Reading Comprehension
Reading Comprehension asks you to extract, connect, and judge information from one or more passages. Questions are not equally demanding: some ask for a stated detail, others for an inference, the writer's attitude, the function of a paragraph, or the meaning of a word in context. Each type rests on different evidence, and confusing them is the main cause of wrong answers.
Map each question to its evidence
- Detail/fact: locate the keyword cluster, then read one sentence before and one after.
- Vocabulary in context: substitute each option into the sentence and test the surrounding logic, not your memory of the word.
- Inference: the answer follows in one step from the text; if it needs two steps or outside knowledge, it is wrong.
- Attitude: collect evaluative adjectives, adverbs, and hedges (apparently, arguably), plus concession markers.
- Main idea/title: must cover the whole passage, not the most vivid paragraph.
- Structure/function: ask what the paragraph does for the argument - illustrates, concedes, qualifies, or rebuts.
Read for argument, not just content
Mark the claim, the evidence offered for it, and any concession. Signposts carry the logic: however, yet, in fact usually introduce the writer's real position; admittedly, although, it is true that introduce a concession that the main clause then overrides.
Worked example
Passage: Although the report acknowledged the programme's popularity, it questioned whether popularity alone justified its cost. Question: What is the report's attitude? Reasoning: Although makes the popularity point a concession; the main clause, questioned whether … justified, carries the stance. The report neither denies popularity nor rejects the programme outright - it doubts the sufficiency of a single justification. The answer is therefore sceptical of the argument, not hostile to the programme. Options saying "strongly opposed" or "fully supportive" both overshoot.
Traps that cost marks
- Absolute quantifiers in options: all, never, only, the first - check that the text supports that strength.
- True-but-irrelevant options that restate a detail without answering the question asked.
- Confusing the writer's view with a view the writer merely reports or criticises.
- Scope errors: a claim about one study presented as a general claim.
- Choosing an option because it repeats a word from the passage rather than its meaning.