Week 1: Intro to Reading Comprehension

Question 1

RC Passage Formats

Answer 1

Standard (Single-Author) Passages

Comparative Passages

• contains Passage A and B.
• you have to find the distinction between PA and PB, and the relationship between the two.

Question 2

RC Topics (4)

Answer 2

Humanities

• Lit, Art, Poetry

Law

• Legal Theory, Interpretation

Science

• Biology, Chemistry, Astronomy

Society

• Psychology, Economics, Social Movements

Question 3

Process to Taking on RC Passages

Answer 3

1. Be an Active Reader

• react to information you’ve read and anticipate what’s coming in next paragraph based on what you’ve previously read.
• **Connect information from prior paragraph(s) to next paragraph.

2. Main Point

• Identify Author’s thesis
• Where do you find it? Transition from 1st - 2nd paragraph, or last paragraph.

3. Passage Map

• Once you’ve found Main Point, figure out how all other paragraphs lead to that main point.
• e.g. if the MP is in the 4th paragraph, the 1st might be an Opposing viewpoint, the 2nd support for the opposing viewpoint, and the 3rd evidence against the opposing viewpoint, transitioning into the 4th.

4. Trap Answers

• You’ll eliminate most answers based off of intuition.
• Identify Trap Answer patterns to make eliminations when struggling between two AC’s.

Question 4

RC Question Families

Answer 4

RC questions generally fit into 3 Categories:

Inference Family

• What do you know is true based on what you read?
  • what cannot be true?
  • what must be true?
  • what is most supported?
  • what can be inferred?

Purpose Family

• what was the author’s reason for placing particular information in the passage.
• what does a certain portion of the passage do?
• what purpose does a particular paragraph, line(s), or sentence play in the passage?

Assumption Family

• An assertion in the passage relies on a certain assumption, and you have to undermine or support that assertion by either strengthening or weakening the assumption the assertion relies on.

Question 5

RC Question Types

Answer 5

Inference:

• what you know (is true) based on what you read.

Principle:

Opinion:

• would the author believe a particular claim is true and to what degree?

Strengthen:

• supporting claim in argument.

Purpose:

• identify the purpose a particular line, sentence, or paragraph plays in the passage.

Application:

• taking a generalized circumstance and applying it to a new circumstance (in AC’s).

Main Point:

• main point of passage.

Weaken:

• undermining claim in the argument.

Meaning in Context:

• defining a certain term based on how it’s used in the passage.

Most Supported:

• Like an inference question, (trying to figure out what statement could be best supported), just with less certainty.

Organization:

• structure
• figuring out how all the pieces (paragraphs) fit together.

Analogy:

• finding another circumstance in which the relationship in the passage (between passages) is similar.