Reading Comprehension and Interpretation
Reading Comprehension and Interpretation tests whether you can extract, connect and judge meaning from unseen material, not whether you recognise a familiar text. Passages are typically factual reports, discursive articles, notices or advertisements, and short literary extracts; the questions move from what is stated to what is implied.
Read the questions first, then the passage
Question stems tell you which paragraphs matter and whether you need a fact, a reason, a word meaning or a writer's attitude. Skim first (the opening and closing sentences of each paragraph usually carry the topic sentence), then scan for names, dates and figures.
Sort every question into a type
- Literal - the answer is printed in the passage; lift the key phrase, not the whole sentence.
- Inferential - the answer is implied; you must supply the missing link and say what the words suggest.
- Evaluative - purpose, tone or attitude, read off adjectives, adverbs and modals.
- Lexical - meaning of a word in this context, not its first dictionary sense.
Track cohesion
Pronouns and demonstratives ("this", "such a step", "they") point backwards. If a question asks what "it" refers to, answer with the full noun phrase, never with another pronoun.
Worked example
Passage: The flood-warning app was downloaded 90,000 times before the first monsoon spell. Yet when the water rose in the northern wards, most callers to the control room said they had heard the alert from a neighbour, not from the app. Question: What does the passage suggest about the app? Reasoning: "Yet" signals contrast - high downloads against low actual reach - and the callers' testimony is the evidence. Answer: the app was widely installed but was seldom the channel that actually delivered the warning. "The app was unpopular" is wrong, because downloads were high; "the app failed technically" is unsupported, since no technical fault is mentioned.
Traps that cost marks
- Selecting a statement that is true but does not answer the question asked.
- Copying a full sentence where the limit is a phrase.
- Treating an inference question as literal, or a literal question as inference.
- Writing notes as sentences, or exceeding the word limit in note-making and summary tasks.