How the Reading Comprehension Test works
Every item is a passage followed by one question: which of the options can be inferred from the passage? Four statements follow, and only one can be derived solely from what the passage says.
The catch is that the wrong options may still be true. A statement can be correct in the real world, and even sound like the point of the passage, but if the passage does not support it, it is wrong here. The more you know about a passage’s subject, the stronger this trap is.
The RCT is one of the three tests behind the OAR. It is adaptive: questions get harder as you answer correctly, you cannot go back or change an answer, and it can end early once it has measured you.
How to answer RCT questions
Test each option against the passage, one at a time:
- Read the passage once, carefully. You only get one question per passage, so there is no second question to make the read pay twice.
- For each option ask: which sentence in the passage gives me this? If you cannot point to one, or to two sentences that together give it, rule it out.
- Be suspicious of options you know to be true. Knowledge you bring is exactly what the wrong options are built to reward.
- Watch for words that go further than the passage: always, never, all, only, most. A passage that says “some” does not support “most”.
- If two options survive, choose the one that needs fewer assumptions.
Worked example
Passage: “Before a jet lands on a carrier, a landing signal officer watches its approach and talks to the pilot by radio. If the approach looks unsafe, the officer orders a wave-off, and the pilot must climb away and try again. Pilots are graded on every landing, and the grades are posted where the whole squadron can see them.”
Which of the following can be inferred from the passage? (A) Pilots who are waved off too often are removed from the squadron. (B) A pilot’s landing is graded even when the approach is safe. (C) Landing signal officers are experienced pilots themselves. (D) Most wave-offs are caused by bad weather.
The answer is B: pilots are graded on every landing, safe approaches included. C is true in real life, but the passage never says it. A and D add a consequence and a cause the passage does not mention.
Tips for the real RCT
- Keep to about 90 seconds a passage, and do not reread unless an option sends you back to a specific line.
- Answer from the passage, not from what you know about ships, aircraft or the Navy.
- Do not leave questions unreached, and do not guess blindly at the end; both cost you. A steady pace is the answer to both.
- Practise on dense, factual writing such as technical manuals and science articles, asking after each paragraph what it does and does not say.
Practise the Reading Comprehension Test on CogniPrep
Our RCT gives you up to 20 passages in 30 minutes, one question each, drawn from a bank of 200 passages with four statements apiece, written so that the wrong ones are often true outside the passage. It adapts, never lets you go back, can end early, and takes points off if time runs out with passages unreached. Your result is our estimate on the OAR’s 20 to 80 scale, not an official score.