Reading Comprehension
This domain is Paper 02 Reading Comprehension: two or three passages - descriptive, narrative, informative or persuasive - followed by questions on gist, specific detail, inference, reference and vocabulary in context. The passages are authentic in style, so they contain unknown words by design. You are not expected to know every word; you are expected to locate and interpret.
Working the passage
- Skim once for text type, topic and purpose: who wrote it, for whom, why. Headings and the first sentence of each paragraph carry the gist.
- Read the questions, then scan for proper nouns, figures, dates and cognates - these anchor the answer.
- Use morphology: -ción, -dad, -mente, des-, in-, re- often reveal meaning without a dictionary.
- Track pronouns and possessives: lo, le, les, su, éste point back to a noun. Underline the referent.
- Separate fact from attitude: sin embargo, a pesar de, lo que más le molestó, aunque signal contrast or opinion and are common inference targets.
- Watch negation and restrictive words: no... sino, sólo, excepto, nunca.
Worked example
Passage line: Aunque María había reservado el hotel con meses de antelación, al llegar descubrió que la habitación no tenía vistas al mar, tal como le habían prometido. Question: What did María discover when she arrived? Reasoning: descubrió que introduces the discovery, so the answer sits after it. no tenía vistas al mar gives the content, and tal como le habían prometido shows the view had been promised. The opening clause about booking months in advance is background: it explains her annoyance but does not answer the question. Answer: that her room did not have the sea view she had been promised.
Traps that cost marks
- Copying a whole sentence when a phrase was asked for; you then include wrong or irrelevant material.
- Choosing an option because it repeats words from the passage rather than because it answers the question.
- Missing NO, EXCEPTO or NOT in the question stem.
- Reading a concessive clause (aunque...) as the main point.
- Translating idioms literally: tomar el pelo means to tease, not to take hair.
- Assuming su means his when the passage has already named a female owner.