CHAPTER 6
Read, Comprehend, Conquer

Believe it or not, as a nurse, you will be doing quite a bit of reading. Whether it’s reading a patient’s chart, brushing up on procedures and protocol, or studying to expand your skills, your ability to understand and analyze the information that you read needs to be strong. Mistakes due to misinterpretation or misunderstanding written information can result in serious consequences for patients.

That’s why every nursing school entrance exam has a reading comprehension section, which is about way more than just reading little passages and answering questions. This section is about how you think and communicate. How you do on this portion of the test will tell the program’s admissions people if you have a basic level of ability to complete the program.

This chapter introduces you to what you can expect to see on this section of most nursing school entrance exams, how to approach each type of question, and how to make getting through this section of the exam as painless as possible. If reading comprehension has never been a strong subject for you, this chapter will definitely help you out.

What to Expect

As we said earlier, reading comprehension gives insight into your communication skills. So how does reading boring little paragraphs and answering questions tell anyone how you communicate? It’s all about analysis. Reading comprehension tests gauge your ability to effectively take in information, process it, and make decisions based on what you’ve read. When you get the correct answer, you show that you can do this effectively.

On most tests, you can expect to see a series of unrelated short passages ranging from one to eight paragraphs. After each passage, you’ll find questions that are based on the information in the preceding passage. The tasks that these questions ask you to do usually fall into a handful of categories (covered in detail later in this chapter). These include identifying the main idea, making inferences based on information given, predicting what comes next, defining a word based on context, and identifying/analyzing specific details.

While the majority of nursing school entrance exams take the same general approach to reading comprehension, the ATI TEAS likes to mix it up a little. On this exam you may encounter passages that give you a set of instructions to draw something. Using your scratch paper, you’ll follow the directions and then choose the answer choice that most closely resembles what you drew. This tests you on your ability to accurately follow directions and visualize what needs to be done in your head.

Another type of question you may find on the ATI TEAS reading comprehension section involves deriving information from a table, a chart, or an image. The question asks you to identify certain information based on the item they give you to examine. This tests your analytical and reasoning skills as much as your ability to follow directions. (We cover charts in Chapter 7.)

Be prepared to see a variety of types of writing on the test—anything from journal entries and personal letters to dialogue between two or more people, maps and figures, advertisements, and more.

Because the majority of the reading comprehension questions on these exams center on the more traditional model of passage/question/answer, these are the tips focused on in this chapter. For the other types of questions, there’s not much more you can do to prepare than simply practice.

So let’s get down to it. When you’re approaching a reading comprehension test, some simple tweaks to your general approach will save you time and brainpower:

1. Read the question first, not the passage. There are several different types of questions, which we’ll detail later in this chapter. If you know what type of question you’re dealing with, you’ll know what to look for in the passage—which can save you a bunch of time. For example, if you have a question that asks you what a word means in a particular sentence, you only have to read enough to figure out how it’s used in that one instance. Also, make sure you read through the answer choices and understand what they mean.
2. Read as little of the passage as possible. Contrary to what you may have been taught about reading comprehension tests, you don’t have to read the whole passage (which is often designed to be dry and boring, making it harder to get through) to get the right answers.

   The type of question you need to answer will determine how much of the passage you need to read. For main idea questions, you will likely have to read the whole passage. However, for a specific detail question, you can scan quickly for key words that can lead you to where the answer is in the passage. Analyze the information and answer the question in your own words.

3. Answer and eliminate. Once you have an answer in your head, eliminate answer choices that don’t match up with your original thought. When you read through the answer choices, they may be wordy or complicated. Look for answers that are backed up directly with information from the passage. Get rid of answer choices that are not supported by a specific phrase or sentence in the passage.

Now, let’s take a look at some of the types of questions you’ll see on a reading comprehension test.

Main Idea

Very often you’ll be asked to identify the overall point of a passage. There really isn’t a shortcut with this type of question, other than skimming through the passage to get a sense of what it’s about. But we don’t suggest doing that because very often, paragraphs in this section talk about one thing at the beginning and then transition into something else by the end. Skimming can lead you to a false conclusion about the passage’s purpose.

