Reading Passage Types

Literary narrative, social science, humanities, natural science and paired passages.

Key Takeaways

• Literary narrative = read people. Track who the characters are, what they want, where feelings change, and how the story is told.
• Inferences stay one step from the text. Gestures such as setting something down gently, leaving a door open, or a name "already" stitched are the evidence.
• Shift questions need both halves. Find the "before" and the "after," and watch for reversed choices.
• Know the narrator. A retrospective "I" carries two viewpoints: the younger self's and the adult's.
• Tone pairs: both words must fit. Eliminate any choice with one unsupported word.
• Eliminate predictions and extremes. The passage ends where the excerpt ends; small, careful changes beat "fully" and "never."

Key Takeaways

• Social science = read the argument. Find the old view, the turn, the claim, the evidence, and the qualifications.
• Signal words label sentences: argues (claim), for example (evidence), yet (turn), led to (cause), admittedly (concession), critics (opposing view).
• Function questions ask why a detail is there. Statistics support claims; "such as" examples illustrate; "to be sure" sentences concede.
• Keep voices separate. The overturned assumption is never the passage's main claim.
• Check direction and group on detail questions: rose or fell, which group, which number.
• Careful authors make careful claims. Eliminate "only," "always," and "every" when the passage hedges.

Key Takeaways

• Humanities = an idea about art or thought. The personal story serves an insight, and the author usually states it.
• Trace experience to insight. Questions ask how an early experience shaped a later view or career.
• Separate the voices: the author's, the artist's, and the critics' or public's. Answer only with the voice the stem names.
• Respect what the artist actually said. A flattering reading she rejects is wrong.
• Word in context: substitute each choice and keep the meaning the sentence needs, not the first dictionary meaning.
• Keep the direction of a change. From fine detail to broad color is not the same as the reverse.

Key Takeaways

• Natural science = read for structure. Label question, hypothesis, method, results, conclusion, and limits.
• Everything you need is in the passage. Use the passage's definitions; outside knowledge leads to unsupported choices.
• Method questions ask what a step isolates. Untreated comparison groups give a baseline; adding one factor tests that factor alone.
• Competing hypotheses: state what each predicts, then compare with what happened.
• Detail questions: check the number, the direction, and the group.
• Conclusions rest on a "because." Significance questions usually point back to the old belief the discovery overturned.

Key Takeaways

• Attack in order: read A and answer its questions, read B and answer its questions, then do the "both" questions.
• Write a five-word position summary for each passage before the comparison questions.
• Agreement lives in concessions. Correct "both agree" answers are modest and supported by each passage.
• Choose the right relationship verb: challenges, qualifies, extends, or offers an alternative explanation. Qualifying is not rejecting.
• Response questions use B's own reasoning aimed at the exact claim A makes.
• Sort details A / B / both before answering unique-detail questions, and apply an author's stated principle when asked what she would criticize.

Worked Examples

<details> <summary><b>Example 1: Triage a set</b></summary>

Question: A social science set has these stems. Sort them into first pass, second pass, and last.

1. According to paragraph 2, the survey was conducted in:
2. The main purpose of the passage is to:
3. As used in line 31, "check" most nearly means:
4. The author mentions the 1970 census primarily to:
5. Based on the passage, the researcher would most likely agree that:
6. The passage states that rents rose by:

Solution:

• First pass: 1, 3, and 6. Each points to a single line or fact.
• Second pass: 4 (function of a detail) and 5 (viewpoint). Each needs a paragraph or a voice.
• Last: 2 (main purpose). After the first five, you already know the passage well enough to answer it quickly.

</details> <details> <summary><b>Example 2: Read the clock</b></summary>

Question: A student finishes the second set at 23:00. Is the student on pace, and what should change?

Solution:

1. The 20:00 checkpoint calls for two sets done, so the student is three minutes behind.
2. Seventeen minutes remain for two sets, about 8.5 minutes each.
3. Adjustments: read the next passage in about three minutes, answer first-pass questions immediately, apply the mark-and-move rule strictly, and make sure every bubble is filled before 40:00. Slowing down to "be careful" would make the shortfall worse.

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Worked Examples

<details> <summary><b>Example 1: Margin notes for Passage I</b></summary>

A strong reader's notes take under a minute and make every question findable:

</details> <details> <summary><b>Example 2: A model inference question</b></summary>

Question: Hollis's response to Nadia's broken radio in paragraph 1, sliding her a screwdriver and saying "Show me where it hurts," suggests that he:

• wanted Nadia to learn to diagnose the problem herself
• was too busy to repair the radio that afternoon
• did not know how to fix that kind of radio
• hoped Nadia would leave the shop quickly

Solution:

1. Gesture plus dialogue: he hands her the tool instead of fixing it and asks her to find the fault.
2. One short step: he is inviting her to work on it herself, the start of six years of afternoons together.
3. Nothing says he was busy or unable, and her returning "every afternoon" contradicts any wish for her to leave. The answer is wanted Nadia to learn to diagnose the problem herself.

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