The 10 Reading Question Types

The reading questions can be broken down into 10 different reading question types:

1. Vocabulary
2. Reference
3. Inference
4. Purpose
5. Negative Factual Information
6. Essential Information
7. Detail
8. Sentence Insertion
9. Complete the Summary
10. Complete the Table

Our comprehensive lessons will tackle each of these question types in detail. To view
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Below you will find reading sample questions.

Detail Question
1. According to paragraph 1, which of the following is true of the Late Cretaceous climate?

A. Summers were very warm and winters were very cold.

B. Shallow seas on the continents caused frequent temperature changes.
C. The climate was very similar to today’s climate.
D. The climate did not change dramatically from season to season.

2. Which of the following reasons is suggested in paragraph 2 for the extinction of the
dinosaurs?

A. Changes in the lengths of the days and nights during the Late Cretaceous period
B. Droughts caused by the movement of seaways back into the ocean
C. The change from mild to severe climates during the Late Cretaceous period
D. An extreme decrease in the average yearly temperature over 10,000 years

Detail Question
Quesiton 1 and Question 2 are detail questions. Detail questions ask you about information
that’s specifically stated in a small part of the passage. They generally focus on the “who,”
“what,” “when,” “where,” and “why” as explained by the author.

 Spell check Answers

 [1] Paleontologists have argued for a long time that the demise of the dinosaurs was caused by
climatic alterations associated with slow changes in the positions of continents and seas resulting
from plate tectonics. Off and on throughout the Cretaceous (the last period of the Mesozoic era,
during which dinosaurs flourished), large shallow seas covered extensive areas of the continents.
Data from diverse sources, including geochemical evidence preserved in seafloor sediments,
indicate that the Late Cretaceous climate was milder than today’s. The days were not too hot, nor
the nights too cold. The summers were not too warm, nor the winters too frigid. The shallow seas on
the continents probably buffered the temperature of the nearby air, keeping it relatively constant.

[2] At the end of the Cretaceous, the geological record shows that these seaways retreated from the
continents back into the major ocean basins. No one knows why. Over a period of about 100,000
years, while the seas pulled back, climates around the world became dramatically more extreme:
warmer days, cooler nights; hotter summers, colder winters. Perhaps dinosaurs could not tolerate
these extreme temperature changes and became extinct.

Purpose Question
3. Why does the author mention the survival of “snakes, lizards, turtles, and crocodiles” in
paragraph 3?

A. To argue that dinosaurs may have become extinct because they were not cold-blooded
animals
B. To question the adequacy of the hypothesis that climatic change related to sea levels
caused the extinction of the dinosaurs
C. To present examples of animals that could maintain a livable body temperature more
easily than dinosaurs
D. To support a hypothesis that these animals were not as sensitive to climate changes in
the Cretaceous period as they are today

Purpose Question
Purpose questions require you to understand why the author has included pieces of
information. The answer is not directly stated in the reading passage. To solve this type of
question, you need to understand the main point of the paragraph and how the referenced
information is related to the main point of the paragraph. You will see the question phrased
something like the following: Why does the author mention XXX in paragraph 2? Here is an
example.
 Spell check Answer

[3] If true, though, why did cold-blooded animals such as snakes, lizards, turtles, and crocodiles
survive the freezing winters and torrid summers? These animals are at the mercy of the climate to
maintain a livable body temperature. It’s hard to understand why they would not be affected,
whereas dinosaurs were left too crippled to cope, especially if, as some scientists believe, dinosaurs
were warm-blooded. Critics also point out that the shallow seaways had retreated from and
advanced on the continents numerous times during the Mesozoic, so why did the dinosaurs survive
the climatic changes associated with the earlier fluctuations but not with this one? Although initially
appealing, the hypothesis of a simple climatic change related to sea levels is insufficient to explain
all the data.
 Vocabulary Question
4. The word “cope” in the passage is closest in meaning to?

