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Reading Comprehension

On the GRE CAT, expect to see three to four Reading Comprehension passages with approximately
three to four questions for each passage. However, you'll only see one question at a time on the screen.

In nearly every passage you encounter, the author will be trying to convey a specific point. In general,
the strategy for the Reading Comprehension passage is:

1) Find the general topic

2) Find the specific focus of the passage
3) Find the author's reason for writing the passage.

This chapter is broken into 3 parts:

I. 6 Tactics for Analyzing a Reading Comprehension Passage
II. 3 Most Common Question Types
III. 4 Step Method of Attacking Reading Comprehension Passages and Sample Essay

I. 6 Tactics for Analyzing a Reading Comprehension Passage

A. The writer's purpose and voice

B. Finding the essay's main point
C. Finding the purpose of each paragraph
D. Determining the scope of the argument
E. Determining the structure (Ignore this section if you have limited time to prepare)
F. Don't read, skim

A. The writer's purpose and voice

It would be nice if the authors of the reading passages came right out and specifically said what they
were writing about, what they have to say, and how they intend to accomplish their goal. That, however, is
not the style of scholarly writing. They will not be hitting you over the head with their points, so you have to

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read between the lines and look for them very carefully.

What is the best method to detect the author's point? The author will frequently change his tone when
describing the main point of the passage. Notice when the author shifts his voice from an objective, factual
description to his subjective viewpoint.

Attacking a passage is what critical reading is all about: stepping back from the factual content, figuring
out the author's views on a topic and how he arrived at them, and looking for the evidence that must be
provided. Always be on the lookout for sentences in which the author's voice is coming through and try to
skip past the sentences that are purely factual or simply there for support.

Try to find the author's purpose and voice in the following passage:

One of the most persistently troubling parts of national domestic policy is the development
and use of water resources. Because the technology of water management involves similar
construction skills, whether the task is the building of an ocean jetty for protection of
shipping or the construction of a river dam for flood control and irrigation, the issues of water
policy have mingled problems of navigation and agriculture. A further inherent complexity of
water policy is the frequent conflict between flood control and irrigation and between
requirements for abundance and those for scarcity of water. Both problems exist in America,
often in the same river basins; the one is most typically the problem of the lower part of the
basin and the other the problem of the upper part.

Nevertheless, the most startling fact about the history of water projects in the United States
is the degree to which their shortcomings have been associated with administrative failures.
Again and again these shortcomings have proved to be the consequences of inadequate
study of water flow, of soil, of factors other than construction technology, and of faulty
organization. In 1959, the Senate Select Committee on National Water resources found that
twenty different national commissions or committees charged with examining these
problems and seeking solutions had emphasized with remarkable consistency the need for
coordination among agencies dealing with water.

What is the author's voice and purpose?

There is one point in the essay where the author lets his guard down, and his word choice reveals his
position. The sentence, "The most startling fact... shortcomings" at the beginning of paragraph two marks
a shift in tone. Scholars will choose their words carefully, and the use of "startling", a rather strong word,
should send a clear message to the reader about the author's attitude toward his subject matter. That is
followed by an exasperated "again and again" suggesting agencies are refusing to learn from experience.

This is his axe to grind. Indeed, his point is the incompetence of government administrations in charge
of water management. In this second paragraph, we discover the author's purpose: the author believes
water resources are managed incompetently, and he's writing to call attention to the problem. He then
suggests a solution in the last sentence: "Committees charged with examining these problems and
seeking solutions had emphasized with remarkable consistency the need for coordination among agencies
dealing with water." The bottom line: the author wants "coordination among agencies dealing with water."
That is his purpose, and that is why his voice changes the way it does through the passage.

Strategy: As you identify the author's viewpoints, be sure not to "argue with" the author. If
your personal understanding or view of the issue happens to contradict that of the author,
keep your theories to yourself. The GRE Verbal section is not the place (save your analysis
for the AWA Essay section- Analysis of Issue question). The questions test your command

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of the author's views and how he structures them, not your own. Occasionally, you will be
asked about a flaw in the author's reasoning, but those questions are rare.

B. Finding the essay's main point

If you can find the author's voice and purpose, you are in excellent shape to find the essay's main point.
The author has a personal point of view that is nearly always injected into the essay. The purpose of the
essay is to persuade you of the author's point of view. Sometimes the author makes it easy to identify his
point of view by tagging it with strong adjectives/adverbs (vital, remarkable, spectacular, etc.). Watch the
author's voice. However, often the essay writers are less straightforward in expressing their viewpoints.

Main points are arguments and not objectively factual. The main point of an essay would not be World
War I was fought from 1914 to 1919; that is merely a fact. Instead, the claim World War I was extended by
Britain's needless and poorly conceived intervention would be a main idea of an essay (note the strong
words). That is a controversial position that a 350-word passage might discuss. Even science articles that
might appear objective will have subjective viewpoints injected by the author to express a point. For these
persuasive essays, you will most likely get the question: "What is the essay's main idea?"

Strategy: Since the CAT picks questions based on your ability level, and "main point"
questions are relatively easy, the main point questions appear more often on the tests of
lower scorers.

Essays without a point

Sometimes an essay has no major point. These essays read like a story or a factual, dispassionate
account. These essays will have no buzzwords that indicate the author is expressing an opinion: no
amazing, impressive, disappointing, remarkable, invalid, etc. These essays tend to be rare, and if you
think you have a "pointless essay", you may simply have failed to identify the author's point of view.
Double check.

In the event you do have a pointless essay, you should look for structure and factual details that might
be brought up in the questions. You are more likely to be asked detail (recall) questions on pointless
essays. Make sure you make a good mental road map so that you may identify where certain facts are
located in the essay.

