By chance, you may come across a reading comprehension passage that is familiar, which is about a topic that you know quite a bit about, or which otherwise discusses a topic which you may have come across in a class or while reading a book or a newspaper. Whatever the case, be sure that when answering questions, you use only the information that is in the passage -- do not use outside knowledge!
Often times several of the answers to a reading comprehension question may be correct, but which are not explicitly stated in the passage, in which case you must eliminate them. Reading comprehension questions test your ability to read critically, to infer, and to make implications from the material that you are provided; reading passages are not meant to test your knowledge or memorization skills that you may have learned elsewhere.
Test Tip |
When answering reading comprehension questions, do not use outside knowledge. There may even be answer choices which otherwise are correct and valid but for which supporting information was not included in the reading passage. Any answer that cannot be supported with information from the reading passage must be eliminated -- don't be fooled! |