Hi everyone! A lot of students say TOEFL inference questions are the hardest. But remember Sherlock Holmes? He solved mysteries using deduction. That’s exactly the approach we need for TOEFL.
The problem isn’t that inference is too hard—it’s that most students don’t have the right tools. Without them, it feels like guessing. But with them, inference questions actually become some of the easiest—because logic gives you 100% certainty.
That’s why in this video, I’ll walk you through 10 powerful rules for making inferences on the TOEFL. Think of them as your detective toolkit: each one helps you connect the clues in a passage to the correct answer.
Here are the 10 rules we’ll cover:
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Necessary vs. Sufficient Condition – Learn how to tell the difference between what must be true and what is enough to be true.
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The Exception Test with “Even” – Spotting how “even” flips the meaning in exception cases.
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Hypothetical Syllogism – If A leads to B, and B leads to C, then A leads to C.
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Identity Elimination – When two things are actually the same, you can substitute one for the other.
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Disjunction Elimination – If “either A or B” is true and A is false, then B must be true.
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Modus Tollens – If “If A, then B” is true and B is false, then A must also be false.
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Contrapositive – Flipping and negating a conditional statement: If A → B, then not-B → not-A.
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Counterexample – One example that disproves a universal claim.
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Mill’s Methods of Finding Causes – Using agreement, difference, and joint methods to reason about cause and effect.
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Methods of Controlled Experiment – Seeing how researchers isolate one variable to prove a causal link.
These rules aren’t just abstract logic—they’re practical tools you can use on TOEFL reading passages.
In Dr. Byrnes’s TOEFL Reading Course, we’ll apply each of these rules to real practice questions. You’ll see how a passage sets up a condition, a contrast, or a hidden assumption, and how you can use the right rule to lock in the answer with confidence.
And don’t worry—you’ll get lots of practice. Each rule comes with multiple sample TOEFL-style questions so you can see how it works in context and test your own reasoning skills. The more you practice, the more natural this logical detective work will feel.
By the end of the course, you’ll not only understand inference—you’ll have 10 logical tools you can rely on every time. Once you master these, inference questions will go from the hardest… to some of the easiest on the test.
Enjoy—and let’s get started!