KI UNIQUE – GENERAL READING SECTION

KI UNIQUE – GENERAL READING SECTION

This test contains of 3 sections with a total of 40 questions. The types of questions asked are similar but the difference lies in the format of texts. Possible formats of texts could be: notices, advertisements, newspapers, instruction manuals, leaflets, timetables, books and magazines. In all there are 5 passages: 2 in 1st section, 2 in 2nd section and 1 in 3rd section.

Below is a table showing comparison between different approaches to reading which can be a useful technique in reading.

SKIMMING	SCANNING	READING IN DETAIL
Getting a general idea	Finding specific information	Reading carefully for meaning
Example: Newspaper article	Example: a telephone directory	Example: an instructional manual
Help you find the right section	Help you find the right section	Confirms you have the right answer

BASIC TIPS:

1. As this task tests your reading ability, it is advised that the examinee should practice reading. This may involve reading a newspaper, a magazine or a journal.
2. Allot time to practice reading in a time slot so that one can learn to read quickly.
3. Plan what to write, before actually writing it down.

SPECIFIC TIPS:

As a matter of fact the specific tips will be same for both General and Academic reading modules. But as passages are more in number and less in length and details in General Training when compared to Academic reading, so time management has to be different.

• It is advisable that the candidate marks the important parts in a paragraph, especially the ones which match the paragraph headings.
• If one gets an answer from the paragraph, he/ she should stop reading it and firstly write down that answer so that later on time is not wasted in finding it again.
• Don’t get confused in matching the paragraph headings with the words in the paragraph, as they may be just present to confuse you and may not have any link with the real meaning of the paragraph.
• If one is still unsure about certain paragraph headings, time should not be wasted in deciding about them. Rather a candidate should go through the rest of questions, and may be in that he/ she may find an answer to paragraph heading.
• An examinee should not waste time in finding meaning of unknown words. But still there are some tips to figure out its meaning and they are:
• Look for the glossary at the end.
• If it starts with a Capital letter, then it is a proper noun.
• It may be defined further in the sentence.
• Try to find the “word root”.
  
• Example: abridge=A + Bridge
  
• Work out a general meaning logically.
  
• Work out a general meaning by contrast.
  
• Consider word group? Is it verb, noun, adjective or adverb?

HOW TO APPROACH READING TEST?

Look for the title of the passage and any illustrations Skim the question types Skim the reading passage Go back to the 1st set of questions. Use the specific skills for each question type. Look for keywords and think about potential. Synonyms or ways it might be rephrased. Scan the passage to find the relevant section. Read in detail to confirm the answer.

EXAMPLE:

The muddle of MBAs1.

You are advised to spend about 15 minutes on the questions based on the reading passage below.

It is incongruous that the number of British institutions offering MBA courses should have grown by 254 per cent during a period when the economy has been sliding into deeper recession. Optimists, or those given to speedy assumptions, might think it marvellous to have such a resource of business school graduates ready for the recovery. Unfortunately, there is now much doubt about the value of the degree- not least among MBA graduates themselves, suffering as they are from the effects of recession and facing the prospect of shrinking management structures.

What was taken some years ago as a ticket of certain admission to success is now being exposed to the scrutiny of cost-conscious employers who seek 'can dos' rather than 'might dos', and who feel that academia has not been sufficiently appreciative of the needs of industry or of the employers' possible contribution.

It is curious, given the name of the degree, that there should be no league table for UK business schools; no unanimity about what the degree should encompass; and no agreed system for accreditation. Surely there is something wrong. One wonders where all the tutors for this massive infusion of business expertise came from and why all this mushrooming took place.

Perhaps companies that made large investments would have been wiser to invest in already existing managers, perched anxiously on their own internal ladders. The Institute of Management’s 1992 survey, which revealed that eighty-one per cent of managers thought they personally would be more effective if they received more training, suggests that this might be the case. There is, too, the fact that training alone does not make successful managers. They need the inherent qualifications of character; a degree of self-subjugation; and, above all, the ability to communicate and lead; more so now, when empowerment is a buzzword that is at least generating genuflections, if not total conviction.

One can easily think of people, some comparatively unlettered, who are now lauded captains of industry. We may, therefore, not need to ne too concerned about the fall in applications for business school places, or even the doubt about MBAs. The proliferation and subsequent questioning may have been an inevitable evolution. If the Management Charter Initiative, now exploring the introduction of a senior management qualification, is successful, there will be a powerful corrective.

We believe now that management is all about change. One hopes there will be some of that in the relationship between management and science within industry, currently causing concern and which is overdue for attention. No-one doubts that we need more scientists and innovation to give us an edge in an increasingly competitive world. If scientists feel themselves undervalued and under-used, working in industrial ghettos, that is not a promising augury for the future. It seems we have to resolve these misapprehensions between science and industry. Above all, we have to make sure that management is not itself smug about its status and that it does not issue mission statements about communication without realizing that the essence of it is a dialogue. More empowerment is required - and we should strive to achieve it.

Choose which of these answers best represents the information in the reading passage.
Decide whether these statements reflect the information in the passage.