Below you will find my tips for each part of the reading paper.  Download a practice test and try them out!

Part 1

  1. Read the title and look at any pictures to get a general idea of the subject and style of the piece.
  2. Before you read the piece, read the question stems (just the questions, not the answers).  Identify the key words and then find the part of the text that is relevant to each question.
  3. Read the piece quickly but pay close attention to the part of the text that has the answer to the question.
  4. The answer will be found in the text, it will not be based on your general impression of it.  Eliminating obviously incorrect answers will help you choose the correct one.

Part 2

  1. Read the title and look at any pictures to give yourself a general idea of the subject and style of the piece.
  2. Read the article at a quick pace. Try and remember the topic of each paragraph, but pay special attention to “anchors” (logical connecting words, pronouns, and time clauses).  A word like “so” indicates a logical progression–look for a reason something happened; “these” refers to something in a previous paragraph–find them; “afterwards” refers to a progression of time–what happened before?
  3. Read the paragraphs to be inserted in the text. Notice the content, but pay special attention again to “anchors”.
  4. Don’t insist on completing this part of the test in order! Some of the paragraphs are easier to match than the others.  Answer the easy questions first and cross them off your question sheet when they have been used.
  5. Always check that the paragraphs match the text before and after them.
  6. If the last paragraph doesn’t seem to fit, take a minute to check your other answers.  One of them may be wrong as well and you don’t want to miss two questions.

Part 3

  1. Read the title and look at any pictures to get a general idea of the subject and style of the piece.
  2. Read just the question stems (not the answers) of the first two questions.
  3. Now start reading the text until you find the part that answers the first and second questions.
  4. The questions are in the order of the text, so you can use the question stems to locate the exact part of the text that will provide the answers.  Only when you have found and read the relevant part of the text carefully should you read the answer choices and select the one that matches the text.
  5. Continue reading question stems, finding the relevant text and choosing your answer based on the text.  Breaking the text into smaller pieces will make it easier to find the answers.  They can all be found in the text, you will never be required to just choose what “feels right”.

Part 4

  1. Quickly look at the title and look at any pictures to give yourself a general idea of the subject and style of the piece, don’t read the text until you have analysed the questions.
  2. Read the questions carefully and underline the key expressions in each one to help focus your mind on what you are reading for.
  3. Try and remember these key expressions as you read the text at a reasonably fast pace.  Some of the answers will be obvious as you read, fill in your answer sheet as you go along.
  4. Be careful that your answers match all of the information in the question.  Sometimes the question will be looking for more than just one criteria so you need to be careful.
  5. Go back to the unanswered questions, look at the key expressions you underlined and try to remember which area of the text had material related to them. When you are scanning the text, try to keep several questions in mind at once to make more efficient use of your time.