College English CET-4 Reading Comprehension Boot Camp

Author: Han Chunming Si Jun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-10-01
Features: Reading comprehension is a question type in the College English Test Band 4 (CET-4) that accounts for a significant proportion of the total score. It is also one of the most challenging question types for many examinees. The reason is that students often find the passages relatively easy to understand, yet after reading the entire text, they struggle to answer the questions correctly. This is either due to a discrepancy between their comprehension and the test makers' intent or because they forget details after reading. Additionally, practicing reading comprehension questions requires a lot of time but often yields minimal results. As a result, reading comprehension has become a "chicken rib" in the minds of many candidates—tasteless to eat but too good to discard.
To address these common issues, this book starts by analyzing the reasons behind most examinees' mistakes. It then categorizes and explains the common pitfalls and correct answer strategies for various question types in reading comprehension, aiming to help candidates focus on and overcome their weaknesses in preparation for the final sprint before the CET-4 exam.
The categorization method used in this book differs slightly from traditional approaches. Traditional methods categorize questions from the test makers' perspective, such as main idea questions, detail questions, fact identification questions, summarization questions, vocabulary in context questions, and inference questions. Such categorization is useful for test makers to understand the various aspects being assessed but may not always be ideal for examinees. In this book, we have reclassified and organized the different types of reading comprehension questions based on similar response strategies, which helps candidates grasp the techniques for answering questions comprehensively and their shortcomings in practice.
At the same time, the first chapter of this book provides a simple quiz to help readers identify their frequently incorrect question types, allowing them to selectively read the relevant chapters.
All the reading materials in this book are selected from English-language publications in the UK and the US between 1999 and 2002, aiming to balance novelty and, enabling readers to improve their answer skills while also experiencing the style of English in the new century.
The main structure of this book is as follows:
Chapter 1: Error Tendency Test. Through a simple quiz, readers can identify their weak areas to focus on when tackling reading comprehension questions.
Chapter 2: Problem Solutions. Summarizes common questions and answers related to reading comprehension.
Chapter 3: Question Analysis. Categorizes question types based on similar response strategies, which is the core part of the book. Readers are advised to select chapters based on their needs.
Chapter 4: Answering Strategies. Presents step-by-step procedures and techniques for answering reading comprehension questions.
Chapter 5: Comprehensive Practice. Provides 250 reading comprehension practice questions with answers.