In any reading comprehension task, irrespective of the exam you are taking, questions focus broadly on 4 Important areas. In other words, these are the areas that you are being tests on. These are areas that require you to really 'understand' the text. Here are the four areas.

The 4 areas that all reading comprehension questions fall into

1. The MAIN IDEA of the passage or the paragraph (medium)
2. INFORMATION SPECIFICALLY MENTIONED in the passage (easy)
3. INFORMATION IMPLIED (not directly stated) in the passage (asked in OET, GRE, GMAT and SAT)
4. The TONE or MOOD of the passage (asked in GRE, GMAT and SAT)

If you look at question in the IELTS reading comprehension section, they usually fall in to the first and the second categories. You do not have questions that look at implied information or tone or mood. These are the easier questions.

If you look at tests like OET, since it is aimed at a slightly more advanced audience, there is another question type that is included that is the implied information. Questions in this category could be asking you for the purpose, meaning of a particular word in the context, or questions based on inference.

In the next section we will look at the most common forms the questions take. Broadly speaking, there are 10 forms. They are listed below.

10 Reading question forms

For most of us, reading the question does not always make it clear as to what the question is asking for. In that case, here is some commonly used phrasing and an explanation of what that means and what the question is looking for.

1. It can be inferred from the passage that… (IMPLIED INFORMATION)
2. According to the author…(MAIN IDEA)
3. The passage is primarily concerned with…(MAIN IDEA)
4. The author’s statement that…(SPECIFIC INFORMATION)
5. Which of the following describes the mood of the passage? (TONE or MOOD)
6. The author implies that…(IMPLIED INFORMATION)
7. The use of paper is described in para 3/lines 14–16… (SPECIFIC INFORMATION)
8. The main purpose of the passage…(MAIN IDEA)
9. The author’s tone is best described as…(TONE or MOOD)
10. One could easily see the author as…(IMPLIED INFORMATION)

6 tips to improve your score in Reading Comprehension

Here are 6 surefire ways to improve your score in the reading comprehension section, no matter the level or the passage or the exam being attempted. Taking these into account will surely boost your score!

1. Make sure that you get involved with the passage. You may even want to select first the passage that interests you most. For example, if you’re interested in science, you may want to choose the science passage first.
2. Pay attention to material that seems unrelated in the passage—there will probably be a question or two based on that material.
3. Pay attention to the mood created in the passage or the tone of the passage. Here again, especially if the mood is striking, there will probably be a question relating to mood.
4. When attempting to answer the questions (after reading the passage) it is sometimes wise to try to figure out the answer before going through the choices. This will enable you to zero in on the correct answer without wasting.
5. Note down any information in the passages involving dates, specific names, etc., to have as a ready reference when you come to the questions.
6. Always try to see the overall attempt of the author of the passage or try to get the main gist of why the passage was being written.

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