What do you think is the most prominent part of the English section in management entrance exams? Yes, you have guessed it right, it's Reading Comprehension. 

Reading comprehension questions are asked in almost every entrance test to evaluate your comprehension skills. They want to know whether you can comprehend what is given to you. 

When we talk about reading comprehension questions, we think about a passage of moderate length and four to five questions based on it. The questions following reading comprehension can be broadly categorized under three heads: direct questions, indirect questions, and contextual vocabulary questions.
Reading comprehension can be tough for some students. To help you, here are some superb tricks and techniques to solve IPMAT 2024 reading comprehension questions.

What are the different types of questions asked in reading comprehension? 

The questions following reading comprehension can be broadly categorized under three heads: direct questions, indirect questions, and contextual vocabulary questions.

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• In the direct questions, you will get the answer explicitly stated in the passage given in the question. 
• In the indirect questions, you will have to understand what the writer wants to tell you or what the scope of the passage is. 
• In the contextual vocabulary-based questions, you will be given the word and asked to give its synonym, antonym, or usage.

So let's find out how to deal with these types of questions and get the answers right, so read through the post to improve your comprehension skills.

Also read: When To Start Preparing For IPMAT

How to Solve Main Idea-Based RC questions?

Main Idea-based questions is the toughest because if you don't understand what the passage is about and what the writer thought when he wrote it, you will not be able to get the answer right.

• So for this one, you need to read the passage carefully before deciding on the right answer or eliminating answers.
• A good strategy to get the right answer to these types of questions is to read thoroughly, with a special focus on the first line of every paragraph, as, generally, the first line of every paragraph will tell you what the writer has to say.
• Because writers generally introduce the thought in the first line and then kind of just elaborates on that thought in the remaining lines by building on it. Let's look up some sample questions to better understand how to deal with these types of questions.

Example: Read the following passage and choose the answer closest to the question based on the passage.

As symbols of the freedom of the wilderness, bald eagles have the unique capacity to inspire people and foster in them a sympathetic attitude toward the needs of other threatened species. Clearly, without that sympathy and the political will it engenders, the needs of more obscure species will go unmet. The conservation needs of many obscure species can only be met by beginning with the conservation of this symbolic species, the bald eagle. 

(a) Because bald eagles symbolize freedom, conservation efforts should be concentrated on them rather than on other, more obscure species. 
(b) The conservation of bald eagles is the first necessary step in conserving other endangered species. 
(c) Without increased public sympathy for conservation, the needs of many symbolic species will go unmet. 
(d) People's love of the wilderness can be used to engender political support for conservation efforts. 
(e) Other threatened species do not inspire people or foster sympathy as much as bald eagles do.

Solution. Firstly, the writer talked about the bald eagle, which is a symbol of freedom in the wilderness, and then he mentions the sympathetic attitude it can inspire in people. He mentions that we should save all the species by beginning with the symbolic species. From the inference of the passage above, option B closely infers the writer's thoughts. Therefore, option B is the right answer.

How to solve RC Questions based on the Interpretation of tone?

In these types of questions, you must understand the choice of words. Generally, the first line will tell a lot about the writer's thought process. Try to understand the writer's emotions, whether the writer is annoyed, happy, or neutral, while stating some facts. This can help you decide which tone to select from the given options.
Let's look up sample questions to better understand how to deal with these types of questions. 

Example: Read the following passage and choose the answer closest to the question based on the passage.

Traditional values are changing. We are aping the west & making monkeys of ourselves. While Hollywood is extolling the history of their own people & making epic movies like 'Gangs of New York, 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' etc., Hollywood is busying itself with desperate attempts to make amateur 'American Teen' like movies & Hollywood flicks. While we concentrate on remixing songs & duplicating English videos, we are slowly stepping away from the path of originality & individuality. But while in the last generation, there was just plain following of western principles by the youth, there have been greater benefits. The youth today not only learn from the west, but they, like their great ancestors who built this nation, are combining this knowledge with our own culture & now, a time has come where the west is aping the east, Punjabi tunes, desi styles & Indian art has hit markets overseas & is making us known to the world. So while there is a change like I mentioned earlier, it isn't all for the worse.