C. Finding the purpose of each paragraph

The paragraph is the main structural unit of any passage. To find a paragraph's purpose, ask yourself

❍ Why did the author include this paragraph?

❍ What shift did the author have in mind when moving on to this paragraph?
❍ What bearing does this paragraph have on the author's main idea?

This process allows you to create a "mental road map" of the passage. You are taking the test on a
computer screen. You cannot label the paragraphs. Instead, remember the structure as you proceed and/
or use scrap paper to draw a rough diagram of the essay as you go. Some students feel comfortable
drawing the diagram. There are two purposes to creating a map of the essay: 1) it will help you better
understand the essay and 2) it will help you locate specific details later if you get a specific detail question.

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Let's look at the earlier essay:

One of the most persistently troubling parts of national domestic policy is the
development and use of water resources. Because the technology of water management
involves similar construction skills, whether the task is the building of an ocean jetty for
protection of shipping or the construction of a river dam for flood control and irrigation, the
issues of water policy have mingled problems of navigation and agriculture. A further
inherent complexity of water policy is the frequent conflict between flood control and
irrigation, between requirements for abundance and those for scarcity of water. Both
problems exist in America, often in the same river basins; the one is most typically the
problem of the lower part of the basin and the other the problem of the upper part.

<<This paragraph is a discussion of the conflicts over scarce water resources (flood control
vs. irrigation, lower part vs. higher part of basin).>>

Then there are the problems of cities located along the major American rivers, not
infrequently directly on the very flood plains of highly erratic streams. In the arid parts of the
land, it has recently become clear that climate varies over time, with irregular periods of
serious drought followed by wet periods marked by occasional floods. The problems of land
and water, then, are inherently difficult. For this reason alone, shortcomings and failures
have probably been inevitable. Moreover, in the scale of the undertakings that have been
attempted involving on occasion no less than the reversal of stream flow and the altering of
the natural features of whole river basins, it is inevitable.

<<Climate varies creating inherent conflict in how to use a water supply that constantly
changes.>>

Nevertheless, the most startling fact about the history of water projects in the United
States is the degree to which their shortcomings have been associated with administrative
failures. Again and again these shortcomings have proved to be the consequences of
inadequate study of water flow, of soils, of factors other than construction technology and of
faulty organization. In 1959, the Senate Select Committee on National Water resources
found that twenty different national commissions or committees charged with examining
these problems and seeking solutions had emphasized with remarkable consistency the
need for coordination among agencies dealing with water.

<<The major problem with water policy is administrative failures. Coordination is needed
between agencies.>>

Draw the roadmap:

Paragraph 1. This paragraph is a discussion of the conflicts over scarce water resources
(flood control vs. irrigation, lower part vs. higher part of basin).
Paragraph 2. Because climate varies, it creates inherent conflict in how to use a water
supply that constantly changes.
Paragraph 3. The major problem with water policy is administrative failures. Coordination is
needed between agencies.

If you see how the essay is set up, you will better understand the essay and more quickly
find answers.

D. Determining the scope of the argument (this section is a repeat from the Critical Reasoning
Section)

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When it comes to determining the scope of a passage, you need to understand what we mean by
"scope." Think of scope as a narrowing of the topic. If you've found the main point, you must also identify
what is in the range of the argument. Scope is related to more than just the general topic being discussed;
it is the narrowing of the topic. Is the article about graduate-school admissions, MBA admissions, or
helping international students get into the business school program of their choice? Each step represents
a narrowing of the scope.

Scope is one of the most important concepts for doing well on the verbal section, particularly for high
scorers. Why? Put yourself in the position of the test question writers. They must write difficult questions.
Only one of the five choices is correct; the rest are "junk" answers. They have to write questions that a
certain number of students will get wrong, and they have to make up "junk" answers to fool people. The
issue of scope solves both problems for test question writers: it allows them to easily generate wrong
answers, and it makes the questions harder because scope is a challenging issue. Most critical reasoning
or reading comprehension questions have "junk" answers that are outside of the question's scope.

Some common examples of scope junk answers are choices that are too narrow, too broad, or literally
have nothing to do with the author's points. Also, watch for and eliminate choices that are too extreme to
match the argument's scope; they're usually signaled by such words as all, always, never, none, and so
on. Choices that are in some way qualified are often correct for arguments that are moderate in tone and
contain such words as usually, sometimes, probably.

all always never only

words that signal answers that are too strong and therefore usually outside
the scope of an argument.

Example:

Some scientists believe that carbon dioxide-induced global warming may

increase the number of hurricanes in the future and their severity.

What if someone inferred from that statement that

All of this season's severe hurricanes were caused by global warming.

That statement would be outside of the scope of the original argument. The inference made
is outside the scope of the argument. The argument is not that strong. What about this
statement:

Some of this season's storms may have been caused and exacerbated by
global warming.

This statement is more measured and is within the scope of the original argument.

❍ In general, these phrases indicate statements that are outside of the scope of an argument:
always, never, none. Usually on the GRE, arguments aren't that strong, so answers with
extreme language are usually outside the scope of the argument.
❍ These phrases tend to indicate that a phrase is within the scope of an argument: usually,
sometimes, probably.

Strategy: If the question asks "which of the following is NOT an assumption of the argument" or "which of

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the following does NOT describe an argument made in the passage above", the answer will often be the
one with extreme language.

Here is a critical reasoning question that illustrates scope.

Apartment building owners argue that rent control should be abolished. Although they
acknowledge that they would increase rents in the short term, owners argue that in the long
term the rent increases would lead to greater profitability. Higher profits would lead to
increased apartment construction. Increased apartment construction would then lead to a
greater supply of residences and lower prices as the potential apartment residents have a
better selection. Thus, abolishing rent control would ultimately reduce prices.

