Reading Comprehension Tips

Suggestions for reading non-fiction and for completing reading comprehension tests*Presentation based on Vivien Martin’s Test-Prep Strategies

Reading Strategies Vary

There are many strategies to help with reading comprehension.

How To Pick a Strategy

Which strategies you use will depend on WHAT you are reading and WHY you are reading.

Non Fiction Reading

This presentation focuses on non-fiction and assumes a testing situation.

Overall strategy

When reading non-fiction, you generally want to read it quickly through one time to get the overall idea of the text – a technique called skimming.

Purpose of Skimming

Do not try to understand all the words or the information. Pay attention to any subheadings or pictures/diagrams.

Reading Comprehension Test

If it is a reading comprehension test, read the questions and find the answers.

Sometimes, reading the questions first will help.

6 Types of READING (NON-FICTION) questions

1. General2. Explicit3. Implicit4. Author’s Logic5. Vocabulary6. Comparison

1. General Questions

General questions usually involved: Finding the “main idea” of the passage Related to the title

General Questions cont.

Answer is found quickly within the passage Usually in the first OR last paragraph Refer to the title to determine main

idea

General questions cont.

Questions may ask things such as: The main idea of this selection is… What is another possible title for this

article? The third paragraph is mainly about…

2. Explicit Questions “Explicit” means that it is “obvious”.

These questions are also known as “fact-based” questions.

Answer is found quickly within the passage.

Explicit continued…

Choose the KEY word/s in the question and then scan the passage for those key words. Usually the answer is in that sentence or the line above or below the key words.

Explicit continued…

Examples of “explicit” types of questions: Who does the author describe as

shy? What was the reason Sam did not

like to eat green eggs and ham? When did Wendy stop caring about

her education?

3. Implicit Questions

“Implicit” means that it is an inference question.

You have to make an educated guess based on the “clues” to the question.

You have to “read between the lines”

Implicit continued Inference or Implicit Questions ask the

reader to understand ideas that are not directly stated in the text.

Don’t assume facts not in the reading – rather infer what the author is saying about what is there.

Implicit continued

Readers must infer underlying meaning by using their own knowledge, ideas, and judgment.

You can’t infer unless you understand the main idea & facts, so answer those questions first.

4. Author’s Logic

These are questions that ask you to put yourself in the author’s “shoes”

Author’s Logic cont. These questions ask about:

Tone Purpose What would go in another paragraph or

chapter? What sources were used or could have been

used? What was the inspiration for this piece?

Author’s Logic cont.

Answering these questions usually requires you to Understand the main idea to

determine purpose, audience, or inspiration

Author’s Logic Strategies Read the first and last paragraphs to

decide “what would come next” Look at word choice (big words,

casual words, 1st or 3rd person) to determine TONE

5. Questions about Vocabulary Some questions might ask you to choose the

synonym of a word from the passage.

Connotation If you don’t know the meaning of the word,

decide if it sounds negative or positive If the word sounds positive, go to the

answer choices and eliminate the negative choices. A positive sounding word will never have a negative synonym. (and vice versa)

It helps to recognize negative prefixes such as dis-, mis-, un-, etc.

Vocabulary Continued Questions might ask you understand the

word in context of a sentence.

Strategy

Read the sentence and use clues within the sentence to come up with own definition. Read the answer choices and find the word that is closest to own definition.

Example: I took copious notes, so I don’t think I missed one word the teacher said. Copious means—

a. few b. many c. sloppy d. selective

Vocabulary continued Questions might ask you to

demonstrate that you understand multiple meanings of a word.

You can often figure out vocabulary questions by finding and then reading the sentence in which the word is located.

6. Comparison Questions These are usually only used when you

are reading two texts. These questions ask you to look for

similarities between the texts or explain differences.

Comparison Continued

It might be one of the other types of questions but about both texts, such as comparing the sources used in the two texts

A review:

Read the passage quickly to determine the main idea.

Read the questions and decide what type of question is being asked and the best way to answer.

Apply the strategies

Questions