Rapid Reading and Vocabulary in Context
Rapid Reading tests fast, accurate reading: you meet a short unseen passage and must locate information, sequence events, complete a table and guess word meanings - usually under time pressure. The marks go to readers who move quickly and read for structure rather than translating word by word.
Method
- Read the title and first sentence to fix the topic; then run your eyes down the passage for names, numbers and dates.
- Use context clues before guessing: a definition after a dash, a contrast after "unlike" or "but", an example after "such as", or the general sense of the sentence.
- Apply word-attack: strip the prefix or suffix to reach the root, then rebuild the meaning.
- Answer in the form asked - a single word, a phrase, or a full sentence.
Worked example
Sentence: "The arid region, unlike the fertile plains to its east, produced almost nothing." Question: What does "arid" mean here? Reasoning: "unlike the fertile plains" sets up a contrast, so "arid" is the opposite of fertile - dry, barren. The general clause "produced almost nothing" confirms it. Guessing from sound or from a remembered phrase such as "arid discussion" would mislead you.
Traps
Using a dictionary meaning that does not fit the sentence; missing a negative in the sentence, which reverses the meaning; supplying a phrase where a single word is demanded; misreading ordering questions by sequence of mention rather than sequence of events; spending so long on one unknown word that the section is left incomplete.