Reading Comprehension and Unseen Passage
The task
The unseen passage tests extraction and inference under time pressure. You are not expected to know the passage beforehand; you are expected to locate answers, distinguish stated facts from suggestions, and write concise replies. Read the questions first, then the passage, so your eye hunts for relevant lines instead of drifting.
A reliable sequence
- Skim the first and last sentences for the topic and the writer's attitude.
- Underline names, dates, negatives and contrast words such as 'although', 'but' and 'yet'.
- Answer in your own words, keeping the passage's tense and point of view.
- For 'what does the writer suggest?', combine a stated detail with a reasonable inference and mark it as inference.
- If a word is unfamiliar, use the surrounding sentence to guess its function before its dictionary meaning.
Worked example
Passage idea: a village library is small and poorly funded, 'yet children queue before it opens'. Question: 'What does the writer suggest about the library?' A weak answer copies 'small and poorly funded'. A stronger answer says the library is materially poor but socially valued, because the queue shows demand that funding does not measure. The reasoning: 'yet' signals a contrast, so the answer must hold both sides together.
Traps
Copying long chunks instead of answering; importing outside knowledge; missing a 'not' or 'except'; changing the passage's tense; leaving a sub-question blank because the first part was hard.