NTA UGC NET Paper 1 Notes 2026 on Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension in UGC NET Paper 1 is not as difficult as it sounds. A good practice and some tricks can help you to ace this topic.

 

The Reading Comprehension topic consists of 10 marks and 5 questions. Answering these questions correctly can bring you closer to your dream of qualifying for the UGC NET Exam. So, here we will analyse the approach and strategies to score better in this section.

 

Reading Comprehension is the ability to read and understand the meaning of the text. Reading Comprehension in UGC NET is aimed at testing the candidate’s knowledge of two elements, i.e. Vocabulary and Text Comprehension.

 

In this blog, we are going to emphasise the reading comprehension, one of the most important chapters of UGC NET Paper 1. Have a look at the important points mentioned in the article-

 

Approaches to Solve Reading Comprehension Questions

Paragraph First & Questions Later

Questions First & Paragraph Later

Important Tips to Remember while Solving RC Questions

 

 

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It is very crucial to understand the passage, and a good vocabulary can ease that.

There are various methods of solving reading comprehension questions. This blog contains some of the best approaches for that.

 

UGC NET Paper 1 – Approaches to Solve Reading Comprehension Questions

 

It is very important to have a proper approach to solve UGC NET Paper 1 Topic – Reading Comprehension passagesin orders to answer them correctly and on time. And for that, you should know all the methods that can be adopted to solve the Reading Comprehension.

We can solve the reading comprehension-related questions using one of these two approaches shared in the blog.

PQ (Paragraph First & Questions Later)

QP (Questions First & Paragraph Later)

 

 

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PQ (Paragraph First & Questions Later)

 

A)  One of the most common methods to solve reading comprehension for UGC NET is by reading the entire passage first and then the questions.

In this case, you can write down or mark the points you think are important. Try to find the information provided in the passage. This will help you in understanding the passage in a good way.

Try to identify the following:

1. Subject of the passage: what is the author talking about?
2. Main idea of the passage: what is he saying about the subject?
3. Tone of the passage: What is the message that he wants to convey?

Once you figure out these things, you will get the GIST (GI – General Idea, S – Structure, T – Tone) of the passage. This will help you build the thematic composition & logical sequence of the passage, which will enable you to answer the questions from particular parts of the passage.

This approach is very good for those who are fast readers.

 

B)  Another method of solving UGC NET passage is through skimming it. That means going back and forth with the questions and the paragraph.

Here:

1. You first read a few lines of the passage and then look for the related questions.
2. Then again, go through the next few lines and look for the questions related to that.
3. Now you continue the same method until you answer all the questions.

But this process can be time-consuming as there is a lot of reading.

 

 

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C)  Another way of solving is to read the first 2 paragraphs of UGC NET reading comprehension, scan through all the questions, and see if you can answer any of them. Now read paragraphs 3 and 4, and scan the questions again for the ones you can answer now. Continue this process till you read all the paragraphs and answer all the questions.

Again, this process can also be time-consuming, as you might spend extra time reading the questions again and again.

 

QP (Questions First & Paragraph Later)

 

A)  This method is the most popular and recommended one for solving the passage of the UGC NET question paper.

Here, you are supposed to read all the questions given after the passage, along with their options. After going through the questions, read the passage and try to find the answers directly.

This method consumes very little time if you can remember the questions and can understand them in one go.

 

 

 

 

B)  Another way of approaching a passage in the UGC NET exam can be:

1. First, read a question with all the options, then go through the passage to find its answer.
2. Then read the next question along with its options and again go through the passage until you find the answer to that question.
3. Continue this process until you find the answers to all the questions.

This method might consume extra time, but if you have a good reading speed and understand the passage, then you may find it easy and quick to answer the questions using this method.

 

C)  One more way of dealing with UGC NET reading comprehension is by reading the questions but without reading the options. And after reading the questions, read the passage. And when you are done with the passage, try to answer the question along with the options.

This will help you answer the question in less time.

These were some of the approaches you can adopt to solve UGC NET Paper 1 Reading Comprehension.

Also, you can refer to our free download table for UGC NET Study Material, Experts' guidance, question papers, and mock tests. This study kit will help you strengthen your exam preparation and has helped over 1400 students to reach their goals.

 

 

Important Tips to Remember while Solving RC Questions

 

Below are some points you should keep in mind while reading the passage.

1)  Instead of reading the whole passage givenin then UGC NET Paper, read the first and last paragraphs thoroughly. Usually, you can find the author’s idea on the subject in the first few lines of the passage. For the rest of the passage, you can quickly skim it to know what extra info is given.

In case of la ong passage, write down the words for each paragraph, which you feel are the central point of the passage/paragraph.

2)  Next, try to find the words which can tell the Main Idea or Transitions in the passage. Such words are known as structural words. They play a specific role in a sentence and para.

Some examples of the structural words:

 

These 3 types of words serve 3 kinds of purposes like:

Continuity words are used to support the view mentioned in the paragraph.

Contrast words are used to show the contrarian point of view.

Conclusion words are used to sum up the main idea of the passage.

 

 

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3)  Now, try to find the words which play positive and negative roles in the passage. They help in knowing if the author is in favour of or against the subject. For eg:

These words tell you the motive of the author.

 

4)  When there is a question about a phrase from the passage, try to find the phrase in the paragraph and read 3 lines before it and 3 lines after it. These lines will give you the idea of what is implicit from the phrase.

 

5) There can be questions based on Synonyms and Antonyms. You can answer these questions easily if you have a good vocabulary. In case you are not that good at vocabulary, read the sentences in which the word is used to get the idea of the meaning of the word.

 

6)  Use the elimination method: Instead of selecting the right option, try to eliminate the wrong options. To do so, can use the ‘BANE’ approach. Eliminate the choices which are too broad, look alien (strange), too narrow and too extreme.

 

7)  While solving the RC questions, don’t apply your own knowledge or assumptions. Confine your understanding to the given passage only.

 

 

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We hope that the above-mentioned methods of approaching reading comprehension will help you in your UGC NET exam preparations.

In case you have any doubts or problems, you can write to us in our comment section below. We assure you that our experts will get back to you to solve your doubts.

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All the best!