Name an assumption made by the owners. (Hint: this is a difficult question, but you may
eliminate 4 of the 5 answers as outside the scope of the argument).

a) Current residents of rent-controlled apartments would be able to find new apartments

once their rents increased.
b) The fundamental value of any society is to house its citizens.
c) Only current apartment owners would profit significantly from market deregulation.
d) New apartment construction will generate a great number of jobs.
e) The increase in the number of apartments available would exceed the number of new
potential apartment residents.

Which possible answers are outside of the scope? The scope is the argument that
deregulation will increase supply and lower prices. "Name an assumption" means find a
direct assumption of that supply/demand argument.

a) Current residents of rent control apartments would be able to find new apartments once
their rent increased--is this outside of the scope?
Well, this sentence expresses a nice sentiment for the welfare of renters, but it has nothing
to do with our argument, which is about a supply/demand dynamic.

b) The fundamental value of any society is to house its citizens. Is this outside of the scope?
Again, nice sentiment, but this does not directly tie into the argument.

c) Only current apartment owners would profit significantly from market deregulation. Is this
outside of the scope? The profitability of the apartment owners is not directly relevant. If the
profitability of the apartments increases, it would help increase supply because other
companies would be drawn into the market, thus increasing supply. Indeed this looks good
and as if it is an assumption, but "Only current apartment owners" is too limiting. How about
newer apartment owners? The profits made by "only current owners" is not the issue at
hand; it is the price of apartments. Again, as previously mentioned, answer choices that use
words such as "only" tend to be outside the scope of the question. Here "only" is too
restrictive and allows you to eliminate this answer choice.

d) New apartment construction will generate a great number of jobs. This is clearly outside
of the scope.

e) The increase in the number of apartments available would exceed the number of new
potential apartment residents. Aha! This is an argument about supply and demand, and this
is an answer about supply and demand. This is clearly within the scope of the argument,
and it is the correct answer. If demand rose with new apartment construction, then prices

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would not decline, invalidating their argument.

E. Determining structure (this is a difficult and in-depth section. If you have limited time to prepare,
skip to Section 6: Don't read, skim).

The essays on the GRE CAT are organized using a variety of structures. If you identify the structures,
you can more easily identify the author's point. In this section, we go through five forms of essay structure
that you are likely to encounter.

1. Chronological Pattern

When the focus of a text is a change, a transformation, or a sequence of actions unfolding over time,
then chronological order is the pattern of choice for that text. Consider the following sentence:

When the plague entered northern France in July, 1348, it settled first in Normandy and,
checked by winter, gave Picardy a deceptive interim until the next summer.

The sentence emphasizes the interruption in the spread of plague, a concept linked to chronology. The
plague entered Northern France in July, 1348, settled first in Normandy, was checked by winter, and gave
Picardy a deceptive interim until the next summer.

2. Spatial Pattern

This pattern organizes information by location, orientation or configuration.

Consider the following passage:

But if the Romans couldn't, or didn't care to, conquer the Germans, the latter equally
could not then conquer the Romans. The standoff deflected German expansion toward the
east; by the third century it had pushed as far as the Dnieper. Stretching now from the North
Sea to southern Russia and from Scandinavia to the Roman frontier, Common Germanic
inevitably evolved from a fairly uniform tongue into three distinct, though still closely related,
languages.
North Germanic (ancestor of the Scandinavian tongues) covered most of Norway and
Sweden; East Germanic (which included Gothic and several other extinct dialects) covered
Eastern Europe and southern Russia. West Germanic, ancestor of all the other modern
Germanic tongues, including English, was spoken from the coasts of the North Sea and
western Baltic south to the Roman frontier.

Note the prevalence of phrases that denote geographic expansion of the Germans or their containment
in territories held by the Romans. Note also the predictability of this passage: it describes the north-south
and the east-west boundaries of the spread of the German languages (the geographic whole) and then
differentiates three parts of the whole according to directions: the Far North, the east, and the west. Here,
the spatial pattern is in service: the author states a relationship, in this case, a correspondence between
geographic and linguistic expansion.

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3. Hierarchical Pattern

Passages organized by hierarchy, a ranked series, create an order where no natural relationship (such
as chronological or spatial relationship) exists. For example, if no natural chronological or spatial
characteristic is a critical aspect of the matter described, then the text may designate a grouping according
to a system of some sort.
Like chronological and spatial order, a hierarchical pattern moves in a linear direction, and for this
reason, it creates a pattern of expectation for the reader. Once you have identified the principle of order
(for example, lesser to greater, least familiar to most familiar, colder to hotter), you can anticipate and
assimilate later information and understand the general framework. Consider the working out of a
hierarchy in support of a thesis in this passage:

Because of their extravagance, violence, and vainglory, tournaments were continually being
denounced by popes and kings, from whom they drained money. This was in vain. When
the Dominicans denounced them as a pagan circus, no one listened. When the formidable
St. Bernard thundered that anyone killed in a tournament would go to Hell, he spoke for
once to deaf ears. Death in a tournament was officially considered the sin of suicide by the
Church, besides jeopardizing family and tenantry without cause, but even threats of
excommunication had no effect.

According to the thesis, the denunciation of tournaments by popes and kings failed.
The Dominicans denounced them, but no one listened; St. Bernard thundered but spoke to deaf ears; the
Church threatened excommunication, to no effect. You perceive a hierarchical order in the increasing
degree of severity of these denunciations, and that regularity gives pattern to the passage.

4. General-to-Specific Pattern

This pattern is especially useful in argumentation. Argumentative writing makes a general argument,
develops it by a grouping of specific examples that give evidence for the claim, and concludes by restating
the general argument.

Here is the pattern:

❍ General Statement, followed by

❍ evidence
❍ evidence
❍ more evidence

Consider the following passage:

Throughout the seventeenth century, the French medical profession had what we should
call a thoroughly bad press; Moliere [a satiric dramatist] conferred upon its members an
inglorious morality, the satirists did their worst with them, and, in private correspondence,
the physician was almost always presented as a cross between a murderer and a buffoon.

This passage starts with a general claim of the widespread negative view of the medical profession in
France in the 17th century. The general claim rests on three factual pieces of evidence that are stated
after the initial claim: Moliere attacked the profession in his farces; satirists savagely attacked it; persons in
private life attacked it.

5. Specific-to-General Pattern

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The specific-to-general pattern presents a series of related examples whose relationship is unclear until
the passage draws them to a conclusion or general claim.

Here is the pattern:

❍ example
❍ example
❍ example
❍ General statement

Consider this passage:

Frogs react quickly and effectively to bugs that fly past them. This by no means implies that
they have a concept of bug. Indeed, we can be pretty sure that they do not, or at best, that
their concept of bug both under- and over-generalizes to a rather gross extent. For instance,
they will overgeneralize by snapping at bug-sized pellets that are flipped past them, but will
undergeneralize by totally ignoring motionless bugs even when no other food source is
available. The most parsimonious explanation of their behavior is that networks of cells that
respond to rapid movement and small rounded objects are directly linked to the snapping
reflex and that there is nothing more sophisticated than this inside the frog's brain.

In this passage, statements that describe behavior of frogs in certain instances are the categories:
frogs react quickly and effectively to bugs, they snap at bug-size pellets, they totally ignore motionless
bugs. The general claim that accounts for all these specific behaviors is phrased at the end of the
paragraph.

F. Don't read, skim

The GRE grades you on the ability to answer questions, not whether or not you understand every
nuance in the text. Do not try to memorize information. Make a slight mental note of something that seems
important. Focus instead on the structure, the argument, and what the writer is trying to say. Draw a
mental road map so that if you are asked a question on the detail later, you may quickly locate the
information.

ALTERNATIVE STRATEGY- SPEED READING:

A common strategy to read quicker is to focus on the first sentence of paragraphs. Think about it, each
essay is well written and well written paragraphs are usually summarized in the first sentence. Thus, you
can theoretically ONLY read the first sentence and ignore the balance of each paragraph. Since you aren't
graded on reading the essay (just getting the questions right) there is no reason that you have to read the
entire essay.
You can construct a mental road map of the essay by simply reading the first sentence of each
paragraph. This will save you time and give you more time to focus on the questions themselves.

In sum, there are six different strategies to analyzing reading comprehension sections.

A. Identify the writer's purpose and voice

B. Find the essay's main point
C. Find the purpose of each paragraph
D. Determine the scope of the argument
E. Determine the structure

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F. Don't Read, Skim

II. Three Most Common Question Types

A. Recall questions
B. Synthesis
C. Comprehension

A. Recall Questions

Recall questions ask you to recall by name key organizing terms (features, causes, and
characteristics), special disciplinary terms, technical terms, metaphors and similes, symbols, and/or
quantities. It's fairly simple to identify a recall question from its stem:

❍ According to the passage/author...

❍ The author states that...
❍ The author mentions which one of the following as...

Often, these questions provide very direct clues about where an answer may be found, such as line
references or some text that links up with the passage structure.

You may recall that we advised you to skim over details in Reading Comprehension passages and to
focus on the topic, scope, and purpose. This appears to be a contradiction with these highly specific detail
questions. The fact is most of the details that appear in a typical passage aren't tested in the questions. Of
the few that are, you'll either

❍ Remember them from your reading;

❍ Be given a line reference to bring you right to them; or
❍ Simply have to find them on your own in order to track down the answer.

If your mental road map and understanding of the purpose of each paragraph are both clear in your
mind, it shouldn't take long to locate the relevant detail and then choose an answer. Despite this question
type, the winning strategy is still to note the purpose of details in each paragraph's argument, but not to
attempt to memorize the details themselves. Consider the following passage:

Entire disciplines contain scientists who participate in communities of colleagues. Crudely

stated, what enlivens this system is recognition-incentives from within the discipline.
Recognition facilitates access to funding, but the primary currency is said to be social and
intellectual rather than financial. Scientists are favored with honors and awards, which are
emblematic affirmations and increments of status within their specialties. Of these,
eponymy--i.e., the designation, in this case of an entire science or a particular innovation by
reference to the discoverer's name--is the most enduring, the most distinguished, and
therefore, the most coveted form of recognition.

The recall question asks:

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Which of the following best describes what animates the system of rewards in scientific
research?
A) financial rewards
B) honors and awards specific to excellence in the science
C) social and intellectual recognition
D) competition for original discovery
E) exchange of original information

The recall question asks only that you retrieve factual data stated flatly in the passage. In
this case, the correct answer is (C). Recall questions can almost always be answered by a
direct quote: "Recognition facilitates access to funding, but the primary currency is said to be
social and intellectual rather than financial." The primary currency is "social and intellectual."
That is the answer.

Strategy 1: Recall questions tend to occur more at the lower skill levels. Because the GRE is
a CAT, lower skill level students will tend to encounter them more.

Strategy 2: If the passage puts a highly unusual phrase in quotes or emphasizes some
unusual jargon, make a mental note of it because there is a good chance that an important
piece of jargon or new phrase may be used in a question. In this case, when you are
reading the essay, you can expect a question about "eponymy".

B. Synthesis Questions
Synthesis questions ask that you identify the whole object, system, organism, process, or idea and/or
establish the relationship of the whole to its parts.

Consider the following passage:

These stages reflect the system of color discrimination common to all primates. Roughly,
four paired sets of neurons respond to light of different wavelengths, the pair that responds
to light/dark distinctions being phylogenetically the oldest. The pair that responds to red/
green is perhaps the second oldest, and so on. In other words, the distinctions that have
been longest within the power of our remote ancestors to make are the most likely to be
represented in language, while more recent ones are progressively less likely, and those
that depend on cultural rather than biological factors (the browns, pinks, and so on) are rarer
still.

The synthesis question asks the following:

In this passage, color discrimination is described as:

A) deriving from the visual properties of objects
B) deriving from cul|ural factors to a lesser extent than from biological factors
C) occurring in fixed order corresponding to phylogenetic order of development of sets of neurons
D) deriving from biological factors to a lesser extent than from cultural factors
E) occurring first at random in response to environmental circumstances, then in increasingly predictable
stages

Although (B) may be derived from the passage, the most broadly correct answer is (C). (C) makes a
general claim about the whole: that the system of color discrimination (whole) proceeds in stages (parts)

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according to a particular order (phylogeneticage). (A) is incorrect. The passage flatly declares that color
discrimination does not derive from specific objects. (B) is correct but too narrow. (D) is flatly contradicted
by the information in the passage. The conditions of (E) are not mentioned at all in the passage.

C. Comprehension Questions

Comprehension questions derive from the full factual, organizational, and argumentative field of the
passage. These questions draw on all your resources of analysis and understanding and ask that you
restate, interpret, or deduce logically consistent statements from the thesis or general claim of a passage.
They typically look like this:

❍ It can be inferred from the passage that...

❍ The passage/author suggests that…
❍ The passage/author implies that...
❍ The passage supports which one of the following statements regarding...

In answering the comprehension question, you must determine the thesis or general claim of the
passage. Frequently, but not always, this will be the first or the last sentence of the passage. It will
advance a broad claim relative to the parts/whole or reasons given as evidence in the passage. You must
also look closely at the conditions expressed in the word choice of the thesis or general claim. Extracting
valid inferences from Reading Comprehension passages requires the ability to recognize that information
in the passage can be expressed in different ways. The ability to bridge the gap between the way
information is presented in the passage and the way it's presented in the correct answer choice is vital. In
fact, comprehension questions often boil down to an exercise in "translation." Consider the general claim
of this passage:

This is the noble lie, which Plato broaches through the mouth of Socrates in the third book of
the Republic. "How, then," Socrates asks, "might we contrive one of those opportune
falsehoods of which we were just now speaking, so as by one noble lie to persuade the
rulers themselves, but failing that the rest of the city?" Plato assumes that the rulers, being
philosophers, may gulp at their own propaganda but that the masses might eventually be
brought to swallow it.

May we infer that Plato approves of Socrates' proposal? May we infer that Socrates bears malevolence
toward the populace? May we infer that Socrates was extremely reluctant to use terror as an instrument of
persuasion? None of these inferences is supported by the statements given. However, we may infer that
Socrates has spoken of several opportune falsehoods before the time of this telling. We may infer, on the
basis of Plato's inference, that because the rulers are philosophers, they may gulp at their own
propaganda. A close reading will support each of these inferences.

Strategy 1: Comprehension questions don't focus on individual issues. When a question asks, "What is the
main point of the passage?", the answer will not be a small detail.

Strategy 2: Be alert for partially correct answers. Occasionally you will encounter an instance in which two
or more answers to a question are correct. When you do, look for the most broadly and comprehensively
accurate answer, the one that accounts correctly for the greatest number of aspects or features or parts or
qualities named in the reading passage. For example, an answer may be correct but too narrow; the best
answer will be both correct and broadly inclusive within the scope of the question.

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III. 4 Step Method of Attacking Reading Comprehension Passages and Sample

Essay
In the above section we gave you the six strategies to analyze a reading comprehension text and what
the common questions are. Now you need to know how to apply them when you get to a passage:

1. Dissect the introductory paragraph.

2. Create a mental road map.
3. Once you finish the essay, stop to summarize the entire passage.
4. Tackle the questions.

1. Dissect the introductory paragraph.

Read the introductory paragraph in an active manner. Think through the concepts while you
are reading the text. What is the author's point? What is he trying to prove?

2. Create a mental road map.

Diagram the organization of the passage. What are the purposes of the different
paragraphs? What is the content of the different paragraphs? You are not graded on reading
the essay, but answering the questions. Your goal here is to simply get an idea of roughly
how the essay works. You do not need a perfect understanding of the essay and do not
have enough time to read it completely. Instead, attack each paragraph by reading the first
sentence and quickly skimming the rest. When you've read all of the paragraphs, you can
get an idea about the essay's organization.

3. Stop to summarize the essay.

Before answering the questions, take a few seconds to summarize your mental road map
and the point of the essay.

4. Tackle the questions.

Answer the questions based on your mental road map of the passage. Locate the answer to
each question within the paragraph that relates to the question. Here you may have to read
more thoroughly than when you were skimming in step 2 above.

To see how these techniques work, try the sample essay below:

One of the most persistently troubling parts of national domestic policy is the development and use of
water resources. Because the technology of water management involves similar construction skills,
whether the task is the building of an ocean jetty for protection of shipping or the construction of a river
dam for flood control and irrigation, the issues of water policy have mingled problems of navigation and
agriculture. A further inherent complexity of water policy is the frequent conflict between flood control and
irrigation and between requirements for abundance and those for scarcity of water. Both problems exist in
America, often in the same river basins; the one is most typically the problem of the lower part of the basin
and the other the problem of the upper part.

Then there are the problems of cities located along the major American rivers, not infrequently directly
on the very flood plains of highly erratic streams. In the arid parts of the land it has recently become clear

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that climate varies over time, with irregular periods of serious drought followed by wet periods marked by
occasional floods. The problems of land and water, then, are inherently difficult. For this reason alone,
shortcomings and failures have probably been inevitable. Moreover, in the scale of the undertakings that
have been attempted involving on occasion no less than the reversal of stream flow and the altering of the
natural features of whole river basins, it is inevitable.

