Reading Comprehension Strategy
How to work an RC passage under time: the order to read in, the question types and what each is really asking, an elimination method for the options, and how to handle inference, tone and vocabulary-in-context items.
What you will be able to do
- Choose a reading order that fits the passage length and your speed.
- Classify each question as main idea, detail, inference, tone, or vocabulary-in-context.
- Answer inference and tone questions from the passage alone, without outside knowledge.
- Use option elimination to separate a defensible answer from a plausible distractor.
What is inside this lesson
- 1What RC actually tests
- 2The order to read in
- 3The question types
- 4Working the options
- 5Worked example: a short passage
- 6Tone and vocabulary-in-context
- 7Doing it under time
- 8Quick revision
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What RC actually tests
A reading-comprehension set gives you a passage and several questions on it. It tests whether you can find what the passage says, follow its argument, and tell what it implies from what it merely mentions.
Every answer must be supported by the passage. Outside knowledge, however correct, is not the basis for any choice. The skill is disciplined reading under a clock, not general awareness.
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