iBT Speaking Materials | General-Specific Task Question

iBT Speaking Materials | General-Specific Task Question

The Fourth Question you're going to encounter in the TOFEL iBT Speaking Section is The General/ Specific Task Question. In this question, you will have to read a short reading from a textbook or an article in any academic field (The reading will talk about a topic generally). After that; you will hear part of a classroom lecture or a discussion between the students and the professor on the same topic as the reading (The lecture will talk about the same topic but in more detail). Your job is to summarize what you read and heard by showing the relationship between the general ideas in the reading and the specific information in the lecture/ discussion. Below you'll find some useful phrases that will help you do that.

(Reading Topic: General Concepts)Giving the overall topic of the passage

●The reading is about the general concept of + (n/ n ph)
●The reading gives an overall view of + (n/ n ph) 
●The passage discusses the general characteristics of ........ 
●The passage talks about + (n/ n ph) which defined as..........

(Lecture Topic: Specific Points)Mentioning Specific Points Made by the Speaker

●The professor talks specifically about the ..........
●The speaker gives two specific examples of + (n/ n ph)

Citation 

●The reading says that + (Sentence)
●The professor says that + (Sentence)

Definition & Description 

●According to the reading +(main topic) refers to + (n/ n ph)
●The reading defines (main topic) as + (Sentence)
●(main topic) refers to + (n/ n ph)

Characteristics & Categories 

●According to the reading, there are two main types of......... 
One is......... The other type is .......
●There are three characteristics that....... The first one is.......
The second characteristic is........... 
The third characteristic is.............

Relating Specific & General Information 

●(n) is pretty typical of (n) because..........
●(n) is an example of (n)
●(n) is a good example of (n)
●Like many types of (n), ............

If you are preparing for the TOFEL IBT test, I highly recommend the following book: