AFOQT: Reading Comprehension Review

What Do Reading Comprehension Questions Look Like?
The questions in this section will follow the typical format of reading comprehension questions on standardized tests. You'll be given a passage to read, several paragraphs in length, and then be shown several questions about the passage. Each question will have five possible answers to choose from; only one answer will be correct.

What Are They Testing?
The questions in this section are testing your ability to read and understand written material. Most people taking the AFOQT will have a level of reading ability that's quite a bit higher than the reading ability of the average American, and the passages in this section will reflect that fact. They will tend to be written on the level of articles in academic and scientific publications, and not at the level of articles one reads in most magazines or newspapers, or on most websites.
However, don't take this to mean that you'll need any specialized scientific or technical knowledge to do well on these questions; you won't. Each passage, while written on a higher level than average, and possibly on a scientific or technical subject, will assume no specialized knowledge on the part of the reader about the subject matter.
Some questions will test your ability to remember or quickly locate facts in the passage, although the questions will generally not use the same words or phrases used in the passage. Other questions will require you to make judgments about what you've read, such as choosing a statement the author would agree or disagree with, or deciding what the author's main point was, or what the author's purpose in writing the passage was.
The vast majority of Americans engage in very little reading these days, beyond texts and social media. Needless to say, that kind of reading won't suffice to prepare you for the AFOQT. Even if you actually do some legitimate reading from time to time, odds are that you read much less than the average aspiring Air Force officer of 30 years ago did, and you too definitely need to brush up on your reading comprehension skills.
In either case, you'll want to set aside regular practice sessions where you read higher level reading passages than you're used to, and then ask yourself a lot of questions after each passage.

What is the author's main point?
What kind of statements would he be likely to agree with or disagree with?
Is the passage educational, persuasive, argumentative, etc.?
What are some of the secondary points the author makes?
Is the article fact based, or merely stating an opinion?
Has the author made a good case?
If you think he has, what do you base this on?
If not, where is his argument or article weak?

Libraries have a lot of great resources you can take advantage of to help you improve your reading comprehension skills.
 

Practice Questions

Sample Passage
Historically, the term pilot error has been used to describe an accident in which an action or decision made by the pilot was the cause or a contributing factor that led to the accident. This definition also includes the pilot's failure to make a correct decision or take proper action.
From a broader perspective, the phrase human factors related more aptly describes these accidents. A single decision or event does not lead to an accident, but a series of events and the resultant decisions together form a chain of events leading to an outcome.
In his article Accident-Prone Pilots, Dr. Patrick R. Veillette uses the history of Captain Everyman to demonstrate how aircraft accidents are caused more by a chain of poor choices rather than one single poor choice. In the case of Captain Everyman, after a gear-up landing accident, he became involved in another accident while taxiing a Beech 58P Baron out of the ramp. Interrupted by a radio call from the 17-11 dispatcher, Everyman neglected to complete the fuel crossfeed check before taking off.
Everyman, who was flying solo, left the right-fuel selector in the cross-feed position. Once aloft and cruising, he noticed a right roll tendency and corrected with aileron trim. He did not realize that both engines were feeding off the left wing's tank, making the wing lighter.
After two hours of flight, the right engine quit when Everyman was flying along a deep canyon gorge. While he was trying to troubleshoot the cause of the right engine's failure, the left engine quit.
Everyman landed the aircraft on a river sand bar but it sank into ten feet of water.
Several years later, Everyman flew a de Havilland Twin Otter to deliver supplies to a remote location. When he returned to home base and landed, the aircraft veered sharply to the left, departed the runway, and ran into a marsh 375 feet from the runway. The airframe and engines sustained considerable damage. Upon inspecting the wreck, accident investigators found the nose wheel steering tiller in the fully deflected position. Both the after-takeoff and before-landing checklists required the tiller to be placed in the neutral position. Everyman had overlooked this item.
Now, is Everyman accident prone or just unlucky?