The tone of the above extract is? 
(a) Critical but optimistic                              (c) Sympathetic & hopeful
(b) Denouncing & pessimistic                      (d) Critical & pessimistic.

Solution. 

The author started with a very negative tone, but the moment he wrote his part, he changed his tone by mentioning, “ But while in the last generation there was just plain following of western principles by the youth, now, there have been greater benefits. The youth today not only learn from the west, but they, like their great ancestors who built this nation, are combining this knowledge with our own culture & now a time has come where the west is aping the east”. He started on a negative note and ended on a positive note.  Therefore there is a combination of two tones; matching the inference tones with the given option and eliminating option a is the right option. 
How to solve contextual vocabulary-based questions?

Example: Read the following passage and choose the answer closest to the question based on the passage.

Our seemingly insatiable appetite for seafood delicacies like smoked salmon, king prawns, and grilled sea bass has inevitably contributed to a sharp reduction in ocean fish populations. As many commercial boats frequently returned to shore with empty nets, it became clear that supply was starting to run significantly short of an ever-increasing demand. But then came a potential solution in the form of a tried-and-true method of food production: farming. Today, while traditional ocean fisheries remain in decline, commercial fish farming is booming-and premium fish remain on menus worldwide. Ingenuity and flexible thinking made a seemingly doomed resource more sustainable.

The word "sharp" in paragraph most nearly means 
(a) piercing                                         (b) intense 
(c) abrupt                                            (d) appreciable

Solution:

The passage mentions the sharp reduction in the fish population due to ever-increasing demand. Appreciable is the suitable option; hence option d is the correct choice. 
How to solve RC Inference based questions? 
The best way to solve these types of questions is to focus on the writer's emotions. To better understand how to deal with these types of questions, let's look up sample questions.

Example: Read the following passage and choose the answer that is closest to the question that is based on the passage.

One New York publisher has estimated that 50,000 to 60,000 people in the United States want an anthology that includes the complete works of William Shakespeare. And what accounts for this renewed interest in Shakespeare? Scholars point out that the psychological insights he portrays in both male and female characters are amazing even today.

This paragraph best supports the statement that 

(a) Shakespeare's characters are more interesting than fictional characters today. 
(b) people today are interested in Shakespeare's work because of the characters. 
(c) academic scholars are putting together an anthology of Shakespeare's work. 
(d) New Yorkers have a renewed interest in the work of Shakespeare. 
(e) Shakespeare was a psychiatrist as well as a playwright.

Solution. 
The writer has given us a statistic about how many people want an anthology of Shakespeare's work and has also justified the statistic with a reason.  Now eliminating the options. 

(a) Shakespeare's characters are more interesting than fictional characters today.
This cannot be the right answer as the passage doesn't discuss fictional characters.

(b) people today are interested in Shakespeare's work because of the characters. 
It can be the right choice.

(c) academic scholars are putting together an anthology of Shakespeare's work. 
The passage mentions that people want an anthology but doesn’t mention whether scholars have started working on it or not. Therefore it cannot be the right choice

(d) New Yorkers have a renewed interest in the work of Shakespeare. 
The para mentions that one New York publisher has estimated the number of Interested people in the U.S., and there isn't any direct reference to the people of New York. Therefore, it cannot be the right answer. 

(e) Shakespeare was a psychiatrist as well as a playwright.

As the author doesn't mention anything about Shakespeare's profession, this can’t be the right choice. Therefore option b is the right choice. 

How to solve All and Except types of questions?

Here out of the four options, three will point in one direction, and one will be different from the other three. Therefore, we must find the odd sentence out of the given answer choices. Something that is not given in the passage but is provided as an option or is distorted is odd. Go through the example below to understand better.

Also read: Topper's Tips to Crack IPMAT

Example: Read the following passage and choose the answer that is closest to the question that is based on the passage.

