Reading Comprehension (읽기)
What this domain tests
The reading section presents expository and practical texts about Korean society and culture: institution notices, newspaper editorials, survey graphs, guidebook extracts and short opinion columns. You must extract the main idea, identify the writer's purpose, place sentences in order, and infer meaning that is not stated directly. Vocabulary is tested in context, so a dictionary gloss of a word is often not enough.
Core rules and concepts
- Connectors carry the argument: 그러나 and 반면에 signal contrast, 따라서 and 그러므로 signal conclusion, 게다가 adds, 즉 paraphrases. Getting the connector wrong reverses the whole paragraph.
- Reference words: 이러한, 이와 같이, 그, 이는 point back to a previous clause. Locate the referent before answering.
- Reported and hearsay forms: -에 따르면 …다고 한다 marks a claim the writer may not endorse; the question often asks what the researcher said, not what the writer thinks.
- Hedged conclusions: -기 마련이다, -ㄹ 수밖에 없다, -는 편이다 state tendencies, not absolutes.
Worked example
A notice reads: "가족센터 한국어 교실은 매주 화·목요일 오후 7시에 운영됩니다. 단, 공휴일에는 휴강하며, 수강 인원이 10명 미만일 경우 폐강될 수 있습니다." The question asks which statement is true. "Classes are held twice a week" is supported. "Classes never run on public holidays" is too strong - 휴강 is stated, but the option's 절대 표현 (never) goes beyond the text, and "the class is cancelled if fewer than ten apply" misreads -ㄹ 수 있다 (possibility) as certainty.
Traps that cost marks
- Options that are true in real life but absent from the passage.
- Absolute wording (반드시, 모두, 전혀) attached to a hedged original.
- Answering from personal experience of Korean culture instead of the printed text.