Should you choose to skim, watch out for transitional words, like but or however in the middle of a passage. If you see them there, it’s a good bet that the content of what’s being said is about to change, and what follows may be the point the author’s trying to make.

Treatment plan:

1. Your best bet with main idea questions is simply to read carefully, make notes about what you’re reading if you can, and use the format to your advantage. Most passages have a predictable format, and somewhere there’s some kind of topic sentence that states or implies the point of the passage. The rest of the sentences give details or support for that point. Your job is to find that sentence.
2. Look for sentences that explain what the passage is about, rather than how or why something is what it is. These can appear anywhere in the passage. They often are the first or last sentence but can also come in toward the middle.

Purpose

This is a variation on the main idea question. You’re not looking for what the passage is about, but what the speaker hopes to accomplish. Some purposes of a passage can be to …

B Inform the reader about something.

B Show or explain a process.

B Educate or instruct.

B Persuade.

B State an opinion or position.

B Reason something out.

B Tell a story.

Treatment plan:

1. Figure out what the main idea of the passage is.
2. Ask yourself why the speaker would try to communicate this message. What is he or she hoping to accomplish?
3. Eliminate answer choices that don’t match your idea.

Tone

As discussed in Chapter 5, words can have more to their meaning than what’s written in the dictionary. They also can evoke a feeling in the person communicating them and the person receiving the message.

On reading comprehension tests, sometimes you’ll be asked to figure out what feelings the speaker in a passage is trying to communicate through their words. This is called tone. When you have a tone question, pay close attention to the language in the passage and the impression you get based on what’s said.

Read the following passage:

College is so not what I thought it would be. I figured living away from home, away from my parents’ restrictions would mean more freedom and lots of time to party. But living in the dorms is tough. My roommate is up all night on his computer and his radio blasting the whole time. I never get any sleep and am always late to my 8 A.M. classes. When I’m there, I start to doze and miss half of the lecture, which makes doing the homework so much harder. I’m spending all of my free time in the library trying to catch up, while my roommate is the one who’s partying and having a good time. Who knew being on my own would be so much work?

What kind of vibe do you get from reading this paragraph? Frustrated, shocked, annoyed, and exasperated are all good answers. The fact that the speaker is complaining in every sentence and everything he’s saying is negative gives us a clue to what he’s feeling.

Treatment plan:

1. Look at the language that’s being used, punctuation, and context clues in the passage.
2. Determine if the speaker in the passage is excited, somber, apprehensive, happy, etc.
3. Eliminate answer choices that don’t match.

Try it out here:

The tone of this passage can best be described as

1. (A) reminiscent.
2. (B) argumentative.
3. (C) mysterious.
4. (D) exasperated.

“Reminiscent” means that you’re remembering something fondly, which doesn’t really apply here because the passage takes place in present tense—and there is no fondness anywhere. “Argumentative” doesn’t work because there isn’t a point being made; he may be complaining about his circumstances, but there’s no argument being made. “Mysterious” just doesn’t make sense for this passage. This leaves “exasperated,” which means to be frustrated or at your wits’ end. Answer D fits best.

Unfortunately, like main idea questions, you’ll have to read the whole passage for tone questions, too. Vocabulary will also play a key role with this type of question, because many of the answer choices may be more sophisticated than what you’d use every day. Be sure to check out our vocabulary-building tips in Chapter 5.

Specific Details

As the name suggests, this type of question asks you to find a specific piece of information in the passage. The beauty of this type of question is that the answers are right in the passage, and often, language similar to what’s written in the passage will be used in the question. Knowing this will save you time if you use the general approach outlined earlier in this chapter.

Treatment plan:

1. Read and determine what information the question is asking you to find.
2. Skim the passage to determine where the information you need is located. Read just enough to answer the question in your own words.
3. Eliminate answer choices that don’t match your answer.

Give it a try:

A census provides comprehensive data about

1. (A) job rates.
2. (B) electoral votes.
3. (C) the population.
4. (D) market trends.

