Reading Comprehension: Short Passages, Medium Passages, and Information Retrieval
Reading comprehension on EIKEN Grade Pre-2 tests two different skills inside one section: careful reading of short texts (短文) and medium-length passages (中文), and fast searching of practical texts in the 情報検索 task, where a flyer, timetable, notice, or email is printed and the questions ask for specific details. The language sits at a high-beginner to low-intermediate level, so the difficulty comes less from difficult vocabulary than from matching the exact wording of a question to the exact wording of the text.
Read the stem before the passage
Every question word tells you what to hunt for: a reason, a time, a person, a place, or the main idea. Underline the key noun. For "why" questions, expect because, so, or to + verb. For main-idea questions, expect the answer to sit in the first or last sentence.
Follow the paragraph order
In 中文 passages, questions almost always follow the order of information in the text. If question 1 is answered in lines 1–3, question 2 will not send you back to line 2. Treat each answer you find as a bookmark.
Resolve pronouns before choosing
Words such as it, this, such a plan, and there point backwards. Replace the pronoun with the noun it refers to, then reread the sentence. If it no longer makes sense, that option is a trap.
情報検索: scan, then cross-check conditions
Never read a flyer line by line. Find the row or column matching the noun in the question, then test every condition in the question against the text - day, time, price, age, deadline, who the event is for. Wrong options usually satisfy one condition and fail another.
Worked example
A flyer reads: "Saturday Cooking Workshop. 10:00–12:30. Fee: ¥2,000 (members ¥1,500), materials included. Reserve by Friday, July 10. Bring an apron." Question: Yuki is a member of the cooking school. She plans to call on July 8. What is true? Reasoning: membership means the ¥1,500 line applies, not ¥2,000; July 8 falls before the July 10 deadline, so she can still reserve. An option saying she pays ¥2,000 fails the first condition; one saying she is too late fails the second. Only the option matching both conditions is correct.
Traps that cost marks
- Picking the option that repeats words from the passage - correct answers usually paraphrase.
- Missing NOT or EXCEPT in the stem.
- In 情報検索, reading everything and guessing instead of scanning for the keyword.
- Answering from general knowledge rather than from the printed text.
- Choosing an option that is true in real life but never stated in the passage.