Reading Comprehension: Finding Evidence, Not Guessing
Reading Comprehension asks you to make sense of one or more texts written for a real audience - a news article, a blog post, a letter to the editor, a brochure, a short story excerpt - and to answer questions that move from literal detail to inference and to the writer's purpose. The format is usually multiple choice plus short answer, and some questions ask you to justify with a quotation. The skill being tested is locating evidence, not recalling background knowledge.
Question types and where the answer lives
- Main idea, best title, writer's purpose → title, headings, first and last paragraphs.
- Detail → scan for a name, number or key word, then read that whole sentence.
- Inference → two or more pieces of evidence combined; the answer is not stated outright.
- Vocabulary in context → the meaning that fits this sentence; the common dictionary sense is often the trap.
- Reference words ("it", "this", "they") → the nearest earlier noun that fits both grammar and logic.
- Text features → headings, captions, bold type, the layout of an ad or brochure.
A procedure that works under exam time
- Skim for about a minute: title, headings, first and last sentence of each paragraph. Decide the text type and topic.
- Read the questions before the close read, so your eyes know what to hunt for.
- Read closely and mark the line that proves each answer.
- Answer from that marked line, not from memory.
- For open questions, quote briefly or paraphrase in your own words.
Worked example
Text: "When the city replaced the bus lane with a bike path, shop owners on King Street reported a 20% drop in sales in the first month. A follow-up survey a year later, however, found that most customers now arrived on foot or by bike and that average spending had returned to its previous level."
Question: "What can be inferred about the bike path?" A) It permanently damaged local business. B) Its early effect on sales did not last. C) Shop owners supported the project. D) It replaced all bus service.
Answer: B. "However" and "a year later ... returned" contrast with the first month, so the drop was temporary. A is contradicted by the survey; C is never stated; D overstates - one lane was replaced, not all service.
Traps
- Choosing an option that is true in the real world but unsupported by the text.
- Extreme wording (all, never, only, always) is usually wrong.
- Matching a word in the option to the same word in the text without checking meaning.
- Missing NOT or EXCEPT in a question stem.