The question is asking you to look for a word that has something to do with “comprehensive data.” Now skim the passage for those words and see what you find:

The U.S. Constitution mandates that the federal government take a national census every ten years. The data is used to calculate how many congressional seats need to be appointed per state, the number of electoral votes each state gets, and determine state and municipal funding. Census data also gives comprehensive demographic information about the population.

The second sentence discusses data, but no mention of how in-depth it is. The last sentence, however, talks about “comprehensive demographic information” which means comprehensive data. So what is this information in regard to? Population. Answer C is correct.

It may be tempting to choose Answer B because “electoral votes” are mentioned and in the same sentence as “data.” But the content of the sentence talks about what census data is used to calculate, not the information it provides, which is what your question is asking for.

Vocab in Context

These questions are probably the easiest on the test, because you will likely have already encountered them on a vocabulary or word knowledge section. This means you can use the same strategies here as well; the Swap It Out technique discussed in Chapter 5 works well for this type of question.

Your job is to figure out how the underlined word is being used in a specific sentence. The great thing about this type of question is that you usually only have to read one sentence!

Treatment plan:

1. Go back to the passage and read the sentence that contains the word in the question.
2. Use context clues to determine how the word is being used and what it’s intended to mean.
3. Eliminate answer choices that don’t match your definition.

Use the previous passage that discusses the census to answer the following question:

In the passage, mandates most nearly means

1. (A) enlists.
2. (B) believes.
3. (C) requires.
4. (D) restricts.

The sentence reads: “The U.S. Constitution mandates that the federal government take a national census every ten years.” Use your Swap It Out method here and see what works best:

1. (A) The U.S. Constitution enlists that the federal government take a national census every ten years.
2. (B) The U.S. Constitution believes that the federal government take a national census every ten years.
3. (C) The U.S. Constitution requires that the federal government take a national census every ten years.
4. (D) The U.S. Constitution restricts that the federal government take a national census every ten years.

The only answer choice that makes sense within the context of the sentence is C. “Enlist” means to sign up, which doesn’t fit; “believes” isn’t possible because the Constitution can’t believe because it’s not an entity, but a document; and “restricts” means to limit, which also doesn’t fit with the content of the sentence.

Inference Questions

Many people consider inference questions to be difficult or tricky because they ask you to think for yourself. They don’t give you the answers, as in specific detail or Vocab in Context questions. It’s up to you to draw conclusions (or infer) based on information in the passage. You may also be asked to predict what happens next.

These questions are a good way to measure your critical thinking skills. Just like every other question in this section, you’ll be presented with a passage of information and a question or prompt such as the following:

B The author is most likely to agree with which of the following statements?

B Based on the passage, it can be inferred that …

B According to the passage, it can be assumed that …

Then you’ll get four statements to consider. They can ask you about what happens next, thoughts the speaker might have, where the story takes place, or other conclusions that could be based on the passage.

Now, you may be asking how you’re supposed to know what happens next or what the speaker is thinking. That’s where critical thinking comes in. It’s your job to compare the answer choices to information in the passage. Correct answers will always be supported by specific details in the passage.

Treatment plan:

1. Read the question first.
2. Read the passage.
3. Go to each answer choice and ask yourself, “What in the passage tells me this would likely happen or be true?”

Let’s try this out:

According to the passage, it can be assumed that …

The setup of the question tells us it’s a straightforward inference question. Next, read the passage:

Owning a pet can result in several health benefits. Studies have shown that cat and dog owners tend to suffer fewer cardiovascular ailments, such as high blood pressure or cholesterol. Interacting with pets can also result in increased brain activity and have a calming effect on the body.

Now look at the answer choices, and go through them one by one to see what’s supported by information in the passage and what’s not:

1. (A) Pet owners live longer.
2. (B) Cats and dogs are inappropriate pets for children.
3. (C) The health benefits of owning a dog are greater than those of owning a cat.
4. (D) A cat would be a good gift for someone who has anxiety issues.

