Week 5, Day 1: Progress Reports, Chapter 6 - Reading Comprehension

 

About Reading Comprehension:

·       There are right and wrong answers – this is not subjective!

·       RC is ½ of the verbal sections

·       Eight passages from one to five paragraphs with one to five questions

·       Predictable question types

·       The correct answer is always stated explicitly or implied directly by the passage

·       The “open book” part of the test – all of the answers are in the passage

·       Viewed in a split screen, with the passage on the left and questions on the right appearing one at a time

·       TAKE NOTES on paper while you read

·       The ETS increases the difficulty of reading questions by exploiting common assumptions, using intimidating and unfamiliar topics, and using difficult vocabulary

·       The biggest challenge is limited time

·       ETS counts on test-takers to overanalyze the text, to remember snippets of quotes, and to fail to take notes

·       Ask questions and write notes on scratch paper while you read:

o   What is the broad, main topic?

o   What is the narrower topic, the author’s point or reason for writing?

o   Does the author compare anything, and if so why?

o   What is the author’s attitude?

o   What reasons do they offer? Do they offer multiple theories?

·       Rephrase and simplify the passage in your notes

o   The Princeton Method: Attack the Passage – find the main idea, structure, tone

§  Identify the problem – what is it? What caused it? What effects does it have? Are there any solutions?

§  Identify the changes – what was the old way? What is the new way? What caused the change? What are the effects of the change?

§  DON’T get sucked into the details – skim/speed read!

§  ALWAYS go back to the passage to find proof

§  Practice categorizing passages as problem or change oriented

§  Purpose: what is the author’s purpose, why did they write this?

·       Go paragraph by paragraph noting the subject and purpose of each paragraph

·       Possible purposes: informing, evaluating an argument, correcting a misperception, predicting an outcome, suggesting behaviors/actions, arguing a position, explaining an event

o   Size Up the Questions

§  Question formats:

·       Multiple choice

·       Select all that apply

·       Select the sentence in the passage

§  Question tasks

·       “Fetch” – find some information in the passage: facts, meaning, tone, main idea, details. Strategy:

o   Read the question

o   If not phrased as a question, rephrase as a question: start with who, what, why, when, where, how?

o   FIND PROOF – most important! DO NOT choose an answer that has no proof

§  Context – “five up/five down” – look five lines up and five lines down from the highlighted portion to get the context of the relevant part (three up/three down for vocabulary-in-context questions)

§  Lead word – look in the passage for the word in the question stem that makes it easy to spot the proof: numbers, dates, names, large technical words all make good leads

o   Link the information in the passage to the question task – make sure you address the question asked! Is this all the author said? Are there other details to consider that make another answer better?

o   Process of Elimination:

§  AVOID extreme statements – ETS wants correct answers that are difficult to argue with, like “wishy-washy” language (e.g., some, often, usually, many). Answers with absolutes are easy to argue with (e.g., always, never, every, none, all)

§  AVOID recycled language – most test-takers don’t take notes and so remember mixed-up quotes from the passage because they spent too long reading. ETS takes advantage of this by filling wrong answers with distorted quotes, and putting the correct answers in paraphrased language. If you paraphrase your own answer before reading the answer choices, you can avoid this trap.

§  Half right = ALL WRONG – read the whole answer to avoid those which start out correct but end incorrectly or change the meaning of what the author said in the passage

§  Avoid bad comparisons – suspicious phrases like “more…than,” “less…than,” “compared to,” and words like greater, better, and faster are red flags. Check the passage to see whether the author just mentioned the things being compared or if they actually said one was better/worse than the other. If the comparison does not exist, eliminate the answer

·       Select-in-Passage questions use the same steps and strategies as Fetch questions: read, rephrase the question, find the proof, link it to the question, then use process of elimination.

·       Reasoning – require thinking about the implications: why the author used a word/fact/sentence, drawing inferences, who is the intended audience, ‘argument’ questions about conclusions/premises/assumptions

o   What does the question want? What type of information in the passage is the question asking for?

o   Return to passage – read more closely for specific information

o   PoE for Reasoning – eliminate answers that:

§  Go beyond the given information or scope of the passage – if the answer is stronger than the claim in the passage, it is usually wrong; choose answers that are closest in meaning to the passage

§  Have the wrong tone – extreme language belongs to questions about what strengthens/weakens the argument, while less extreme language is more appropriate for inference questions

§  Are only half-right – correct answers will have no errors of attribution, meaning, or implication

o   Note that on “select all that apply” questions that sometimes only one answer is correct – but sometimes it is all of them!

o   Find and Paraphrase the Answer

§  The right answers are literally in the passage, so correct answer choices will be disguised using different wording, avoiding verbatim repetition of the passage, while WRONG answers will scramble some verbatim clauses together

§  Compare the answer choices AFTER you have rephrased the proof in the passage to yourself. Put the proof in your own words, THEN look at the answer choices for one that says something similar.

§  Balance your suspicion of wrongness with the search for correctness: read each answer as possibly wrong, looking for inaccuracies

o   Use Process of Elimination

§  Avoid extreme language: must, always, every, all, best, only, totally, must not, never, none, no one, worst, no, certain

§  Prefer “wishy-washy” language that could go both ways: may, can, some, many, sometimes, perhaps, may be, maybe

§  Half-right = all wrong so read answer choices carefully to make sure!

§  Beyond the information given – if an answer has no proof in the passage, is outside the broad scope or the narrower main idea, it can be eliminated

·       Look for keywords signaling

o   Premises (reasons why: since, because, for…)

o   Conclusions (the point: therefore, hence, so, thus…)

o   Transitions (first, second, third…)

o   Changes of direction (however, on the other hand…)

·       Practice reading everything this way

·       Most basic strategies:

o   Read ALL answer choices

o   Don’t fall for partially true answers – a good answer will be completely correct

o   Pay close attention to the context

o   Remember: some questions can and will have multiple correct answers