Quick Reference Guides
The Reading Comprehension Quick Reference Guide provides tips to consider before and during your practice with reading comprehension passages and practice tests.
Before practicing passages or a practice test:
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Read the questions/prompts from multiple passages and identify patterns. Common types of questions/prompts include
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questions that ask about facts for which you can scan (e.g., dates and names)
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questions that include NOT
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questions that ask about cause or effect
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questions that ask about the purpose of the passage
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questions that ask you to make inferences or ask about implications
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Read the answer choices from multiple passages and identify patterns.
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Read a few passages without trying to answer the questions/prompts.
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Identify some genres of passages (e.g., informative, argumentative, persuasive, narrative/story, etc.)
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General/While taking practice exams and actual exam:
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Read the questions and answer choices first.
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Can you identify patterns that might be useful?
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Are there any questions that ask for facts for which you can scan (e.g., years or names)?
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Do the answer choices include repeated words or phrases that might help you focus on information in the passage?
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Eliminate 1 or 2 answer choices.
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There are usually 1 or 2 answer choices that are obviously wrong.
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Take notes.
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If the exam allows, take notes on scratch paper about patterns or key information in the questions, answer choices, and the passage.
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Skim and scan.
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Skimming is reading only part of a paragraph or the passage. Do this to identify the paragraph in which an answer can be found.
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Scanning is looking for specific words or short phrases. Scan the passage when answering questions about easily identifiable facts (e.g., years and names).
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