The passage doesn’t mention anything about pets affecting length of life or children. Answers A and B can be eliminated. Although the passage does talk about different health benefits for dogs and cats, it does not provide a judgment on which is better. This eliminates Answer C. Because the passage says that interacting with a pet can have a calming effect on the body, and a cat is a pet, it can be reasonably assumed that Answer D is correct.

Fact or Opinion

Sometimes you’ll get a question that asks you to look at the answer choices and determine which one is a fact or opinion. This is one of the easiest types of questions you’ll find on a reading comprehension test, because all you have to do is figure out what can be proven and what can’t.

Treatment plan:

1. Read the question first and figure out what you’re looking for: fact or opinion.
2. Compare each answer choice to the information given in the passage. For each, ask yourself, “Can this be proven with information in the passage?” If the answer is yes, it’s a fact. If the answer is no, it’s an opinion.
3. Use process of elimination to get rid of unlikely answer choices.

If you’re really stuck on this type of question, look at the answer choices. Opinion answers will have some telltale signs that you’re dealing with a perspective or preference. Look for words such as good, better, best, prettiest, strongest, fastest, thought, think, believe, feel, love, hate, bad, worse, and worst. Anything that implies an emotion or thought, not verifiable information, is a big red flag that you’re most likely dealing with an opinion.

Paragraph Breakdown

Now that you know all about the types of questions you’ll see on the test, let’s get some practice in getting the information you need out of the passages. Write out the main idea, purpose, tone, and major details for each of the following paragraphs. They might not be as long as a whole passage you’ll see on the test, but they’ll give you good practice in sifting through sentences to get the info you need.

The idea of the public being able to access information about its government goes back to the days of ancient Rome. During this time, the Roman government published acta, official texts that were often openly accessible to the public. However, acta that detailed the goings on within the Senate were not made public until Julius Caesar, in his position as consul, ordered that accounts of such proceedings be open to the people. Though these acta were later censored by the government, their publication shows that our modern democratic ideas that center on the public accessibility of government records have very deep, historical roots.

Main idea:_________________________________

___________________________________________

Purpose: __________________________________

___________________________________________

Tone: _____________________________________

___________________________________________

Main details: _____________________________

___________________________________________

The centuries of trial and error with the simple process of fermentation have led to the creation of a vast variety of beverages that are consumed every day. For example, wine is produced as a result of fermenting specific types of grapes or other fruits whose chemical compositions are conducive to creating alcohol. Grapes grown specifically for producing wine are first crushed and strained before the skins are discarded. Then yeast is added to the mixture. As the yeast consumes the natural sugars in the grape juice, alcohol is produced. This concoction is kept in climate-controlled containers, such as vats or barrels, to give the yeast time to develop the flavor of the wine. Beer is also produced through a similar process, but grains and hops are used in place of grapes.

Main idea: _______________________________

___________________________________________

Purpose: __________________________________

___________________________________________

Tone: ____________________________________

___________________________________________

Main details: ____________________________

___________________________________________

Laws regarding car seats vary from state to state. It is important for parents to know what their local regulations are, not only for the safety of their children, but also to comply with the law. Car dealerships, community groups, and health-care agencies often hold free clinics to check that your car seat is installed properly and to give out informational material about child age, height, and weight requirements for different car seats. Every parent can benefit from attending these clinics.

Main idea: _______________________________

___________________________________________

Purpose: __________________________________

___________________________________________

Tone: ____________________________________

___________________________________________

Main details: ____________________________

___________________________________________

When you fall asleep, your brain literally slows down. The brain waves you create when you’re awake take a break and different, slower waves—theta and delta waves—are produced. As you descend deeper into sleep, your theta and delta wave patterns become slower. Your body temperature and respiration also decrease, while your brain’s need for oxygen increases. You are more likely to experience longer periods of this type of sleep when you are younger. Children and young adults most often fall into a slow-wave sleep not long after going to bed for the night. As people get older, these periods become fewer, and by the time they are elderly, may not even occur at all.