Nevertheless, the most startling fact about the history of water projects in the United States is the
degree to which their shortcomings have been associated with administrative failures. Again and again
these shortcomings have proved to be the consequences of inadequate study of water flow: of soil, of
factors other than construction technology and of faulty organization. In 1959, the Senate Select
Committee on National Water resources found that twenty different national commissions or committees
charged with examining these problems and seeking solutions had emphasized with remarkable
consistency the need for coordination among agencies dealing with water.

Let's take a second to follow the set strategy.

1. Dissect the first paragraph.

One of the most persistently troubling parts of national domestic policy is the development
and use of water resources. Because the technology of water management involves similar
construction skills, whether the task is the building of an ocean jetty for protection of
shipping or the construction of a river dam for flood control and irrigation, the issues of water
policy have mingled problems of navigation and agriculture. A further inherent complexity of
water policy is the frequent conflict between flood control and irrigation between
requirements for abundance and those for scarcity of water. Both problems exist in America,
often in the same river basins; the one is most typically the problem of the lower part of the
basin and the other the problem of the upper part.

The main point is that there are problems with water management that result from conflicts of interest
between flood control, irrigation, navigation and the upper/lower parts of the basin.

2. Create a mental road map.

Paragraph 1 is about the problems with water management that result from conflicts of interest between
flood control, irrigation, navigation and the upper/lower parts of the basin.

Paragraph 2 describes the effects of floods, streams and other natural variances that add another level of
complexity to the issue.

Paragraph 3 describes how the attempts to deal with these conflicts have been incompetently managed.
Note the use of strong phrase "startling." It appears that the author's main point is in paragraph 3.

3. Stop to summarize the essay

Clearly, the author's main intention of writing this essay is to reveal the incompetence of agencies
managing water. The first two paragraphs describe the scale of the problem; the final paragraph describes
the problems faced in attempting to solve it.

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4. Tackle the questions.

1. According to the passage, the shortcomings of water projects in the U.S. are
primarily the consequences of?
a) conflict between flood control and irrigation
b) inadequate study and faulty coordination among agencies
c) Problems of land and water
d) inadequate construction technology
e) the scale of the projects

Explanation: The passage makes it clear that the primary cause of the shortcomings of
water projects in the U.S. is (B) inadequate study and faulty coordination among agencies.
The passage does not refer to conflicts between flood control, problems of land and water,
inadequate construction technology, or the scale of projects. The correct answer is (B).
Having the discipline to stick to the 4 point strategy pays off here. We identified that the
main point of the passage was incompetent agencies in step 3. We used our knowledge that
the author will use strong language "startling... incompetence" to identify his main point. The
author's purpose here is to point out bad management.

2. Of the issues named below, which is more typically the problem of the upper part
of a river basin?
a) navigation
b) shipping
c) flood control
d) drought followed by wet period
e) scarcity

This is a simple recall question. The passage makes it clear that in the lower part of the
basin, flooding is the problem; in the upper part, scarcity is the problem. Scarcity is the only
problem identified with the upper part of a basin. (A), (B), (C), and (D) are irrelevant to this
question and, as a result, are incorrect. (E) is the correct answer.

3. Which of the following is not a problem associated with the development of water
resources?
a) a conflict between flood control and irrigation
b) problems of navigation and agriculture
c) location of cities on flood plains
d) inadequate design technology
e) variations in climate

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The passage makes it plain that (A), conflict of purpose; (B), practical problems of use; (C),
vulnerability of cities on flood plains; and (E), climatic variations, impede the development of
water resources. Design technology is not one of the impediments identified by this
passage. The correct answer is (D).

4. Which statement below may be inferred from the information given in this passage?
a) The intersection of problems of climate, geography, purpose, technology, and
administration complicates the development of water projects.
b) Innovative design and construction technology eliminate conflict in demand for flood
control and for irrigation.
c) In the design of a water project, upper and lower parts of a river basin must be regarded
as identical entities.
d) In the design of a water project, predominant problems derive from the presence of erratic
streams.
e) Irregularity of climate is the most critical impediment to the development of water projects.

The passage makes it clear that problems of climate, geography, purpose, and technology
complicate the development of water projects, but the most serious impediment is
inadequate study and faulty coordination. The inference in (B) is wholly unsupported by the
passage. (C) directly contradicts the major scientific argument of the passage. The
inferences in (D) and (E) are not supported by information in the passage. This question is
easy to get because all of the concepts are covered in the road map. The correct answer is
(A).

Example

For the classical scholar, the 'Germania' of Tacitus is a minor work, forming with the 'Agricola' a kind of
prelude to the great works of Tacitus, the Annals and the Histories. However, for the student of the
Germanic people, Tacitus' ethnographic treatise is a major source of information, mainly reliable, about
the German tribes of the first century A.D. Studies of Tacitus have often attempted to clarify the author's
purpose in writing the 'Germania' by defining it as an example of a particular literary genre. A few have
seen the book primarily as a satire of Roman corruption, which uses the warlike but upright Germans as a
stick with which to beat the degeneracy and vice Tacitus observed in his contemporary Rome; others
classify the book as an extended political pamphlet whose central purpose is to urge the emperor Trajan
to some decisive Roman action, possibly invasion, to destroy the growing threat posed by the German
tribes.
Both these themes are present in the 'Germania', but they are not central to its purpose; if they were,
Tacitus would certainly have made them more prominent and explicit. The book's real purpose is the
obvious one-to explain as fully as possible to a Roman audience what was known of the customs and
character of a significant neighboring people. In this task, Tacitus was following the examples of several
earlier ethnographers, including Livy, whose Histories included an ethnographic study of the German
people, and Seneca, who wrote lost works about the peoples of India and Egypt that may well have
resembled the 'Germania'. Such works formed the type to which the 'Germania' belongs, and though most
of the examples are lost, it seems to have been a recognized genre of the period.
However, as with most ethnographic studies to this day, the 'Germania' reveals as much about the
preoccupations of the society to which its author belonged as about the people who are the work's
ostensible subject. Thus, the fear of a German threat to the security of Rome is reflected in the largely
military orientation of the study. The picture Tacitus paints is of a thoroughly warlike people, a nation of
men who will 'transact no business, public or private, without being armed,' a society that regards
weapons as 'the equivalent of the man's toga with us' - that is, the Romans-'the first distinction publicly
conferred upon a youth, who now ceases to rank merely as a member of a household and becomes a

