Reading Comprehension Strategy

PREPARATION STRATEGY

General Strategies for Reading Comprehension

 

1. Try to read the whole text of the passage once, if possible. Many people think you should just skim the passage or read the first lines of every paragraph, and not to read the passage. We believe this is an error: if you misunderstand the main idea of the passage, you will certainly get at least some of the questions wrong. Give the passage one good read, taking no more than 3 minutes to read all of the text. Do not read the passage more than once – that wastes too much time. If you have not understood it completely, try to answer the questions anyway. Note: this point of reading the whole passage is important for test-takers whose first language is not English, provided that they can read the passage in 3 minutes or less.
   
2. Make brief notes on the text on your scrap paper. As we will see below in greater detail, you should write down a couple of words on A) the Main Idea or Primary Purpose, B) Organization/Structure of the passage, and C) the Tone or Attitude of the author (if applicable). You just need a few words for each of these areas, and altogether it should not take longer than 30 seconds to write down.
   
3. Remember that the tone or attitude of the passage is usually respectful and moderate, never going to extremes of praise nor criticism. ETS obtains its Reading Comprehension passages from real articles about real academics and professionals. So the tone of the articles, even when there is criticism in the passage toward an academic or her work, is always balanced and moderate. In the same vein, articles that deal with minorities or ethnic groups are almost always positive and sympathetic. 

 

1. Look out for structural words that tell you the important ideas or transitions in a passage.
   
   

Continue the Idea Words	Conclusion Words	Contradiction (Yin-Yang) Words
Similarly Moreover Additionally In the same way Likewise	Thus Therefore Hence So In summary In conclusion	Neverthless Nonetheless However But Although Though Even though Notwithstanding Yet Despite In spite of On the one hand…on the other hand While Unlike Traditional view / Modern View Before /After Generally Most people think…

 

1. Go back to the text of the passage for the answers. Many test-takers fail to return to the text of the passage to look for the correct answers. They rely solely on their memories and understanding of the passage after having read or skimmed it. Wrong. ETS is counting on that. Go back to the text to look for information to answer the questions. Nine times out of ten, the answer lies within the passage.
   
    

Six most important types of RC Questions

There are 6 most important types of questions for Reading Comprehension:

 

Main Idea/Primary Purpose Questions

Many people believe there is no difference between the main or central idea of the passage and the primary purpose of the author of the passage. This is simply not true. Let's take a look at the subtle but important difference between them:

 

Main Idea
The question might look something like this:

 

"Which of the following best states the central idea of the passage?"

"Which of the following most accurately states the main idea of the passage?"

"Which of the following is the principal topic of the passage?"

"The main topic of the passage is...."

Primary Purpose
The question might look like this:

 

"The primary purpose of this passage is to..."

"The primary purpose of the passage as a whole is to..."

"The primary focus of this passage is on which of the following?"

"The main concern of the passage is to..."

"In the passage, the author is primarily interested in...."

"The passage is chiefly concerned with..."

 

 

Strategy:

Main Idea: Look in the first and last paragraphs for the main idea. Any conclusion words liketherefore, thus, so, hence, etc. that you see are most likely introducing the main idea. The correct answer will say the same thing as it says in the text, but using different words. The Main Idea is not always stated explicitly in the passage – in fact, more likely than not, it is not stated explicitly. Therefore, in order to answer this type of question when it is more implicit:

Re-read the first line of every passage, and the last line of the first and last paragraphs. This should give you the general structure or outline of the argument, with which you can answer the Main Idea question.

After determining the general structure or content of the argument, eliminate answer choices that are too broad or too specific, i.e. answer choices that go beyond the content of the passage, or that deal with content only discussed in one paragraph of the passage.

Make brief notes – a couple of words- regarding the Main Idea on the text on your scrap paper while you read.

 

Primary Purpose: What is the author trying to do? What is his intention? If he is evaluating a theory, then the answer could be something like "Discuss an interpretation". Note that the correct answer would deal with "an interpretation", because the author is only dealing with one theory. If the Primary Purpose is to criticize 2 new books, then his intention or his primary purpose might be to "Critique new studies". Again, as in Main Idea questions, re-read the first line of every passage, and the last line of the first and last paragraphs. This should give you the general structure or outline of the argument, with which you can answer the Primary Purpose question.

Note: A good main idea or primary purpose does not go beyond the scope of the passage, nor does it limit itself to discussing only one part of the passage.

 

 

Title Questions 

Title questions are very similar to Main Idea questions, though are less common. The passages in the real GMAT will not have titles. The title question might look like this:

"Which of the following titles best summarizes the passage as a whole?"

 

Strategy:

Treat this as a Main Idea question. A good title sums up the central idea of a passage. Therefore, in order to answer this type of question:

1. Look in the first and last paragraphs for the main idea. Any conclusion words like therefore, thus, so, hence, etc. that you see are most likely introducing the Main Idea/Title. The correct answer will say the same thing as it says in the text, but using different words.
2. Re-read the first line of every passage, and the last line of the first and last paragraphs. This should give you the general structure or outline of the argument, with which you can answer the Title question.
3. Make brief notes – a couple of words- regarding the Title on the text on your scrap paper while you read.
4. After determining the general structure or content of the argument, eliminate answer choices that are too broad or too specific, i.e. answer choices that go beyond the content of the passage, or that deal with content only discussed in one paragraph of the passage.

