READING COMPREHENSION TIPS AS LEVEL EGP.pptx
- 1. READING COMPREHENSION THE BASICS - AS LEVEL - EGP
- 2. Skills required to ace this section: ● Summarize ideas in different types of material ● Make inferences about the meaning of a text ● Analyze the reasoning of an argument ● Develop arguments of your own in response to a text or other material ● Discuss the implications of an issue ● Suggest a way of solving a problem ● Explain and interpret information ● Respond to material by writing a persuasive text that expresses an opinion and justifies a conclusion ● Demonstrate an understanding of how language features are used ● Analyze and evaluate the material
- 3. PAPER TWO INCLUDES TWO SECTIONS SECTION A : Logic and Reasoning You will be given a scenario and you must answer questions using the information given, along with logic, reason, and evidence. For example, you might be told you are a mayor of a city, and you must choose a project to fund. They will give you a budget, three projects, and information about those projects. Then you must answer questions like what the best choice is, what the worst choice is, etc. There are no 100% “wrong” answers, but there ARE “wrong-ER” (NOT a word!) answers compared to others. The point is, you MUST argue and support your points. SECTION B: Prose This section could be made up of anything- a story, a set of emails, an article, etc. The questions you must answer will be based on comprehension, and involve skills such as inferencing, summarizing, paraphrasing, finding main ideas, drawing conclusions, examining options, and offering opinions.
- 4. Example Questions for Section A Section A (Logic and Reason): (Context- Choosing a course for a PR marketing agent so she can learn more about digital marketing) ● Considering the advantages and at least one disadvantage, explain why Jini might choose the University of Zandi course. Answer in continuous prose, using your own words as far as possible. (10 marks) ● Explain two disadvantages of the Zandi City Council Masterclasses with Oli Pomerini. (4 marks) ● The term ‘early adopter’ refers to a person who starts using technology or products as soon as they become available. Give three reasons which you think might motivate someone to be an early adopter. (3 marks)
- 5. Example Questions for Section B Section B (Prose): (Context- Story about a cave diver who was trapped in the underwater cave) ● In your own words, - (i) describe five things that went wrong as Gràcia and Mascaró headed for home. (5 marks) - (ii) explain what their options were and why they were dangerous. (5 marks) ● Once alone in the chamber, - (i) identify what Gràcia did to ensure he would survive for as long as possible. Answer in about 50 words. (5 marks)
- 6. Marks and word count Something you may have noticed is that each question has a number of marks in parentheses after it. It is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that you pay attention to these. These are the number of “marks” (or points) each question is worth. This number will ALSO tell you about how many words, AND how many ideas you need to include in your answer. The general rule of thumb is to write ten words for every mark. Therefore, a 2 mark question should be about 20 words, an 8 mark question should be about 80 words, etc. There is a 5 word window, but in this case the examiners will be looking for CONCISE answers, so you DO NOT want to write 50 words for a 2 mark question!
- 7. P-I-E PIE is one that stands for Points, Ideas, or pieces of Evidence. The marks give you clues regarding how many pieces of information they are looking for in your response. These pieces of information could be points they want you to make, ideas they want you to cover, or pieces of evidence they want you to provide to support your response to the question. Hence, PIE.
- 10. Hints and Tips ● Many questions will specifically tell you how many pieces of information they are looking for. If they ask for ONE advantage and TWO disadvantages, give them ONLY THAT. Do NOT go on and on. ● When they say “in your own words” THEY MEAN IT! You CANNOT use ANY words or phrases from the text OR the question itself. That is true of ALL the questions. ● Never NEVER NEVER quote the text, UNLESS it says “use evidence from the text”. This means you CAN use the information from the reading, but ONLY short phrases. It is smarter to paraphrase. If you quote too much, or your whole answer is directly from the text, it will be crossed out and WILL NOT COUNT! They want to see YOUR WORDS, not the ones in the text. ● Be cognizant of the marks, and DO NOT go far over or under. ● Your answer MUST be CLEAR and CONCISE! ● Your answer MUST be grammatically correct enough so it does not impede understanding!
- 11. 5 Common Types of Questions in Paper 2 1. “Right There” questions. These will be the questions worth fewer marks- those that ask you to locate information that is explicitly stated in the text. The command words will most likely be “Identify” or “Give”. The keys to these will be to make sure you’re not restating the question and to make sure you’re not using the exact words that the text does. 2. Imply/Infer questions. These will have you explain what the text says and show you understand the implication of this. These may be phrased like “Based on what the text says in paragraph 3, explain what you think is meant by…” (Combo 1 & 2: “What did Mr. X say in paragraph 4 and what does that imply?”) 1. Language related questions. - Synonyms: “In paragraph 3 the text says X. What is another way to say X?” OR “What phrase in the text means the same as X?” - Words in context: Vocabulary. Defining a word AS IT IS USED IN THE TEXT and then USING that word correctly in your own sentence. READ DIRECTIONS CAREFULLY!
- 12. 4. Summarize/Paraphrase questions. You need to show understanding of the text IN YOUR OWN WORDS. Questions will sometimes even remind you of this by saying “In your own words as far as possible…” 5. Take a position questions. These involve writing persuasive text and will be seen in section A (logic). Here you will have to assert your claim AND back it up with info from the text AND/OR your own ideas/knowledge. (Again, READ INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY!) The key will be to stick to your position! These will most likely tell you to “restrict your answer to the chosen option” so you CANNOT compare your choice to other options. IF it DOESN’T say that, then and only then can you discuss the other choices. You will have to JUSTIFY your choice!