Updated 2026-08-23easy

TOEFL Reading Practice #007 — The Milk That Waits at the Back of the Store

Free TOEFL Reading practice: The Milk That Waits at the Back of the Store. 11 questions with a full passage and answer key.

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How to use this practice: Read the passage once without a dictionary, then answer the questions on your own. Tap “Answer” under each question to reveal just the correct letter — no explanations, so you can keep testing yourself.
1

Passage

Read the full passage. Bracketed letters like [A] mark the four positions for the insert-text question.

The Milk That Waits at the Back of the Store

¶1 Grocery stores almost always place milk, eggs, and bread along the back wall, far from the entrance. Shoppers who want just one item still must walk past nearly every aisle. Many people call this a planning mistake. But a store's layout is rarely an accident.

¶2 Store planners choose where every product goes for one reason: to make shoppers walk past more of it. Daily necessities sit farthest from the entrance. They are also spread apart, so a single trip means several long walks. Fresh fruit and vegetables usually greet shoppers first. Their bright colors make people feel hungry and ready to buy. Shelves at eye level hold the most expensive items. Cheaper versions sit higher or lower, where shoppers must bend or reach. Small, cheap items wait near the checkout line, where a shopper has nothing else to do but look.

¶3 At first glance, this pattern looks like careless planning. In fact, a store's path has one purpose: to maximize what a shopper notices. [A] Because the necessities sit at the far end of the store, a shopper walking toward them passes dozens of products that were never part of the plan. [B] This kind of unplanned purchase is called impulse buying. It is something a shopper did not plan to buy before entering the store. Planners count on it more than most shoppers realize. [C] A 2014 study tracked real shopping carts. It found that shoppers who walk a store's entire loop buy nearly 60 percent more unplanned items than those using a short aisle. [D] The longer the walk to a carton of milk, the fuller a cart tends to get.

¶4 Knowing about this design does not make it disappear. But it does change how a shopper can use it. A shopper who brings a short list and skips that walk buys almost exactly what was planned. Grocery stores are not built to trick anyone into buying things they don't want. They are built so the walk to the back wall passes as many purchases as possible. The milk still waits in the same place. What changes is whether a shopper walks straight to it, or gets pulled down every aisle instead.

  • aisle: a passage between rows of shelves in a store
  • checkout: the place in a store where customers pay for what they are buying
  • impulse buying: buying something a shopper did not plan to buy before entering a store
2

Questions

11 questions — every TOEFL Reading question type, in test order.

Q1 · Vocabulary
The word layout in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to
  1. A. arrangement
  2. B. price
  3. C. confusion
  4. D. customer
Answer
Correct: A
Q2 · Reference
The word it in paragraph 3 ("Planners count on it more than most shoppers realize.") refers to
  1. A. impulse buying
  2. B. the store's overall design
  3. C. daily necessities
  4. D. the far end of the store
Answer
Correct: A
Q3 · Essential Term
Based on the information in the passage, the term impulse buying can best be explained as
  1. A. buying only items that are on sale
  2. B. buying something a shopper did not plan to buy before entering the store
  3. C. buying too many groceries during a single trip
  4. D. buying items that are placed at eye level in a store
Answer
Correct: B
Q4 · Factual Information
According to paragraph 2, why are fresh fruit and vegetables usually placed near the entrance?
  1. A. Because they spoil quickly and must be sold first
  2. B. Because their bright colors make shoppers feel hungry and ready to buy
  3. C. Because they are the cheapest items in the store
  4. D. Because most shoppers only buy fruit and vegetables
Answer
Correct: B
Q5 · Negative Fact
According to paragraph 2, all of the following are true EXCEPT
  1. A. Daily necessities are placed farthest from the store's entrance
  2. B. Shelves at eye level hold the store's most expensive items
  3. C. Small, cheap items are placed near the checkout line
  4. D. Fresh fruit and vegetables are placed near the checkout line rather than near the entrance
Answer
Correct: D
Q6 · Sentence Simplification
Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in paragraph 3? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

Highlighted: "Because the necessities sit at the far end of the store, a shopper walking toward them passes dozens of products that were never part of the plan."
  1. A. Since necessities sit at the far end of the store, shoppers pass many unplanned products on their way to get them.
  2. B. Shoppers pass dozens of unplanned products, and this is why necessities are placed at the far end of the store.
  3. C. Only shoppers who plan carefully avoid walking past unplanned products in the store.
  4. D. Every product in the store sits at the far end, so shoppers must walk to reach all of them.
Answer
Correct: A
Q7 · Inference
Based on the information in paragraph 3, what can be inferred about a shopper who walks the shortest possible path to grab one item, without passing through most of the store?
  1. A. This shopper would still buy nearly 60 percent more items than average shoppers
  2. B. This shopper would be unable to find the necessity at all
  3. C. This shopper would likely see fewer products and make fewer unplanned purchases than someone who walked the entire loop
  4. D. Store planners would immediately redesign the store because of this shopper
Answer
Correct: C
Q8 · Rhetorical Purpose
The author mentions the 2014 study that tracked real shopping carts in order to
  1. A. explain how shoppers can escape a long walk through the store
  2. B. give evidence that supports the claim that store design increases unplanned purchases
  3. C. compare grocery stores in different countries
  4. D. describe how shopping carts are designed and built
Answer
Correct: B
Q9 · Paragraph Relation
How does paragraph 4 relate to paragraph 3?
  1. A. It argues that the explanation in paragraph 3 is incorrect
  2. B. It repeats the 2014 study from paragraph 3 in more detail
  3. C. It introduces a completely unrelated aspect of grocery shopping
  4. D. It shifts from explaining why the design increases purchases to what a shopper can do about it
Answer
Correct: D
Q10 · Insert Text
Look at the four squares [■] in paragraph 3 that indicate where the following sentence could be added.

Someone eventually put this pattern to an actual test.

Where would the sentence best fit?
  1. A. Square A
  2. B. Square B
  3. C. Square C
  4. D. Square D
Answer
Correct: C
Q11 · Prose Summary Select THREE · 2 pts
Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.

Grocery stores place daily necessities far from the entrance not by accident, but as part of a deliberate design that increases how much shoppers buy.

  1. A. Daily necessities such as milk and eggs are placed at the far end of the store, forcing shoppers to walk past many other products.
  2. B. Fresh fruit and vegetables are placed near the entrance because they spoil quickly and must be sold fast.
  3. C. This extra walking leads to impulse buying, purchases a shopper did not plan to make before entering the store.
  4. D. A 2014 study found that shoppers who walked a store's entire loop bought far more unplanned items than those who used a short aisle.
  5. E. A shopper who brings a short list and skips the long walk ends up buying close to only what was planned.
  6. F. Stores intentionally place the most expensive items at the very back wall, farther away than the daily necessities.
Answer
Correct: A, C, E