PSAT/NMSQT Reading Comprehension 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A primary purpose question asks what a passage chiefly accomplishes. The correct answer should reflect:
- A single minor detail
- The overall main goal of the whole passage (Correct answer)
- Only the final sentence
- An unrelated tangent
Correct answer: The overall main goal of the whole passage
Main-purpose answers must capture the passage as a whole, not one detail.
Question 2: In context, 'novel' in 'a novel approach to recycling' most nearly means:
- A work of fiction
- New or original (Correct answer)
- Lengthy
- Traditional
Correct answer: New or original
Here 'novel' is an adjective meaning new or innovative.
Question 3: A passage shifts from describing a problem to proposing solutions. This structural shift functions to:
- Confuse the reader
- Move from analysis toward resolution (Correct answer)
- Repeat earlier points
- End the discussion abruptly
Correct answer: Move from analysis toward resolution
Problem-to-solution structure advances the argument toward proposed answers.
Question 4: When an answer choice is 'too extreme' (using words like 'always' or 'never'), it is often wrong because the passage:
- Uses precise, measured language (Correct answer)
- Demands absolute claims
- Avoids all qualifiers
- Prefers exaggeration
Correct answer: Uses precise, measured language
PSAT passages favor nuanced claims, so extreme absolutes usually misrepresent them.
Question 5: An inference question asks what is 'most strongly suggested' by a paragraph. The best answer is:
- Explicitly stated word-for-word
- A logical conclusion supported by the text (Correct answer)
- A personal opinion
- Contradicted by the passage
Correct answer: A logical conclusion supported by the text
Inferences must follow logically from textual evidence without being directly stated.
Question 6: A narrator describes a character's 'measured tone' during an argument. This detail characterizes the character as:
- Wildly emotional
- Calm and controlled (Correct answer)
- Dishonest
- Uninterested
Correct answer: Calm and controlled
A measured tone indicates deliberate self-control rather than emotional outbursts.
Question 7: Two answer choices say nearly the same thing in different words. On the PSAT this usually means:
- One of them must be correct
- Both are likely wrong since only one answer can be right (Correct answer)
- You should pick the longer one
- The question is flawed
Correct answer: Both are likely wrong since only one answer can be right
If two choices are equivalent, neither can be the single correct answer, so both are eliminated.
PSAT/NMSQT Reading Comprehension 3
A primary purpose question asks what a passage chiefly accomplishes.
The correct answer should reflect: