To get a better sense of the distribution of questions on the new version of the TOEFL, I have compared the new versions of the TOEFL Reading Practice Sets released by ETS to their old versions. Note that the three sets in the above link are modified versions of the old TPO 7 and 8 sets. The articles are the same, but certain questions have been removed. Here’s what I found out about the question types on the new version of the test.
| Old Set 1 | Old Set 2 | Old Set 3 | New Set 1 | New Set 2 | New Set 3 | |
| Factual Information | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 (-1) | 3 (-1) | 3 |
| Negative Factual Information | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 (-1) | 1 (-1) | 1 |
| Rhetorical Purpose | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Vocabulary | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 (-2) | 2 (-2) | 1 (-2) |
| Sentence Simplification | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Insert a Sentence | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Inference | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 (-1) |
| Summary | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
This confirms my earlier reports that the new test has far fewer vocabulary questions. Factual and Negative Factual questions have also been reduced, it would seem.
This also confirms that Reference and “Fill in a Table” questions will probably not appear on the test much nowadays, as they are totally absent from the practice materials. Note that even though the single Inference question has been removed from the test, it is still being used quite frequently, according to reports.
Next up, I’ve done the same analysis of the Free Practice Test provided by ETS. The results are as follows.
| Old Set 1 | Old Set 2 | Old Set 3 | New Set 1 | New Set 2 | New Set 3 | |
| Factual Information | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 (-1) | 1 | 3 (-1) |
| Negative Factual Information | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Rhetorical Purpose | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Vocabulary | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 (-2) | 2 (-2) | 1 (-2) |
| Sentence Simplification | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 (-1) | 0 (-1) |
| Insert a Sentence | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Function of Paragraph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 (-1) | 0 | 0 |
| Inference | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 (-1) | 1 |
| Summary | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Again, we can see that there are far fewer vocabulary questions. But we can also see that all of the question types are affected, except for the Insert Sentence and Summary types.
The odd “function of paragraph” entry refers to a non-standard question that isn’t mentioned in the Official Guide or any other ETS resources. On the original set it was phrased as “What function does paragraph 3 serve in the organization of the passage as a whole?”. I guess this is sort of like a rhetorical purpose question, but it really surprises students when it comes up. Note that although it has been removed from the practice test, I have had reports that it has appeared on the real test since August 1.