Reading: Evidence, Inference and Text Structure
What the section tests
Selective reading questions ask you to locate information, combine clues, and judge an author's purpose. You need to recognise main idea versus supporting detail, cause and effect, sequence, compare and contrast, and fact versus opinion. Vocabulary in context matters: work out a word's meaning from the sentence around it rather than from memory alone.
Traps to watch
- True but irrelevant: an option that is accurate about the passage yet does not answer the question asked.
- Extreme wording: words like always, never, only and proves usually overstate what a passage supports.
- Half-right options: the first clause fits, the second contradicts the text.
- Inference creep: choosing a conclusion the passage hints at but does not require.
Rule of thumb
For every option, ask two questions: Where in the passage is this shown? and Does it answer exactly what was asked? If you cannot point to evidence, reject it. For inference questions, prefer the safest conclusion the evidence forces, not the most dramatic one.
Worked example
A passage says a council trialled later bin collection and "complaints fell by a third, though some residents noted missed pickups on public holidays". Question: what does the passage suggest about the trial?
- "It was completely successful" - contradicted by the missed pickups.
- "It reduced complaints but had minor problems" - supported by both details.
- "Residents opposed it" - not supported; complaints fell. The second option wins because it accounts for all the evidence without exaggeration.