4.4 - RC Question Types

This lesson breaks down each question type you'll encounter on Reading Comprehension.

TL;DR – pretty much every RC question type is some variation of a state or must be true question. You need to be able to justify any answer you pick with direct support from the passage.

Note: this lesson's largely a refresher from our lesson on understanding your task, so feel free to move ahead if you're ready.

Main Point

Recall from our last lesson that Main Point questions ask us to summarize the passage's main ideas in a sentence or two.

Main Points are always predictable. Assuming you understood the passage, all you need to do is concisely summarize its most important ideas.

They look like this:

• Which of the following best describes the central idea of the passage?
• Which one of the following most accurately states the main point of the passage?
• Both passages seek to answer which one of the following questions?

Wrong answers on Main Point questions tend to be too broad or too narrow, so make sure your prediction brushes up against each big-picture idea without getting too caught up on any one point.

Stated

On Stated questions, our job's right in the name.

We're looking for something the passage said explicitly. Your answer choice will have direct evidence from the passage and you better be able to point to it.

These questions are often phrased as follows:

• Which one of the following does the passage list as a cause for earthquakes?
• The passage provides information sufficient to answer which one of the following questions?

Meaning

Meaning questions ask us to translate a word, phrase, or idea from the passage by finding its contextual definition in the answer choices.

For example, if a passage uses the word exhaust to describe the waste product of a vehicle, you wouldn't want to pick an answer choice that describes using something to its limits.

These questions tend to look like this:

• The author's use of the word "exhaust" refers primarily to
• The role of the word "exert" in passage B is most closely related to the role of which one of the following words in passage A?

Purpose of Reference

Purpose of Reference questions ask us to figure out why an author brought up a term or idea. In other words, it's our job to figure out the reference's function in the passage.

These references could be single sentences, the author quoting someone else, the introduction of seemingly contradictory data... it could truly be anything from the passage.

These questions often look like this:

• The primary purpose of the last sentence of the passage is to
• Which one of the following is the most likely reason the author mentions the works of Plato in the third paragraph?
• Both passages mention espionage primarily in order to

Agree / Disagree

I lump Agree and Disagree questions together on RC because they ask us to do essentially the same thing—determine whether the author (or group specified in the question) would reasonably agree or disagree with some idea.

In other words, these questions are all about understanding point of view. The author's constantly revealing their position, and their subjects' positions, both explicitly and subtly. If you're struggling to understand what the author—or one of their subjects—would agree with, you need to read more carefully.

These questions typically sound like this:

• The author would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements?
• The authors would be most likely to disagree over whether
• It can be inferred from the passage that critics of early entropy theory believe that

Most Strongly Supported

Like its LR counterpart, Most Strongly Supported questions are all about taking the record at face value and interpreting what else is likely to be true.

Be careful making large leaps and don't do extra work for the answer choices. The right answer is often, at most, a single step removed from the words on the page.

Here's what these questions tend to look like:

• Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the information in the passage?
• The passage suggests that which one of the following is most likely to have come from the Harlem Renassiance?
• According to the passage, which of the following would be the most likely outcome of a lab test involving e. coli?

Attitude

Attitude questions ask us to infer how the author, or one of their subjects, feels about a given idea. In other words, it's all about point of view.

These questions closely resemble Agree / Disagree questions in that we need to understand perspective, even if we don't have to say what the author, or their subject, would agree or disagree with.

Here are some examples:

• Which of the following best describes the author's attitude towards African elephants?
• Which one of the following best describes the astrophysicists' attitude towards the Big Bang theory?
• Given the style and tone of each passage, which one of the following is most likely to correctly describe the expected audience of each passage?

New Context

One way to know you've understood what you've read is to properly apply ideas from the passage to new contexts. Cue New Context questions.

These questions asks us to apply something from the passage in a new, specific context. They might ask how the results from a lab study would play out in the field. Or to consider what idea Greek philosophers would hold dear that modern philosophers would reject. The possibilities are endless.

Bottom line: it's about proving you can apply what you've read.

Here are some examples:

• Which of the following experiments is most likely to produce data that would be most similar to the experiment detailed in the fourth paragraph?
• Which of the following adheres to the policy changes advocated for by the author of Passage B but not by the author of passage A?

Principle / Analogy

Principle / Analogy ask us to rephrase a central idea from the passage, often in the form of an analogy or underlying principle (hence the name).

Don't overthink it. The question will key in on some element of the passage, then you'll be presented with scenarios, one of which will accurately analogize the original idea.

Here's what these tend to look like:

• Which of the following is most analogous to Zahn's exploration of North American butterflies as it is described in the passage?
• As described in the first paragraph, the Baroque era musicians' views on melody are most analogous to which of the following?
• Based on their titles, the relationship between the documents in which of the following is most analogous to the relationship between passage A and passage B?

Strengthen

Similar to their LR counterparts, Strengthen questions on Reading Comp ask us to add evidence to a claim or theory from the passage—either the author's or one of their subjects'. The key difference from LR is that we won't necessarily be working with an argument.

We may be asked to add a new piece of evidence to the historical record or determine what would make a piece of legislation more likely to pass its legislature.

RC strengtheners tend to look like this:

• Which of the following, if true, would serve to strengthen Boon's hypothesis that Göbekli Tepe was not humanity's first significant metropolis?
• Which one of the following would, if true, most increase the likelihood that sea level rise is caused by rapid increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide?

Weaken

Like RC strengtheners, Weaken questions on RC largely resemble their LR counterparts.

The opposite of a strengthener, these questions want us to cast doubt on some idea from the passage.

RC weakeners tend to sound like this:

• Which of the following, if true, would most seriously challenge the Canadian legislature's position on modern maritime policy?
• Which of the following, if true, would cast the most doubt on Narue's bluejay migration hypothesis?

Primary Purpose

Similar to, but not to be confused with, Main Point questions, Primary Purpose questions ask us to figure out why the author sat down to write this thing in the first place.

Think big picture. Correct answers tend to be less detailed than main points, but no less true of the passage in general.

These questions are often phrased something like this:

• The primary purpose of the passage is to
• The author's primary concern in the passage is to

Organization

Organization questions fall in the "purpose" family, too. But these questions are a little more anatomical.

They often ask us to identify something about the passage's structure or organization.

Here are some examples:

• Which one of the following most accurately describes the organization of the passage?
• Which one of the following most accurately describes the relationship between the first and second paragraphs?
• Passage B, unlike passage A, seeks to advance its arguments by

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That's all for our breakdown of each Reading Comp question type. Next, we're walking through how to review RC passages. See you there!

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