Reading Comprehension - Longer Passages
Longer passages in this paper run from a few hundred words to about a page: a narrative about a student, an expository text about an invention, the environment or school life, and sometimes a speech. Questions ask about detail, reason, reference, paragraph function, main idea and title. You are not being asked to translate; you are being asked to locate and connect information.
Question types and where the answer lives
- Detail: one sentence, usually paraphrased in the choice, so match meaning rather than words.
- Reason: after "because", "so", "that's why", or implied by a but-clause.
- Reference: the sentence before usually supplies the noun for it / this / they.
- Main idea or title: first and last paragraphs plus the noun that keeps repeating.
- Paragraph order: follow connectors - however, for example, then, as a result.
Worked example
Text: "My grandfather taught me to fish. It was hard for him to talk about his childhood, but on the river he did - the river made him feel safe." Question: What does "It" refer to? (a) fishing (b) the river (c) talking about his childhood (d) feeling safe Reasoning: the sentence itself defines "It" through the following phrase "to talk about his childhood", and the next clause confirms it: "but ... he did", where "did" replaces that same verb phrase. Answer: (c).
Traps
- An option that is true in real life but not stated in the passage.
- Extreme wording: all, never, only, must.
- Choosing a paraphrase of one sentence when the question asks for the whole passage's point.
- Reading only the opening line and guessing the rest.