If you are worried about a reading comprehension test, if it scares you, and if you guess your answers in a reading comprehension test, this blog post will inform you of some extremely useful strategies to overcome these issues.
There are mainly two ways
of approaching a reading comprehension test in most situations. Some read the
text first and then read the questions. This is not an amazingly effective way
of attempting a reading comprehension test. The second method involves reading
the questions first and then reading the text. In this way, the questions sink
into the subconscious and while you read the text, they will give your mind
some indication of what is going to come in the text and as soon as it comes,
your mind gives you a signal that there is a question about this section.
Whatever way of approaching a comprehension is convenient for you, stick to
that because different methods work for different people. However, whatever
method you apply, you have to read and understand the text because without
understanding the text, a reading comprehension cannot be completed successfully.
In this article, you will learn how to read the text effectively and actively.
Step 1
Have a look at the text
and skim it, which means that you look over a text quickly to get the general idea of it. You
do not need to read every word. Just pick out key words and sentences. This will
give you a brief idea of what the text is about and prepare your mind to gather
any information stored in the subconscious to be used readily. This is more
like a churning process and the mind is incredibly good at bringing out the
cream—relevant information— to the surface regarding any given topic.
Step 2
Now that you have an
idea what the text is about, your mind will also engage in educated or informed
guessing while you are reading the text. It will give you the meanings of
difficult words in their specific context. However, sometimes, there is a word
that is totally new for you, and you cannot get any sense of it even with
reference to its context. Stop, and quickly find its meaning in a dictionary
and write that on the text, in the margins. Sometimes, these are key words and
without knowing their meaning, it is impossible to make an accurate sense of
the text. Making a text ‘dirty’ with your notes and annotations is extremely
crucial for a deeper comprehension. A clean text indicates lack of engagement,
which, in turn, means either minimal or no understanding at all. Do not try to
read closely at this stage. Your target is to remove the cognitive hindrances from
your way at this stage by finding the meaning of difficult words. You also
increase your vocabulary by doing so, and a greater vocabulary is equivalent to
a successful completion of a reading comprehension test.
Step 3
Once you have written
the meanings of all the difficult words that blocked your understanding, read the text closely now and this time annotate the text
i.e., underline, circle, write notes in the margins about any specific
language, organisational techniques or anything that strikes you. Do all this
using only one pen. Do not highlight because highlighting is equivalent to no
engagement with the text because it does not actively involve your input on a
writer’s ideas or viewpoints.[i]
Step 4
Now try
to summarise every paragraph into four to five words. Remember that the first
or the second sentence of a paragraph is the topic sentence which determines
what the paragraph is about. Once you know the topic of a paragraph, it is easy
to summarise it. Moreover, when you summarise a paragraph into four or five words,
it must be so easy that even a small child could understand it. For example:
‘benefits of playing football’, ‘disadvantages of eating unhealthy food’,
‘reasons for climate change’, are some of the examples that can give you an
idea of what your summary should look like.
Step 5
Try to
create a video in your head of what you have read. You can create a video of
each paragraph. In this way, you will never forget it, at least until you have
done the questions. Creating a video is important to remember because the
language of our mind is images, moving or static, not words. Therefore, when
you create a video, you basically are feeding your mind with information in its
native language. To understand this better, imagine speaking English to an
Italian or a French or an Arabic who knows no English. Would there be any
comprehension? Not at all. However, if you speak to that person in his or her
native language, he or she would understand easily. In the same way, speak to
the mind in the language that it understands.
Step 6
Go back
to the questions now and then write your answers. Use scanning technique, which
means hunt for a specific information e.g., dates, data, names etc., to find
your answers quickly. You already know in which paragraphs your answers are.
Practise
these techniques on a regular basis and you will improve your reading
comprehension accuracy and speed tremendously.
[i] Read my article titled Active Reading: The Key to Educational Success in which I have discussed some of the key disadvantages of highlighting while reading.