Main idea: _______________________________

___________________________________________

Purpose: __________________________________

___________________________________________

Tone: ____________________________________

___________________________________________

Main details: ____________________________

___________________________________________

Practice Questions

Select the answer choice that best answers each question.

Use the following passage to answer questions 1 through 5:

Will listening to loud music make my child go deaf? This question is on the minds of many parents given the increased popularity and use of personal electronics with headphones among children.

The answer, however, is not as simple as the question. Kids who often listen to loud music or are frequently exposed to lawn mowers or motorcycles are at risk of hearing loss. But that risk is dependent on how loud the sounds are and how long the child is exposed.

“Using a personal music player with headphones at a reasonable level is fine, but cranking it up above 90 decibels will, over time, cause irreversible hearing loss in some children,” says Lynn Leuthke, PhD, director of the hearing program for the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, in Rockville, Maryland.

A good rule of thumb to follow is that if you can hear what your child is listening to just by standing near her, it’s too loud. Also, when buying a personal music player, look for a model that enables you to limit the volume output to no more than 90 decibels.

1. A good title for this passage would be
   1. (A) Your Child’s Hearing Is in Danger!
   2. (B) Why Headphones Should Be Banned from Schools
   3. (C) The Dangers of Listening to Music
   4. (D) What Parents Should Know about Exposure to Loud Sounds
2. The highest level of sound that does not pose a risk of damaging one’s hearing is
   1. (A) 120 decibels.
   2. (B) 100 decibels.
   3. (C) 90 decibels.
   4. (D) 80 decibels.
3. The tone of this passage is
   1. (A) helpful.
   2. (B) alarming.
   3. (C) condescending.
   4. (D) punishing.
4. According to this passage, a parent should
   1. (A) not buy their child a personal music player.
   2. (B) have their child’s hearing tested regularly.
   3. (C) look for personal music products that limit volume.
   4. (D) let their child listen to music as loud as they like.
5. The narrator of this passage would most likely agree that
   1. (A) regular exposure to sounds above 90 decibels pose as much risk to a child’s hearing as music.
   2. (B) hearing tests can’t accurately measure hearing loss.
   3. (C) irreversible hearing loss is an epidemic.
   4. (D) new studies should be conducted to evaluate hearing loss in children.

   Use the following passage to answer questions 6 through 10:

   Coffee beans are not actually beans, but rather roasted seeds of coffee berries. After the seeds are separated from the berries, they’re fermented, cleaned, and air dried. Now called green coffee beans, they must be roasted before they are consumed. The internal temperature must be raised to at least 205 degrees Celsius to produce caffeol oil, which produces the flavor commonly associated with coffee.

   Even so, there are two main types of coffee “beans” that are consumed around the world. The first is arabica and is the more expensive of the two; it is also more popular due to its richer, more developed flavor. Arabica coffee plants need to be grown within certain conditions: at an elevation between 4,000 feet and a mile, and in a climate that has a consistent temperature around 70 degrees.

   Robusta is the other type of “bean” that is used to make coffee. Robusta coffee is less expensive than its arabica counterpart, primarily because of the plants that produce the beans; they can be grown at lower, more accessible altitudes, produce more beans per acre grown, and do not have to be handpicked to make it to the roasting process. However, robusta beans do not have as much flavor as arabica beans, which is why you’ll most often find them used in coffee blends or instant coffee.

6. What is produced when the internal temperature of a coffee bean reaches at least 205 degrees Celsius?
   1. (A) caffeine
   2. (B) caffeol oil
   3. (C) dark coloring
   4. (D) extra flavor
7. According to the passage
   1. (A) Coffee beans can be eaten directly from the plant.
   2. (B) Coffee beans taste like berries.
   3. (C) Coffee beans must be cleaned before they are fermented.
   4. (D) Coffee beans are seeds.
8. Which of the following statements is an opinion?
   1. (A) Arabica coffee plants need to be grown at least 4,000 feet.
   2. (B) Arabica coffee is better than robusta coffee.
   3. (C) There are two main types of coffee beans.
   4. (D) Coffee beans are not really beans.
9. The purpose of this passage is to
   1. (A) inform.
   2. (B) persuade.
   3. (C) incite.
   4. (D) evaluate.
10. Robusta beans are often used to make
    1. (A) cappuccino.
    2. (B) instant coffee.
    3. (C) espresso.
    4. (D) coffee-flavored ice cream.

    Use the following passage to answer questions 11 through 15:

    Have you ever given any thought to why superstitions still have power in today’s modern society? With all of the technology and access to knowledge at the tips of our fingers, most people still place at least some stock in superstitions whose origins they don’t really know or don’t even make logical sense. For example, how did the number 13 become feared and reviled in our society? The answer is far from simple.

    Strikingly similar instances of the demonization of the number can be seen in folklore and religion throughout history. For example, Christian tradition says that Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus to the Romans, was the thirteenth member to arrive at the Last Supper. In Norse mythology, it’s said that the god Loki tricked the god of winter into killing Balder the Good, the son of the king and queen of the gods, during a feast of 12 gods in Valhalla. As in the Christian story, the arrival of the thirteenth person to the dinner brings horrible consequences.

    Historical instances of bad things happening on Friday the thirteenth have also helped further connections between evil or bad luck and the number 13. The wildly popular novel The DaVinci Code introduced the idea to millions that the beginning of France’s persecution, torture, and execution of the Order of the Knights Templar began on Friday the thirteenth. The tragic crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which stranded survivors of the flight in the Andes Mountains for two months without food or water, took place on Friday, October 13, 1972. And the Apollo 13 mission, the United States’ third trip to the moon in the infancy of the space program, suffered a devastating blow when an explosion on Friday, April 13, 1970, caused severe damage to the craft.

    The most logical explanation, though, is that these cultural assignments that have been developed and attached to this number are simply our way as humans to make sense out of the unexplainable. Mythology, religion, and even historical connections do not provide concrete proof that the number 13 in and of itself has any power in the real world.

    Yet, this belief has trickled down from generation to generation through the centuries without any real thought as to the hows or whys of it. Given this history, it is more than likely that this pattern will continue so long as we continue to give such power to beliefs without logically examining their validity in the modern world.

11. In the first paragraph, the word stock most nearly means
    1. (A) broth.
    2. (B) commodity.
    3. (C) value.
    4. (D) to hunt.
12. The main idea of this passage is
    1. (A) the number 13 has innate power to cause harm in the world.
    2. (B) people turn to superstition to explain the unexplainable.
    3. (C) superstitions are based more on science than mythology.
    4. (D) even though it makes no logical sense, people still believe in superstitions because they are handed-down beliefs.
13. According to the passage, the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571
    1. (A) took place on Friday the thirteenth.
    2. (B) happened because the flight took place on the thirteenth day of the month.
    3. (C) occurred in Uruguay.
    4. (D) caused the survivors to turn into cannibals.
14. Based on information from the passage, it can be inferred that in the future
    1. (A) science will disprove all superstitions and they will no longer hold power over human behavior.
    2. (B) superstitions will continue to play a role in human culture.
    3. (C) new superstitions will be formed.
    4. (D) science will prove the validity of many superstitions.
15. According to the passage, the most likely reason the number 13 has a negative stigma attached to it is because
    1. (A) it is written in a holy book that the number is evil.
    2. (B) a powerful political leader declared the number taboo.
    3. (C) people throughout history have assigned ideas of evil to the number as a way of explaining the inexplicable.
    4. (D) history definitively shows bad things happen when associated with the number.

