TIPS & TRICKS ON READING COMPREHENSION

Seperti halnya dalam mengerjakan “Reading Comprehension” pada soal-soal Ujian

Nasional, dalam mengerjakan soal-soal TPS Bahasa Inggris pun juga sama yakni
“TIDAK PERLU WASTING TIME ATAU MEMBUANG WAKTU KALIAN
DENGAN MEMBACA KESELURUHAN TEKS”. Mengapa? Karena dengan waktu
yang limited atau terbatas, kalian gak mungkin membaca teks.nya seperti kalian
membaca novel atau koran nak  Jadi, what should I do, Miss? Simak pembahasannya
berikut ini:

1. Baca soalnya dulu lalu lakukan SKIMMING alias membaca cepat dengan
membaca kalimat pertama dan terakhir pada setiap paragraf jika
pertanyaannya berupa pertanyaan umum seperti yang diminta adalah
topik/tujuan/gambaran umum dari teks.

2. Jika informasi yang diminta adalah informasi detail, maka lakukan SCANNING
yakni teknik membaca dengan mengandalkan KEYWORD atau KATA KUNCI
yang terdapat dalam soal untuk kalian cari di teks.

3. Mark the Important Information, maksudnya kalian diminta untuk menandai

beberapa informasi penting saat kita membaca secara SKIMMING atau
SCANNING.. Jika memang ditanya di soal nanti, kita bisa mengacu ke paragraf
tersebut dengan cepat. So, gak perlu nyari lagi.

4. Guess the Unknown Vocabulary, maksudnya kalian perlu untuk belajar

menebak kosakata sulit yang mungkin kalian gak tahu artinya melalui konteks
bacaan. Yang lebih penting lagi adalah latihan terus sambil menambah kosakata
kalian, karena memang kunci utama memahami bahasa asing utamanya Bahasa
Inggris adalah RICH OF VOCABULARY (KAYA AKAN KOSAKATA).

5. Limit Your Outside Knowledge,

Ini perlu dicamkan baik-baik karena banyak banget yang salah di sini. Di soal kan
selalu ada tulisan “according to the writer”, “according to the text”, dan seterusnya.
Dalam soal reading, kita wajib menjawab pertanyaan sesuai dengan informasi yang
ada di teks. Kita TIDAK BOLEH memasukkan pengetahuan, persepsi pribadi,
pengalaman pribadi maupun opini kita yang gak ada di teks, sekalipun itu hal
yang kita anggap benar.

Tipe soal biasanya terbagi atas 2 (dua) macam: pertanyaan bacaan yang bersifat umum dan
khusus/ spesifik. Yuk, lihat pembahasannya.

1. Pertanyaan Umum

Ciri-ciri pertanyaan yang bersifat umum adalah:

 Merujuk pada aspek umum sebuah bacaan. Artinya, pertayaan yang menanyakan
tentang seluk beluk bacaan seperti:
  topik
 tujuan
 pesan
 sudut pandang penulis
 kerangka bacaan
 pemberian judul yang tepat untuk teks, dll.
 Pertanyaan umum biasanya mendorong pembaca untuk memberikan sebuah
kesimpulan misalnya cakupan bacaan tentang apa saja

Contoh soal-soalnya antara lain adalah:

 What is the  topic of the text?

 What is the text about?
 What is the  purpose of the text?
 The  organization of the text is ….
 The passage implies that ….
 What is the  author’s view on ….?
 The  author’s view is ….
 The  text/ passage/ paragraph tells about the following, except ….

2. Pertanyaan Khusus/ Spesifik

Ciri-ciri jenis pertanyaan yang bersifat khusus/spesifik ini akan menguji kemampuan

pembaca untuk menemukan informasi tertentu yang bersifat detail, misalnya:

 identitas, kurun waktu, lokasi, dan informasi tertentu lainnya

 memahami kosa kata dari konteks kalimat tertentu (word meaning)
 menemukan rujukan dari kosa kata tertentu (referring)
 memahami maksud frasa atau kalimat tertentu (inferring)

Contoh soal-soalnya meliputi:

 Which of the following is  true according to the text?

