Reading Comprehension
Reading Comprehension
The Lower Level Reading Comprehension section has 25 questions in 25 minutes. Passages come from fiction, nonfiction, science, and social studies; questions ask about main idea, details, inferences, vocabulary in context, and author's purpose.
Active Reading
- Name the topic in a few words, then track what each paragraph does: introduces, gives an example, contrasts, or concludes.
- Note the author's attitude: impressed, doubtful, neutral, amused.
- Do not memorize; map the passage so you can return to lines.
Question Types
- Main idea: must cover the whole passage, not the first or most striking detail.
- Detail: the answer is stated; locate the exact sentence and match paraphrases.
- Inference: supported by text, but not directly stated; reject choices that require outside knowledge.
- Vocabulary: return to the sentence; the common meaning may be wrong.
Worked example
Although the town had once depended on the mill, the new highway bypassed it, and shops closed one by one. Yet some residents refused to leave; they opened a bakery and a small bookstore, turning empty storefronts into places where neighbors gathered.
Question: What is the main idea? Answer: Residents responded to economic decline with community effort. The first sentence gives the decline; Yet signals the turn; the bakery and bookstore show response. A choice like the mill was important is true but too narrow.
Traps
- Picking a true detail as the main idea.
- Choosing an extreme answer (all, never, proves) when the passage is qualified.
- Using personal knowledge instead of the passage.
- Confusing what a character thinks with what the author argues.
Key points
- 25 questions in 25 minutes across several passage types.
- Main-idea answers must cover the whole passage.
- Inference answers need textual support, not assumptions.
- Return to the sentence for vocabulary questions.
- Reject extreme or outside-knowledge choices.