About Comprehension
A comprehension question gives a passage and asks about it. The answer is in the passage, and the work is to find the part that gives it and then choose the option that matches what the passage actually says rather than what the subject makes you expect it to say.
What you need to understand
- The passage is the only evidence. An option can be true in the world and still be wrong, because the question asks what the passage says.
- Most questions ask for a detail, and the detail is stated in one place. Finding that place is the whole task.
- The wording of the answer is usually close to the wording of the passage, sometimes word for word. An option that paraphrases heavily is not automatically wrong, but it needs checking.
- Watch for the words that qualify a statement - some, most, always, rarely. An option that turns a limited claim into an absolute one is wrong however sensible it sounds.
- A passage that describes a process usually gives the detail in the same order, so a question about the later part of the process can be found near the end.
- Two options can be similar. The difference between them is usually a single qualifying word, and that word is the point of the question.
How to work through these questions
- Read the questions first if the passage is short. Knowing what is being asked tells you which sentences to read closely.
- Underline the key word in the question - the thing, the time, the place, the reason. That word is what you are looking for in the passage.
- Find the sentence in the passage that carries the key word and read it twice, including the sentence before it if the sentence is short.
- Read all four options before choosing. Two of them are usually easy to reject, and the choice is between the remaining two.
- Compare the two remaining options with the passage word by word. The wrong one will add, drop or exaggerate something.
- Choose the option the passage supports, not the one you would have written.
Mistakes that cost marks
- Answering from your own knowledge of the subject instead of from the passage.
- Choosing an option because it is true in general, when the passage says something narrower.
- Missing a negative or a qualification, and reading a claim as stronger than it is.
- Stopping at the first option that looks right instead of reading the fourth.
- Confusing two similar things the passage mentions separately.
- Choosing an option that is plausible but that the passage never mentions at all.
Worked example
A passage says that terraces catch the sun at different angles, which spreads the ripening of a crop over several weeks. Why does the crop take several weeks to ripen?
- Find the key word in the question, which is ripen, and look for it in the passage.
- The passage says the ripening is spread over several weeks because the terraces catch the sun at different angles.
- Read the options and reject the ones the passage does not mention. Watering and planting intervals are not in the passage at all.
- The remaining option matches the passage word for word: catch the sun at different angles.
- The answer is the option that says the terraces catch the sun at different angles.
Answer: The terraces catch the sun at different angles.
Practice questions with answers
A few Comprehension questions with the full solution shown, so you can see
how the method is applied before you attempt the timed set.
Question 1
Read the passage and answer the question.
Vaccination works by giving the body a harmless version of a disease. The immune system responds as though the disease were real and then remembers it. If the real disease arrives later, the body can attack it before it takes hold. The first vaccines were made from weakened animals, and some of them had to be kept cold at all times. A vaccine that is allowed to freeze may be useless, which is why the cold chain matters as much as the vaccine itself.
What were the first vaccines made from?
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A
grown plants
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B
weakened animals
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C
mineral salts
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D
natural springs
Answer: Option B — with explanation
The passage says it directly: 'weakened animals'.\nEach of the other options describes something the passage does not mention, so none of them can be supported from it.
Common mistakes
- the passage does not say this anywhere: natural springs
- the passage does not say this anywhere: grown plants
- the passage does not say this anywhere: mineral salts
Question 2
Read the passage and answer the question.
Before street lighting, towns were dark for half the year. The first lamps burned oil and had to be lit by hand each evening. A lamplighter walked the same round at dusk and again at dawn, and a town of any size needed several of them. Gas lamps came next and could be lit from a single point, which cut the cost sharply. Electric lamps removed the need for lighting at all, because a switch could be left to the householder.
What did the first lamps burn?
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A
coal
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B
wax
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C
oil
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D
tallow
Answer: Option C — with explanation
The passage says it directly: 'oil'.\nEach of the other options describes something the passage does not mention, so none of them can be supported from it.
Common mistakes
- the passage does not say this anywhere: coal
- the passage does not say this anywhere: wax
- the passage does not say this anywhere: tallow
Question 3
Read the passage and answer the question.
Paper can be recycled about six times before the fibres become too short to hold together. Each time the paper is repulped the fibres are cut a little shorter, so recycled paper is weaker than paper made from new wood. Ink has to be removed by washing the pulp with soap, and the ink that is washed out becomes a sludge that must be disposed of. Recycling saves trees but it also uses water and energy, so the saving is not as simple as it first appears.
Why is recycled paper weaker?
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A
the fibres are mixed with chalk
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B
the fibres are dried too quickly
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C
the fibres are bleached twice
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D
the fibres are cut a little shorter
Answer: Option D — with explanation
The passage says it directly: 'the fibres are cut a little shorter'.\nEach of the other options describes something the passage does not mention, so none of them can be supported from it.
Common mistakes
- the passage does not say this anywhere: the fibres are dried too quickly
- the passage does not say this anywhere: the fibres are bleached twice
- the passage does not say this anywhere: the fibres are mixed with chalk
Question 4
Read the passage carefully.
Farmers on steep hillsides cut terraces into the slope. Each terrace is held up by a low wall of dry stone. The wall slows the rainwater, so the soil behind it stays in place. Terraces also catch the sun at different angles, which spreads the ripening of a crop over several weeks. A farmer can therefore harvest one strip while another is still growing. Where terraces are neglected the walls collapse and the soil washes away in a single season.
Now answer: What happens to the walls when the terraces are neglected?
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A
the walls collapse
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B
the walls are rebuilt each spring
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C
the walls are planted with grass
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D
the walls are raised with stone
Answer: Option A — with explanation
The passage says it directly: 'the walls collapse'.\nEach of the other options describes something the passage does not mention, so none of them can be supported from it.
Common mistakes
- the passage does not say this anywhere: the walls are rebuilt each spring
- the passage does not say this anywhere: the walls are planted with grass
- the passage does not say this anywhere: the walls are raised with stone
Question 5
Read the passage carefully.
A tide can be used to make electricity where the difference between high and low water is large. A dam is built across the mouth of a bay and water is let through it twice a day. The moving water turns turbines, and the turbines drive generators. The difficulty is that the tide arrives at its own times, which do not match the hours when people want power. A tidal scheme therefore has to store what it makes, or else run alongside another source.
Now answer: What drives the generators?
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A
the bay
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B
the dam
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C
the tide itself
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D
the turbines
Answer: Option D — with explanation
The passage says it directly: 'the turbines'.\nEach of the other options describes something the passage does not mention, so none of them can be supported from it.
Common mistakes
- the passage does not say this anywhere: the tide itself
- the passage does not say this anywhere: the dam
- the passage does not say this anywhere: the bay
Frequently asked questions
Should I read the passage before the questions?
For a short passage, read the questions first - it tells you what to look for. For a long one, read the passage once for the sense and then work through the questions.
What if an option is true but the passage does not say it?
Then it is wrong. A comprehension question asks what the passage says, not what is true. An option the passage never mentions cannot be the answer.
Do I have to understand every word?
No. You need the sentences that carry the answers. An unfamiliar word elsewhere in the passage rarely matters, and stopping over it costs time.
How do I choose between two options that both look right?
Compare them word by word with the passage. One of them will add something, leave something out, or turn a limited statement into an absolute one.
