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Basic Comprehension Tests

    • 15 tests |
    • 225 questions

Most job roles require a foundation level of the English language and a basic verbal skill set. This includes, but is not limited to, operational, customer service, administration, help desk and commercial.

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What are basic comprehension tests?

A comprehension test is a foundation-level verbal reasoning test aimed at assessing your English language and comprehension skills. These tests vary in content and style but all evaluate your comprehension of a passage of information, plus your ability to analyse a number of answers and choose the most suitable one.

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If your English is a bit rusty, a little bit of practice can really help you improve your skills.

What skills do basic comprehension tests assess?

Basic comprehension tests evaluate an individual’s ability to understand and interpret written information effectively. These tests assess various skills, including:

  1. Reading comprehension: Capability to comprehend and extract meaning from written passages, including identifying main ideas, supporting details, and implied information.
  2. Vocabulary: Proficiency in understanding and using a range of words and phrases, including synonyms, antonyms, and context clues.
  3. Inference: Skill in drawing logical conclusions or making educated guesses based on information presented in the text.
  4. Critical thinking: Capacity to analyze and evaluate the content of passages, including recognizing biases, inconsistencies, and logical fallacies.
  5. Summarization: Ability to condense and articulate the main points of a passage concisely and accurately.
  6. Contextual understanding: Understanding of how words, phrases, and sentences function within the context of the passage as a whole.

Overall, basic comprehension tests aim to assess an individual’s reading and comprehension skills, which are essential for effective communication and decision-making in various personal and professional contexts.

Our practice test have been designed to help you refresh your comprehension skills so that you can be successful.

What is the basic comprehension test format?

A basic comprehension test – such as the GRE test or ieGAT test – is one of the most commonly used psychometric tests.

The English required is generally secondary school level (for age 16). You will typically have between 45 seconds and 2 minutes to answer each questions and so you will need to be well practiced and efficient.

These questions will require you to demonstrate basic language concepts such as vocabulary, spelling, word association, idioms and metaphors.

Prepare yourself for leading employers

  • BBC
  • Deloitte
  • HSBC
  • Amazon
  • Google
  • NHS
  • Civil Service

Sample Basic Comprehension Tests question Test your knowledge!

Score: /5

Carlotta is taller than Lauren, and Josh is shorter than Lauren. Who is the tallest?

  • Carlotta
  • Lauren
  • Josh
  • Cannot be determined from the information provided.

What inference can be made from the author's argument regarding environmental policies?

  • The author believes economic considerations are more important than environmental ones.
  • Short-term economic benefits should be the primary focus of environmental policies.
  • Environmental policies should not compromise the ecosystem for immediate economic gains.
  • The ecosystem is resilient and can recover from any damage inflicted by economic development.

Based on the information presented, which course of action is least supported?

  • Pursuing rapid expansion without regard for potential environmental consequences.
  • Opting for a sustainable approach to growth to preserve public image.
  • Weighing the long-term implications of aggressive growth strategies.
  • Consulting with environmental experts to assess the impact of the corporation's expansion plans.

What conclusion can be drawn about the new marketing proposal mentioned in the text?

  • The marketing team has thoroughly considered all risks associated with the new strategy.
  • Influencer partnerships are guaranteed to increase the company's revenue.
  • The new strategy could potentially neglect the company's existing customer base.
  • The proposal may have overlooked certain risks related to influencer partnerships and platform dependency.

If all roses are flowers and some flowers fade quickly, which statement must be true?

  • All roses fade quickly.
  • No roses are flowers that fade quickly.
  • Some roses may fade quickly.
  • None of the flowers that fade quickly are roses.

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Basic Comprehension Tests Tips

1Scanning the whole test

It is advisable to quickly go through the entire test to have an overview of the number of passages and questions under each of them. Doing this will help you to plan your time carefully and avoid spending a lot of time on one passage. Since most of the comprehension tests are timed, scanning through the entire test will allow proper time management and ensure that you complete all the questions on time.

2A careful reading of instructions

Students are required to be keen when reading the passage instructions to avoid missing or misunderstanding key points that may be necessary for answering the questions. For instance, the instructions may require you to respond to questions in a given fashion failure to which may make it difficult to pass the test.

