Verbal Reasoning / Reading Comprehension
What this domain tests
Verbal reasoning and reading comprehension test main idea, explicit detail, inference, tone, and logical structure. Passages are short but dense; the exam favors precise paraphrase over outside knowledge.
Core rules
- Read the first and last sentences of each paragraph for structure: claim, evidence, counterpoint, conclusion.
- Distinguish stated fact from inference. A valid inference must be forced by the text, not merely plausible.
- For main-idea questions, reject answers that are too broad, too narrow, or true only of one paragraph.
- For vocabulary in context, substitute each option into the sentence and check the fit.
- Track attitude words such as 'however', 'although', and 'yet' because they signal the author's position.
Worked example
Passage: The city added bike lanes and downtown retail sales rose 12%, but the gain was concentrated in neighborhoods that already had cycling culture. Question: Which statement is best supported? Answer: Bike lanes alone did not uniformly raise retail sales. The concentration clause limits the causal claim. 'Bike lanes caused a 12% rise everywhere' overgeneralizes, while 'cycling culture is irrelevant' contradicts the passage.
Traps
- Choosing a true real-world claim that the passage does not support.
- Confusing the author's view with a view the author merely reports.
- Extreme words such as 'always' or 'never' that exceed the text.
- Reversing cause and effect in an inference.
- Selecting a detail answer for a main-idea question.