 Which of the following is  relevant to the passage?
 It can be  inferred from paragraph …, line … that ….
 Which lines tell/ show about ….
 Compare the two paragraphs and  find the similarity/ differences
 What does ‘it’ in paragraph … line … refer to?
 The  closest word in meaning with … is ….

Catatan:

 Perhatikan bagian yang diberi garis bawah pada contoh soal-soal di atas
 Kata atau frasa yang diberi garis bawah adalah kunci instruksi bacaan
 Pertanyaan ini akan membiasakan kamu untuk mengenali kunci instruksi bacaan,
kamu bisa hemat waktu mengerjakan soal.
 LATIHAN SOAL TPS 1

TEXT 1

The location of stars in the sky relative to one another do not apear to the naked eye to
change, and as a result stars are often considered to be fixed in position. Many unaware
stargazers falsely assume that each star has its own permanent home in the nighttime sky.

In reality, though, staras are always moving, but because of the tremendous distances
between stars themselves and from stars to Earth, the changes are barely “perceptible” here.
An example of a rather fastmoving star demonstrates why this “misconception” prevails; it
takes approximately 200 years for a relatively rapid star like Bernard's star to move a distance
in the skies equal to the diameter of the Earth's moon. When the apparently negligible
movement of the stars is constrasted wtih the movement of the planets, the stars are
seemingly unmoving.

1. The passage implies that from the Earth it appears that the planets ....
A. are fixed in the sky
B. move more slowly that the stars
C. show approximately the same amount of movement as the stars
D. travel through the sky considerably more rapidly than the stars
E. consists of nine planets

2. How many years a rapid star can move around the moon?
A. less than 200 years
B. more than 200 years
C. no more than 200 years
D. two times 100 years
E. presumably 200 years

3. The word "perceptible" in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to which of the following?

A. Noticeable
B. Persuasive
C. Conceivable
D. Astonishing
E. be able to

4. The paragraph following the passage most probably discusses ....

A. the movement of the planets
B. Bernard's Star
C. the distance from the Earth to the Moon
D. why stars are always moving
E. How far is the Earth frommoon

5. The word "MISCONCEPTION" in paragraph 2 has closest in meaning to ....

A. Theory
B. Erroneous belief
C. Idea
D. Proven fact
E. Issue

TEXT 2

Non-verbal communication is defined as communication between people by means

other than speech. Non-verbal communication (NVC) derives from the following major
causes: (1) eye contact (amount of looking at another person’s body and face); (2) mouth
(especially smiling or grimacing in relation to eye contact); (3) posture (for example, sitting
forwards and backwards); (4) gesture (as with the use of arm movements when talking); (5)
orientation (of the body to the addressee); (6) body distance (as when we stand too close or
too far away from others); (7) smell (including perfumes); (8) skin (including pigmentation,
blushing, and texture); (9) hair (including length, texture, and style); (10) clothes (with
particular reference to fashion).

Non-verbal communication is not quite the same as ‘body language’ because any
claim about a language must refer to an agreed and identifiable grammar and syntax. NVC is
not always so precise or advanced; the vocabulary of non-verbal signs is more limited than
speech. Even so, it is a mistake to consider NVC as isolated from speech. Instead, some
complex interaction is envisaged between word and body signal, and one that is not always
complementary. Imagine yourself interviewing job applicants. You might not offer
employment to a candidate who refuses to look at you, always frowns, hunches both
shoulders, sweats a lot, and has a Mohican hair cut-despite the fact that he or she gives
thoughtful and interesting replies to your questions.

Take eye contact as an example for discussion. Mutual eye contact (where both
people look into each other’s eyes) can be a sign of liking, but prolonged gaze leads to
discomfort. The directed eye contact violates a “code” of looking where eye contact is
frequently broken but returned to, and leads to depersonalization of the victim because an
aggressor deliberately breaks the rules which the victim adheres to. Eye contact is often
enhanced by size of pupils, eyebrow inflection and movement, and smiling.

