Answering a reading question
The reading test is 55 questions on ten passages — stories, articles, poems, scripts and cartoons — and every one can be answered from the passage in front of you. The method: know what the question asks, go back to the lines, cross out what the passage cannot support, and choose the answer that accounts for the most.
Why is a method worth more than reading faster?
Because the wrong options are written to catch fast readers. A typical one is true in real life but not in the passage, or true of one line but not the whole, or right about the subject and wrong about the attitude. Each feels correct for a second. A method gives you the second look.
Going back to the text swaps memory for evidence. Your memory of a passage is bent towards what you expected it to say; the lines are not. Any word that needs a definition comes with one, and the test is built for 75 minutes but allows up to 150, so there is time to look.
It also turns “which is best?” from a coin toss into a comparison: which option can I point to more of the passage for?
Where it turns up
- News headlines — a headline is written to be read in a second; whether the article underneath supports it is something only the paragraphs can tell you
- A phone plan — “unlimited data” in large type, and the slower speed after a set amount in the small print — what you are paying for is in the lines, not the heading
- A medicine label — the dose depends on the line that matches your age or weight, and the first number you see may be for someone else
- The Grade 12 diploma — the English 30-1 exam's reading section is 70 multiple-choice questions on passages, and this method carries straight over
- 1. The words, first
- 2. Know what you are being asked
- 3. Go back to the lines
- 4. Cross out what the passage cannot support
- 5. When more than one answer is partly right
- 6. What costs marks
The words, first
The idea: Qualifier is the word that changes what counts as right.
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Stem | The question itself, before the options. |
| Option | One of the answers you choose from. |
| Distractor | A wrong option written to look right. Each one is built on a real mistake. |
| Qualifier | A word in the stem that changes the task: best, most strongly, mainly, first, not. On the PAT, the qualifier in a best-answer question is in bold. |
| Evidence | Words in the passage you can point to that support an answer. |
| Outside knowledge | What you know from real life rather than from the passage. It can make a wrong option feel right. |
| Best answer | When more than one option is partly true, the one that accounts for more of the passage or has stronger evidence. |
Know what you are being asked
The idea: Before you look at the options, say what the stem wants in your own words: what kind of question it is, where to look, and whether it says best.
Two ways to start. Alberta's advice allows either: read the passage first, or read the questions first and then the passage with them in mind. Try both on practice sets. Either way, the questions in a set follow the passage in order, and questions about the whole passage come last.
| The question is about | Share | Stems sound like |
|---|---|---|
| Ideas and details | about 31% | “The narrator's actions in lines 4 to 7 suggest that she…” |
| How the text is organized | about 20% | “The flashback in the second paragraph mainly shows…” |
| What words mean | about 20% | “As used in line 9, the word sharp means…” |
| Putting ideas together | about 29% | “Which statement best expresses the theme?” |
Take one stem apart: “In lines 12 to 14, the narrator's reaction most strongly suggests that she…” It is an inference about a character. Look at lines 12 to 14, plus a sentence either side. Most strongly warns that more than one option may be partly true, so you will be comparing, not just checking.
Go back to the lines
The idea: Answer from the passage, not from your memory of it. Reread the lines the question names, plus a sentence on each side.
Grandma called the old truck Faithful. It started on the third try most winters, and on the fourth when it was colder than minus thirty. The heater worked if you hit the dash in the right spot. She would not hear of selling it.
The question: as used in the passage, the name Faithful is most likely
- a sign that the truck always started — what the word means on its own. The very next sentence says three or four tries. Answered from the word, not the lines.
- the make of the truck — nothing suggests it.
- about Grandma's religious beliefs — another meaning of faithful, not this one.
- affectionate and a little joking, since the truck is not reliable — the answer. The details show an unreliable truck she loves anyway.
Then look one sentence further. “She would not hear of selling it.” The loyal one here is Grandma, not the truck. A later question about her would turn on that line, and a reader answering from memory would have missed it.
Cross out what the passage cannot support
The idea: Distractors fail in a handful of predictable ways. Name how each one fails and it is easy to cross out.
| How it fails | What it looks like | The check |
|---|---|---|
| Outside knowledge | True in real life, not in the passage | Can I point to the line? |
| Too narrow | True of one sentence only | Does it cover everything the question asks about? |
| Too strong | always, never, completely, only | Does the passage go that far? |
| Wrong attitude | Right subject, wrong feeling or strength | Is the writer critical, or furious? |
| Borrowed words | Repeats the passage's words with a changed meaning | Does it say what the passage says, or only use its words? |
| Different question | A true statement that answers something else | Does it answer this stem? |
Work from what you can rule out. If the answer is not obvious, crossing out the two options that plainly fail leaves a choice between two — a comparison you can reason through. Be most suspicious of borrowed words: an option that repeats a striking phrase feels safe because you recognize it, and recognizing is not the same as being true.
When more than one answer is partly right
The idea: The best answer takes in more of the passage, or has stronger evidence behind it. Compare the options with each other, not only with the passage.
A bold best, most strongly, most directly or most clearly tells you at least two options will be defensible. Your job is to rank them.
At first Marcus read only car magazines. Then the librarian started setting aside novels about racing for him. By spring he was reading novels she had not picked, some with no cars in them at all.
The question: which statement best describes how Marcus changes?
- He becomes more interested in cars. — The passage moves him away from cars.
- He learns to trust the librarian's choices. — Partly true, but by spring he has gone past her picks. It ignores the last sentence.
- He prefers the library to reading at home. — Nothing compares the two.
- His reading grows from one narrow interest to books he finds for himself. — Accounts for all three sentences. The best answer.
The second and fourth are both supported. The fourth wins because it covers the whole passage and the second only the middle — which is what “best” almost always means.
What costs marks
The idea: Four of the five are fixed by looking again.
- Answering from memory instead of rereading the lines.
- Stopping at the first option that looks right without reading all four.
- Choosing an option because it repeats the passage's words.
- Missing the qualifier, especially not, first or best.
- Leaving a question blank. Each is worth a mark, and a blank is certain to score nothing.