3Avoid relying upon outside knowledge

You are supposed to carefully read the provided passage at least two times. After reading, you are supposed to answer the question asked based on the passage as opposed to using knowledge outside the given passage. Therefore, you should ensure that all the answers are backed with information derived from the passage.

4Reading the questions first

It is advisable to go through the questions first before reading the passage. Such a practice makes you aware of the type of information to look for in the comprehension during the actual reading. It also helps you to concentrate on important phrases or words in the passage, and this enables you to skim as opposed to reading every word, thus saving time particularly where the time allocated for the test is limited. Starting with passage reading then proceeding to read questions often makes it necessary for you to search through the passage repeatedly and this could consume a lot of time.

5Making strategic guesses

It is advisable to go through the choices provided for the passage questions before answering them to avoid the likelihood of being fooled by nearly correct options. Such a practice can be improved by first eliminating the answers that you are certain are incorrect and then choosing your answer from those remaining.

Employing the above tips can help in maximizing your score when undertaking comprehension tests. These tips also help in improving your language art skills by enabling you to visualize, synthesize, connect, and determine the significance of the passage. Finally, these tips can help you to quickly make inferences and in finding the main idea as well as the gist of the comprehension, thus improving your test scores.

Basic Comprehension Video Tutorials

Analogies

2 mins

English Language

2 mins

Find the New Word

2 mins
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Basic Comprehension Tests FAQs

How are basic comprehension tests scored?

Basic comprehension tests are used to evaluate basic language skills. Simply put, it’s an English test that is scored in the same fashion as school tests. However, wrong answers may subtract from your total score.

What are basic comprehension tests used for?

Basic comprehension tests are used for assessing a person’s language and comprehension skills. Based on simple language, usually not exceeding middle school levels, these tests demonstrate how well you can read, your level of understanding and your ability to solve simple questions.

What do basic comprehension tests involve?

Basic comprehension tests involve language problems of varying difficulty. Most of the questions are rather similar and might include reading short passages, finding word meanings and analysing text.

What do basic comprehension tests measure?

Basic comprehension tests measure a person’s language and comprehension skills. Focusing on foundation level language knowledge, these tests assess how fast and sharp is someone’s logical thinking.

Where can I practice basic comprehension tests?

We use language on a daily basis. However, to revive the knowledge beyond the ABCs of everyday language you should practice solving these problems. You can find all the most popular comprehension tests on our website alongside with tips and tutorials

Which employers use basic comprehension tests?

Basic comprehension tests are among the most widespread selection techniques. They gained their popularity because they are designed to assess basic education and intelligence level needed for every job that requires an ability to think fast and use logic.

Reviews of our Basic Comprehension tests

What our customers say about our Basic Comprehension tests

  • Australia

    January 10, 2024

    Easy to complete

    I liked that the passages were not filled with an excessive amount of information/writing, making it easier to focus and answer the given questions. I dislike that you are not notified when the passage changes.

  • Philippines

    October 07, 2023

    Layout

    The layout of the site is good because you can view the timer simultaneously as you're answering the test.

  • United States of America

    August 13, 2023

    Interesting reaction

    I wanted to measure my comprehension skills and see what I get. Using this test was an eye-opener. Great assessment.

  • Germany

    July 14, 2023

    Good practice, could be more transparent though

    Easy and intuitively to use. The test itself offers good practice for this specific aptitude. However, the process could be better communicated that there will be several texts with which one gets tested with. Due to how the test is designed, I thought there'd be just one text

  • South Africa

    May 31, 2023

    It was effective

    It was effective but could use some conprehension questions, where the answer is written to better help the skill.

  • Australia

    May 31, 2023

    Excellent for practicing

    I liked how the different sets of questions were laid out and it was a good practice for an upcoming English exam.

  • Pakistan

    May 16, 2023

    It is a good test

    It is helpful with simple vocabulary to start your practice comprehension. If you are a beginner it is useful and highly recommended.

  • Philippines

    May 02, 2023

    Read questions carefully and understand the text

    What I like about this test is that you will be challenged and sharpened your skills by understanding the context. I dislike the timer, it adds pressure.

  • Australia

    April 23, 2023

    Good questions but easy vocabulary

    There are some really good questions but with less proficient vocabulary. Because of this, most questions are straight-forward.

  • Australia

    April 22, 2023

    Great Test

    This was a great readng comprehension test. It possessed a variety of texts and made sure that the reader broke the information down.

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