- Read the first question, DO NOT READ THE OPTIONS YET!
- Now go to the passage mentioned in the first question.
- Try to “answer” the question in your own words, using the passage.
- Now look at the options presented below the question.
- Usually, 2 of the options are utter nonsense. Delete those.
- Compare the 2 which are left to the passage.
- Underline in the text where you found the answer.
- Look carefully, it should be there but in different words! This is why having a large vocabulary matters so much. Knowing many words saves you the time of looking them up while immersed in the exam.
- Proceed with question 2 and repeat steps as mentioned above.
Why not read the entire text first? There are several reasons why you should not read the whole text before you start answering the questions.
1. It takes way too much time.
2. It’s completely unnerving if you come across too many words you don’t know.
3. You should not have the info from for example paragraph four when you answer the question on paragraph two. It might confuse you.
4. It breaks your concentration. Holding on to what is important in the text gets harder as the passages you’ve read are longer. Working in chunks is therefore preferred!