What Kinds of SSAT Reading Comprehension Questions Will Be Asked?
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What Kinds of Questions Will Be Asked?
The questions that follow each passage are in the standard multiple-choice format with either four (ISEE) or five (SSAT) answer choices. On high school entrance exams, the questions tend to fall into four categories. These questions ask you to do one of the following:
Identify the main idea or the author's purpose
Locate details that support the main idea
Define a word based on its meaning in the passage
Draw inferences from ideas in the passage
Other reading question types appear on both tests, but these four are the most common.
Main Idea
This type of question presents several titles or phrases and asks you to choose the one that best expresses the main idea of the passage. Main ideas often can be found in a topic sentence. Topic sentences usually appear in the first paragraph, as part of the introduction, or in the last paragraph, as a summary.
The social standing of a wife in colonial days was determined by the standing of her husband as well as by her own ability and resourcefulness. She married not only a husband but also a career. Her position in the community was established in part by the quality of the bread she baked, by the food she preserved for the winter's use, by the whiteness of her washing on the line, by the way her children were clothed, and by her skill in nursing. Doctors were scarce. In case of the illness or death of a neighbor, a woman would put aside her own work to help, and she was honored for what she could do.
Which title best expresses the main idea of this selection?
(A) "Care of Children in Colonial Times"
(B) "Community Spirit"
(C) "Medical Care in Pre-Revolutionary Times"
(D) "The Colonial Housewife"
The correct answer is (D). This selection describes the various homemaking duties a colonial woman was expected to perform.
Details
Details are the facts and ideas in a selection that explain and support the main idea.
There are many signs by which people predict the weather. Some of these have a true basis, but many have not. There is, for example, no evidence that it is more likely to storm during one phase of the moon than during another. If it happens to rain on Easter, there is no reason to think that it will rain for the next seven Sundays. The groundhog may or may not see his shadow on Groundhog Day, but it probably won't affect the weather anyway.
Which of the following is NOT listed as a predictive weather phenomenon?
(A) Rain on Easter
(B) The phases of the moon
(C) Pain in a person's joints
(D) The groundhog's shadow
The correct answer is (C). The other choices were mentioned in the passage.
Vocabulary
This type of question, sometimes called "words in context," asks you to choose a synonym for one of the words in the passage.
The maritime and fishing industries find perhaps 250 applications for rope and cordage. There are hundreds of different sizes, constructions, tensile strengths, and weights in rope and twine. Rope is sold by the pound but ordered by length and is measured by circumference rather than by diameter.
In this context, the word applications means
(A) uses.
(B) descriptions.
(C) sizes.
(D) types.
The correct answer is (A). Try it in the sentence in place of the word application: "Uses" makes sense in that context and keeps the meaning of the sentence intact.
Inference
An inference is a conclusion that is drawn from the details in a reading selection. The answer to an inferential question will not be found in the passage and is therefore the most difficult type of comprehension question to answer. You must read carefully and think logically in order to draw the correct conclusion from the information given.
The facts, as we see them, on drug use and the dangerous behaviors caused by drugs are that some people do get into trouble while using drugs, and some of those drug users are dangerous to others. Sometimes a drug is a necessary element in order for a person to commit a crime, although it may not be the cause of his or her criminality. On the other hand, the use of a drug sometimes seems to be the only convenient explanation by means of which the observer can account for the undesirable behavior.
The author apparently feels that
(A) the use of drugs always results in crime.
(B) drugs and crime are only sometimes related.
(C) the relationship of drug use to crime is purely coincidental.
(D) drugs are usually an element in accidents and suicides.
The correct answer is (B). The author states that drugs are sometimes a necessary element in a crime, but at other times is just an excuse for criminal behavior.