It has been suggested that the ants of each nest have some sign or password by which they recognize one another. To test this, I made some of them insensible, first I tried chloroform, but this was fatal to them, and I do not consider the test satisfactory. I decided to intoxicate them. This was less easy than I had expected. None of my ants would voluntarily degrade themselves by getting drunk. However, I got over the difficulty by putting them into whisky for a few moments. I took fifty specimens-25, per cent from one nest and 25 per cent from another, made them dead drunk, marked each with a spot of paint, and put them on a table close to where other ants from one of the nests were feeding. The table was surrounded as usual with a moat of water to prevent them from straying. The ants, which were feeding, soon noticed those which I had made drunk. They seemed quite astonished to find their comrades in such a disgraceful condition and as much at a loss to know what to do with their drunkards as we were. After a while, however, they carried them all away; the strangers they took to the edge of the moat and dropped into the water while they bore their friends home in the nest, where by degrees, they slept off the effects of the spirits. Thus it is evident that they know their friends even when incapable of giving any sign or password. 

The author's anecdotes of the inebriated ants would support all the following inductions except the statement that: 
(a) ants take unwillingly to intoxicants. 
(b) ants aid comrades in distress. 
(c) ants have invariable recognition of their community members. 
(d) ants recognize their comrades by a mysterious password.

Solution. The correct option is (d)

Important Reading Comprehension Questions for IPMAT 2024

(Q.1 - 5) Read the following passage and choose the answer closest to each of the questions based on the passage.

Mountaineering is now looked upon as the king of sports. But men have lived amongst the mountains since prehistoric times, and in some parts of the world, as in the Andes and Himalayas, difficult mountain journeys have inevitably been part of their everyday life. However, some of the peaks were easily accessible from most of the cities of Europe. It is quite interesting that while modem mountaineers preferred difficult routes for the greater enjoyment of the sport, the early climbers looked for the easiest ones, for the summit was the prize they all set their eyes on. Popular interest in mountaineering increased considerably after the ascent of the Alpine peak Of Matterhorn in 1865 and Edward Whimpers' dramatic account of the climb and the fatal accident which occurred during the descent. In the risky sport of mountaineering, the element of competition between individuals or teams is totally absent. Rather one can say that the competition is between the team and the peaks themselves. The individuals making up a party must climb together as a team, for they depend upon one another for their safety. Mountaineering can be dangerous unless reasonable precautions are taken. However, the majority of fatal accidents happen to parties which are inexperienced or not properly equipped. Since many accidents are caused by bad weather. The safe climber is the man who knows when it is time to turn back, however tempting it may be to press on and try to reach the summit.

Q1. Mountaineering is different from other sports because 
a. It can be fatal 
b. It is risky and dangerous 
c. It is most thrilling and exciting, and there is no competition between individuals 
d. None of the above

Q2. People living in the Andes and the Himalayas made mountain journeys because 
a. They lived in prehistoric times. 
b. Of the challenge offered by the difficult journey 
c. It was a kind of sport 
d. they had to undertake them in their day-to-day life

Q3. Mountaineers climb as tears because 
a. There is no competition between them 
b. The competition is between the team and the peak 
c. The height is too much for one individual 
d. They have to rely on each other for safety

Q4.“___ the summit was the prize they all set their eyes on”. In the context of the passage, this means 
a. They kept their eyes steadily on reaching the peak 
b. Reaching the top was their exclusive concern 
c. They chose a route from which they could see the summit clearly 
d. They cared for nothing but the prize of reaching the summit

Q5. "to press on" in the last sentence means 
a. To force upon others 
b. To struggle in a forceful manner 
c. To continue in a determined manner 
d. To work fearlessly

(Q.6 - 9) Read the following passage and choose the answer closest to each of the questions based on the passage.

The villager has customarily been very conservative in his attitude and approach. He is reluctant to change his traditional way of thinking and doing things. His attitude, in many respects, is: 'home-made is best'. For instance, most cattle farmers in the villages prefer to feed their cows and buffaloes with a home-mix composed of local oil-cakes like mustard or cottonseed, pulses, jaggery, salt, etc. It takes numerous visits, hard-convincing, daily trials and experiments to convince the rural cattle farmer that compound feeds, scientifically formulated, improve the yields of milk without any incremental costs. The age-old values and attitudes towards caste, creed, women, time and money take time to change. The villager has traditionally been a believer in the philosophy of 'karma' or 'fate'. He has found it more convenient to blame his economic destitution, poor living conditions and straitened social status on 'bhagya', 'karma' or 'fate'. The security that the villagers find in the 'status quo', acts as a disincentive to change and experiment in the short run. Many of these antiquated attitudes, value-systems and outlooks are changing, due to improved levels of awareness and education. However, the rate of change is sluggish. Attitudes that have fossilized over the centuries do take time to change. 

