eng5-R1· Reading· ~15 min

Reading: About Me & Global Students

Read short profiles and forum posts about students around the world.

Reading comprehension means understanding a text. You need to find the main idea (what it is mostly about), specific details (facts and numbers), and guess the meaning of new words from context. For short texts about people, pay attention to names, countries, ages, likes and dislikes, and family members.

Key terms

main ideawhat the whole text is mostly about
detaila small fact or piece of information found in the text
skimto read quickly to understand the general meaning
scanto search for a specific word, number, or fact in the text
contextthe words and sentences around a word that help explain its meaning
inferencea conclusion you make using clues from the text
Reading Strategies for Short Texts
StrategyWhat It MeansWhen to Use It
SkimRead quickly to get the main ideaBefore looking at the questions
ScanLook for key words to find detailsWhen a question asks for a fact or number
Use contextLook at the words around an unknown wordWhen you find a new or difficult word
InferMake a smart guess from clues in the textWhen the answer is not directly written

Four strategies to help you read and answer questions better.

How to Answer a Main Idea Question
  1. 1Step 1: Read the whole passage once without stopping.
  2. 2Step 2: Ask yourself: 'What is this mostly about?'
  3. 3Step 3: Look at the choices and cross out the ones that are too small (only one detail).
  4. 4Step 4: Choose the answer that covers the whole text.
🚫Common mistake

Many students read the questions first and look for the answer word by word. This often leads to wrong answers because you miss the full meaning. Always read the whole passage first.

💡Note

The answer to every question is somewhere in the text. If you cannot find it, read the passage again slowly.

⚠️Caution

Do not use your own knowledge from outside the passage. Only the information in the text can help you answer correctly.

Rules

  1. 1Read the whole text first before looking at the questions.
  2. 2Look for key words like names, ages, countries, and hobbies.
  3. 3Every answer can be found in the text — no guessing.
  4. 4If you do not know a word, use the words around it to understand.
  5. 5Read all four choices before picking the correct one.
  6. 6For main idea questions, think: what is the text mostly about?

Practice

4 easy · 4 medium · 4 hard

10 random questions per test