Introduction to the Reading Comprehension

READING COMPREHENSION.

Active reading

• New, unfamiliar, boring subject matter and vocabulary
  • Familiarity with subject matter matters
  • Be well read
• Focus, Focus, Focus!
• Ask questions
• Piece information together as you read
• Use your imagination
• Anticipate the direction of the passage

How they lose you

• You fall asleep
• Referential phrasing
• Modifiers/embedded clauses
• Push back/connect the dots

Things they care about

• Main point/conclusion
  • Factually accurate?
  • Correct emphasis?
• Author’s attitude or tone
• Facts, details
  • Can you clearly recall the facts with accuracy?
  • Can you push out inferences from these facts and details?
• Passage structure
  • Relationship between the paragraphs
    • The flow of concepts/ideas
• Different arguments, different view points
  • Clearly distinguish

Miscellany

• So many words!
• Humanities, Law, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences
• Last passage packed w/questions – 7 or 8
• Practice skipping questions for time
• Focus spending time upfront on the passage
  • Wrong answers are time sinks