Regular prompt

Regular reading comprehension texts can cover a wide range of topics and can be accompanied by a wide range of questions. Generally though, questions tend to follow one of these five themes:

1. Main idea
2. Author’s opinion
3. Informational question
4. Choose a sentence
5. Choose a word

Main idea

Examples:

• What is the general topic of the text?
• Why did the author write this text?

General questions relate to any overarching ideas presented in the text. Focus on the introduction and conclusion sentences when answering these questions. Most incorrect answers will be about some minimal detail discussed in the text rather than the big picture - try not to be distracted by minutia. The main ideas are typically presented at the beginning and/or end of a text.

Author’s opinion

Examples:

• Which of the following would the author most likely agree with?
• Which of the following ideas would the author most likely disagree with?

These question types can be tricky because the author’s opinion might not be easy to detect. If you see the author using the word “should”, or if they use other opinionated phrasing, you can assume that’s the point the author is trying to convey. Be careful, however, for cases where the author is simply stating a commonly held opinion, or even quoting someone else’s specific opinion. These are common traps and do not necessarily mean the author shares the same thought.

Informational question

Examples:

• Were there more or less [X] than [Y] in 2009?
• According to the passage, what was the exact purpose for the [X]?

These question types are about some extremely specific detail in the text. Generally, there is some phrasing in the text that directly tells you the answer.

There isn’t much strategy to answering these other than skimming through the passage to find the information. Once you find the detail, read a few sentences before and after to ensure it’s relevant. Sometimes these questions will present incorrect information for the purpose of later discussing it with an alternative opinion.

Choose a sentence

Examples:

• What sentence in the text explains why [X]?
• What sentence in the text presents a problem with [X]?

This question asks you to click on one of the sentences in the text. Generally, you will be asked to find some specific sentence that fulfills some purpose.

Again, watch out for trap choices that seemingly match, but are really used as talking points contradicted a few sentences later.

Choose a word

Examples:

• What word could replace the word [X] used in the first sentence?
• What word has the same meaning as the word [X] used in the final sentence?

These are the easiest reading comprehension questions since you don’t need to read the entire text to answer them. However, you will need to read the sentences around the word to determine the meaning. Most often, these questions ask you to choose a synonym for a word in the text.

Example questions

Try reading this example text and answer the following questions. Remember to look for specific evidence that either proves or disproves the answer choices!

In the Sahara and the Sahel, groundwater is a limited and indispensable resource for pastoral livestock farming. The daily life and work of the herders are organised around the location of the wells and the depth of the water table. To ensure the sustainable development of these regions, it is therefore essential to develop accurate piezometric maps, even in the areas that are most difficult to access.

Thanks to high-resolution satellite images, the tracks made by cattle, goats and camels in the Sahara and Sahel could become a key indicator of the depth of the water table.

In the northern Sahel, pastoralists water their livestock from deep wells. To draw water, they hitch oxen or camels to a rope whose length is an accurate measure of the depth of the piezometric surface of the water table. When pulling on this rope, the animals leave deep tracks on the ground that can be observed and measured on satellite images.

We have developed a remote sensing technique that allows us to (a) identify pastoral wells, (b) isolate the tracks left by the animals used to draw water, and (c) use these animal tracks to estimate the water depth.

Source: opengeospatialdata.springeropen.com

Try answering the question below, and then check our explanation.

Q1. Which of the following statements would the author most likely agree with?

A. The satellite images cannot be used to determine the specific purpose of the animal tracks
B. The sensing technique finds the locations of the water tables by tracking animal migration to the water
C. Sustainable development is an impossible task in the most isolated regions of the Sahara
D. The rope lengths can be directly seen from satellite images
E. Goat tracks are less relevant to the remote sensing technique than camel or oxen tracks

Have an idea of the correct answer?

Here’s an explanation of the reasoning for each choice:

A. The final paragraph states that the sensing technique isolates the tracks left by the animals that are a result of drawing water with ropes.

B. The sensing technique does capture animal tracks. But it does not use the tracks specifically to find the wells. The tracks are used to determine the depth of the water in the well.

C. The end of the first paragraph posits that piezometric maps can be used to ensure sustainable development even in the most isolated areas.

D. The satellite images actually measure the animal tracks left by the animals pulling the ropes to draw water. The rope length is not directly seen or measured. Only animal tracks are measured to estimate the rope length and water depth.

E. Though the passage does indicate that the satellite images can see goat, camel, and oxen tracks. The passage only refers to camel and oxen when discussing the technique used to determine the depth of the wells. Because this is the main focus of the project, camel and oxen tracks are much more relevant.

Let’s try another question relating to the same passage:

Q2. What is one way the project might reasonably ensure sustainable development in the Sahara and Sahel region?

A. The deepest wells can be used to supply water to the nearest cities
B. Pastoralists can be informed which wells have recently been losing or gaining water
C. Farmland can be made around the deepest wells
D. Water filtration systems can be used so that the water is more safe for people to drink
E. Tracking trading routes seen from the herd paths can be used to create waypoints and trading posts

Ready to check your work?

The passage states that the water tables are an “indispensable resource for the pastoral way of life”, so the answer must connect sustainable development to their economic situation.

This automatically counts out A and C, which do not offer benefits to the herders. The wells are specifically used to water the pastoralists’ livestock, and this rules out D. Choice E can be ruled out because the project does not track herd paths, as the tracks are only analyzed around wells.

This leaves the only correct answer: B. Informing pastoralists which wells are more or less full can be vital information to help them plan their daily life, which is “organised around the location of the wells and the depth of the water table.”