CDS English · Reading Comprehension
Reading a CDS Passage: Finding the Line
Most passage questions are answered by one line of the passage. Read the passage once for its plan, then let each question send you back to the right line.
Why this matters
Reading comprehension is a large part of every CDS English paper, and each passage question carries the same marks as a grammar item. Students lose time by reading the passage again and again, and lose marks by answering from memory. A fixed routine fixes both: one steady read for the plan, then one exact line for each question.
Concept 1 of 3: Map the passage first: openings, signposts, closings
You cannot remember a whole passage, and you do not need to. You need a map: what each paragraph is about and where the writer turns. With the map in your head, every question points you to one place, and you read only that place again.
Definition
The terms:
- Passage map: a three- or four-word label in your head for each paragraph, saying what it is about.
- Signpost: a word that marks a turn or a new step: first, then, a third issue, however, but, for example, in short.
- Opening and closing lines: the first line of a paragraph usually names its subject. The last lines of the passage often give the writer's final point.
The method, under time:
- Glance at the question stems first, not the options. Note the names, words and ideas they ask about.
- Read the passage once, at a steady pace. Do not stop on a hard word; its own question will bring you back.
- After each paragraph, give it a short label: 'how the town began', 'too many visitors', 'the council's plan'.
- Notice the signposts as you pass them. 'However' turns the argument. 'A third issue' tells you that two came before.
- Now answer. A question that asks 'in which paragraph' or 'what is the third issue' is answered from the map.
- Never answer from memory of the passage. Go back to the line every time.
Worked example
Paragraph 1: The hill town was built as a summer retreat. Its cool air drew officials away from the heat of the plains. Paragraph 2: Today the town receives far more visitors than it was built for. However, its springs have not grown with it, and the taps run dry by May. Paragraph 3: The council now plans a pipeline from a distant river. Critics say the money would be better spent on storing rain. In which paragraph does the writer explain why the town is short of water? (a) Paragraph 1 (b) Paragraph 2 (c) Paragraph 3 (d) None of them
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2017 · CDS (II) 2017 — English · Q62Moderate
Example 1 · Reading Comprehension · Locating the Answer Line
Directions: In this section you have few short passages. After each passage, you will find some items based on the passage. First, read a passage and answer the items based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and opinion of the author only.
Passage
According to the civil laws of most countries obedience is no longer the duty of a wife; every woman has the political right to vote; but these liberties remain theoretical as long as she does not have economic freedom. A woman supported by a man is not liberated from the male. It is through gainful employment that woman has travelled most of the distance that separated her from the male; and nothing else can guarantee her liberty in practice.
I once heard a maidservant declare, while cleaning the stone floor of a hotel lobby, “I never asked anybody for anything; I succeeded all by myself.” She was as proud of her self-sufficiency as a Rockefeller, Ford or Birla.
However, the mere combination of the right to vote and a job does not mean complete liberation : working, today, is not a liberty.
A recent study of women workers in a car factory shows that they would prefer to stay in the home rather than work in the factory. The majority of women do not escape from the traditional feminine world. Their jobs at the factory do not relieve them of housekeeping burdens; they get from neither society nor their husbands, the assistance they need to become in concrete fact the equals of men.
In which paragraph does the writer say that it is revealed that some women would not like to work in the factory?
Answering from memory
After one read, a passage feels clear, and the option that 'sounds like the passage' looks right. But memory blends paragraphs and drops small words. Go back to the line before you mark an answer, even when you feel sure.
Skipping a short paragraph when counting
When a question asks 'in which paragraph', count every paragraph on the page, including one made of a single quoted remark. A one- or two-line paragraph is easy to miss, and then every later paragraph gets the wrong number.
Reading the options before the passage
Four options tell four stories, and three of them are false. Read them first and you carry false ideas into the passage. Read the stems, then the passage, then the options.
Counting sentences instead of following the signpost
In a passage on climate talks, the writer lists objections without numbering them, then says 'A third issue is whether a share of the revenue ... will go toward the UN's Adaptation Fund.' The question on 'the third issue' is answered by the sentence the signpost opens, not by counting sentences from the top.
Concept 2 of 3: Scan for the anchor word, then read the whole sentence
Each question carries a word that also sits in the passage: a name, a thing, an unusual noun. That word is your anchor. Scan for it, land on its sentence, and read the whole sentence before you look at the options.
Definition
The terms:
- Anchor word: a word in the question stem that also appears in the passage, or a close synonym of it.
- Scanning: moving the eye quickly over the passage to find one word, without reading the rest.
The method:
- Pick the rarest word in the stem: a name, a number, an unusual noun. Common words such as 'people' or 'life' appear everywhere.
- Scan for it. If it is not there, scan for a synonym: the stem may say 'growth' where the passage says 'progress'.
- Read the whole sentence that holds the anchor, and the sentence after it. The answer is often in the second half, after a comma, 'but' or 'for'.
- Put the line in your own words, then find the option that says the same.
- If the anchor appears in two places, read both before you choose.
Worked example
The old fort was repaired in 1990. Its walls were cleaned and painted, but the wooden gates were left untouched, and rain has since rotted them badly. Visitors now enter through a side door. What has happened to the fort's gates? (a) They were cleaned in 1990 (b) They were replaced (c) Rain has damaged them (d) Visitors use them every day
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2017 · CDS (II) 2017 — English · Q58Moderate
Example 2 · Reading Comprehension · Locating the Answer Line
Directions: In this section you have few short passages. After each passage, you will find some items based on the passage. First, read a passage and answer the items based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and opinion of the author only.
