I got an email the other day that asked something like:
Hey, I took the TOEFL yesterday and in one of the reading questions I had to pick TWO correct answers. Is that normal?
My answer was that this is rare, but normal. These questions seem to always be “Factual Information” questions where you have to “identify factual information that is explicitly stated in the passage… they can focus on facts, details, definitions, or other information presented by the author” (ETS). Basically, you are identifying stuff mentioned in the reading.
Theoretically, these might also be “negative factual questions” which as you to identify stuff NOT mentioned in the reading.
To find examples of what they look like, I scanned the three official TOEFL books. I did not find any such questions in the Official Guide to the TOEFL test.
But I did find the following sample in Volume 1 of the Official TOEFL iBT Tests book (test 3, question 17):
I also found the following sample in Volume 2 of the Official TOEFL iBT Tests book (test 1, question 27):
There could be more samples in the books. I just scanned them quickly.
So there you go. Just don’t be shocked by questions of this type. They are basically the same as the “factual information” questions you are already familiar with. Just remember to select TWO answers. You must get pick both correct choices to get the point. You will get no points if you only pick one, or if you only pick one correctly.