VR - Reading and Comprehension

Question 1

How to take notes during reading and comprehension

RC is mostly concerned with identifying relevant pieces of text buried within the larger passage

Answer 1

• Do not write anything factual b/c it would always be there
• Write down the following 2 things:
  1. Main idea
  
  • Write it down in your own words
  • Use as few words as possible
  • Should be general enough to apply to any paragraphs in the passage
    
    2. Each paragraph’s structural purpose
  • Find out why each paragraph is there
  • Keep purpose entirely content-neutral (leave out all the details)

    Examples:
    P1 - Intro to theory
    P2 - Examples of theory
    P3 - Recent problems with theory
    P4 - Possible solutions to problems

Question 2

Know the common traps

Answer 2

• traps tend to be specific to the problem subtypes
• wrong answers will often be either to specific or too broad
• extreme words are more commonly found in wrong answers than in right ones
• wrong answers may be what we call true but not right; i.e. if you read something and think “hey, that’s probably true!” But realize you think that because of your own knowledge of the world, not something you read in the passage… don’t guess that one.
• On specific questions (both inference and look-up) beware of the mix-up trap. If the answer choice includes directly from the passage, but that language is found in two or more separate paragraphs in the passage, then the answer is more likely to be a trap!

Question 3

There are 6 kinds of reading comprehension and they each test a different skill

1. Main idea
2. Supporting ideas
3. Inferences
4. Applying information to a context outside the passage itself
5. Logical structure
6. Style and tone

Answer 3

1. Main idea
   You may be asked to
   - recognize a correct restatement, or paraphrasing, of the main idea of a passage
   - identify the author’s primary purpose or objective in writing the passage
   - assign a title that summarizes, briefly and pointedly, the main idea developed in the passage
2. Supporting ideas
   - measure your ability to comprehend the supporting ideas in a passage and differentiate them from the main idea
   - measure your ability to differentiate ideas that are explicitly stated in a passage from ideas that are implied by the author but not explicitly stated

You may be asked about

• facts cited in a passage
• the specific content of arguments presented by the author in support of his or her views
• descriptive details used to support or elaborate the main idea

3. Inferences
   - ask about ideas that are not explicitly stated in a passage but are implied by the author

To answer these questions, you may have to

• Logically take statements made by the authors one step beyond their literal meanings
• recognize an alternative interpretation of a statement made by the author
• identify the intended meaning of a word used figuratively in a passage

4. Applying information to a context outside the passage itself
   - measure your ability to discern the relationships between situations or ideas presented by the author and other situations or ideas that might parallel those in the passage

You may be asked to

• identify a hypothetical situation that is comparable to a situation presented in the passage
• select an example that is similar to an example provided in the passage
• apply ideas given in the passage to a situation not mentioned by the author
• recognize ideas that the author would probably agree or disagree with on the basis of statements made in the passage
• unlike inference questions, application questions use ideas or situations NOT taken from the passage.

5. Logical structure
   - measure your ability to not only comprehend a passage but also to evaluate it critically
6. Style and tone
   - ask about the expression of a passage and about the ideas in a passage that may be expressed through its diction - the author’s choice of words

You may be asked to

• deduce the author’s attitude to an idea, a fact, or situation from the words that he or she uses to describe it
• select a word that accurately describes the tone of a passage - for instance “critical”, “questioning”, “objective”, or “enthusiastic”
• To answer this type of question, you will have to consider the language of the passage as a whole.

They may ask you

• how a passage is constructed - for instance does it define, compare or contrast, present a new idea, or refute an idea?
• how the author persuades readers to accept his or her assertions
• the reason behind the author’s use of any particular supporting detail
• to identify assumptions that the author is making
• to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the author’s arguments
• to recognize appropriate counter arguments