Q6. When will you call a person conservative in his attitude and approach? 
a. When he would like to try out every new idea before accepting it 
b. When he sticks to old ways of thinking and doing 
c. When he solves his problems through tried out methods 
d. When he imputes motives to change-agents

Q7. Which of the following is not the usual reason offered by an average Indian villager for his poverty? 
a. It is his destiny 
b. It is because of his resistance to new ideas 
c. It is God's will 
d. It is a result of some of his bad deeds committed in this or the previous birth

08. What is the best method to convince the average Indian villager about the superiority of a new cattle-feed? 
a. Home visits                                         b. Field demonstration 
c. Discussion                                          d. Distribution of related literature

Q9. What does the phrase "home-made is best" imply? 
a. Whatever being practised is better than what is new 
b. The best should not be discarded. 
c. Change for the sake of change is not good 
d. People should go in for Swadeshi because it is home-made

Also read: IPMAT Books 2024 [Indore & Rohtak]

Previous year Reading Comprehension questions

Directions Q1 - 4: Read the following passage and choose the answer closest to each of the questions based on the passage. (IPMAT Indore 2019)

The perennial debate over gender differences threatens to remain inconclusive. Stereotypes pertaining to male superiority and female submissiveness could be traced to earlier ages when assigned roles were needed as survival measures. But, can we today see a swing away from these stereotypes, or have they established a stranglehold on our perceptions? In this gendered world, we continue to live with notions that one's gender determines one's skills and preferences, from toys and colours to career choices. So the girl child will be presented with a Barbie doll, while the boy child will receive a Lego set. Does that mean that our brains are different? This myth has been exploded by a British professor of cognitive neuroimaging. Her research attempts to establish how these stereotypes mould our ideas of ourselves. She examines how science has been misinterpreted or misused to ask the wrong questions instead of challenging the status quo. She urges us to move beyond a binary view of people's brains and instead see these as highly individualized, profoundly adaptable, and full of unbounded potential. Her conclusive findings establish that no brain differences can be found that are solely gender-related. In other words, modern neuroscientists have identified no decisive category-defining differences between the brains of men and women. As a result of these findings, we owe it to ourselves to dump the myths and look at ourselves afresh. We need to recognise that the male and female brain debate is a distraction, besides being based on inaccuracies. It is possibly harmful, too, because it can be used as a hook to justify saying there is no point in girls doing science because they do not have a science brain; or compelling boys to opt for science because their brains are shaped for that subject. It can also condemn boys for being emotional, as this is seen as a feminine trait. And, most dangerous of all, to proclaim that boys, not girls, are meant to lead.

Q 1. The research of a British professor of cognitive neuroimaging has succeeded in establishing that (IPMAT Indore 2019)
(a) the brains of men and women are alike. 
(b) science needs to challenge the status quo. 
(c) society must break away from attempts at stereotyping gender issues. 
(d) the potential of a human brain is not directly linked to gender. 

Q 2. By referring to the world as “gendered, the writer wants to convey that (IPMAT Indore 2019)
(a) gender differences can be detected right from childhood. 
(b) society continues to be fixated on gender stereotypes. 
(c) one's gender is bound to determine one's abilities. 
(d) the debate on gender differences will never be resolved.

Q 3. One of the dangers in adopting a binary view of the human brain is that it can (IPMAT Indore 2019)
(a) promote the notion of feminine and masculine traits. 
(b) determine as well as limit academic choices. 
(c) lead to the distortion and misinterpretation of scientific data 
(d) being used to encourage male dominance and superiority. 

Q 4. The writer of this passage wants to emphasize the need to (IPMAT Indore 2019)
(a) use new insights provided by scientific research for a better understanding of human abilities. 
(b) continuously debate issues of gender differences to achieve human progress. 
(c) question the findings of scientific inquiry into the functioning of the human brain. 
(d) accept gender differences as essential to the survival of the human species.

