How to do Comprehension Passage & Cloze Test

[For the Combined Graduate Level (CGL) Exam, the Combined Higher Secondary (10+2) Level (CHSL) Exam, SI Delhi Police & CPO Exam, Grade-II DASS Exam and any other similar exam]

For both comprehension passages and cloze tests your basic understanding of English language should be right. Without this, things are going to be really difficult. For comprehension you should have sharp and quick mind. If you want your comprehension of a passage improved you should read the passage very carefully once only, or at the most twice, and keep in mind the content of the passage so that while answering questions you do not need to go back to it time and again. In an objective exam the speed is very important. So read sufficient number of passages and cloze tests from a good source well in time.

Comprehension Passage

1. Read the passage first; not the questions. If we’ll read the questions first our whole concentration then will divert on finding the answers of those questions, and thus we’ll be unable to understand the passage, which is so important. Without understanding the passage well we can’t answer the questions well.

2. Students normally think that reading the passage 1-2 times is a sheer wastage of time and won’t fetch them desired results. But in my experience – and when I say experience it comes from thousands of students and a decade of time that I have been in this profession – reading the passage first is the best strategy as it not only will save your time but also will help you get more and more marks.

3. When you are through with the passage and its contents you are ready to read the questions and answer them without ambiguity and with complete clarity of what the examiner is asking. That read between the lines concept works very well in comprehension while answering the questions, and that can only be developed by investing a couple of extra minutes by going through the same passage at-least 1-2 times.

4. Read the passage 1-2 times to grasp it well; only then you’ll be able to answer the question comfortably.

5. Read the questions one at a time and answer it immediately after. If you are not getting the answer, leave it to attempt it at a later stage, and go on the next question. As you have read the passage already you will get some idea of the location of material in the passage that answers the questions.

6. After doing all the questions of a particular passage read the left out questions carefully, they might be analytical in nature which requires the analysis of a certain part of the passage, and you might need to use your logical mind.

Cloze Test

1. In a question on CLOZE TEST we are given a text passage with some words missing; and we have to replace the missing words from the given options. For this one needs to have a strong command of grammar along with good vocabulary.

2. In order to fill in the missing words, we should read it slowly 1-2 times first without filling up the blanks. Certainly this will help us to develop an idea about the topic and figure out what the text is about.

3. Once we are known with that we should fill in only those blanks we are 100% sure of. This process will enable us to fill in the remaining blanks well.

4. A Cloze Test is a passage with sentences that are logically connected to each other, so we should keep it in mind that we must not treat each sentence individually while filling in the blanks. Instead we should think of logical connections that link up the sentences together.