Tips to Make the Most of RC Passages

Questions on RC (Reading Comprehension) are inevitable in banking exams where questions are asked based on a given passage. These questions check the aspirants’ speed of reading long mundane (sometimes) passage and understanding it inherently. It also checks your aptitude in terms of vocabulary, grammar, and logical consistency. Generally, questions on RC are perceived difficult and aspirants are often advised to deal with them once they’re done with easy questions such as vocab-based questions, error detection etc.

RC takes time

It’s obvious that answering questions related to RC passages takes time as you need to quickly scan the given passages and then shortlist one of them to start with. You give the passage a quick read and then try answering the questions one by one. But with this allotment of time, you get to answer a handful of questions in one shot. The policy of skipping difficult questions applies here as well. Don’t think that having read the passage, you need to answer all the questions. Your job is to maximize your score; not to answer all the questions.

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Some tips to help you capitalize on RC questions

Let’s have some tips which you can apply in the remaining days so that you can make the most of them.

Read on a daily basis

Take out 20-30 minutes of time to read articles in the editorial section of a good newspaper. Try summarizing & rewriting it and get a hang of new words as you come across them. This will help you in several ways:

• Getting an idea of different topics on which RC passages can be asked
• Learning new words and understanding their sense in a given context
• Summarizing and rewriting will help you in the descriptive test

There isn’t any substitute for daily practice

In the remaining days ensure that you practice answering RC questions on a daily basis in a controlled exam-like situation. You can skip it if you’re taking mock tests as RC questions will anyways be there. Once done, analyze your mistakes and see where did you go wrong. Slowly and successively, you will move into exam mode. What’s more! You will also get an idea of different topics as you deal with different kinds of RC passages.

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Once inside the examination hall

Give a very quick scan to the given RC passages to decide which passage to start with. Generally, a topic with which you’re already comfortable with is considered better to start with than an entirely new topic. You can have a glimpse of questions as well to decide which RC to start with. Read the passage thoroughly and quickly (it’s difficult to put a balance between the two but after adequate practice, you will be able to achieve this). Look out for examples, facts & figures while reading the passage. There are generally 4 types of questions which are asked: vocab-based, theme-based, fact-based & inference-based. Amongst these, prioritize answering fact-based & inference-based question. Once done, you can switch to other questions. 

Dealing with new types of questions

We have seen scenarios in the past where entirely new type of RC set were there with 5-6 paragraphs marked as Statement A, B (and likewise) and below the statement marked bold, its explanations were given. First things first, no need to panic if you see a new type of RC set. What is new to you is new to other aspirants aCs well! So keep your cool, find out what the question is asking and then proceed to answer. If you’re taking mock tests regularly, you will anyways deal with new types of questions.

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So this is all we had to say. Remember that there is no substitute to practicing on a daily basis. Wishing you all the best for your preparation!