Passage
In its simple form, science has helped man to protect himself from Nature and to overcome natural obstacles to movement. But with the advance of science, a situation has arisen in which Nature need to be protected from man. He has used Nature’s own gifts, not only of metal but even the human brain, to attack Nature. Forests are being destroyed not only to satisfy need but to provide luxuries. The evil effects of deforestation are already making themselves clearly felt in climatic changes and soil erosion. Man has at last begun to learn that he has to protect if he wants Nature to protect him.
The evil effect of destroying Nature instead of using it is seen in
Stopping at the anchor clause
A passage says new ideologies and power structures were created 'to coerce or otherwise convince large groups of people to devote their time to the new tasks for very little reward'. A reader who stops at 'convince large groups of people' may pick 'very high rewards'. The end of the sentence says the opposite.
Missing a synonym anchor
The stem asks what affects 'economic growth'; the passage speaks of 'economic progress'. Scanning for 'growth' finds nothing, and the student decides the passage is silent. If the anchor is missing, scan for its synonym.
Anchoring on a common word
Words like 'people', 'world' or 'author' appear in many lines, so scanning for them sends you to the wrong place. Choose the most unusual word in the stem: a name, a number, a technical term.
Concept 3 of 3: Names, numbers and lists: tie each detail to its owner
Some passages are lists: four animals, three leaders, two dates. The options then mix the details up and give one owner's habit to another. Tie every detail to its owner as you read, and copy numbers exactly.
Definition
The terms:
- Owner: the person, thing or group a detail belongs to.
- Swapped detail: an option that takes a true detail from the passage and gives it to the wrong owner.
The method:
- When a passage lists several people or things, note each one with its key detail as you read: 'A builds, B coats, C hides'.
- Find the owner the question names, and read only that owner's sentence.
- For a 'which two' question, test each name in the option against the passage, one by one. One wrong name makes the option wrong.
- Copy numbers exactly: 30 is not 300, and 'three or four hours' is not 'one hour'.
- Dates BC count backwards from year 1. To turn a BC date into 'years ago', add the years since then: 1000 BC was about 3,000 years ago.
Worked example
Three cadets went to the inter-academy meet. Arjun ran the long-distance race and finished second. Kabir, the strongest of the three, threw the javelin. Ravi had hurt his ankle, so he only kept the score. Which cadets took part in an event? (a) Arjun and Ravi (b) Arjun and Kabir (c) Kabir and Ravi (d) All three
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2018 · CDS (I) 2018 — English · Q57Easy
Example 3 · Reading Comprehension · Locating the Answer Line
Directions: In this section you have few short passages. After each passage, you will find some items based on the passage. First, read a passage and answer the items based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and opinion of the author only.
Passage
To eat and not be eaten – that’s the imperative of a caterpillar’s existence. The leaf roller reduces its risks of being picked off by predators by silking together a temporary shelter in which to feed and rest. Adopting a different line of defense, the jelly slug extrudes a sticky translucent coating that may foul the mouth-parts of marauding ants. For its part, the aquatic larva, by its watery element, fashions a portable hideout from fragments of aquatic leaves. Cutting a serpentine trail as it feeds on tender young leaves, the minute citrus leaf miner spends its entire larval life inside its host plant, thus keeping its appetizing body safely under wraps.
Which one of the following caterpillars produces a sticky covering?
The owner who seems natural
In a passage on Zimbabwe, the old guard backs Mr Mnangagwa, while 'Generation 40', a group of younger leaders, supports Mr Mugabe's wife, Grace. Asked who supports Mrs Mugabe, many pick 'Mr Mugabe', the obvious owner. The passage names Generation 40.
Reading BC dates as 'years ago'
The potato was domesticated 'sometime between 5000 and 2000 BC'. That is about 7,000 to 4,000 years ago, not 'two to five thousand years ago'. Add the years since year 1 before you compare.
Changing a number or a time
The evening meal 'should be light, taken three or four hours before retiring', and retiring here means going to bed. Options such as 'just before sleeping' or 'an hour after sunset' change the time. Copy the figure from the line.
Summary — formulas & gotchas at a glance
A revision cheat-sheet for the formulas and gotchas above. Click any concept name to jump back to its full explanation.
Watch out for (10)
- Answering from memory→ Map the passage first: openings, signposts, closings
- Skipping a short paragraph when counting→ Map the passage first: openings, signposts, closings
- Reading the options before the passage→ Map the passage first: openings, signposts, closings
- Counting sentences instead of following the signpost→ Map the passage first: openings, signposts, closings
- Stopping at the anchor clause→ Scan for the anchor word, then read the whole sentence
- Missing a synonym anchor→ Scan for the anchor word, then read the whole sentence
- Anchoring on a common word→ Scan for the anchor word, then read the whole sentence
- The owner who seems natural→ Names, numbers and lists: tie each detail to its owner
- Reading BC dates as 'years ago'→ Names, numbers and lists: tie each detail to its owner
- Changing a number or a time→ Names, numbers and lists: tie each detail to its owner
Test yourself on Reading Comprehension
25 past CDS questions from this chapter, timed at 25 minutes and marked the way the exam marks it. You see your score and every answer the moment you finish. Free to start.