How To Answer Reading Comprehension Questions

Reading comprehension questions test your ability to understand what you read - both content and technique.

Often, one reading comprehension passage on the test will be narrative: a passage from a novel, a short story, an autobiography, or a personal essay. One will deal with the sciences (including medicine, botany, zoology, chemistry, physics, geology, astronomy); another, with the humanities (including art, literature, music, philosophy, folklore); a third, with the social sciences(including history, economics, sociology, govern-
 ment). 
 
Some of the above passages may be argumentative; these passages present definite points of view on the subjects. One passage most likely will be “ethnic” in content: whether it is a history passage, a personal narrative, or a passage on music, art, or literature, it will deal with concerns of a particular minority group.

The questions that follow each passage may not be arranged in order of difficulty. They may be arranged to suit the way the passage’s content is organized. Thus, a question based on information presented at the beginning of the passage will come before a question based on information at the end.

However, questions based on the short reading passages tend to be easier than those based on the longer passages. Tackle the short reading passages first.

1. Try to anticipate what the passage is about

As you read the italicized introductory material preceding the passage and tackle the passage’s opening sentences, try to anticipate what the passage will be about. Ask yourself who or what the author is writing about. Recollect what else you may have read about the topic. You’ll be in a better position to understand what you read.

2. Pick your questions to answer

On sections with both short and long reading passages, tackle the short passages first. Consider the paired short reading passages a warmup for the paired long reading passages that appear later in the test.

On sections with two long reading passages, head straight for the passage that appeals to you more. It is hard to concentrate when you read about something wholly unfamiliar to you. Give yourself a break. First tackle the reading passage that interests you or deals with topics in which you are well grounded. Then move on to the other passage.

Similarly, when you’re ready to answer questions on a long passage, consider taking a quick glance at all the questions on that passage and starting off with answering the ones you feel you can handle easily. Check out the questions with answer choices that are only two or three words long.(Usually these are vocabulary-in-context questions, or questions on attitude or tone.) Answer them.
Then focus on the longer, more difficult questions.

When you face a tough reading question, don’t automatically skip the other questions on that passage. The reading comprehension questions following each passage are not arranged in order of difficulty. Instead, they tend to be arranged sequentially: questions on paragraph 1 come before questions on paragraph 2. Therefore, it pays to look over all the questions on the passage.

An esay question may be just one question away from a tough one.
Recognize the questions to bear down on as opposed to the questions to skip. Spot the most time-consuming questions; then, decide whether any given time-consumer is one you should skip.

Questions containing the word EXCEPT in capital letters tend to be tricky; they may be ones to take a pass on. Questions using Roman numerals (I only, I and II only, and so on) that require you to use the process of elimination to reach your answer may be time-consuming. Similarly, the following sorts of questions may take a lot of time:
- ones that ask about the author’s underlying assumptions;
- ones that ask what additional information would help to clarify points in the passage;
- ones that compare or contrast two passages in great detail;
- ones with extremely lengthy answer choices.

You may decide you want to skip one or more of them.
However…try to answer all the questions on one passage before you move on to the second.
Often, working through one or two questions will provide you with information you can use in answering other questions on that passage.
Whenever you skip from question to question, or from passage to passage, be sure you’re filling in the right spaces on your answer sheet.

3. Read purposefully: Passage, questions, and answer choices

As you work through the passage, try to identify what kind of writing it represents, what techniques are being used, who the intended audience may be, and what feeling (if any) the author has toward this subject. Try to retain names, dates, and places for quick reference later. In particular, try to remember where in the passage the author makes major points.

Make note of (underline on actual paper) key words, if you like, or indicate main ideas with a star (*) or arrow. Then, when you start looking for a phrase or sentence to justify your answer, you may be able to save time by going back to that section of the passage immediately without having to reread the whole thing.

Read as quickly as you can with understanding, but do not force yourself. Do not worry about the time element. If you worry about not finishing the test, you will begin to take shortcuts and miss correct answers in your haste.

Figure out whether it ever helps you to read the questions before you read through the passage. For the long passages, our general advice is, to read the passage first; then read the questions. We find most students do better tackling reading exercises in this way.

However, if you normally read slowly and methodically, you may be better off reading an individual question and then scanning the passage to find its answer.

Likewise, in dealing with an extra-long, 800-word reading passage, you may want to try skimming the questions before you read the passage to get a sense of what you should be on the lookout for. You have to know your strengths and weaknesses as a reader before you can select the approach that is right for you.

Use the practice exercises at the end of this chapter to find out whether or not the “questions first” approach works for you. Select an 800-word passage and skim the questions on it. Next, read the passage and answer the questions. Check your answers. Then think over your experience.

- Did you get through the passage and all 12 questions in 15 minutes or less?
- Did you answer a reasonable number of questions correctly?
- Did you feel in control as you started to read the passage, or did you feel as if you had a jumble of question words dancing around in your head?
- Did you feel that skimming the questions in advance slowed you down too much and wasted your time?

Try another 800-word passage, this time reading the passage first, and compare how you did on this passage with your result on the first one. Then decide what’s right for you.

In answering questions, don’t just settle for the first answer choice that looks good. Read each choice, and compare what it says to the actual words of the passage. When you come to an answer choice that contradicts information in the passage or that doesn’t answer the question being asked, cross it out.

4. Go back to the passage to double-check your answers

When you tackle the questions, go back to the passage to verify the answers you chose. Do not rely on your memory alone; above all, do not ignore the passage and just answer questions on the basis of other things you’ve read. Remember: the questions are asking you about what this author has to say about the subject, not about what some other author you once read said about it in another book.

Use the line references in the questions to be sure you’ve gone back to the correct spot in the passage. Most reading passages on the SAT tend to be long. Fortunately, all the lines are numbered, and the questions often refer you to specific lines in the passage by number. It takes less time to locate a line number than to spot a word or phrase.

Use the line numbers to orient yourself in the text.

5. Tackle paired passages one passage at a time

Double passages are found on SAT exams. The double reading passage is usually found in a separate section. First you’ll see a few lines in italics introducing both passages. Then will come the two passages. Their lines will be numbered as if they were one enormous passage: thus, if Passage 1 ends on line 42, Passage 2 will begin on line 43. However, they are two separate passages, and you should tackle them one at a time.

Remember: the questions are organized sequentially: questions about Passage 1 will come before questions about Passage 2. Therefore, do things in order. First read Passage 1; then jump straight to the questions and answer all those based on Passage

1. Most of the time, the Passage 1 questions will immediately follow the excerpts. Once in a great while, one or two questions that refer to both passages will precede the questions about Passage 1. In that case, don’t get sidetracked. Skip the questions referring to both passages, and focus on those based on Passage 1. Next read Passage 2; then answer all the questions based on Passage 2. Finally, tackle the three or four questions that refer to both passages. Go back to both passages as needed.