Reading Comprehension

The Kaplan Method for Reading Comprehension Read the passage strategically Analyze the question stem Research the relevant text in the passage Make a prediction Evaluate the answer choices

Read the Passage Strategically Identify the topic and purpose of the passage Note the structure and main points Recognize the main idea, conclusion, arguments, meaning, tone, and implications

Analyze the Question Stem Be cautious and try not to allow the nature of the stem to influence your interpretation of the passage The question stem may indicate a relationship between the answers

Research the Relevant Text in the Passage You should have a good idea of where to find the answer in the text based on Step One

Make a Prediction You will often have the opportunity to formulate a prediction to the questions Try to form a response in your mind or find the choices that will most likely contain the answer

Evaluate the Answer Choices It is important to read and consider each answer choice Eliminating incorrect answers may narrow down the choices for questions that are hard and validates the section you are considering

Approaching Reading Comprehension Questions Think of Reading Comprehension as a book The correct answer to every question is somewhere in the book Reading comprehension questions are tricky Test takers often spend too much time trying to understand what they have read Your critical thinking skills may cause you to overanalyze the text

Short Passages Usually 12-15 lines Read the entire passage quickly Identify the topic sentence, skim the middle, and read the last line carefully

Medium Passages Usually 16-20 lines Read the entire passage quickly Read the first two lines, skim the middle, and read the final line carefully

Long Passages Usually 40-50 lines Read the first line of each paragraph and skim the rest of the passage Identify trigger words Carefully read the last line of the entire passage

Types of Questions Fetch Questions Reasoning Questions Asks you to “fetch” information from the passage Generally asks for the meaning of a word, the author’s tone, a fact from the reading, or the main idea of the passage Reasoning Questions Asks you to use critical reasoning skills May ask questions about conclusions, premises, and assumptions May ask why the author used a particular word, the inferences you can draw from the passage, or the author’s intended audience

Question Formats Single Answer Multiple Answers The traditional multiple-choice questions with five answer choices, of which you must select one. Multiple Answers These questions 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.

Question Formats Select in Passage These questions ask you to click on the sentence in the passage that meets a certain description. To answer the question, choose one of the sentences and click on it; clicking anywhere on a sentence will highlight it. In longer passages, the question will usually apply to only one or two specified paragraphs, marked by an arrow (); clicking on a sentence elsewhere in the passage will not highlight it.