6. It can be inferred from the text that verbal and non-verbal communication ...
A. never match
B. use the same grammar
C. always support each other
D. need learning and practice
E. sometimes show striking contrast

7. The author organizes the ideas in the text by .....

A. classifying types of non verbal commumcation
B. differentiating non verbal communication frotn body language
C. defining non verbal communication and giving examples
D. exposing problems in defining non verbal communication
E. ordering sources of non verbal communication chronologically
8. According to the text, NVC ...
A. does not have established rules
B. has an identifiable grammar
C. maybe derived from hair color
D. is isolated in language study
E. is more complicated than body language

9. The purpose of the passage is to ...

A. present the result of research
B. define non-verbal communication
C. describe the real situation of job interview
D. provide examples of non-verbal communication
E. explain the role of non-verbal communication in communication

10. The word "CODE" (paragraph 3) can be replaced by ....

A. sign
B. program
C. symbol
D. rule
E. instruction
 LATIHAN SOAL TPS 2

TEXT 1

TEXT A
Berlin (Reuters)–No more Coca-Cola or Budweiser, no Marlboro, no American
whiskey or even American Express cards— a growing number of restaurants in Germany are
taking everything American off their menus to protest the war in Iraq.
Although the protests are mainly symbolic, waiters in dozens of bars and restaurants
in Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Bonn and other German cities are telling patrons, "Sorry, Coca-
Cola is not available any more due to the current political situation."
The boycotts appear to be part of a “nascent” worldwide movement. One Web site,
www.consumers-against-war.de, calls for boycotts of 27 top American firms from Microsoft
to Kodak while another, www.adbusters.org, urges the "millions of people against the war" to
"Boycott Brand America."
Consumer fury seems to be on the rise. Demonstrators in Paris smashed the windows
of a McDonald's restaurant last week, forcing police in riot gear to move in to protect staff
and customers of the American fast-food outlet. The attackers sprayed obscenities and
"boycott" on the windows.

TEXT B
This economic advantage, in turn, is used to sponsor terror and killing in Islamic
countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq. When product boycott was carried out by consumers
in the Middle East and some in the European countries, sales of these companies is reported
to be decreased by 10% and this amounted to big numbers for giant companies. Thus, it is a
rational for Muslim especially in Malaysia to take similar action. Furthermore, Of late, many
other products are available as an alternative for the boycotted products. For example, we
have Mukmin toothpaste instead of Colgate etc. and Fab or Breeze could be replaced with
Daiya, Puteri Emas etc.
There are a few questions arise in regard to the boycott such as how effective is the
approach and why not boycotting all the products altogether. In answering these questions,
Sabasun has reiterated to look at collapse of the apartheid regime in South Africa as the best
example.
To answer the question in regard to why not boycotting all the products altogether,
Sabasun has taken an approach to do what can be done when one cannot do all. Hence, a
few products that are really needed by consumers are offered on a limited floor space and no
promotion is done for the product. While products that are boycott completely will not even
get space on the shelves let alone floor space. During the early phase after the campaign was
in progress, the effect of the boycott is very obvious when Sabasun suffer a loss of nearly RM
150,000.

1. Both passages are similar in terms of ....

(A) The problem underlying in both passages
(B) The writer’s point of view
(C) The effect of the problem discussed
(D) The area the problem taking place
(E) The reason leading to the problem
2. The difference between the first and the second passage is that the latter ....
(A) Asserts the economic advantage resulted from boycotting while the former claims the
cause of boycotting
(B) Exposes the disserve impact of boycotting for Islamic countries while the former shows
the situation in Germany
(C) Affirms the need for boycotting American products while the former depicts the activity
of boycotting in Europe
(D) Repudiates the boycott toward American products while the former presents the reason of
boycotting
(E) Points out the limitation of the activity while the former clarifies the need to do the
activity

