Reading Comprehension
The Reading Comprehension domain tests how well you extract meaning from an unseen passage under exam pressure. Questions typically ask for the main idea, specific detail, inference, vocabulary in context, and occasionally note-making or a short summary. The passage is not from your textbook, so memorised content will not help; the examiner is testing method.
What to do first
- Read the questions before the passage, so you know which details to hunt for.
- Skim the passage once for gist: title, first and last sentences of paragraphs, names, numbers, and contrast words (but, however, although).
- Scan for the keywords in each question and read the surrounding two sentences carefully.
Answering rules
- Answer in your own words unless a question says quote.
- Match length to marks: a 1-mark question needs a phrase; a 3-mark question needs a full sentence with a reason.
- For vocabulary, substitute each option back into the sentence and check whether the meaning still fits.
Worked example
Passage line: The committee praised the plan but quietly shelved it. Question: What does shelved mean here? Reasoning: But signals contrast, and quietly suggests the plan was not acted on. So shelved means postponed indefinitely, not placed on a shelf. Answer: postponed.
Traps that cost marks
- Copying long chunks of the passage instead of answering.
- Missing negative questions such as Which is NOT true?
- Over-inferring beyond what the text supports.
- Leaving note-making headings unnumbered or without indentation.