online tuition

Reading Comprehension Tips | How to solve Unseen Passage questions

Reading comprehension is an important part in English language. In school curriculum like CBSE, it is called unseen passage. Reading comprehension or unseen passage is ability to process text, understanding meaning of it, process information, and answer on the questions asked on the passage. Reading comprehension or unseen passage is used to check English language skills in school exams, as well as competitive exams like Ielts, Toefl, CAT etc. Reading comprehension indicates how fast and correctly reader processes the information, and makes a decision based on the information available. Since these are passages which reader is seeing for first time, it also indicates reader ability to respond in unknown scenario.

Tips to prepare for Reading comprehension

Be an active reader– Students should develop habit of reading. They need to spend min 30 mins daily for reading from novel, stories, newspaper or online articles. It will help increase reading speed of the student. Second, it will also help in grasping key points from the article, which will be helpful in their writing or speaking assignments.

Be a speed reader– Once you are regular reader, now prepare yourself to be a speed reader. This is when you aim to read a 300 words passage in under 1 min. You may need to revisit passage more than 1 times initially, but this strategy will help you in saving time.

Highlighting key terms– if you are solving reading comprehension using pen and paper, make sure to underline or highlight key term, important stats etc

Solving questions – Once you read the question, speed read the passage, and narrow down where you will get solution to your questions.

Stick to the passage– Questions need to be solved from the passage only. Even you know more on the topic, you need to stick to the passage only.

You can also check:

Reading comprehension examples

Passage 1: Source- TribuneIndia website

The government has set the ball rolling for the digital rupee with the announcement of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in the Finance Minister’s Union Budget speech. The CBDC issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will be recognized as a currency, while all private cryptocurrencies and other virtual digital assets would be taxable. With nations such as China and Nigeria having already taken the plunge, their experience can help India prepare a robust regulatory mechanism for digital currency. The digital finance ecosystem is growing by leaps and bounds in the country. In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, India recorded 25.5 billion real-time online transactions, way ahead of China (15.7 billion), South Korea (6 billion), the UK (2.8 billion) and the US (1.2 billion). Real-time payments/transactions — those which are initiated and processed instantly — are clearly here to stay, with the disruptions caused by the pandemic during the past two years acting as a strong trigger for their proliferation.

Questions from the passage

  • Q1- Which are the countries who are using cryptocurrency currently?
  • Q2 – Which country tops the digital transaction in 2020?
  • Q3- Who will issue CBDC in India ?

Passage 2: Source- The Hindu website

State governments have taken the difficult decision to reopen schools for some classes, encouraged by a consensus among public health experts that the benefits to students and society at large outweigh the risks of a COVID-19 surge. A week after many of them reopened, mainly at the secondary and higher secondary level, infections among teachers and students have not triggered an alarm, although general social attitudes towards the pandemic have turned negligent. Data from Tamil Nadu show that post-reopening, about 30 students and teachers have tested positive, to which the State has responded by tracing contacts and testing, while keeping the institutions open. Kerala, which has struggled to contain the infection rate and continues to report about 25,000 cases a day, is venturing only to reopen residential higher education institutions and final-year college classes within a bio-bubble of at least single-dose vaccination; resumption of schooling continues to pose a dilemma. The crippling absence of education for millions in the country has raised the question of whether governments have shown alacrity to limit the harm from prolonged closures. A study by economists in August showed that a mere 8% of students in rural areas had regular access to online learning and 37% were not studying at all. It also found that only a minority of students with smartphones, i.e., 31% in urban areas and 15% in rural settings, received regular instruction. This crisis has remained neglected for over a year, and the findings underscore the need for in-person teaching to resume.

Questions from the passage

  • Q1: What is this article about?
  • Q2: What is the major reason of discontinuation in education of students?
  • Q3: What strategy is being followed by Tamil Nadu state for keeping education institution open in covid?

Send your answer to these passages to us, and we will reply with feedback.

Conclusion

In this article, we have seen preparation tips for reading comprehension. We also saw example of reading comprehension passage. This article is intended for school exams as well as for higher competitive exams.  If you have any questions regarding reading comprehension or unseen passages, you can reach out to us. If you need any help in preparing for reading comprehension, you can mail to info@xamnation.com and our counselor will get in touch with you.

You can also check:

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *