READING COMPREHENSION

 Answer the Reading Comprehension questions last.

 Tackle passages with familiar subjects before those with unfamiliar ones. Just as it is common sense for you to tackle quick-to-answer questions before you tackle time-consuming ones, it is also common sense for you to tackle reading passages with familiar subjects before you tackle reading passages with unfamiliar ones. There is nothing wrong with skipping questions. Just remember to check the numbering on your answer sheet.

 First read the passage, then read the questions. Reading the questions before you read the passage will not save you time. It will cost you time. If you read the questions first, when you turn to the passage you will have a number of question words and phrases swimming around in your head. These phrases won’t focus you; they’ll distract you. You will be so involved in trying to spot the places they occur in the passage that you’ll be unable to concentrate on comprehending the passage as a whole. Why increase your anxiety and decrease your capacity to think? If you feel you cannot read the passage in its entirety, SKIM; try to get a general sense of the selection. Use this as a gauge: never stop reading or skimming until you find the main idea.

 Learn to spot the major reading questions first. There are five major categories of reading comprehension questions. These are: main idea, noting details, drawing inferences, tone/type of passage, and context clues.

 When asked to find the main idea, be sure to check the opening and summary sentence of each paragraph. The opening and closing sentences of a paragraph are key sentences for you to read. They can serve as guideposts for you, pointing to the author’s main idea. Note the impact of words like, again, also, as well as, furthermore, moreover, and significantly in the passage. These signal words may call your attention to the main idea.

 Familiarize yourself with the technical terms to describe a passage’s organization.

 When asked to choose an appropriate title, watch for titles that are too specific or too broad. A paragraph is defined as a group of sentences revolving around a central theme. An appropriate title for the paragraph, therefore, must include this central theme that each of the sentences in the paragraph is developing.

 When asked about specific details in the passage, spot key words in the question and scan the passage to find them. In developing the main idea of a passage, writers will make statements to support their point. To answer questions about such supporting details, you must find a word or group of words in the passage which supports your choice of answer. The words according to the passage and according to the author should focus your attention on what the passage explicitly states. Do not be misled into choosing an answer if you can not find it supported in the text.

 When asked to make inferences, base your answers on what the passage implies, not on what it states directly. In Language Thought and Action, S.I. Hayakawa defines an inference as “a statement about the unknown made on the basis of the known”. Inference questions require you to use your own judgment. You must not take anything directly stated by the author as an inference. Instead you must look for clues in the passage that you can use in coming up with your own conclusion. You should choose as your answer a statement which is a logical development of the information the author has provided.

 When asked about an attitude, mood, or tone, look for words that convey emotion, express values, or paint pictures.

 When asked to give the meaning of an unfamiliar word, look for the nearby context clues.