How the Reading Comprehension test works
Each passage is followed by a set of questions. In MASS, POSS and SO/PD II the passages are the kind of material found in power plant training and safety manuals; CAST-R’s practice passages are general science and history. The directions are the same throughout: answer from the passage, not from what you know about the job, and you may look back at the passage while you answer.
The length depends on your battery. CAST and CAST-R give 32 questions on 4 passages in 30 minutes, MASS and POSS give 36 on 5 passages in 30 minutes, and SO/PD II, which is taken on a computer, gives 26 on 4 passages in 22 minutes. That is roughly 50 to 56 seconds a question, reading time included.
Questions ask for a detail, the meaning of a term as the passage defines it, which statement is not true, or the main idea of a paragraph or the whole passage. Some offer an answer saying the passage does not give enough information.
How to approach each passage
Use the same routine on every passage:
- Skim the questions for that passage first, so you know what to look for.
- Read the passage once at a steady pace, noting where each step, rule or exception sits.
- For each question, find the sentence that answers it and compare the options with that sentence, not with your memory of it.
- Reject any option that adds a detail the passage does not state, even if it is true in real life.
- Choose “not enough information” only when you have checked the passage and it is genuinely silent.
Worked example
Passage: “Before a pump is opened for maintenance, the operator closes the suction and discharge valves, then opens the drain valve to release trapped pressure. The pump may be opened only after the pressure gauge reads zero. If the gauge is faulty, work stops until a replacement gauge is fitted.”
Question: According to the passage, when may the pump be opened? A: as soon as both valves are closed. B: after the drain valve has been open for five minutes. C: when the pressure gauge reads zero. D: when the operator judges the pressure to be low.
The answer is C, which the passage states directly. A stops a step too early, B invents a time the passage never gives, and D swaps the gauge reading for the operator’s judgement, which the faulty-gauge rule rules out.
Tips for the real Reading Comprehension test
- Ask which battery you are sitting, so you know whether to pace for 4 or 5 passages.
- Divide the clock by passages, not questions: about seven and a half minutes a passage in CAST, six in MASS and POSS.
- Procedural passages hinge on order and exceptions. Words such as only, unless, before and after decide most answers.
- Do not bring in knowledge from the plant. An answer that is true at work but not in the passage is wrong.
- Answer every question. EEI does not deduct marks for wrong answers.
Practise Reading Comprehension on CogniPrep
Choose your battery on the start screen: CAST or CAST-R (4 passages, 32 questions, 30 minutes), MASS or POSS (5 passages, 36 questions, 30 minutes) or SO/PD II (4 passages, 26 questions, 22 minutes). Every question has four options, the passage stays on screen, and you can move back and forth and change answers until you hand in from the review grid. Your score out of 100 is the share of the full paper answered correctly; a blank counts as wrong. The passages are our own.