Directions Q 5- 8: Read the following passage and choose the answer closest to each of the questions based on the passage. (IPM AT 2021)

From ancient Rome up to the Victorian era, training in logic and rhetoric was meant to help privileged young men recognise spurious arguments and facts. Times have changed, but contemporary Italy is determined that its youth are prepared, as their ancient counterparts were, to engage meaningfully with the present-day version of the Forum — social media. At the end of October, 8,000 Italian schools will teach their students how to spot fake news through a programme developed with the help of journalists as well as tech giants Google and Facebook In Israel, the University of Haifa is launching a course titled "Fake News”. The purpose of these courses is to ensure that public debate, particularly during election campaigns, is not hijacked by vested interests. Since the US presidential election in 2016, the spectre of Russia and its use of online propaganda has loomed large over public discourse in the West. In other parts of the world, too, doctored images and blatant lies have been published by "news" websites. Given the speed with which information is shared online, the damage is already done by the time a fake story is exposed. The voters of tomorrow certainly need to be armed with the ability to sift bare facts from motivated fiction. The effects of social media on the formation of opinion, however, go far beyond fake news. Traditional or legacy media is ordered by a need for balance. A newspaper, for example, has sections that deal with politics, crime, sports, the arts, et al. There is, at least in principle, an attempt to tell both sides of a story in each report. On social media, the only editor is the user herself. Algorithms ensure that people see more of what they "like", and that biases are reinforced rather than countered. Fake news is certainly a crucial aspect of online propaganda. But for young citizens to form opinions based on multiple viewpoints, they need to consciously seek out more than they are comfortable with. 

Q 5. The writer of the passage suggests that (IPM AT 2021)

a) the purpose of education in early times was very different from what it is now. 
b) there are similarities in the aims of education in early times and those of today. 
c) the purpose of education in early times was to help students attain a position of privilege. 
d) as times have changed, the basis of education has expanded. 

Q 6. The passage points out that an important difference between traditional media and social media is that (IPM AT 2021)
a) social media reaches more people
b) traditional media tries to present different points of view
c) social media is more balanced in its reports. 
d) it is easier to spread fake stories through traditional media.

Q 7. Social media is dangerous in its ability to influence the opinion of readers (IPM AT 2021)
a) its choice of news items which are presented. 
b) its balanced reporting of wide-ranging stories. 
c) its ability to guide the reader to motivated conclusions
d) the creation of interest by using dubious facts.

Q 8. The writer of the passage calls social media 'the present-day version of the Roman Forum' because it is a space for (IPM AT 2021)
a) carrying out political propaganda. 
b) discussing ideas. 
c) nurturing political ambitions. 
d) spreading spurious arguments.

Q 9. Read the following excerpt and answer the questions that follow: (DU JAT 2020)

The new school of political history that emerged in the 1960’s and 1970’s sought to go beyond the traditional focus of political historians on leaders and government institutions by directly examining the political practices of ordinary citizens. Like the old approach, however, this new approach excluded women. The very techniques these historians used to uncover mass political behaviour in the nineteenth‐century United States – quantitative analyses of election returns, for example – were useless in analyzing the political activities of women, who were denied the vote until 1920. By redefining “political activity,” historian, Paula Baker has developed a political history that includes women. She concludes that among ordinary citizens, political activism by women in the nineteenth century prefigured trends in twentieth‐century politics. Defining “politics” as “any action taken to affect the course of behaviour of government or of the community,” Baker concludes that, while voting and holding office were restricted to men, women in the nineteenth century organized themselves into societies committed to social issues such as temperance and poverty. In other words, Baker contends, women activists were early practitioners of nonpartisan, issue‐oriented politics and thus were more interested in enlisting lawmakers, regardless of their party affiliation, on behalf of certain issues than in ensuring that one party or another won an election. In the twentieth century, more men drew closer to women’s ideas about politics and took up modes of issue-oriented politics that Baker sees women as having pioneered. 

Q 9. The primary purpose of the passage is to (DU JAT 2020)
A. Enumerate the reason why both traditional scholarly methods and newer scholarly methods have limitations. 
B. Identify a shortcoming in a scholarly approach and describe an alternative approach. 
C. Provide empirical data to support a long‐held scholarly assumption. 
D. Compare two scholarly publications on the basis of their authors’ backgrounds.