TOEFL, it can also mean making good use of resources. 'Cultivate' originally refers to preparing land for crops but is also used metaphorically to mean developing a skill or relationship.
🕰️ 'Demise,' 'Prosperity,' and 'Decade' – Common Academic Words
The speaker introduces three more key words: 'demise,' meaning the end of something, often seen in formal or academic contexts; 'prosperity,' meaning financial success, with 'prosperous' as the related adjective; and 'decade,' referring to a period of ten years. These words appear frequently in TOEFL reading and listening passages.
🔄 'Alteration,' 'Intermittently,' and 'Extensive' – Frequent TOEFL Terms
'Alteration' means a change or modification, while the verb 'alter' is synonymous with 'modify' or 'change.' The word 'intermittently' describes something occurring periodically, and 'extensive' is used to describe something that covers a large area or has a wide range. These words frequently appear in TOEFL texts and questions.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Commodity
💡Exploit
💡Prosperity
💡Alteration
💡Intermittently
💡Sophisticated
💡Abruptly
💡Tremendous
💡Diverse
💡Decline
Highlights
Vocabulary limitations hinder high scores in TOEFL reading and listening tests.
Studying subject-specific vocabulary (e.g., biology, psychology, physics) can improve understanding of reading passages and lectures.
Some common words in academic articles and texts often appear in TOEFL reading and listening sections.
The video includes 57 of the most frequent words found on the TOEFL reading and listening tests.
Word example: 'Commodity' – a useful or valuable thing, such as coffee, grains, or electronics.
Word example: 'Exploit' – to use someone or something selfishly for profit, or to make good use of resources.
Word example: 'Cultivate' – to prepare land for crops, or to develop a skill or relationship.
Word example: 'Prosperity' – financial success, especially post-World War II in the US.
Intermittently and 'off and on' describe something happening periodically.
Extensive means covering a large area or having a great range, a common word on TOEFL tests.
Sophisticated – used to describe complicated systems like computer models, often found in TOEFL texts.
Diverse – used frequently in TOEFL, meaning different or varied, such as in diverse cultures or wildlife.
Words like 'drastically', 'dramatically', and 'spectacularly' are often used to describe extreme changes.
Common words to know: 'decline' (to decrease), 'coerce' (to force), 'retreat' (to withdraw).
Knowing synonyms helps avoid mistakes in TOEFL tests, as questions often rephrase words.
Transcripts
I need to score 30 out of 30 on the too
reading and listening sections but I
have no idea how to do it in my
one-on-one sessions I have lots of
students who struggle with the toal of
reading and listening tests and I've
noticed that one of the reasons they can
get high scores is that their vocabulary
is limited one thing you can do is study
subject specific vocabulary for topics
like biology psychology physics
astronomy and more this will definitely
help you understand understand the text
and lectures better but is that all not
really after studying tons of total
practice tests I've noticed that there
are certain words that appear very often
in Reading passages and lectures and
they don't belong to any specific
subject these are the words that you
will often find in academic articles and
texts and these are the words you'll
usually need to answer questions on the
TOEFL reading and listening sections so
in this video I have collected 57 of the
most common words you'll see on the
total reading and listening sections
that will help you get the score you
want don't forget to subscribe to our
channel to get more tips and tricks
about the test and click the Bell icon
to be notified when the next video comes
out let's see how ready you are for the
toal test take a piece of paper and make
two columns in one column put a plus for
the words you know in the second column
put a minus and write the word itself to
Mark the words you don't know at the end
of this video write winner in the
comments if you know all the words or
tell us how many words from the list you
know for example 26 out of 57 or 50 out
of 57 let's get started one
commodity this word is super popular on
the TOEFL and I often see it in the
reading passages what's more important
it's often necessary to answer the
questions so a commodity is any useful
or valuable thing especially something
that you can buy or sell like food
clothes or Electronics so coffee grains
or precious metals are all examples of
Commodities I've just seen this word
mentioned a few times in two random
reading passages so it's really common
for the total reading two exploit if you
use someone or something usually
selfishly or for profit you'll exploit
them Factory owners can exploit their
employees making them work over time so
to exploit is to use something or
somewhat unfairly for your own benefit
on the tol however you'll often see this
word used in a slightly different sense
it usually means to make good use of
something for example to exploit natural
resources the next word in our list is
cultivate
the original meaning of this word is to
prepare and use land for crops or
gardening so you'll often see it used in
text and lectures about agriculture
people can cultivate Fields Gardens or
land this word can also mean to develop
or improve something such as a skill or
relationship four demise demise is the
end of something it can be the end of a
person's life or anything else we often
use this word in medical or legal
language or one would want to sound
formal on the tol you'll often see this
word used to describe the final stage of
something for example the demise of a
company or the demise of a
relationship five Prosperity another
Super popular word on the tol test that
I see all the time Prosperity usually
means being successful especially
financially in the US the decades after
World War II were characterized by
Rising Prosperity with large numbers of
people moving into the middle class the
adjective prosperous is also very
typical for the tful reading and
listening sections it means financially
successful speaking of the word decade
from the example I just gave this is our
next word A decade is a period of 10
years we have a decade 10 years a
century 100 years and a millennium
1,000 years we actually have an entire
course dedicated to toal preparation
where we teach you all the words you
need to know to score consistently high
