How to Score Well in Reading Comprehension?

What is Reading Comprehension?

Reading Comprehension is intended to test the reader’s ability to understand, interpret, and analyze texts on different topics and one’s own range of vocabulary.
Now I want to let you know 

• What is Reading?
• What is Comprehension? 

What is Reading?

• Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man – Francis Bacon, the famous essayist, has rightly observed in his well -known essay ‘Of Studies’. It is true that of all the four skills- listening, speaking, reading, and writing—reading is probably the most crucial skill. By all means, effective reading skills are vital for achieving success not only in one’s academic but also professional life. Do you know? A good reader becomes a good communicator as well. 
• Reading involves a number of processes. Basically, reading is a process of decoding printed words which the author encoded. In other words, ‘reading is the identification of written words’. 
• In the spoken media in face to face communication, if we have any doubt we stop the speaker and ask for an explanation. Similarly, when we have any difficulty in reading, we need to question the text. Even if, the writer is not available, the text is our only reference. Reading, therefore, may be described as an active interrogation of the text. 
• By all this, we understand, the message that a writer desires to convey does not merely lie in the text, enabling the reader to understand it passively or actively. So reading is an interactive process. In this process, one can establish a meaningful communication with the writer/author. 

Reasons for Reading

People do not read unless they have a reason for reading i.e. they have a need of some kind that can be satisfied through reading. Furthermore, in case of an effective reader, one’s reason for reading will also influence one’s style of reading.

Techniques /Style of Reading: 

1. Skimming
2. Scanning
3. Extensive
4. Intensive

some of the specific reading techniques for quick and efficient reading.

1. Skimming: 

means, we go through the reading material quickly in order to get the gist of it, to know how it is organized, or to get an idea of the tone or the intention of the writer.
For Eg: Gathering General Information from the text is -skimming.

2. Scanning: 

means we only try to locate specific information and often we do not even read the whole passage to do so. We simply let our eyes wander over the text until we find what we are looking for, whether it be a name, a date, or a less specific piece of information.
For Eg: Gathering solid information from the text is - scanning.

3. Extensive Reading: 

It is used to obtain a general understanding of a subject. It includes reading of longer texts for pleasure.
For Eg: reading a novel before going to bed is - extensive reading.

4. Intensive Reading: 

It is used to extract detailed information from shorter texts.
For Eg: Reading a textbook for understanding the concepts or theories is - intensive reading.

What is Comprehension :

• ‘ Comprehend ’ is to grasp something, to understand its nature or meaning. 
• Comprehension is basic to good reading, without it, reading loses its purpose. So to become a mature reader one must keep on improving one’s comprehension. 
• Every piece of writing contains one or more ideas, incidents or events in it. But there are differences between different types of writing. 

For Eg: 1. A narrative passage puts together several incidents in a sequence.

2. An expository piece of writing often brings together several arguments to support the main thesis. Now, I will explain to you What is the best way to attack the passage?

• First, read the article/passage with a comfortable speed. After you read the first screen, scroll through the rest of the passage at a steady pace. 
• Understanding of the language depends on an understanding of words, phrases, and sentences. 
• No one knows all the words in the language, but a good reader often takes help from the situation to arrive at the meanings of many unknown words. 
• Word for word reading slows you down and interferes with your comprehension. 
• Try to read in units of thought, grouping words into related phrases. 
• During your first reading, don’t worry about understanding or remembering details. You can come back and look for that information later. 
• Try to get a general idea of what each of the paragraphs is about and what the passage as a whole is about. 
• Never read a passage in a laid-back manner. Always attack it vigorously so as scavenge it thoroughly. 
• When you read a passage, keep asking yourself the question – what could be the reason for the author to have written this passage? What is it that the author is trying to tell me here? What could be the main concern of the author in writing the passage? 
• When you keep probing a passage thus, you are likely to push yourself to the core of the argument sooner or later. 
• You can also understand the central idea of a passage by thinking about a suitable title for the passage and making an effort to determine its tone as you read it. 

Finally, I want to conclude that reading a passage more than twice is not a time waste process. Why means, in the first reading we just read the words. In the second reading, our mind tries to understand what’s the content is. In the third reading only we are able to explain others or answer to those questions. So read the passage carefully when you come across in your competitive examinations and find out the suitable answers.