A. adapt
B. move
C. continue
D. compete

5. The word “fluctuations” in the passage is closest in meaning to?

A. extreme
B. retreats
C. periods
D. variations

Vocabulary Question
Question 4 and 5 are vocabulary questions. In a "Vocabulary question", you are asked what
a word or phrase is closest in meaning to and are given 4 answer options. You need to be
able to understand the meaning of the word as it is used in the passage.
 Spell check Answers

[3] If true, though, why did cold-blooded animals such as snakes, lizards, turtles, and crocodiles
survive the freezing winters and torrid summers? These animals are at the mercy of the climate to
maintain a livable body temperature. It’s hard to understand why they would not be affected,
whereas dinosaurs were left too crippled to cope, especially if, as some scientists believe, dinosaurs
were warm-blooded. Critics also point out that the shallow seaways had retreated from and
advanced on the continents numerous times during the Mesozoic, so why did the dinosaurs survive
the climatic changes associated with the earlier fluctuations but not with this one? Although initially
appealing, the hypothesis of a simple climatic change related to sea levels is insufficient to explain
all the data.

Essential Information Question

6. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted
sentence in paragraph 4? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave
out essential information.

A. The fossil record suggests that there was an abrupt extinction of many plants and
animals at the end of the Mesozoic era.
B. Few fossils of the Mesozoic era have survived in the rocks that mark the end of the
Cretaceous.
C. Fossils from the Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic up to the beginning of the Cenozoic
era have been removed from the layers of rock that surrounded them.
D. Plants and animals from the Mesozoic era were unable to survive in the Cenozoic era.
 Essential Information Question
In an “Essential Information question”, you will see the question you see an entire sentence
highlighted in the reading passage. The question will ask you to choose which of the 4
answer option sentences is equal to the highlighted sentence. The correct sentence will be
paragraphed so it is different than the highlighted one, but still convey all the important
information. Incorrect sentences will represent a detail or concept inaccurately, leave out an
important detail, change the original meaning of the sentence
 Spell check Answer

[4] Dissatisfaction with conventional explanations for dinosaur extinctions led to a surprising
observation that, in turn, has suggested a new hypothesis. Many plants and animals disappear
abruptly from the fossil record as one moves from layers of rock documenting the end of the
Cretaceous up into rocks representing the beginning of the Cenozoic (the era after the
Mesozoic). Between the last layer of Cretaceous rock and the first layer of Cenozoic rock, there is
often a thin layer of clay. Scientists felt that they could get an idea of how long the extinctions took
by determining how long it took to deposit this one centimeter of clay and they thought they could
determine the time it took to deposit the clay by determining the amount of the element iridium (Ir) it
contained.

Negative Factual Information Question

7. In paragraph 4, all the following questions are answered EXCEPT:

A. Why is there a layer of clay between the rocks of the Cretaceous and Cenozoic?
B. Why were scientists interested in determining how long it took to deposit the layer of clay
at the end of the Cretaceous?
C. What was the effect of the surprising observation scientists made?
D. Why did scientists want more information about the dinosaur extinction at the end of the
Cretaceous?

Negative Factual Information Question

You can recognize a negative factual information question by either the word “NOT” or
“EXCEPT” in the question. The question can appear like the following: According to the
passage, which of the following is NOT true of X?.
 Spell check Answer

[4] Dissatisfaction with conventional explanations for dinosaur extinctions led to a surprising
observation that, in turn, has suggested a new hypothesis. Many plants and animals disappear
abruptly from the fossil record as one moves from layers of rock documenting the end of the
Cretaceous up into rocks representing the beginning of the Cenozoic (the era after the
Mesozoic). Between the last layer of Cretaceous rock and the first layer of Cenozoic rock, there is
often a thin layer of clay. Scientists felt that they could get an idea of how long the extinctions took
by determining how long it took to deposit this one centimeter of clay and they thought they could
determine the time it took to deposit the clay by determining the amount of the element iridium (Ir) it
contained.
 Inference Question
8. Paragraph 5 implies that a special explanation of the Ir in the boundary clay is needed
because

A. the Ir in microscopic meteorites reaching Earth during the Cretaceous period would have
been incorporated into Earth’s core
B. the Ir in the boundary clay was deposited much more than a million years ago
C. the concentration of Ir in the boundary clay is higher than in microscopic meteorites
D. the amount of Ir in the boundary clay is too great to have come from microscopic
meteorites during the time the boundary clay was deposited

Inference Question
In an "Inference" question, you will see the question phrased something like the following: In
paragraph 5, what does the author imply about ….? or What can be inferred from paragraph
5? In this type of question, the answer is not directly stated in the reading passage. It
requires you to draw conclusions based on information that is given in the passage. You
need to find out the correct conclusion from the choices.
 Spell check Answer

