Passages how to identify in very less time

Rishab Soni

Hello. This is a very nice question and a very necessary one. As reading comprehension, when done correctly can help you bag free scores with much less efforts and there's a good chance to get each one of it correct. So I'll be sharing some of my personal tricks that helped me clear JRF. First of all you need to understand that it's not there to test your reading skills, it's there to test your comprehension. That is apart from simply reading, how well can you understand the message the way it is truly intended by the writer. There are different methods followed by different students but the one I use is called "Skimming and Scanning". Skimming : The first process is to read the passage very fast, skipping unnecessary words, just go on looking over it trying to get the a)subject matter of the passage, b) flow of the passage (intro-justification-problem-suggestion) or any pattern it is following, c) general meaning of the text. This part is necessary to get yourself familiar with the text and know the positions of answers and where to find them in the next process. Scanning : Now that you've completed your speedrun through the text, it's time to read the question and scan the particular area. Now this is important because some people read the question first and then try to find the word in the passage. It won't always work because sometimes the word is in one sentence but the true answer could be a sentence or two before or after that word. And sometimes, the word won't be at the passage at all and it would be a synonym of the word. So now that you know where to find your answer, scan the section and choose your correct answer. Additional tips : Never try to rush your passage section or save it for the last. As it can hamper the most golden opportunity you can get for 10 marks in UGC NET. Secondly, apart from books, try practicing solving these on a computer screen as the scrolling process and screen reading is very different and you don't want to be slowed down in exam. I hope this will help you. Best of Luck.