Comprehension
Comprehension
Paper I gives a short unseen passage followed by questions on main idea, inference, tone, purpose and vocabulary-in-context. The skill tested is disciplined reading, not prior knowledge.
Rules that decide answers
- Topic sentence first. The main idea is usually stated or implied in the opening or closing sentence of a paragraph; every option must be tested against the whole passage, not one line.
- Stated vs implied. "According to the passage" demands textual support; "the author implies" permits one controlled step beyond the text.
- Scope discipline. A correct option never widens or narrows the passage's claim.
- Vocabulary in context. Meaning is fixed by surrounding words, not by the dictionary's first entry.
- Eliminate on wording. Absolutes (always, never, all, must) and extreme comparisons rarely survive; hedged options (tends to, often, largely) usually do.
Worked example
Passage: "A library is not a warehouse of books but a service organisation. Its value lies less in what it owns than in what its readers can reach. When a reading room extends its hours, the gain rarely appears in accession registers; it shows up in the number of members who finish what they begin."
Question: The author implies that the best measure of a library's worth is (a) the size of its collection (b) how many readers complete what they start (c) the length of its opening hours (d) the accuracy of its registers.
Answer: (b). The passage says value lies in what readers can reach and names completion as the visible gain; extended hours are evidence, not the measure itself. Option (a) is explicitly rejected, (c) is a means, (d) is a contrast.
Traps
- Picking a statement that is true in the world but not asserted in the passage.
- Confusing the author's tone (critical, cautious, approving) with the subject's tone.
- Answering the main-idea question with a supporting detail.