3. From the second passage, it can be inferred that the topic discussed before the text B is .....
(A) The basic reason for repelling American products
(B) The terror for Islamic countries
(C) The motivation for not boycotting all the products altogether
(D) The effectiveness in carrying out the program
(E) The economic advantage of the American firms

4. The most suitable word to least change the word “nascent” in “The boycotts appear to be
part of a nascent worldwide movement.” in the first passage is .....
(A) Newly born
(B) Rising
(C) Perilous
(D) Vital
(E) Fretting

TEXT 2
Among the environmental specters confronting humanity in the 21st century – global
warming, the destruction of rain forests, overfishing of the oceans – a shortage of fresh water
is at the top of the list, particularly in the developing world. Hardly a month passes without a
new study making another alarming prediction, further deepening concern over what a World
Bank expert calls the “grim arithmetic of water.” Recently the United Nations said that 2.7
billion people would face severe water shortages by 2025 if consumption continuous at
current rates. Fears about a “parched” future arise from a projected growth of world
population from more than six billion today to an estimated nine billion in 2050. Yet the
amount of fresh water on Earth is not increasing. Nearly 97 percent of the planet’s water is
salt water in seas and oceans. Close to 2 percents of Earth’s water is frozen in polar ice sheets
and glaciers, and a fraction of one percent is available for drinking, irrigation, and industrial
use.
Gloomy water news, however, is not just a thing of the future: Today an estimated 1.2
billion people drink unclean water, and about 2.5 billion lack proper toilets or sewerage
systems. More than five million people die each year from water-related diseases such as
cholera and dysentery. All over the globe farmers and municipalities are pumping water out
of the ground faster than it can be replenished.
Still, as I discovered on a two-month trip to Africa, India, and Spain, a host of individuals,
organizations, and businesses are working to solve water’s dismal arithmetic.
5. The subject matter discussed in the passage is ___

(A) The effect of fresh water shortage

(B) Project to provide fresh and clean water
(C) Nature disturbance leading to availability of water
(D) Alarming condition of the world water shortage
(E) The amount of fresh water on earth

6. The part following the passage will likely discuss about

(A) The spread of greater water shortage in Africa, India, and Spain
(B) The writer’s discoveries of gloomy water news
(C) Techniques taken to obtain maximum efficiency from every drop of water
(D) Another environmental specters confronting humanity
(E) The solving ideas of individuals, organizations, and businesses problems

7. What inference can undermine the information taken from the passage?
(A) Poor sanitation leads to water-related illness
(B) The growth of world population is imbalance with the clean water availability
(C) There is always new study making another alarming prediction about fresh water
(D) It is estimated that 1.2 billion people drink unclean water, and about 2.5 billion lack
proper toilets or sewerage systems
(E) Only one percent of water is available for drinking, irrigation, and industrial use

8. The followings are the least meaning of the word “parched”, EXCEPT ....
(A) Dried
(B) Alight
(C) Arid
(D) Crispy
(E) Droughty

17. D
18. C
19. E
20. B

TEXT 3
Joe Dogeness received a business degree from a wellknown university in 1986 and
took a job with a large company. His career got off to a good start. By 1992, his salary was
$38,000, and he was in charge of five-person analysis team.
Joe was not happy with his career progress, however. Although his salary was
satisfactory, his level of responsibility was only slightly greater than it had been during his
first year or two in the company. He had been stuck in a staff job at the home office for six
years and felt that he would like a change. He requested a transfer to a line-marketing job.
He was told that he was too valuable in his current job to be transferred. He was
overpaid for a lower-level line position, and too inexperienced to be promoted to a middle-or
upper-level line position.

9. Joe couldn't be promoted to a higher position because....

A. He was in charge of a five-person team.
B. He was slightly irresponsible.
C. He got off to a good position.
D. He wasn’t needed in his present position.
E. He did not have enough experience.

10. Why was he unhappy?

A. He was overqualified.
B. He wanted to have a better salary.
C. His job was no longer challenging.
D. His work took long hours.
E. He had too much responsibility.
.