Reading Comprehension and Proofreading
What the exam tests
This domain measures your ability to read carefully and catch errors. Comprehension questions present a passage and ask for main idea, supporting detail, inference, tone, or the meaning of a word in context. Proofreading questions present a sentence or short passage and ask you to identify the error or choose the corrected version. Candidates must catch errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, and consistency of names, numbers, and dates. The skill tested is sustained attention: reading every word rather than skimming for gist.
Traps to expect
- Plausible but wrong answers that restate a detail without answering the question.
- Scope errors: an answer that is too broad or too narrow for the passage.
- Inference overreach: conclusions the passage does not support.
- Proofreading misses caused by reading for meaning rather than for form.
- Inconsistent details: a name spelled two ways, a date that changes mid-passage.
Rule of thumb
Read the question first, then the passage, then each answer choice against the passage. For proofreading, read backward word by word to break the brain's autocorrect habit.
Worked example
Passage: "The witness testified that she arrived at 9:00 a.m. and left at noon." Question: How long was the witness present? Answer: three hours. A choice saying "until noon" restates a detail but does not answer the duration question.