Frequently Asked Questions Of Reading Comprehension:

CAT Exam
According to CAT Official Guide – each RC passage is a unified whole – that is, the individual sentences and paragraphs support and develop one main idea or central point which the student must identify. In this article, we will learn how to find the basic questions of a Reading Comprehension passage.  Main Idea Almost every passage in the CAT has this question. The main idea is generally present in the in the opening or ending line of the first paragraph of the passage. Else, it’s found in the opening lines of the last paragraph. Rarely is the main idea present elsewhere. And on other rare occasions, the main idea is left to be inferred by the reader. Let’s see some characteristics of the main point:
  1. It is a single line statement that expresses the intent of the entire passage
  2. It is broad: scope spans the entire passage and is not limited to an example or paragraph in the passage.
  3. It is precise: It most likely will not contain any specific detail that is outlined in the passage
Tone The author’s attitude towards 19th century feminist literature can be described as…? Now, this is a question on tone. Where do you find the answer to this? It needs a handle on the entire passage. If the author mentions two opposing views and does not state that one is what he prefers, he is unbiased. If he mentions a theory proposed by someone else and lists his apprehensions about it, he is skeptical about the validity of the theory. Remember that the answer is rarely extreme terms like dismissive or vengeful.  Specific data These are questions like ‘According to the passage, the author finds the movement to be…’. Match phrases from the question to the location in the passage where it occurs. Read a couple of lines above and a couple of lines below the data match to get the picture. That’s where your answer lies. This is the easiest kind of question in the greater scheme of Reading Comprehension passages and questions. Inference What do you infer from the passage? What is implied in the passage? What does the author suggest? These questions are all inference based questions where you need to make use of information in the passage to arrive at a conclusion yourself. So, eliminate options that repeat what is explicitly stated what is mentioned in the passage.  Structure Which of the following best describes the structure of the passage? What would be the ideal title for this passage? To answer these questions, look at the logical flow of the passage. Words like Moreover, Although and Ironically help you understand the structure of the passage.  Vocabulary based These questions test your vocabulary- the meaning of a word/synonym or the opposite of the word/antonym. The contextual meaning of the word has a vital role here.  Extended Scope These questions expect you to extrapolate ideas and data given in the passage to instances outside the passage and make a comparison. These require a logical understanding of the context of the passage. In this case, pick an option that resonates with the author’s conclusion. The option has to mirror the idea presented in the passage.   Core skills that you need to find the above questions from Reading Comprehension: You are bound to encounter up to 4 main point questions in your exam. The core skills required to answer these questions are listed below.  
  1. Ability to Summarize: The ability to summarize paragraphs in a few words. The summary must be short and accurate.
  2. Prethinking: The ability to combine paragraph summaries and come up with passage summary.
  3. Terminology/Vocabulary:not a very big factor, but you need to have a basic understanding of most terms used in the language summary to select the correct language.
  4. Evaluate: Even when you do the above 3 correctly, the main point that you come up with during your Prethinking may not be the main point of the passage. Hence, you need the ability to evaluate the answer choices and select the one that is closest to the one that you came up with during Prethinking. Also, to be absolutely certain, you need to reject the remaining 4 for good reasons.
  Focus on strengthening these skills to improve your accuracy. All The Best!!

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