Reading Comprehension: Unseen Prose and Poetry Passages
The unseen passage section puts a piece of writing in front of you that you have never studied - usually one prose extract (narrative or factual) and one short poem - and asks you to answer strictly from what is printed. No textbook knowledge helps here; the marks come from locating evidence, paraphrasing it accurately, and drawing an inference that the words will support.
Read the questions before the passage
The questions tell you which paragraphs matter. Skim once for the general subject, then go back with the questions in hand and underline the exact line that answers each one. If a question says "in the second paragraph", believe it.
Literal versus inference questions
A literal question asks for something stated: a name, a number, a reason the passage itself gives. An inference question asks what a detail suggests. Even an inference answer must be anchored in a quoted detail - never in your own opinion about the topic.
Handling the poem
Fix the speaker, the situation and the tone before answering anything. Do not read figurative language literally: if the road is called "a ribbon", the point is that it is narrow and smooth, not that it is made of cloth. Tone words (nostalgic, mocking, resigned, hopeful) must be justified by a quoted word or phrase.
Worked example
Line: "The old man had walked these lanes so long that the dogs no longer barked at him." Question: What does this suggest about the old man? Weak answer: "He was old." The age is already stated. Strong answer: "He is such a familiar figure in the village that even the dogs accept him; their silence shows long habit, not fear." The reasoning runs from cause (long familiarity) to visible effect (no barking).
Traps that cost marks
Copying a whole sentence when one clause is asked for; answering "what do you think" with personal opinion rather than text evidence; choosing a familiar dictionary meaning of a word that does not fit the sentence it sits in; and labelling a poem's mood without quoting the words that create it.