Reading Comprehension
Reading Comprehension questions are typically easy to moderate difficulty level.
20% questions in RC are from vocabulary. Read the question carefully. Sometimes you are asked to ‘select the word opposite in meaning rather than similar ‘. Make sure you don’t hastily read the question and mark the option accordingly.
To solve questions from vocabulary, remember that you are NOT expected to know the exact meaning of this word. To answer vocabulary questions, read the passage again and question yourself ‘how is this word used in context’. Predict the meaning of the word and then see the options. Finally select the one closest in meaning to your prediction.
Read the first and last paragraph to get the gist of the passage. This is useful when answering questions like ‘What does the author wants to convey in this article or What is the theme of this article etc.’
It is alright to leave some questions (ones which are detailed or require you to read the entire paragraph. ) They take up precious time leaving you with no time for Quant/Reasoning.
Sentence Rearrangement (Para jumbles)
Parajumbles can be tricky.
If you have 3-4 minutes to spend, then only attempt para jumble.
One good thing about para jumbles is, if you get the sequence right (even after spending 5 minutes), you will get 5 questions right with 100% accuracy.
Read the passage carefully.
Look out for words like ‘Instead’, ‘Furthermore’ etc. Sentences starting with these words will always come in the middle. Eliminate these sentences and check the others. Basically you are looking for starting sentence.
Generally the starting sentence gives a brief overview about the issue/problem being discussed in the passage. Look for chronological order (dates, time ).
Once you get the starting right, the rest of the task is easy.
For sentences with words like ‘instead’, ‘furthermore’, ‘because’, ‘hence’ etc try and find the previous sentences.
Grammar Questions (Error Spotting and Fill in the blanks)
Many people complain about their inability to solve grammar questions, due to low confidence or because their grammar is weak.
If you solve the above three topics (RC, Parajumbles and Cloze test) you will easily clear sectional cutoff.
Not only solving above three topics will help you will clear sectional cutoff for english but you will also score high marks (18-20) in english section without even touching grammar.
That said, go through the error spotting questions, out of 5 there will surely be 1-2 questions which will have very obvious mistakes. Attempt those questions.
Similarly in fill in the blanks, there are 1-2 questions which can solved without having any knowledge of grammar at all.