[5] Ir has not been common at Earth’s surface since the very beginning of the planet’s history.
Because it usually exists in a metallic state, it was preferentially incorporated in Earth’s core as the
planet cooled and consolidated. Ir is found in high concentrations in some meteorites, in which the
solar system’s original chemical composition is preserved. Even today, microscopic meteorites
continually bombard Earth, falling on both land and sea. By measuring how many of these
meteorites fall to Earth over a given period of time, scientists can estimate how long it might have
taken to deposit the observed amount of Ir in the boundary clay. (A) These calculations suggest that
a period of about one million years would have been required. (B) However, other reliable evidence
suggests that the deposition of the boundary clay could not have taken one million years. (C) So the
unusually high concentration of Ir seems to require a special explanation. (D)

Sentence Insertion Question

9. In paragraph 5 of the passage, there is a missing sentence. The paragraph is repeated
below and shows four letters (A, B, C, and D) that indicate where the following sentence
could be added.

Consequently, the idea that the Ir in the boundary clay came from microscopic
meteorites cannot be accepted.

Where would the sentence best fit?

o (A)
o (B)
o (C)
o (D)
 Sentence Insertion Question
In a "Sentence Insertion" question, you will be asked to decide where a new sentence best
fits into the reading passage. This question type tests your understanding of the logic in the
passage. It also tests your ability to understand the grammatical connections from one
sentence to another.
 Spell checkAnswer

[5] Ir has not been common at Earth’s surface since the very beginning of the planet’s history.
Because it usually exists in a metallic state, it was preferentially incorporated in Earth’s core as the
planet cooled and consolidated. Ir is found in high concentrations in some meteorites, in which the
solar system’s original chemical composition is preserved. Even today, microscopic meteorites
continually bombard Earth, falling on both land and sea. By measuring how many of these
meteorites fall to Earth over a given period of time, scientists can estimate how long it might have
taken to deposit the observed amount of Ir in the boundary clay. (A) These calculations suggest that
a period of about one million years would have been required. (B) However, other reliable evidence
suggests that the deposition of the boundary clay could not have taken one million years. (C) So the
unusually high concentration of Ir seems to require a special explanation. (D)

Complete the Summary Question

14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided
below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the
most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary
because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the
passage. This question is worth 2 points.

Drag your answer choices to the spaces where they belong. To remove an answer choice,
drag it back.

For a long time scientists have argued that the extinction of the dinosaurs was
related to climate change.

a. Extreme changes in daily and seasonal climates preceded the retreat of the seas back
into the major ocean basins.
b. A simple climate change does not explain some important data related to the extinction
of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous.
c. The retreat of the seaways at the end of the Cretaceous has not been fully explained.
d. The abruptness of extinctions at the end of the Cretaceous and the high concentration of
Ir found in clay deposited at that time have fueled the development of a new hypothesis.
e. Some scientists hypothesize that the extinction of the dinosaurs resulted from the effects
of an asteroid collision with Earth.
f. Boundary clay layers like the one between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic are used by
scientists to determine the rate at which an extinct species declined.
 Complete the Summary Question
In a ‘Complete the Summary’ question, you are given a summary statement of the reading
passage and 6 answer options. You need to drag and drop 3 answers that represent major
ideas or contain important information from the passage.

You need to drag and drop them from the bottom area of your computer screen into a blank
area above with 3 positions marked off . The 3 correct options will NOT have the exact
wording of any sentence in the passage. The other 3 will have errors in detail, or state an
unimportant concept. This question always has a value of 2 points. You will get 1 point if
you get 2 out of 3 correct.
 Spell check Answer

[1] Paleontologists have argued for a long time that the demise of the dinosaurs was caused by
climatic alterations associated with slow changes in the positions of continents and seas resulting
from plate tectonics. Off and on throughout the Cretaceous (the last period of the Mesozoic era,
during which dinosaurs flourished), large shallow seas covered extensive areas of the continents.
Data from diverse sources, including geochemical evidence preserved in seafloor sediments,
indicate that the Late Cretaceous climate was milder than today’s. The days were not too hot, nor
the nights too cold. The summers were not too warm, nor the winters too frigid. The shallow seas on
the continents probably buffered the temperature of the nearby air, keeping it relatively constant.

[2] At the end of the Cretaceous, the geological record shows that these seaways retreated from the
continents back into the major ocean basins. No one knows why. Over a period of about 100,000
years, while the seas pulled back, climates around the world became dramatically more extreme:
warmer days, cooler nights; hotter summers, colder winters. Perhaps dinosaurs could not tolerate
these extreme temperature changes and became extinct.

[3] If true, though, why did cold-blooded animals such as snakes, lizards, turtles, and crocodiles
survive the freezing winters and torrid summers? These animals are at the mercy of the climate to
maintain a livable body temperature. It’s hard to understand why they would not be affected,
whereas dinosaurs were left too crippled to cope, especially if, as some scientists believe, dinosaurs
were warm-blooded. Critics also point out that the shallow seaways had retreated from and
advanced on the continents numerous times during the Mesozoic, so why did the dinosaurs survive
the climatic changes associated with the earlier fluctuations but not with this one? Although initially
appealing, the hypothesis of a simple climatic change related to sea levels is insufficient to explain
all the data.

[4] Dissatisfaction with conventional explanations for dinosaur extinctions led to a surprising
observation that, in turn, has suggested a new hypothesis. Many plants and animals disappear
abruptly from the fossil record as one moves from layers of rock documenting the end of the
Cretaceous up into rocks representing the beginning of the Cenozoic (the era after the
Mesozoic). Between the last layer of Cretaceous rock and the first layer of Cenozoic rock, there is
often a thin layer of clay. Scientists felt that they could get an idea of how long the extinctions took
by determining how long it took to deposit this one centimeter of clay and they thought they could
determine the time it took to deposit the clay by determining the amount of the element iridium (Ir) it
contained.

[5] Ir has not been common at Earth’s surface since the very beginning of the planet’s history.
Because it usually exists in a metallic state, it was preferentially incorporated in Earth’s core as the
planet cooled and consolidated. Ir is found in high concentrations in some meteorites, in which the
 solar system’s original chemical composition is preserved. Even today, microscopic meteorites
continually bombard Earth, falling on both land and sea. By measuring how many of these
meteorites fall to Earth over a given period of time, scientists can estimate how long it might have
taken to deposit the observed amount of Ir in the boundary clay. (A) These calculations suggest that
a period of about one million years would have been required. (B) However, other reliable evidence
suggests that the deposition of the boundary clay could not have taken one million years. (C) So the
unusually high concentration of Ir seems to require a special explanation. (D)

[6] In view of these facts, scientists hypothesized that a single large asteroid, about 10 to 15
kilometers across, collided with Earth, and the resulting fallout created the boundary clay. Their
calculations show that the impact kicked up a dust cloud that cut off sunlight for several months,
inhibiting photosynthesis in plants; decreased surface temperatures on continents to below freezing;
caused extreme episodes of acid rain; and significantly raised long-term global temperatures through
the greenhouse effect. This disruption of food chain and climate would have eradicated the
dinosaurs and other organisms in less than fifty years.

Reference Question

1. The word 'those' in paragraph 1 refers to:

o gene pool
o survival
o natural selection
o traits characteristics

Reference Question
In a "Reference" question, you are asked what the highlighted word refers to. If it's a
pronoun then you need to identify what word the pronoun is replacing.
 Spell check Answer

[1] Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution is known as one of the most important and controversial
scientific theories ever published. Natural selection contributes to the basis of Darwin's Theory of
Evolution. One of the core tenets of Darwin's theory is that more offspring are always produced for a
species than can possibly survive. Yet, no two offspring are perfectly alike. As a result, through
random mutation and genetic drift, over time offspring develop new traits and characteristics. Over
time beneficial traits and characteristics that promote survival will be kept in the gene pool
while those that harm survival will be selected against. Therefore, this natural selection ensures that
a species gradually improves itself over an extended duration of time. On the other hand, as a
species continues to 'improve' itself, it branches out to create entirely new species that are no longer
capable of reproducing together.

Complete the Table Question

14. Complete the table by matching the phrases below

Directions: Select the appropriate phrases from the answer choices and match them to
the Radiocarbon Dating and Faunal Analysis to which they relate. Some of the answer
choices will NOT be used. This question is worth 4 points.
Drag your answer choices to the spaces where they belong. To remove an answer choice,
drag it back. To review the passage, click VIEW TEXT.
 Faunal Analysis in Radiocarbon dating in
Cuba and Two Creeks Fossil
California Forest

a. Tar and benzene are used in the analytical process.

b. This analytical method has determined when the Pleistocene epoch ended.
c. Initial estimates were made by comparing with similar occurrences in Scandinavia.
d. Over 70 tests were done on fossil samples.
e. Radiocarbon dating tracked the fossils to 13,370 years before present.
f. Successful radiocarbon dating of the forest samples proves the end of glaciations in
North America.

Complete the Table Question

In a “Complete a table” question, you will see 2 or 3 categories in an empty table. From the
options provided, you must select which ones correctly belong to each category. There will
also be 2 options that won't be used. There will either be 5 or 7 correct options depending
on the question.

This question has a value of 3 or 4 points. Questions with 5 correct options are worth 3
points, and ones with 7 are worth 4 points. You get 1 point if you get 3/5 or 4/7 correct. You
get 2 points if get 4/5 or 5/7 correct. You get 3 points if you get 5/5 or 6/7 correct

This question tests your ability to organize major ideas of the reading passage and
important information. It also tests your understandings of cause-effect relationships and
compare and contrast relationships.
 Spell check Answer

[1] The method of Radiocarbon dating was invented in the late 1940s by Willard Libby. It is a method
to determine the age of an object by using radiocarbon properties. Radiocarbon is created in the
atmosphere through the interaction of nitrogen and cosmic rays. When combined with oxygen,
carbon dioxide is produced. CO2 enters plants through photosynthesis; animals and humans
incorporate carbon when they eat plants. After the death of a plant or animal, the rate of carbon
begins to decline – this is called the radioactive decay of carbon. When analysts measure the
amount of carbon in this decayed object, they can calculate when it died. The furthest date that has
been reliably measured back to is around 50,000 years.

[2] Research into the proportion of carbon in the atmosphere has been going on for more than five
decades. Due to the increase in the burning of fossil fuels and nuclear testing in the 20th century,
there was a significant increase in the level of carbon in our atmosphere, so this adds to the
complication of carbon calculation. Originally, scientists used samples of solid carbon for testing.
However, they realized that converting the samples to liquid or gas offered more precise results.
Accelerator mass spectrometry is the current method of analysis. All carbon atoms in the sample are
counted; its results are fast and very accurate.

[3] Archaeology has been profoundly affected by progress in radiocarbon dating. Faunal analysis
has also been impacted by progress in this area. Faunal analysis is the study of the remains of
animals with the aim to help us understand human activities in the past.

[4] At the end of the Pleistocene Era, there were many rapid extinction of megafauna, particularly in
the Americas. There is a notable report by Vartanyan et al. on the extinction of pygmy mammoths,
dating them back to 3700 years before present using radiocarbon dating. Other scientists have used
this method to calculate the age of the extinct species in the La Brea tar pits in California. In their
faunal analysis, they employed a pre-treatment method that included the use of tar. They collected
bones, divided them into small pieces and chips and crushed them. The bone fragments were
treated with a variety of solvents, including benzene, to examine a species of Cuban Caribbean
ground sloth and the Xenarthra armadillo. Carbon was then examined and radiocarbon dates were
obtained from the organic material separated from the tar. Scientists were able to date the sloth
remains to around 5400 before present. This information is important as it may show that the
extinction of the sloth was caused by human arrival in Cuba.

[5] Much work is necessary to further investigate the abundant fossil materials found in Central and
South American pits, including those of Talara, Peru, where there are a lot of remains of extinct
megafauna and human artefacts. Ongoing studies of these sites can help to verify the theories of
extinction and the impact on human behaviour.

[6] One notable achievement in radio carbon dating is Two Creeks Fossil Forest. During the 20th
century, a goal of geologists was to establish the date of transition from the Pleistocene to the
Holocene era. The Pleistocene epoch began 2.6 million years ago and the current, Holocene period
began 11,700 years ago. In Wisconsin, USA, a fossil forest called Two Creeks was discovered. Prior
to radiocarbon dating, the trees in this forest had been dated back to around 24,000 years ago, the
estimated date for the end of the Pleistocene period. This estimate had been made through
correlation with sequences in Scandinavia. Libby and later scientists investigated Two Creeks and
used radiocarbon dating to date the trees more accurately. Samples from the fossil forest were used
in tests in over 70 labs, dating the trees back to 13,730 before present. This achievement is now
considered a notable result in the development of our understanding of glaciation in North America
and the end of the Pleistocene epoch.

spell check answer:

1. D. 6. A. 14. b, d, e.
2. C. 7. A.
3. B. 8. D. 1. D.
4. A. 9. C. 14. a | b, c, e,
5. D.