MKS CMAT · Verbal Ability
CMAT Reading Comprehension: A Passage with Explained MCQs
CMAT reading comprehension practice should train you to defend an answer with evidence. A choice may sound sensible and still be wrong if the passage does not support it. This lesson gives you an original passage, five questions and explanations that show where each answer comes from.
The library and events below are fictional. This is MKS-created practice, not an official TU passage or past paper.
YOUR LEARNING ROUTE
Build the skill. Then test it.
A method for CMAT reading comprehension
Read once for the topic and the writer’s main point. On the second pass, notice contrasts such as “however,” examples and conclusions. For each question, return to the relevant paragraph instead of relying on a vague memory.
Do not stop at every unfamiliar word. First ask whether that word is necessary for the answer. For an inference question, choose the smallest conclusion the text supports, rather than a broad opinion about the subject.
Original practice passage: A library that listened
Paragraph 1. When a neighbourhood library in Nepal extended its opening hours, the committee expected a sharp rise in visitors. It had received frequent requests from students who could not arrive before the old closing time. Yet, during the first month, the additional evening hours were often quiet. Some committee members concluded that the requests had exaggerated the need.
Paragraph 2. A volunteer suggested asking students what had prevented them from coming. Their answers revealed several barriers. Some did not know that the timetable had changed. Others could reach the library after class but had no convenient transport home later. A few wanted a place for discussion, while the evening room remained a strictly silent space.
Paragraph 3. Instead of immediately cancelling the extra hours, the committee tried a smaller experiment. It placed clear notices near local colleges, opened earlier on two afternoons, and reserved one room for group study. Volunteers recorded visits and asked users which arrangement helped them most. They also noted whether visitors returned, since a crowded opening day alone would not establish lasting usefulness.
Paragraph 4. After six weeks, afternoon attendance had grown and several groups were returning regularly. Evening use remained modest. The committee therefore kept the popular afternoon sessions and reduced, rather than eliminated, the evening provision. The experience did not show that every request deserved the same response. It showed that a request can reveal a need without identifying the best solution. By examining obstacles and testing alternatives, the library made a more informed decision than either accepting every suggestion or dismissing them all.
Five questions
Q1. What is the main idea of the passage?
- A. Libraries should always remain open late.
- B. User needs are better understood by investigating barriers and testing responses.
- C. Students generally exaggerate their need for study space.
- D. Group study is always more useful than silent study.
Q2. Which obstacle is explicitly mentioned?
- A. The library introduced a new membership fee.
- B. The library had removed all its reference books.
- C. Some students lacked convenient transport home later.
- D. Students were required to purchase new uniforms.
Q3. Why did volunteers record repeat visits?
- A. To check whether the service remained useful beyond initial interest.
- B. To identify students who should pay a higher fee.
- C. To prove that afternoon sessions were unnecessary.
- D. To count each visitor only once during the whole experiment.
Q4. In paragraph 4, “modest” most nearly means:
- A. impolite
- B. secret
- C. extremely rapid
- D. limited in amount
Q5. Which inference is best supported?
- A. No student benefited from the evening provision.
- B. The committee abandoned every part of its original plan.
- C. A requested change may address only part of an underlying need.
- D. The committee proved its approach would succeed in every library.
PAUSE · CHECK · UNDERSTAND
Make each attempt count.
Try the questions before reading the explanations. Keep your working, note what felt uncertain, and use each correction to choose your next practice task.
Answers with passage evidence
Q1 — B. Paragraphs 2 and 3 describe investigation and experimentation; paragraph 4 explains their value. B covers that whole argument. A and D make absolute claims that the passage never makes. C repeats an early suspicion that the later investigation challenges.
Q2 — C. Paragraph 2 directly states the transport problem. The other choices introduce facts absent from the passage. A detail question requires a stated fact, even when an invented alternative sounds realistic.
Q3 — A. Paragraph 3 distinguishes a busy opening day from continuing usefulness. Return visits provide evidence of ongoing use. B invents a charging policy; C contradicts the experiment’s purpose; D confuses measuring repeat attendance with excluding it.
Q4 — D. Paragraph 4 contrasts growing afternoon attendance with less extensive evening use. In this context, “modest” describes a limited amount. It is not describing someone’s personality or politeness.
Q5 — C. Students requested later hours, but the investigation also identified communication, transport and discussion-space needs. That supports C. A goes too far: limited attendance is not zero attendance. B ignores the retained evening provision, while D makes an unsupported universal claim.
Review the reason, not only the letter
For each mistake, mark whether you missed a detail, chose an answer that was too broad, or brought in outside knowledge. Then underline the sentence that rules out your chosen option.
छोटो सुझाव: “यो कुरा passage मा कहाँ छ?” भनेर हरेक उत्तरको प्रमाण खोज्नुहोस्।
On your next passage, explain one wrong option as well as the correct one. That extra step helps distinguish evidence from an answer that merely sounds convincing.
Visit MKS CMAT for the wider preparation route.
The passage, questions and explanations are original MKS learning material. The study scenes are AI-generated illustrations.
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