Read between the lines

Key Tips

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  Read the questions first. If you do this, you’ll know what you’re looking for when you read the text which will save you loads of time.
  

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  The answers will be in order. It’s very helpful to know that the answers come in order in the text which isn’t the case with all question types. This makes it easier to find them. So, if you’ve found answer 1 in paragraph 1 and answer 2 in paragraph 3, you’ll know that answer 3 won’t be too much further on in the text.
  

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  Read in detail. For some question types, you’ll be mostly skimming and scanning the text for the answers. You’ll need these skills here too but with multiple choice questions, the detail is important.
  

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  Watch out for distractors. Be aware that the test setters love to include ‘distractors’ in the answer options to try and catch you out. A prime example is qualifying words such as every, all, most, a few. They are only small words but they can completely change the meaning of a sentence.
  

              E.g. Everyone who ate the prawn sandwiches at the party was ill.

                     Most people who ate the prawn sandwiches at the party were ill.

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  Don’t leave any blank answers. If you really can’t decide which answer is right, then guess. There’s at least a chance that you’ll guess correctly and get the mark. If you don’t put an answer, the question will be marked ‘wrong’ by the examiner.
  

False Answers

It’s also useful to know the types of incorrect answers that might be included. Be alert for answers that give:

1) Almost the correct information. (Watch out for those distractors.)

2)The opposite information. (It’s easy to be fooled by these.)

3) Information that’s included in the same paragraph as the true answer but not relevant to the question.

4) Information related to the question which is not included in the text.