Reading Comprehension
What the section tests
Reading Comprehension rewards precise, evidence-bound reading rather than general knowledge. Every question is answerable from the passage alone, so your job is to locate the sentence that licenses the answer and to reject choices that merely sound plausible.
Concepts you must command
- Main point vs. supporting detail: separate the author's central claim from examples, data and quoted opinions.
- Function of a sentence: ask what a specific sentence does - concedes, contrasts, illustrates, qualifies.
- Inference: a modest logical step from stated evidence, not a new idea.
- Tone and purpose: neutral, sceptical or advocacy? Purpose verbs (criticise, explain, reconcile) are often the discriminator.
- Passage structure: contrast (however, yet), cause-effect (therefore, because), chronology (since, subsequently). These markers show where the argument turns.
Traps
The commonest is the true-but-irrelevant option: a statement the passage supports but which does not answer the question asked. Second is overreach - words like always, never, proves, the only that exceed the passage's hedged language (may, suggests, in some cases). Third is view confusion: attributing to the author an opinion they are merely reporting. Fourth is scope drift, where a choice moves from a specific case to a general law.
Rule of thumb
Read the question stem first, predict your own answer in a few words, then match. If two options survive, choose the one whose wording can be defended by quoting a line from the passage, and reject any option needing information the text does not supply, however true it may be in the real world.
Worked example: if a question asks for the purpose of a paragraph describing a failed experiment, an option saying 'to outline the method used' is too narrow; 'to show why an earlier explanation was abandoned' names the function.