Reading Comprehension
Reading Comprehension
The reading section tests how well you understand short passages, school notices, emails, timetables, and simple articles. Questions ask for main ideas, specific details, inferences, and the meaning of pronouns such as it and they. You must separate what the text says from what you already know.
Core rules
- Skim first for structure: title, headings, first and last sentences. Ask: who wrote this, to whom, and why?
- Scan for keywords from the question, then read the whole sentence around them. A matching word is not always the answer.
- Track referents: when you see it, they, this, or there, look back to the nearest matching noun.
- Use connectives to follow logic: because, so, however, therefore, for example. They show cause, contrast, and result.
Worked example
A notice says: 'The school trip to the science museum has been moved from Friday to Monday because the museum is closed on Friday for maintenance. Students who cannot attend on Monday should tell their homeroom teacher by Wednesday.' Question: Why was the trip moved? Reasoning: the word 'because' introduces the reason: the museum is closed on Friday for maintenance. The correct answer is the museum's Friday closure. The trap answer 'because some students cannot attend' is a consequence, not the stated reason.
Traps
- Choosing an option that repeats words from the passage but does not answer the question.
- Ignoring NOT or EXCEPT in the question.
- Confusing the writer's opinion with a fact mentioned in the text.
- Misreading a pronoun that refers to an earlier noun phrase, not the nearest word.