SPI English · Free notes
Reading Comprehension: SPI English
Reading Comprehension has 18 questions in the SPI bank, on three passages, and eight of them come from one passage in the 2022 paper. Every question is answered from the passage alone, never from what you already know. The easy ones point at a single line. The hard ones ask what a line suggests, or offer 'None of these' and 'Cannot be said', and they are lost by students who answer from their memory of the story instead of going back to the words.
The handout has every subtopic, worked example, formula and trap with answers shown.
Subtopic notes
Finding Stated Facts
10 questionsMost passage questions are answered by one line of the passage. Find that line first, then pick the option that says what it says, no more and no less.
Inference and the Writer's Meaning
8 questionsSome questions ask what the passage suggests, or what the writer means by a line. The answer is one short step from the words, never a guess and never a fact from outside.
Formula & revision sheet
0 formulas · 12 gotchas across all subtopics — the exam-eve cheat-sheet
Formula & revision sheet
0 formulas · 12 gotchas across all subtopics — the exam-eve cheat-sheet
Watch out for (6)
- Half of the line→ Find the line before you choose
- Dropping a small word→ Find the line before you choose
- Answering from what you know→ Find the line before you choose
- Giving a group's words to another group→ Cut the options that nearly match
- Taking someone's reason for the problem→ Cut the options that nearly match
- A later result for the direct one→ Cut the options that nearly match
Watch out for (6)
- Cannot be said, chosen too early→ Stated, implied or not given
- All of these with one weak option→ Stated, implied or not given
- None of these when the right words are missing→ Stated, implied or not given
- Repeating the surface of the line→ What the writer means by a line
- Adding your own story→ What the writer means by a line
- Reading a feeling as giving up→ What the writer means by a line
Question weightage by concept
4 concepts · 18 questions — where the marks actually sit, so you know what to drill first
Question weightage by concept
4 concepts · 18 questions — where the marks actually sit, so you know what to drill first
| Concept | Qs | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Find the line before you choose | 5 | 28% |
| Cut the options that nearly match | 5 | 28% |
| Concept | Qs | Share |
|---|---|---|
| What the writer means by a line | 8 | 44% |
| Stated, implied or not givenfoundation | — | — |
Test yourself on a real paper
Sit a past SPI paper, timed and marked the way the exam marks it. You see your score and every answer the moment you finish. Free to start.