Dealing with Reading Questions

1. Questions about Information and Ideas
About half of the questions you’ll be asked on the ACCUPLACER (7 to 11 questions out of 20) concern factual content — that is, information and ideas from the passage. Generally speaking, these questions fall into four types: main idea, details, summary, and inference. In this section, you work with these four basic types of questions.
Remember that shorter passages are paired with just one question. In these cases, read the question first, then the passage, and finally the four answer choices. Reading the question before you read the passage can help you to find the information you’re looking for in the passage.

2. Looking at the big picture: Determining central ideas and themes
One of the most common types of questions on any reading test asks you to identify the main idea or central idea of a passage — that is, the most important point that the passage conveys. On the ACCUPLACER, you’ll most likely answer a variety of such questions.
When faced with a question that asks you to identify the main or central idea of a passage, read the whole passage and consider it from start to finish. The correct answer should capture the entire passage without getting bogged down in details.

3. Focusing on the details: Reading closely
In contrast to main idea questions, detail questions ask you to correctly identify a specific fact or piece of information mentioned in the passage.
When answering a detail question, reading the question first is usually helpful, so you have an idea of what you’re looking for in the passage.

4. Getting to the point: Summarizing
A summary of a passage briefly restates the most important points made in that passage. Another type of question that you will face on the ACCUPLACER requires you to read a passage and then identify a reasonably accurate summary. Here is an example:

5. Reading between the lines: Understanding relationships and making inferences
To answer some questions on the ACCUPLACER, you need to make inferences — that is, use the information given explicitly in the passage to form reasonable conclusions about what the passage is saying.
In some cases, you need to make relatively straightforward inferences to answer the question. A careful reading of the passage, so that you clearly understand what it says, should be enough to answer correctly. Here is an example:

A more difficult question may require you to carefully thread through the argument that the passage is making.

6. Questions Focusing on Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the study of effective writing. ACCUPLACER questions that focus on rhetoric (which number 7 to 11 questions out of 20) ask you to identify not so much what the passage is telling you, but rather how it’s telling you. In this section, you work with a variety of rhetorical issues.

7. Analyzing word choice rhetorically
Sometimes, it’s not what you say, but how you say it. ACCUPLACER Reading questions focusing on word choice require you to decide why the author chose the specific words that they used. Let’s return to an earlier passage:

8. Analyzing text structure
A passage is always more than just a random collection of facts and opinions. Text structure describes the overall organization of a passage, shedding light on how information in the passage is revealed to the reader. Here’s a short list of common organizational strategies for passages.
Anecdote: The passage opens with a story and then relates this story to the topic that the author wants to discuss.
Argument: The passage presents a set of premises leading to a conclusion.
Cause and Effect: The passage describes a cause and then its resultant effect.
Compare and Contrast: The passage compares two or more ideas or theories, potentially settling on one as superior.
Narrative: The passage recounts a series of events in time, from earliest to latest.
Question and Answer: The passage opens with a question and then explores this question, proposing one or more answers and potentially settling on one as correct.
When analyzing the structure of a text, try to step back from it and view it as a whole rather than getting lost in the details. What’s the big picture? Is the author presenting a problem and then proposing a solution? Are they posing a question and then attempting to answer it? Are two or more ideas being compared or contrasted? Does the passage reach a conclusion, or just explore ideas without taking a side?

9. Analyzing point of view
The point of view of a passage is the author’s personal view of the topic that they are discussing. Generally speaking, the point of view of an author can range from positive through neutral (no strong opinion) to negative.
Point-of-view questions tend to use a relatively short list of words to describe an author’s attitude. Words like favorable and enthusiastic describe an author’s positive stance. Words like impartial and journalistic imply a neutral position. And words like critical and hostile denote a negative opinion.
Additionally, positive and negative opinions can be further characterized as strong or mild. For example, words like forcefully, utterly, wholeheartedly, candidly, and unreservedly indicate a strong positive or negative stance. In contrast, words like warily, thoughtfully, prudently, guardedly, and cautiously suggest a milder opinion.

10. Analyzing purpose
Each sentence in a passage provides information that has a purpose when understood in the context of the entire passage. Some questions on the ACCUPLACER require you to uncover the purpose of a given sentence, explaining why the author wrote this sentence. Returning to an earlier passage,

11. Analyzing arguments
Some questions focus on the argument that the writer is making — that is, what the writer wants to convince their reader to be true. To help you answer questions that relate directly to the writer’s argument, here are a few useful terms:

12. Conclusion: A statement that the writer wants to convince the reader is true
Premise: A statement that supports the conclusion
Assumption: A premise that isn’t stated directly in the argument
Counter-premise: A statement that opposes the conclusion, which the argument must overcome

13. Questions That Compare Two Texts
The ACCUPLACER Reading Test will include four questions that quiz you on a pair of related passages. Of these questions, two will require you to compare both texts. Many students find questions that compare passages to be among the most difficult on the test.
To get a feel for these types of questions, begin by reading the following two passages. As you do so, think about these two questions:
What do these two passages have in common? (Usually, some aspect of the topic under discussion is common to both passages. Be as specific as possible.)

14. Questions That Test Vocabulary
The previous version of the ACCUPLACER included a separate section for vocabulary questions. In the new ACCUPLACER, vocabulary questions (2 to 4 questions out of 20) are included on the Reading Test. Some of these questions place vocabulary words in the context of an entire passage, and others are discrete fill-in-the-blank questions. In this section, I discuss both types of questions.

15. Passage-based vocabulary questions
Passage-based vocabulary questions are presented in the same way as the questions you’ve already looked at in this chapter: a reading passage followed by a question based on that passage.
Even if you’re not entirely sure what a word means, you can use the passage to help you make sense of it. Try replacing the vocabulary word with each of the words that are provided as answer choices. In this way, you may be able to eliminate one, two, or even all three wrong answers.

16. Fill-in-the-blank vocabulary questions
The last two questions on the Reading Test test your vocabulary by asking you to fill in the blank to complete a sentence.
As with passage-based vocabulary questions, the challenge with vocabulary questions comes when you’re faced with one or more words you don’t know. Your best bet is to rule out wrong answers by reading the sentence to yourself, switching in each possible answer.