Comprehension Passages: Tips for Effective Reading

Language in the most simple terms is a means of communication. It is a medium to send or share information and ideas with other people. This language can be verbal that includes both written and spoken(oral) which are commonly used by the majority of people around us. Or it could also be a non-verbal language like paralinguistics, haptics(the language of touch) and sign language. The study of language is an important part of a child's development as it is through this means a student will present their ideas and learning. 

Over the years, English has become an important part of Indian education as a creative language and literature. Especially for English medium students, it is an essential part of learning that can make or break your progress. In this regard, Vedantu provides a free online learning platform for students that ensures excellence from the expert teachers in each subject by providing free study material for all classes in CBSE, ICSE and State board.

To solve comprehension passages is an important part of understanding any language. It is the art of reading, understanding, and remembering what you read in any given piece of writing. Once you have understood the passage, you will be able to reproduce the same passage in your own words. Reading comprehension builds the foundation for high-level thinking in different subject areas. Comprehension writing is the other part of this practice.

Passage Reading Meaning 

To comprehend means to understand. In any academic curriculum, reading English comprehension passages is an important topic. As a part of reading comprehension passages, you need to very carefully go through a given passage, understand its meaning, and notice the meaning of various contexts in which the sentences appear. You will then have to answer different questions that are based on the passage you read. If you are wondering how to understand comprehension passages, then here are some points.

• Comprehension tests your vocabulary, so building a good vocabulary is important to understand passages.

• You also need to have a good sense of the language in which the comprehension is written.

• You need to develop the ability to identify the meanings of phrases or words by reading the passage multiple times.

Reading comprehension passages assesses your intelligence in grasping the gist of the written text and inferring your conclusions based on the context. Most of the questions in comprehension are directly related to the passage. A few of them will need you to find the contextual meaning of different words, and some of them will test your ability to find suitable antonyms of given words. 

How to Answer Questions of Comprehension?

While answering comprehension passages, the most important part is to read the passage carefully. To answer a comprehension question properly one needs to do the following.

• Decipher what you just read.

• Try to make a stable connection between what you read and what knowledge you already have.

• Think in-depth about what the comprehension passage says.

Some of the important strategies for solving comprehension passages are:

• Upgrade your Vocabulary - For attending competitive exams, it is very important to develop your vocabulary. A comprehension question will appear difficult if you do not understand the meaning of a few of the words used in it. The many ways by which one can improve English vocabulary are:

• Reading newspaper articles.

• Reading various vocabulary books and newspapers.

• Writing down new words that you come across in your daily life, for example, while watching a movie or while reading a book. You could then find the meaning of those words in a dictionary.

• Utilise your Strengths - While answering a comprehension question, try to utilise your strong points. For example, some students like to read the passage completely to get an idea of the whole thing while others may find it confusing so they can approach the topic with a “down to top” approach. In this approach, students first read the given questions and then read the paragraph to get the required answers. Any of these methods can be used based on your preference and acumen.

• Try to get the gist of the Passage - Many students start getting into the details of a passage like trying to understand all the words and sentences in it. Yet, understanding the passage in its entirety is not always required. It is too time-consuming if you start getting into each example, illustration, etc. The best way is to understand the summary of the passage or its main intent. If you comprehend the overall flow and structure, you will be good at answering the questions in the given time frame.

• Managing Time - Time is the most common concern that students have during comprehension writing. Exams test not only your basic knowledge but also your ability to manage time well. A good way to manage time while reading comprehension passages is not to spend time on tricky parts of the passage. If you find that a certain section of the passage is complex and you are having difficulty understanding it, then it is better to skip that part. Once you are done reading the passage and the questions, you can decide if you need to go back to the complicated piece of the passage or not.

• Do Not Rely on Outside Knowledge - Do not try to answer a comprehension based on your assumptions or knowledge of the subject outside the given passage. You must use whatever information is provided in the passage to answer the questions. If you include your version of any topic, they can be marked as wrong by the evaluator.

Answering a comprehension passage can be summed up as shown in the image below.

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Importance of Solving Comprehension for the Students of all Classes 

1. Comprehension helps students to prepare for the unpredicted and the syllabus questions to face them and answer the same with ease and expertise.

2. Comprehension helps students to improve their vocabulary and grammatical errors by practising the unprecedented passages again and again. 

3. Comprehension contains high weightage in the language exam of every class. Therefore, preparing and practising unseen passages only boosts the morale of students and their expertise towards a topic that holds importance for every student in every class.

4. Solving Comprehension consistently elevates the presentation skills and learning skills of students like reading and writing etc.

Some Important Links by Vedantu to Articles that help Students to understand Unseen Passage and Comprehension 

Vedantu is an e-learning platform for passionate students who wish to score high marks in the exam by reading and learning the free study material for all the classes from the best teachers of the country provided at Vedantu.

1. Students can find Important Questions on Comprehension, Revision notes and keynotes for comprehension, Reference solutions, Sample question papers and Previous year’s Question papers of English with unseen passages solved by the expert and experienced trainers at Vedantu for the students of CBSE, ICSE and State Board.

2. Students can also find articles strictly dedicated to English language and literature including Comprehension like CBSE Sample Questions Papers for Class 10. 

3. Specifically for junior students in subject English, students can also find personalised courses like Spoken English courses, English reading courses junior students. So why wait? Register at vedantu.com and grab your offer now!