General Strategies for solving 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: Banking Aspirants obtain 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.
4. 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
Nevertheless§ Similarly
Thus
§
Nonetheless § Moreover
Therefore
§
However§ Additionally
Hence
§
But§ In the same way
So
§
Likewise§ Although§
In Summary
Though§
In
conclusion
Even though, etc.§
5. 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. 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:
1. 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 i§s 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 like therefore, 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.
2 Title Questions
Title questions are very
similar to Main Idea questions, though are less common. The passages in the
real BANKING ASPIRANTS 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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 valuable emphasize 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.
6. 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:
a. Read the whole text
of the passage once.
b. Make brief notes
about the text on your scrap paper.
c. Remember that the
tone or attitude of the passage is usually respectful and moderate, never going
to extremes of praise nor criticism.
d. Look out for
structural words that tell you the important ideas or transitions in a passage.
e. 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.
a. Main idea or primary
purpose
b.
Organization/Structure
c. 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.
BANKING ASPIRANTS doesn’t want to get many complaints that a particular
answer that was strongly stated, that exceptions could arise. BANKING
ASPIRANTS would rather play it safe.
4) Minority passages are often positive in
tone and answers tend to be positive in tone as well. Again, BANKING
ASPIRANTS, 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
a. Are disrespectful to others/professionals.
BANKING ASPIRANTS doesn’t like to be disrespectful.
b. Too strong an answer. Use of words
like “only”, “definitely”, “positively”
c. Condone/approve prejudicial attitudes.
BANKING ASPIRANTS doesn’t like to be disrespectful.
Post a Comment
Post a Comment