How the Reading Comprehension test works
Reading Comprehension is the second test of the session, after Algebra and Functions and a short break. It measures how well you obtain information from written passages: 36 questions in 51 minutes, each with four answers. The passages on the real test are longer than the one in the official sample, and how many there are is not published.
The sample passage is about history and astronomy, not electrical work, and you need no knowledge of the trade. Its questions show the range: one asks for a detail the passage states, one asks you to apply the passage’s pattern to a case it does not describe, and one asks which of four statements the passage supports.
As with the algebra, your score is the number right, with nothing taken off for a wrong answer, and both tests must be finished in the one session.
How to approach each passage
Use the same routine on every passage, so the clock never decides for you:
- Glance at the questions on the passage first, so you know which details to watch for.
- Read the passage once at a steady pace, noting where each date, number, step or exception sits.
- For a detail question, find the sentence that answers it and compare the options with that sentence, not with your memory of it.
- For a “which is true” or “probably” question, the right answer must follow from the passage. Drop any option that needs a fact the passage does not give.
- Where a passage and what you know from work disagree, answer from the passage.
Worked example
Passage: “A city crew replaces street lamps in three stages. First the circuit for the whole street is switched off at the cabinet and tagged. Then each lamp head is removed and checked for water damage before a new one is fitted. The circuit is switched back on only after the crew leader has walked the street and confirmed every lamp head is closed. Lamps fitted in winter are checked again the following spring.”
Question: Based on the passage, which of the following is true? A: Each lamp is switched off one at a time. B: A lamp fitted in July is checked again the next spring. C: The circuit stays off until every lamp head on the street is closed. D: Water damage is the most common reason a lamp fails.
The answer is C, which follows from the rule about when the circuit goes back on. A contradicts the first step, B stretches the winter rule to summer, and D may be true in real life but the passage never says it.
Tips for the real test
- Budget about eight minutes a passage, questions included, and keep a few minutes at the end for blanks.
- Words such as only, unless, before, after, always and probably decide most answers. Underline them in your head as you read.
- Do not spend long on one hard question. Every question is worth the same, so take the quick marks first.
- Practise on long, factual texts: manuals, history and science articles. The real passages are longer than the sample.
- Answer every question before time is called. A guess costs nothing.
Practise Reading Comprehension on CogniPrep
Our Reading Comprehension game gives 36 questions in 51 minutes on six passages of about 300 words, six questions on each. The passage count is ours, because the real one is not published, and the passages are written for practice. Questions ask what a passage states, what follows from it and what it is about, each with four answers. On a computer the passage sits beside the question; on a phone it sits above it. You can move back and forth and change answers, and hand in from a review grid or let the clock hand in at 0:00. You get your number right and how you did on each kind of question, not a pass or a fail, because the qualifying score is set by each JATC.