on each section of the test we have
lists of words organized by topic
templates for Effective speaking and
writing responses strategies for each
question type and more I'll leave the
link to the course below another
important word to know is alteration
alteration means a change or
ification the verb to alter means to
make something different or to change
something such as altering plan or
altering a law remember three words with
a similar meaning to alter to modify to
change you'll often need them for the
total reading eight
intermittently I can tell you how many
times they see this word it's a fancy
way of saying from time to time
periodically the adverb intermittently
describes something that starts then
stops and then starts up again if you
studied intermittently last night it
means that sometimes you studied but
sometimes you took breaks to do other
things a phrase with a similar meaning
is off and on we came across it just
recently in one of our reading videos
this phrase means that something happens
periodically like working off and on or
visiting off and on on so remember off
and on or intermittently mean at
intervals not continuously 10 extensive
for some reason this is one of the
favorite words of the toal creators they
use it in practically every reading
passage or lecture I've ever worked with
and believe me there have been many the
first and the most popular reading is
covering a large area for example if
extensive Road repairs extensive grounds
or extensive agriculture so imagine
something that covers a large area
that's
extensive extensive can also mean having
a great range if you knowledge of the
toal test is extensive you know a lot
about it if an event gets extensive
coverage in the newspapers it means many
people are writing about it next is the
word
sophisticated when something is
sophisticated it's complicated and
intricate the inner workings of a
computer are sophisticated it's
difficult to understand them unless
you're a computer expert high school
math is a lot more sophisticated than
grammar school math driving a car is
more sophisticated than riding a bike on
the TOEFL you'll often find mentions of
sophisticated computer models
sophisticated systems or sophisticated
tools used by Asian people 12 diverse
various very different it's another
common word that pops up in almost every
passage diverse means that something has
many different parts or elements such as
diverse culture or diverse Wildlife 13
abruptly subtly or without warning 14
result in to cause something to happen
for example High economic growth results
in higher
inflation 15 mild not severe or intense
we often use mild when talking about the
weather or climate mild weather isn't
too cold or too hot this is the meeting
that's most popular on the tofl test
however this word can also be used in
other areas for example mild criticism
not severe a mild heart attack not too
serious ious the next group of words
have similar meanings they are
drastically dramatically and
spectacularly I see all three of them
all the time both in the reading and
listening on the toofold they usually
mean extremely or a lot for example
their budget has been drastically
reduced reduced a lot the nature of
conflict has changed dramatically has
changed a lot
this attempt failed
spectacularly significantly failed 19
tolerate to accept or put up with
something you can tolerate noise or a
person some people don't tolerate rude
Behavior 20 threat an impending danger
that has the potential to cause serious
harm toll for reading passages usually
have many examples of threats such as
enemy threats Health threats death
threats and so on a popular cocation is
imminent threat it's a synonym for
impending danger one more very common
word on both the reading and listening
sections of the toal is decline to
decline means to decrease or diminish in
quantity or quality we use it when
something is getting smaller or worse
for example decline of a business or the
decline of a population 22 coers to
Force someone to do something against
their will you can coer a person to do
something or coer a decision or a
confession from a person again just
recently I saw this word in one of the
reading passages we were doing in a
one-onone session with my student 23
Retreat to go away from a place or
person to escape from fighting or danger
the tol likes to use this word in a
variety of contexts you can find
information about lizards retreating
into the shade or retreating shares of a
company we can even find it in the
integrated speaking questions for
example question three may be about a
psychological term in which the speaker
understands that their proposals were
clearly unreasonable and is forced to
retreat so expect to see this word in
many contexts 24 initially in the
beginning at first 25 eventually in the
end especially after a long time or a
lot of effort a similar word that is
often given as a paraphrase for the word
eventually is ultimately it means
finally after a series of things have
happened for example the company
ultimately succeeded or the company
ultimately failed 27 rival a few days
ago one of my students made a mistake in
the reading passage because she didn't
know this word so I decided to include
it in today's list arrival is a person
or thing that competes with another so
it's a synony for the word competitor
the question she had was the sentence
simplification question about
terrestrial plans that had the
advantages of not having rivals in the
text there was a line about the land of
opportunity free of
competitors because she didn't know the
word r R she couldn't find the right
answer this is a typical example of why
you should know synonyms otherwise
you'll waste time when answering the
questions and you may make mistakes 28
data information 29 conventional usual
traditional ordinary it's a super
popular word that I've also seen used in
vocabulary questions I also see it a lot
in the toal reading passages you can
find information about conventional
explanation of something conventional
farming conventional
medicine or weapons 30 suede to replace
or surpass something some common cations
are suped a law supered a record let's
look at a typical sentence you might see
on the TOEFL test they still used stone
tools similar to those superseded in
Europe by metal tools thousands of years
ago superseded replaced as you can see
the most effective way to remember all
these new and difficult words is to
think of simpler synonyms for them that
you already know that way the next time
