General Advice for Reading Comprehension Questions

1. Reading passages are drawn from many different disciplines and sources, so you may encounter material with which you are not familiar. Do not be discouraged when this happens; all the questions can be answered on the basis of the information provided in the passage, and you are not expected to rely on any outside knowledge. If, however, you encounter a passage that seems particularly hard or unfamiliar, you may want to save it for last.

2. Read and analyze the passage carefully before trying to answer any of the questions, and pay attention to clues that help you understand less explicit aspects of the passage.

2a. Try to distinguish main ideas from supporting ideas or evidence.

2b. Try to distinguish ideas that the author is advancing from those he or she is merely reporting.

2c. Similarly, try to distinguish ideas that the author is strongly committed to from those he or she advances as hypothetical or speculative.

2d. Try to identify the main transitions from one idea to the next.

2e. Try to identify the relationship between different ideas. For example:

 Are they contrasting? Are they consistent?

 Does one support the other?

 Does one spell another out in greater detail?

 Does one apply another to a particular circumstance?

3. Read each question carefully and be certain that you understand exactly what is being asked.

4. Answer each question on the basis of the information provided in the passage and do not rely on outside knowledge. Sometimes your own views or opinions may conflict with those presented in a passage; if this happens, take special care to work within the context provided by the passage. You should not expect to agree with everything you encounter in the reading passages.

Multiple-Choice—Select One

Description: These are the traditional multiple-choice questions with five answer choices of which you must select one.

Tips for Answering Single Selection Multiple-Choice Questions

 Read all the answer choices before making your selection, even if you think you know what the answer is in advance.

 The correct answer is the one that most accurately and most completely answers the question posed; be careful not to be misled by answer choices that are only partially true or only partially answer the question. Be careful also not to pick an answer choice simply because it is a true statement.

 When the question is a vocabulary question about a word in the passage, be sure that the answer choice you select correctly represents the way the word is being used in the passage. Many words have quite different meanings in different contexts.

Multiple-Choice—Select One or More

Description: These provide three answer choices and ask you to select all that are correct; one, two, or all three of the answer choices may be correct. To gain credit for these questions, you must select all the correct answers, and only those; there is no credit for partially correct answers.

Tips for Answering Multiple Selection Multiple-Choice Questions

 Evaluate each answer choice separately on its own merits; when evaluating one answer choice, do not take the others into account.

 A correct answer choice accurately and completely answers the question posed; be careful not to be misled by answer choices that are only partially true or only partially answer the question. Be careful also not to pick an answer choice simply because it is a true statement.

 Do not be disturbed if you think all three answer choices are correct, since questions of this type can have three correct answer choices.