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citizen.' The Germans even applaud in assembly, not by clapping, but by clashing their spears. If Tacitus'
aim was to arouse the concern of his audience over a German military threat, his choice of details surely
advanced his purpose.

1) The author's primary purpose in the passage is to:

a) discuss the importance of the Germania in relation to the entire body of work by Tacitus
b) explore in detail the usefulness of the Germania as a source of historical information about ancient
Germany
c) compare the Germania to other ethnographic studies, including those written in our own time
d) analyze the ways in which the Germania reveals the ancient Roman attitude toward the Germans
e) explain the main purposes for which the Germania was written

(E) The great bulk of the passage is devoted to showing that the Germania is not a satire or a political
pamphlet but an ethnographic study focusing on those aspects of German culture-namely, its military
aspects-that were of greatest concern to the Romans of the time. Hence, choice E. The other answers for
this question all describe ideas secondary to the main purpose of the passage.

2) The author mentions the detail from the Germania concerning the Germans' method of applauding (3rd
paragraph) primarily to illustrate:

a) the Germans' attitude regarding the possession of weapons as a sign of manhood

b) the emphasis placed by Tacitus on the warlike character of the Germans
c) the threat against Rome posed by the German people
d) the martial nature of ancient German society
e) the Romans' preoccupation with the need to defend their empire against external threats

(B) Reread the first and last sentences of the last paragraph. The author's purpose is to show that Tacitus
deliberately slanted his portrait of the Germans, emphasizing their warlike qualities, because he knew that
the Romans were concerned about matters that affected the security of Rome. Note that the question
concerns the author's purpose in mentioning the detail, not Tacitus' purpose. Choices A, C, and D fail to
make this distinction.

3) According to the passage, the Germania is today of greatest importance to:

a) historians of the politics of imperial Rome
b) classical scholars
c) military historians
d) experts on the work of Tacitus
e) scholars in the field of Germanic culture

(E) See the second sentence of paragraph 1. The author's point is that the Germania, while of little
importance to the classical scholar or the student of Tacitus, is 'a major source of information' for the
student of Germanic culture.

4) In defining the genre to which the Germania belongs, the author relies on the assumption that…

a) Tacitus regarded Livy and Seneca as the two earlier writers most worthy of emulation.
b) Ethnography was the most popular literary form at the time of Tacitus.
c) The works of Livy and Seneca mentioned in the passage were basically similar to the Germania.
d) The underlying purpose of a work of literature is most likely to be identical to the ostensible one.

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e) The Germania reveals as much about the Roman mind as it does about the German.

(C) In the third paragraph of the passage, the author places the Germania in the literary genre (form) of
the ethnographic treatise. To prove that this was an actual, recognized genre of the time, the author cites
works by Livy and Seneca as earlier examples. However, none of these works are described in detail, and
the works by Seneca are 'lost'-that is, no longer extant. Therefore, in saying that the Germania belongs in
the same genre as these works, the author is simply assuming that all of them are of the same general
type. This does not imply that Tacitus thought Livy and Seneca the two greatest writers among his
predecessors (choice A) or that ethnography was the most popular literary form at the time (choice B) just
that ethnographic treatises had been written prior to the time of Tacitus.

5) It can be inferred from the passage that those who consider the Germania as primarily satirical in
purpose would probably regard the most significant feature of the book to be:

a) its emphasis on the military threat posed by the German tribes

b) the contrast it draws between the mores of the Germans and those of the Romans
c) the picture it paints of the German people as warlike and unsophisticated
d) its attack on the political intrigues that characterized imperial Rome
e) its support for the idea of a Roman invasion of Germany

(B) The first half of the second sentence of paragraph 2 provides this answer. According to the 'satire'
theory, Tacitus used the uprightness of the Germans as a contrast to the 'degeneracy and vice' of the
Romans. This is the meaning of the idiom to use (something) as a stick to beat (something else).' Choices
A, C, and E would all apply correctly to the 'political pamphlet' theorists, not the 'satire' theorists. Choice D
is wrong because 'political intrigues' are not the same as 'degeneracy and vice.

6) It can be inferred that the author regards the interpretation of the Germania as 'an extended political
pamphlet' to be..

a) a deliberate misreading of Tacitus' purpose

b) accurate but wholly insupportable
c) reflective of the concerns of those proposing the interpretation rather than the real nature of the
Germania
d) partly true but one-sided
e) a provocative and intriguing viewpoint

(D) The author does not totally disagree with the view that the Germainia has some of the characteristics
of a political pamphlet; he says, in the first sentence of paragraph 2, that the political theme is present in
the book but not central to its purpose.

