Reading Study Guide
Complete reading comprehension preparation with strategies, examples, and practice for the ParaPro Assessment
What You'll Master
Essential reading comprehension skills
Comprehension Fundamentals
7 lessons
Finding Main Ideas
Identify central themes and main ideas in passages
Supporting Details
Recognize evidence and examples that support main ideas
Making Inferences
Draw conclusions from implied information
Author's Purpose
Understand why texts are written and the author's intent
Phonemes and Syllables
Count the sounds inside a spoken word and the beats that carry them
Phonics and Word Analysis
Decode an unfamiliar word from its letters, then take it apart into root, prefix and suffix
Reading Fluency
Read text smoothly, with accurate words, an even pace, and a voice that carries the meaning
Text Analysis Skills
5 lessons
Context Clues
Determine word meanings from surrounding text
Fact vs. Opinion
Distinguish between factual statements and opinions
Cause and Effect
Identify relationships between events and outcomes
Compare and Contrast
Analyze similarities and differences in texts
Evidence and Reasoning
Find the claim, the evidence and the reasoning in an argument
Literary Analysis
4 lessons
Reading Strategies
6 lessons
Summarizing
Condense information while maintaining essential meaning
Paraphrasing
Restate texts in your own words
Drawing Conclusions
Making logical deductions from text evidence
Text Structure
Understanding how texts are organized
Text-Based Discussions
Run a class conversation where every answer comes from the text
Informational Text Features
Use titles, headings, captions, diagrams, glossaries and contents pages to find your way
Advanced Concepts
4 lessons
Essential Reading Strategies
Tips for better comprehension
Preview Before Reading
Scan headings, bold words, and first sentences to get an overview and activate prior knowledge.
Question While Reading
Ask yourself: What's the main idea? Why did the author include this detail?
Annotate and Mark
Underline key ideas, circle unknown words, and write brief notes for active engagement.
Summarize After Reading
Mentally summarize what you've read. If you can't explain it, reread key sections.
Quick Practice Exercise
Test your comprehension skills
The water cycle is a continuous process that moves water throughout Earth's atmosphere, land, and oceans. It begins when the sun heats water in oceans, rivers, and lakes, causing it to evaporate into water vapor. This vapor rises into the atmosphere where cooler temperatures cause it to condense into tiny droplets that form clouds.
When these droplets combine and become too heavy, they fall as precipitation - rain, snow, sleet, or hail. Some precipitation soaks into the ground, becoming groundwater, while the rest flows over land as runoff, eventually returning to oceans and other bodies of water. The cycle then begins again.
1. What is the main idea of this passage?
Show Answer
The water cycle is a continuous process that moves water through Earth's atmosphere, land, and oceans.
2. What causes water to evaporate?
Show Answer
The sun heating water in oceans, rivers, and lakes causes evaporation.
3. Name two forms of precipitation mentioned in the passage.
Show Answer
Any two of: rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
Continue Your Preparation
Ready to Test Your Reading Skills?
After studying these topics, take our free practice tests to check your comprehension skills.