How to Attempt Reading Comprehension

Reading Comprehension is generally designed to test your ability to read a passage and understand its contents and your ability to draw inferences on the basis of what is read. In other words, your ability to grasp the contents of the passage in a relatively short span of time is what is being tested.

The Reading Comprehension section in MBA entrance exams are also no different in this respect i.e., you are expected to read the given passage, understand its contents well and answer the question given at the end of the passage – all this to be completed in the limited time that is given.

Hence, the two Important things in reading Comprehension are:-

READING SPEED and COMPREHENSION OF THE PASSAGE

For good performance in reading comprehension, you need a combination of the above. Let us look at the two aspects individually and understand them in detail before we get into the techniques of attempting Reading Comprehension.

While reading skill cannot be evaluated on a “number of words per minute” scale, reading speed can definitely be measured. A person who can read faster can answer more questions in the given time than a person with the lower reading speed, other things remaining equal.it is this reading rate or your speed of reading that you have to aim at improving. There is no overnight solution to this. Constant and extensive reading will improve your reading rate. Check your reading speed today (take any passage, count the number of words, count the time taken to read it and calculate the time taken to read word per minute) and keep a record of it. Then, keep checking your speed once a week and tabulate the same. Check whether your speed has increased over time with practice. However, don’t become complacent once your speed is increased.

This brings us to the second point i.e., understanding of the passage. A person may be able to read the passage much faster than others but if he is not able to answer the questions pertaining to the passage, then the speed is of no use at all. It is essential to grasp the meaning of the passage while reading. While you are reading, you should constantly think, evaluate, reason out, judge and correlate with what has already been read. A good vocabulary would enable you to understand the nuances and grasp the meaning of various issues discussed in the passage. While an attempt can be made at pointing out various categories of questions that may be asked, you will basically have to draw on the resources built by wide and extensive reading and rely on your own vocabulary. No coaching is possible regarding understanding and analyzing the problem, however, we are going to take you through an extensive set of tests on Reading to ensure that you get through practice.

In addition to good vocabulary, you should also develop the ability to zero in the other central theme of the passage. This can be developed by extensive reading practice as well as the proper concentration at the time of reading the passage. You should also consciously develop the habit of correlating each new sentence read with the part of the passage already read and mentally from a linkage of all ideas expressed in the passage while simultaneously weeding out redundant statements.

The passages given in MBA entrance exams do not conform to any standards as regards the subject matter or the length of the passage. While the subjects covered can be as wide ranging as Sciences (like Botany, Zoology, Chemistry, History, Astronomy), Social Sciences (like Psychology, History, Economics, Politics, Sociology), Humanities(like Literature, Art, Music) or Current Affairs (Social, Political, Economical), the student is not expected to have any prior knowledge of the topics given. As regards the length of each passage, it is normally in the range of 500 words to 1200-1300 words. However, there can be passages with 300-400 words each as well as passages with more than 1400 words each in the exams. Amongst all the exams, CAT has been giving a lot of emphasis to reading comprehension. A number of other MBA entrance exams gives 25-30 questions in RC based on three to four passages.

ASPECTS TO CONSIDER

Should I read the passage first or the questions first?

There are people belonging to both schools of thought. There are also people who say that once you read the passage, you should remember all the points and answer the questions without referring back to the passage. You should not keep that as your objective when you are reading a passage.

In general, you will do well if you first read the passage and then go to the questions. However, this reading is not detailed reading to understand all the points that the author is making. It should be more of scanning in nature.

Where there is more than one passage in the test, should I start with passages whose subject is familiar to me and then move to passages where the topic is less familiar?

We will discuss this particular issue in detail after you take the first RC practice test in class. We will also discuss the basis for selection or leaving out of passages at that time. At this stage, please see that you DO NOT leave out passages whose subject matter is not familiar to you.

The following are the major categories of questions that are asked:

(a) Main idea of the passage/title for the passage

(b) Specific details basically reproducing what is given in the passage

(d) Determining the meaning of words/phrases as used in the passage.

(e) Application of the ideas expressed in the passage to other situations

(f) Tone of the passage

(g) From among a given set of statements, identifying a true or a false statement as per the passage.

Where you have to choose a title for the passage or identify the main theme of the passage, check the opening and closing sentences of each paragraph, particularly the opening sentences of the first paragraph and the last sentence of the last paragraph. At the same time, be wary about answer choices that are too specific or too broad.
The questions need not be in the order of the text given in the passage.
It will be a good idea to ask the questions “who, what, why, when and how” when you read the passage.

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