Reading Comprehension Tips and Strategies

Reading comprehensions are high scoring part of every competitive examination still accuracy of students is lowest in this part. Today I am going to share some tips and strategies to help you improve your score.

Here are my strategies :-

How to select passages to attempt

As there is lack of time in every competitive exam and it is a fact that you can't attempt all passages, you need to choose between various passages. As there is question sets with reading comprehension, your selection makes a big impact on your final marks. 

Are you comfortable with the topic

Most important thing before selecting a passage is the topic on which passage is based. Do you love history ? You saw a passage on Aurangzeb. You shouldn't skip it at any cost. If you love to read about a particular topic, your reading speed as well as accuracy will be high in this topic. 

Skip the topics you are unaware of. There are high chances that you will mark wrong answers for this comprehension. 

Vocabulary Usage

You can't build your vocabulary in a week or few days. It is a time consuming process. So before attempting any passage, skim it and find out - Are you comfortable with the topic. If your answer is yes then attempt that passage.

Author's tone

It's very important to understand tone of author. It may be optimistic, pessimist, sarcastic, angry or contemplative. If you are able to understand what author is trying to say then there is high probability that you will mark right answers.

Length of passage

Without going into any details, simply prefer smaller passages. 

Difficulty level of questions If you find that questions are beyond the conclusion you found from the passage, simply skip that question, Never try to mark nearest answer. Mark the answer only if you sure about it. Accuracy level of most of the candidates is lowest in this part of every competitive exam.

Speed reading and practice

After most of the exams like IBPS, GMAT, GRE, CAT and SAT got online, reading speed became a crucial part in preparation strategy. Today I am going to share amazing skills to speed up your reading speed. Most of the times readers complaints that they could do better if they had more time. You can save lot of time by increasing your reading speed. This would help you not in scoring high in English Language section but also increase your score in all other sections as you will read and understand questions and statements quickly. These techniques will help you build reading skills. So here are the techniques :-

Practice

Practice makes a man perfect. More practice will lead to increase in speed as well as accuracy. 

How to increase your reading speed.

Divide a line into parts 

This is my favorite technique. In this technique we divide every line into two or three parts. To try this technique read loudly by dividing each line into three parts. Once you feel that you are comfortable in doing that, divide every line into three parts.

• What to learn

Never read word by word rather read by group of words.  

Concentrate on First and Last alphabet of a Word

This is my favourite technique. Many friends and followers experienced 60-70% increase in their reading speed and hence their a reasonable impact on their score. I am sure you are understanding what I am saying, try to read this :-

What to learn 

Concentrate on first and last character, practising this technique will increase your reading speed manifold.

Never stop anywhere

One of the most common mistake that people commit is they try to find meaning of each word whereas it is not required. While reading a comprehension, you can make out meaning of every word through the central idea and flow of paragraph. 

Improve your Vocabulary and Grammar

The more you understands a language, higher would be your speed. Have you ever noticed your speed while reading a newspaper in your native language. I tested this on more than 20 respondents, average speed was more than 600 words a minute while reading in second language, average speed was less than 250 a minute.

What to learn

Improve your grammar and vocabulary. You don't need to do anything else, this is not a trick rather this is a scientific fact. I recommend you to buy these two book which I refer frequently

• Word Power Made Easy
• English grammar by Murphy

Practice more by reading online Blogs and Newspapers

Practice makes a man perfect. If you start reading newspapers and blogs, you will experience increase in your reading speed as well hold on language.

What to learn

Read newspaper everyday, you may also download newspaper apps on your smartphones. I read Indian Express. I love "The Hindu" but it is not available in my city, else it is my first choice. I won't give any negative review those silly "AD FIRST" newspapers. Their main goal is to attract people with graphics and stupid news, whereas these newspapers are filled with ads and paid news. These are one of the top newspapers in India.

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