Answers and Explanations

1. D. Answers A and B are too extreme and don’t accurately reflect what’s being discussed in the passage. Answer C is tempting, but it’s not only music that’s being discussed. This answer is vague enough to be wrong on a standardized exam. The final answer choice is both neutral and detailed enough to convey the main idea of the passage.
2. C. This is a specific detail question that asks you to infer just a little. Scan the passage for a number like those in the answer choices. You’ll find that 90 is the only one mentioned. If you look further, you’ll see the line: “cranking it up above 90 decibels will, over time, cause irreversible hearing loss in some children.” Based on this information, you can deduce that 90 decibels is the limit you’re looking for.
3. A. This is an informative, advisory type of passage. It is generally neutral to positive in connotation. Answer B connotes there is a sense of extreme urgency, which is neither present in the passage nor implied. Answers C and D connote negative tones, which are not present at all in the passage. No one is being talked down to (condescending) or censured, which makes A the best choice.
4. C. Another specific detail question here. The only choice directly supported by the passage is C, specifically the last line: “Also, when buying a personal music player, look for a model that enables you to limit the volume output to no more than 90 decibels.”
5. A. This is an inference question. Based on the information in the passage, which of the statements do you think the narrator would likely agree with? This is just a matter of taking the information in each answer choice and comparing it to information in the passage, which makes no mention of hearing tests, measuring hearing loss, epidemics, or studies. What the passage does address is other types of sound exposure posing a risk to hearing. The following sentence makes A the best answer: “Kids who often listen to loud music or are frequently exposed to lawn mowers or motorcycles are at risk of hearing loss.”
6. B. This is a specific detail question and the answer is found in the last sentence: “The internal temperature must be raised to at least 205 degrees Celsius to produce caffeol oil …”. Caffeine and coloring aren’t mentioned in the passage—flavor is—but it says that caffeol oil produces the flavor you associate with coffee. It does not mention extra flavor anywhere.
7. D. This is an inference question. You need to use information in the passage to prove each answer true or false. The passage says that green coffee beans must be roasted before they can be consumed. This eliminates Answer A. The passage says that coffee beans come from berries, but nothing about them tasting like berries. It also says that coffee beans must be fermented before they’re cleaned. These two details eliminate Answers B and C. The first sentence clearly states that coffee beans are “roasted seeds of coffee berries,” which makes Answer D the best choice.
8. B. All of the other answer choices are backed up by facts in the passage. They are all statements that can be proven. However, even though the passage says that arabica coffee is the most popular, this does not mean that it is better, because better is not something that can be proven one way or another. It’s an opinion.
9. A. The passage gives information about coffee beans. No opinion or conclusion is stated, so “persuade” and “evaluate” aren’t possible answers. The information is very neutral and does not ask the reader to take any action, which eliminates “incite” as an answer. A is the best answer.
10. B. None of the other answer choices are mentioned or implied in the passage.
11. C. Answers A and B both define “stock,” but not in the way it’s being used in the sentence from the passage. Answer D is a definition of stalk, which sounds like stock, but is not the same. Plus, if you use your Swap It Out method, Answer C is the only one that makes sense.
12. D. This is a tricky passage because the main idea is presented at the beginning and the end of the passage, but there’s a lot of detail in between where you can get lost. Process of elimination is a good way to approach this question. Answer A is directly refuted in the passage: “Mythology, religion, and even historical connections do not provide concrete proof that the number 13 in and of itself has any power in the real world.” Answer B is backed up by the passage, but is not the main idea being communicated, it’s a detail. Answer C is not supported by the passage at all. That leaves Answer D. This idea is established in the first paragraph and strengthened in the final paragraph.
13. A. You have three events here mentioned in the third paragraph of the passage—you know, the one where they talk about events that happened on Friday the thirteenth. The Last Supper, mentioned in the second paragraph, did not.
14. B. The passage provides no direct statements to support any other answer choice. Answer B is backed up by the following: “Given this history, it is more than likely that this pattern will continue so long as we continue to give such power to beliefs without logically examining their validity in the modern world.”
15. C. Holy books and taboos are not mentioned in the passage at all, making Answers A and B unlikely choices. And even though the passage recounts lots of times that the number has been associated with bad things, this is not definitive. Answer D is not a good choice. However, Answer C is directly supported by the following, making it the strongest answer: “The most logical explanation, though, is that these cultural assignments we’ve developed and attached to this number are simply our way as humans to make sense out of the unexplainable.”