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Reading Strategies for the Proficiency Exam 1. Read with your pencil in hand and underline or circle key phrases as you read. The test booklet is yours. Write all over it if it helps you read and understand the selection better. 2. To determine what the key phrases might be, quickly skim the questions and when you see some of the same words while you are reading that you saw in the questions, underline them or put a checkmark at the end of the line where you saw them. 3. Read the selections in the order that you like the topic. If you really dislike reading about the humanities, but love science, read the science selection first—go for the ones that you’re most likely to do well on. Leave the ones you dislike for last—if you end up running out of time, just guess since you were less likely to do well on those selections anyway. 4. If you read the selections out of order, DO NOT GET MIXED UP WITH THE NUMBERING!!! 5. If you have trouble concentrating, read the selection by silently reading each word and moving your lips as you read. 6. Read with expression. 7. Read phrases or chunks at a time not word by word. 8. Turn questions that use “except” or “all but” into a positive. For example, if the question is something like, “The passage to refers to all of these EXCEPT. . .” , you need to change the question to “The passage does not refer to . . . “ 9. On difficult questions, cross out answers that you know are wrong so that you don’t spend any time re-reading them. 10. When in doubt, guess. Do NOT leave blanks. |