Reading Comprehension
What the reading section asks
The paper opens with unseen comprehension - usually a prose passage (factual, narrative or discursive), sometimes a short poem - followed by questions that climb from literal recall to inference, vocabulary in context and personal response. Marks are lost less through misreading than through poor answer shape: answers that copy whole sentences, ignore the question word, or give opinion where evidence is wanted.
Core rules
- Read the questions first, then read once for gist and once for evidence; underline the line that justifies each answer.
- Answer in your own words unless the question says "quote"; turn "I" into "the writer".
- For "what does X suggest/imply", name the quality first, then attach the detail that proves it.
- For reference questions (it, this, they), state the noun phrase the word actually stands for.
- For vocabulary in context, test the word inside its own sentence; the dictionary's first meaning is often wrong here.
- In the poem, identify speaker, situation, and the repetition or contrast the poet uses; explain the effect, not just the device.
- Match length to the instruction: one sentence means one sentence; "in a paragraph" means three or four linked sentences.
Worked example
Line given: "The ferryman poled his boat across the flooded river, though the current tugged at the oars." Question: What does the word 'tugged' suggest about the river? Reasoning: 'tugged' names a physical pull, and the pull is strong enough to resist the boat. So the answer is not "moved" but: "It suggests the river was powerful and kept dragging the boat off course, so the crossing demanded great effort." Quality plus evidence, in one sentence.
Traps
Copying a full sentence and calling it an answer; replying "because it is given in the passage"; missing a negative question ("Why did the writer NOT..."); writing three sentences where one is asked; giving a personal opinion when textual evidence is required.