The Compass Reading Test is designed to assess your skills in reading and comprehending a text. You will be asked reading comprehension questions about the main ideas, specific information, and vocabulary from the reading text.
You will also see reading questions on the author’s tone or audience, as well as questions that require you to make an inference or conclusion from the facts stated in the reading comprehension passage in the test.
The texts for the reading part of the Compass Test will be taken from various academic disciplines, including the humanities, the social sciences, and natural sciences.
You might also see reading tests on excerpts of fiction, like those from a novel you might have read, or practical passages, such as those explaining how to do a process step by step.
When answering questions on the Compass Reading Test, remember that you should only use information from the passage provided to answer the reading comprehension questions given on the exam paper.
The Compass test in reading does not require you to have previous knowledge in any academic area, so you should not use your own knowledge of the natural or social sciences or of the humanities to answer the questions on the Compass Reading Exam.
If you would like further study and practice for the Compass Test in reading, please click on the Compass practice test link in our main menu.