Skipping details on a checklist appears to be a common theme in the preceding accidents. While most pilots have made similar mistakes, these errors were probably caught prior to a mishap due to extra margin, good warning systems, a sharp copilot, or just good luck. What makes a pilot less prone to accidents?

The successful pilot possesses the ability to concentrate, manage workloads, monitor and perform several simultaneous tasks.
Some of the latest psychological screenings used in aviation test applicants for their ability to multitask, measuring both accuracy and the individual's ability to focus attention on several subjects simultaneously. The FAA oversaw an extensive research study on the similarities and dissimilarities of accident-free pilots and those who were not. The project surveyed over 4,000 pilots, half of whom had clean records while the other half had been involved in an accident.

Five traits were discovered in pilots prone to having accidents. These pilots:
Have disdain toward rules.
Have very high correlation between accidents on their flying records and safety violations on their driving records.
Frequently fall into the thrill and adventure seeking personality category.
Are impulsive rather than methodical and disciplined, both in information gathering and in speed and selection of actions to be taken.
Show a disregard for or under-utilization of outside sources of information, including copilots, flight attendants, flight service personnel, flight instructors, and air traffic controllers.

(Questions)


1. The primary purpose of the passage is to a. criticize Captain Everyman. b. advocate for more comprehensive pilot training. c. reduce flight accidents. d. entertain the reader with a story of pilot incompetence. e.describe some characteristics that correlate with flight accidents.

2. Which of the following statements about Captain Everyman is NOT supported by the passage? a. Captain Everyman is a reckless thrill-seeker. b. Captain Everyman is easily distracted. c. Captain Everyman is not methodical in his work. d. Captain Everyman can fly a variety of aircraft. e.Captain Everyman does not double-check his work.

3. Why does the author prefer to describe the main cause of accidents as human factors rather than pilot error? a. Because most accidents are caused by multiple poor decisions rather than a single error. b. Because most accidents are caused by faulty equipment. c. Because most accidents can be traced to a single mistake. d. Because many accidents are caused by miscommunication with the control tower. e.Because pilots can be subject to criminal charges of negligence.

4. In the fifth paragraph, prone most nearly means a. immobile b. supine c. likely to have d. lying down e.encouraging

5. With which one of the following claims about pilots would the author most likely agree? a. Pilots should not be allowed to fly solo until they are thirty years old. b. A good pilot and a good short-order cook have many of the same skills. c. Pilots should be restricted to flying one type of plane. d. Pilots should never fly solo. e.Some pilots never make mistakes.


Practice Answers

1. E: Describing some characteristics that correlate with flight accidents is the primary purpose of the passage. The author explains how most flight accidents are the result of several mistakes in sequence, and how inattention, inability to multi-task, and carelessness are common characteristics of the accident-prone pilot.

2. A: The passage presents a critical portrait of Captain Everyman, but it never directly suggests that he is a reckless thrill-seeker. The passage does state that this personality type is correlated with flight accidents, but, in the example scenarios, the causes of Captain
Everyman's accidents are carelessness and distraction rather than recklessness.

3. A: The author prefers saying that the main cause of accidents is human factors, and not simply pilot error, because accidents are rarely the result of a single mistake, but rather are typically caused by a series of mistakes, oversights, or general carelessness over a period of time.
The author makes this point in the first paragraph of the passage.

4. C: In the fifth paragraph, prone most nearly means likely to have. The author is discussing pilots who are accident prone, meaning that they are more likely to have accidents. Prone can also mean lying down, or supine, but it does not have that meaning in this context.

5. B: The author would most likely agree that a good pilot and a good short-order cook have many of the same skills. Specifically, the author emphasizes the importance of multi-tasking as a pilot, a skill which would also be important for a short-order cook, who must prepare several different meals at the same time. There is no indication in the passage that age or flying different types of aircraft is correlated with accidents, and there is no argument that pilots should never fly solo. Finally, the author explicitly states that all pilots make mistakes, though some are better than others at correcting them.