you see the word supersede you'll
remember the word replace and we know
what it means another Super popular word
I decided to include in this list is
fossils this word means remains or
impressions of ancient plants or animals
fossils look like this you'll often find
lectures and texts about fossils of
dinosaurs again I see this word all the
time and you just have to know it 32
flourish to grow or develop successfully
just as your Tomatoes can flourish in
the summer countries companies cultural
life the ship building industry computer
technology and lots of other things and
spheres can flourish people can also
flourish which means that they are
successful remember we talked about the
word Prosperity earlier well a ctive for
to flourish is to prosper another
synonym for this word we have on our
list is to thrive your business or your
relationships can Thrive so remember
these three words to thrive to prosper
to
flourish all of them mean to be
successful 34 disruption an interruption
or disturbance 35 decay in other words
TOEFL creators love and use all the time
to Decay means to rot or become weaker
for example a building or a relationship
can both Decay I recently had a text
about how venice's role as a storage and
distribution center for spices silk and
gold decayed which means it became
weaker and ultimately the city lost its
Monopoly if you've taken at least a few
total practice tests you've probably
also come across the idea that carbon
decays in living things because carbon
is radioactive it decays over time which
means the older artifacts have less
carbon than younger ones this is why so
many readings and lectures mention
radiocarbon dating which is a method
that uses the decay of carbon to
determine the age of organic materials
36 rigid stiff or fixed something that
can be moved or bent 37 preserve to keep
something from Decay or destruction
simply put to keep something safe you
can preserve a culture or preserve a
historical site by the way site is a
place 38 depletion the act of reducing
or using something up some common
locations with this word are depletion
of resources soil depletion or depletion
of a population 39
estimate to guess or calculate the cost
size or value of something as a verb
this word is pronounced estimate it can
also be used as a noun in this case we'
say an estimate an estimate is a
judgment or calculation of approximately
how large or or how great something is
if the mechanics bill is much higher
than the estimate they gave you for
example you have a right to be angry 40
impact the effect or influence of
something on something else remember
these three words an impact an influence
an effect they are often used as
paraphrase on toofold the word impact
can also mean the force or action of one
object hitting another for example the
moment two comments Collide is called
the moment of impact 41 inhibit to
prevent or stop something from happening
you can inhibit a process or inhibit a
reaction for example this is the main
factor inhibiting online access
preventing online access 42
hibernation this word is extremely
common in academic lectures hibernation
is the type of deep sleep that some
animals such as bears for example go
into during the winter so simply put
hibernation is like taking a long nap 43
divert the verb to divert means to
change the direction or course of
something the police will divert traffic
if there has been an accident which is
blocking the road and it's a good idea
to divert some of your income into a
savings account so you don't spend it
all on the toofold you may find mentions
of diverted traffic information diverted
public attention or investigation 44
tremendous extremely large for example
tremendous success or a tremendous
failure a similar word is
enormous this word also means very big
an animal can be of an enormous size or
your parents can have an enormous
influence on your life 46 emerge to
appear to come out many different things
can emerge for example details patterns
Trends differences or theories a person
can emerge from the crowd or plans often
emerge from the ground 47
expand this word comes up all the time
on the TOEFL to expand means to increase
in size or scope you'll find texts about
the universe economy business or
Industries expanding markets or cities
can also expand 48
proliferation the act of increasing or
spreading rapidly 49 escalate to become
greater or more serious the situation
started to escalate around noon the
credit crisis is escalating as expected
50 Surplus a surplus is something extra
or left over if your tree produces more
apples than you can eat you can make
applesauce with the surplus of apples
you will often come across texts about
surplus food surplus money Surplus
supplies 51
eliminate this word is a must on the
reading and listening sections of the
TOEFL to eliminate means to REM move or
get rid of something this is what you do
with the four answer options you get
first you eliminate two options that are
definitely wrong you can also eliminate
a problem a possibility or a risk 52
purchase to buy something for example
purchase a house or a car 53 obtain to
get something you can obtain a degree
obtain information permission approval
or obtain a job the next three words on
our list have similar meetings they are
obligatory mandatory and compulsory if
something is obligatory mandatory or
compulsory you must do it because of a
rule or law for example this is
mandatory to help prevent fraud
registration was obl obligatory but
voting was optional the study skills
courses were almost always compulsory
you'll see these words all the time so
be sure to write them down if you don't
know them 57
predominant more noticeable or important
or greater number than others the
predominant colors however were black
and yellow we did it
congratulations these were the 57 words
you'll definitely need to to tackle the
tol reading and listening sections as
you've already noticed many of them can
also be used in your writing and
speaking responses thanks for watching
please note below how many words you
already knew if you want to master all
four sections of the toal exam and get a
great score on test day click on the
link below and don't forget to subscribe
to our channel to get more tips and
tricks on how to Ace the TOEFL test
remember scoring 100 plus on the TOEFL
isn't rocket science it's the little
things you do that make all the
difference as always I wish you all a
stellar total score until next time
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