Reading Comprehension of Unseen Prose Passages
What this domain tests
Reading comprehension of unseen prose is the largest single block of the paper. You are given a passage you have never seen and asked to retrieve stated detail, infer unstated meaning, interpret vocabulary in context, identify the writer's attitude, and explain the function of particular sentences. Because the passage is unseen, every answer must be traceable to the text; general knowledge and personal opinion earn nothing.
Method
- Read the questions first, underlining the key word in each (main idea, infer, EXCEPT, tone).
- Skim the passage once for gist: who, what, where, and whether the writer is for, against or neutral.
- Return to the passage for each question and locate the exact sentence. Read one sentence before and one after it.
- Answer in your own words when asked to explain; copy only when asked to quote.
- For reference questions (it, this, they), the answer is almost always the nearest preceding noun phrase that fits grammatically.
Worked example
Passage sentence: The village well had not run dry in living memory, yet by August the rope came up gritty and the water tasted of iron. Question: What does the writer suggest about the well? Options: (A) It has always been unreliable. (B) It is failing after a long period of reliability. (C) The villagers have abandoned it. (D) The water has been polluted by a factory. Answer: B. Not run dry in living memory establishes long reliability; the contrast marker yet signals a change; gritty and iron are evidence of early failure. A is contradicted, while C and D are not stated.
Traps that cost marks
- Absolute options containing always, never, all or only are usually wrong in inference items.
- Options that are true in the real world but absent from the passage.
- Ignoring NOT, EXCEPT and according to the writer.
- Answering an inference question with a quotation that merely restates the question.
- Spending equal time on every item instead of banking the detail questions first.