Multiple-Choice Part B: Reading
What is tested
Reading passages include journalistic prose, literary excerpts, advertisements, and informational texts. Questions probe main idea, supporting detail, vocabulary in context, inference, and the author's purpose or tone. Accuracy depends on recognizing structure and register quickly.
Concepts to master
- Text type signals: a Zeitungsartikel has a lead paragraph stating the main point; a literary excerpt builds meaning through imagery and dialogue; an Anzeige compresses purpose into headlines and imperatives.
- Connectors that carry logic: dennoch, folglich, einerseits/andererseits, zumal.
- Vocabulary in context: choose the meaning that fits the sentence, not the most common dictionary gloss.
- Inference: conclusions the text supports but does not state.
Traps
- A distractor is true in the real world but not supported by the passage.
- Extreme wording (immer, nie, alle) often misstates a nuanced text.
- A detail answer is offered where the question asks for main idea, or vice versa.
- Cognate traps: bekommen (to receive), eventuell (possibly), aktuell (current) mislead English speakers.
Rule of thumb
Read the question stem first, then scan for the paragraph that answers it. For main-idea items, the correct choice usually covers the whole passage, while wrong choices describe only one paragraph. For vocabulary items, substitute each option back into the sentence and keep the one that preserves the logic.