 

Specific Detail or Target questions

 

Specific Detail or Target questions are probably the most common types of questions, and the easiest to answer. The question might look like this:

"According to the passage,...."
"The passage states that ...."

 

Strategy

The Specific Detail or Target that we are looking for could be a Line Number, or a Name or Date. Go to the Line Number or Name or Date, and then read several lines above and below it. Find the answer choice that basically says the same thing as in the passage, though usually with different words or word order.

 

Inference or Assumption Questions

This is probably the most difficult type of Reading Comprehension problem. The questions might look like this:

"It can be inferred that the author makes which of the following assumptions?"

"Which is an assumption underlying the last sentence of the passage?"

"Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the hypothesis mentioned in lines 17-19?"

"With which of the following statements regarding chaos theory would the author be most likely to agree?"

 

Strategy:

First, treat this type of problem as a Specific Target question. Look for a target in the question, find it in the text, and then look above and below it. Often you do not have to infer very much, the answer remains within the text.

If the answer must be inferred and is not stated explicitly within the text, then choose the answer choice that can be inferred or assumed from the information given. Again, you should not have to infer very much – only one or two logical steps removed from the information in the passage.

Make sure that the answer choice you decide on does not violate or contradict the Main Idea of the passage - if it does, the answer choice is probably wrong.

 

 

Attitude or Tone of the passage Questions

 

The question might look like this:

"The author's attitude towards Morgan's theory could best be described as one of ..."

 

Strategy:

Look for descriptive words, adjectives or adverbs, that could tell you the author's attitude. For example, the words unfortunately or flaw suggest a negative connotation, while strength or valuableemphasize the positive. Make brief notes – a couple of words- regarding the Tone of the text on your scrap paper while you read. Additionally, keep in mind that the author's attitude toward a theory, book, or ethnic group will almost always be respectful, even when somewhat critical.

 

 

Organization of the passage questions

The question might look like this:

"Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage?"

"Which of the following best describes the organization of the first paragraph of the passage?"

"One function of the third paragraph is to...."

 

Strategy:

Re-read the first line of every passage, and the last line of the first and last paragraphs. This should give you the general structure or outline of the argument, with which you can answer the question. Remember to make brief notes about the structure of the text on your scrap paper. If you are looking for the organization of one paragraph, read the first and second sentence of the paragraph. That will give you a rough idea of what is the structure or organization of the paragraph.

Some tips about reading passages:

1. Read the whole text of the passage once.
2. Make brief notes about the text on your scrap paper.
3. Remember that the tone or attitude of the passage is usually respectful and moderate, never going to extremes of praise nor criticism.
4. Look out for structural words that tell you the important ideas or transitions in a passage.
5. Go back to the text of the passage for the answers to specific questions.

 

 

TEST TAKING STARTEGY

1. Aggressively read each paragraph for its main idea. If you can't write down in a few words what the point of each paragraph is, you weren't reading actively enough. You should jot down the following.
   1. Main idea or primary purpose
   2. Organization/Structure
   3. Tone or attitude of author (if applicable)
   
   
   Note: Be careful to not write facts down. It'll bog you down and usually results in a loss of the big picture and moves you to focus too much into the details.
   
    
2. Note any trigger words, same train of thought words, yin-yang parallelism. 
3. Weed out possible disputable answers. Vague, wimpy answers are often correct over stronger statements. ETS doesn't want to get many complaints that a particular answer that was strongly stated, that exceptions could arise. ETS would rather play it safe.
4. Minority passages are often positive in tone and answers tend to be positive in tone as well. Again, ETS, wouldn't want to look prejudiced.
5. Always eliminate bad choices first before answering. You'll almost always be able to narrow down to 2-3 and that significantly improves your odds of getting the question right.
6. Read the entire passage before answering the questions. Other books say skim, but it's not always successful with more difficult passages where minute details change meanings of the passage and could get you going down the wrong path on inference or main point questions. Give yourself 3 minutes or less.
7. For Inference questions, (Note: these are usually the hardest of all RC questions) go find the general area being referenced. Read a bit above or below it and then make your choices. Don't go by memory. This is going to cause more problems than are helpful with saving time in the long run. Your answer should never contradict the main point of the passage.
8. Most people get main point and inference questions wrong so focus more carefully on these.
9. "According to the passage/author" question type of questions. Whenever you see this question, tell yourself, "Stop and stop thinking. I need to FIND, not think." 
10. For main point or central idea type of questions, re-read the first and last sentences of each paragraph before making elimination choices and answering. Getting the overall structure is really helpful before answering.
11. In Summary: Consider weeding out answers that
12. Are disrespectful to others/professionals. ETS doesn't like to be disrespectful.
13. Too strong an answer. Use of words like "only", "definitely", "positively"
14. Condone/approve prejudicial attitudes. ETS doesn't like to be disrespectful.