Additional Example

As in the case of so many words used by the biologist and physiologist, the word acclimatization is
hard to define. With increase in knowledge and understanding, meanings of words change. Originally the
term acclimatization was taken to mean only the ability of human beings or animals or plants to accustom
themselves to new and strange climatic conditions, primarily altered temperature. A person or a wolf

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moves to a hot climate and is uncomfortable there, but after a time is better able to withstand the heat. But
aside from temperature, there are other aspects of climate. A person or an animal may become adjusted
to living at higher altitudes than those it was originally accustomed to. At really high altitudes, such as
aviators maybe exposed to, the low atmospheric pressure becomes a factor of primary importance. In
changing to a new environment, a person may, therefore, meet new conditions of temperature or
pressure, and in addition may have to contend with different chemical surroundings. On high mountains,
the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere may be relatively small; in crowded cities, a person may become
exposed to relatively high concentrations of carbon dioxide or even carbon monoxide, and in various areas
may be exposed to conditions in which the water content of the atmosphere is extremely high or extremely
low. Thus in the case of humans, animals, and even plants, the concept of acclimatization includes the
phenomena of increased toleration of high or low temperature, of altered pressure, and of changes in the
chemical environment.

Let us define acclimatization, therefore, as the process in which an organism or a part of an organism
becomes inured to an environment which is normally unsuitable to it or lethal for it. By and large,
acclimatization is a relatively slow process. The term should not be taken to include relatively rapid
adjustments such as our sense organs are constantly making. This type of adjustment is commonly
referred to by physiologists as "adaptation." Thus our touch sense soon becomes accustomed to the
pressure of our clothes and we do not feel them; we soon fail to hear the ticking of a clock; obnoxious
orders after a time fail to make much impression on us, and our eyes in strong light rapidly become
insensitive.

The fundamental fact about acclimatization is that all animals and plants have some capacity to adjust
themselves to changes in their environment. This is one of the most is remarkable characteristics of living
organisms, a characteristic for which it is extremely difficult to find explanations.

1. According to the reading selection, all animals and plants

(A) have an ability for acclimatization.

(B) can adjust to only one change in the environment at a time.
(C) are successful in adjusting themselves to changes in their environments.
(D) can adjust to natural changes in the environment but not to artificially induced changes.
(E) that have once acclimatized themselves to an environmental change can acclimatize themselves more
rapidly to subsequent changes.

(A) Choice A is correct. See the start of the first paragraph: “The fundamental fact ... in their environment.”
Choices B, D, and E are incorrect because the passage does not indicate that these statements are true.
Choice C is incorrect because it is only partially true. The passage does not state that all animals and
plants are successful in adjusting themselves to changes in their environments.

2. It can be inferred from the reading selection that

(A) every change in the environment requires acclimatization by living things.

(B) plants and animals are more alike than they are different.
(C) biologist and physiologists study essentially the same things.
(D) the explanation of acclimatization is specific to each plant and animal.
(E) as science develops, the connotation of terms may change.

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2. Choice E is correct. See the third sentence in paragraph 1: “Originally the term acclimatization . ..
altered temperature.” Also see sentence 5 in paragraph 1: “But aside from temperature originally
accustomed to.” Choices A, B, C, and D are incorrect because one cannot infer from the passage what
any of these choices state.

3. According to the reading selection, acclimatization

(A) is similar to adaptation.

(B) is more important today than it formerly was.
(C) involves positive as well as negative adjustment.
(D) may be involved with a part of an organism but not with the whole organism.
(E) is more difficult to explain with the more complex present-day environment than formerly.

3. Choice A is correct. Acclimatization and adaptation are both forms of adjustment. Accordingly, these
two processes are similar. The difference between the two terms, however, is brought out in the second
sentence in second paragraph: By and large ... as adaptation.” Choice D is incorrect because the passage
does not indicate what is expressed in Choice D. See the first line of the second paragraph: “Let us define
acclimatization.. . lethal for it.” Choices B, C, and E are incorrect because the passage does not indicate
that any of these choices are true.

4. By inference from the reading selection, which one of the following would not require the
process of acclimatization?

(A) an ocean fish placed in a lake

(B) a skin diver making a deep dive
(C) an airplane pilot making a high-altitude flight
(D) a person going from daylight into a darkened room
(E) a businessman moving from Denver, Colorado, to New Orleans, Louisiana

4. (D) Choice D is correct. A person going from daylight into a darkened room is an example of adaptation
— not acclimatization. See the second through fourth sentences in paragraph two: “By and large as
‘adaptation.” Choices A, B, C, and E all require the process of acclimatization. Therefore, they are
incorrect choices. An ocean fish placed in a lake (Choice A) is a chemical change. Choices B, C, and E
are all pressure changes. Acclimatization, by definition, deals with chemical and pressure changes.

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5. According to the passage, a major distinction between acclimatization and adaptation is that
acclimatization

(A) is more important than adaptation.

(B) is relatively slow and adaptation is relatively rapid.
(C) applies to adjustments while adaptation does not apply to adjustments.
(D) applies to terrestrial animals and adaptation to aquatic animals.
(E) is applicable to all animals and plants and adaptation only to higher animals and man.

5. Choice B is correct. See the third sentence of paragraph two: “The term [acclimatization] should not be
taken. . . as ‘adaptation.’ “Choices A, D, and E are incorrect because the passage does not indicate that
these choices are true. Choice C is partially correct in that acclimatization does apply to adjustments, but
the choice is incorrect because adaptation also applies to adjustments. See paragraph two sentence
three: “This type of adjustment as ‘adaptation.”

6. The word "inured" in the first sentence of paragraph two most likely means

(A) exposed
(B) accustomed
(C) attracted
(D) associated
(E) in love with

Choice B is correct. Given the context in the sentence, Choice B is the best.

Review
1. Dissect the introductory paragraph.
Read the introductory paragraph in an active manner. Think through the concepts while you are reading
the text. What is the author's point? What is he trying to prove?

2. Create a mental road map.

Diagram the organization of the passage.

3. Stop to summarize the essay.

Before answering the questions, take a few seconds to summarize your mental road map.

4. Tackle the questions.

Answer the questions based on your mental road map of the passage.

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