Reading Strategies:

📝First, make a note of the time and the number of sections.

Time your work accordingly. Typically, four to five minutes per section is sufficient. Second, read the directions for each selection thoroughly before beginning(and listen well to any additional verbal instructions, as they will often clarify obscure or confusing written guidelines). You must know exactly how to do what you’re about to do!

📖Now you’re ready to begin reading the selection.

Read the passage carefully, noting significant characters or events on a scratch sheet of paper or underlining on the test sheet. Many students find making a basic list in the margins helpful. Quickly jot down or underline one-word summaries of characters, notable happenings, numbers, or key ideas. This will help you better retain information and focus wandering thoughts. Remember, however, that your main goal in doing this is to find the information that answers the questions. Even if you find the passage interesting, remember your goal and work fast but stay on track.

📃Now read the question and all the choices.

Now you have read the passage, have a general idea of the main ideas, and have marked the important points. Read the question and all the choices. Never choose an answer without reading them all! Questions are often designed to confuse – stay focused and clear. Usually the answer choices will focus on one or two facts or inferences from the passage. Keep these clear in your mind.

🔍Search for the answer.

With a very general idea of what the different choices are, go back to the passage and scan for the relevant information. Watch for big words, unusual or unique words. These make your jobe asier as you can scan the text for the particular word.

☑Mark the Answer.

Now you have the key information the question is looking for. Go back to the question, quickly scan the choices and mark the correct one. Understand and practice the different types of standardized reading comprehension tests. See the list above for the different types. Typically, there will be several questions dealing with facts from the selection, a couple more inference questions dealing with logical consequences of those facts, and periodically an application-oriented question surfaces to force you to make connections with what you already know.

💡Do What Works for You

Some students prefer to answer the questions as listed, and feel classifying the question and then ordering is wasting precious time. Other students prefer to answer the different types of questions in order of how easy or difficult they are. The choice is yours and do whatever works for you. If you want to try answering in order of difficulty, here is a recommended order, answer fact questions first; they’re easily found within the passage. Tackle inference problems next, after re-reading the question(s) as many times as you need to. Application or ‘best guess’ questions usually take the longest, so, save them for last. Use the practice tests to try out both ways of answering and see what works for you.

GOOD LUCK!