LECTURE 4 – READING COMPREHENSION

Descriptive English – Phase 2 examination for RBI Grade B and NABARD Grade A/B

Recap of Lecture 3

What is Reading Comprehension (RC)?

What are the types of questions based on RC?

How to approach those questions?

How is RC linked with rules of Precis?

 Recap – Lecture 3

• Discussion of assignment – learning new words

• Application of rules and general guidelines

• Example of bad precis

• Example of good precis

 What is Reading Comprehension?
• Reading comprehension (RC) is the ability to read and understand
unfamiliar materials and to answer questions about them

• Passages can be based on a variety of topics including current affairs,

banking and economy, sports, etc

• The candidates are required to look for the underlying assumptions and
inferences

• The candidate needs to read between the lines. However, there is no room
for student’s own opinions, assumptions and prejudices. You just have to
understand the writer’s point of view

• It is a bit tedious to read the comprehension in one go and infer the points
in a short span of time
 What are the types of questions asked based on RC?

Direct questions

• The answer to such a question can be found directly as well as easily in the
given passage
• It is very easy to answer such questions
• You do not have to infer/extrapolate the given information to answer such
questions

Implied/Indirect questions

• These are tricky as compared to direct questions

• Answer is not directly found in the passage
• One has to infer/extrapolate/get into the writer’s head to answer such
questions
Direct and Indirect questions
Lets see some examples!
 Example of direct questions
When the Indian economy and its banking sector emerged relatively unscathed after the global financial crash of 2008, India’s financial
system became the envy of the world. That seems a distant memory today as the banking sector of the country reels under one of the
worst crises it has faced in a long time. A mounting pile of bad loans, poor accounting standards and growing evidence of lax
supervision and banking fraud—unearthed over the past few weeks by several government agencies—highlight the deep rot at the
core of India’s financial system.
In 2009, India had among the lowest ratio of non-performing assets among the largest economies of the world, which form the elite G-
20 club. Eight years later, it has among the highest ratio of such assets.
The fact that India’s bad loan ratio looks grim today has a lot to do with the fact that India’s central bank has been prodding banks to
recognize such toxic assets over the past few years—after long years of quiet forbearance. Be that as it may, the rise in bad loans and
the lack of adequate provisions has put Indian banks in a tight spot now.
While the bad loan problem is more acute among state-owned lenders such as SBI, even private banks may not be fully accounting for
their share of toxic assets.
Stress tests by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) show that faced with adverse financial shocks, Indian banks may find themselves
to be much more vulnerable than their counterparts in other large emerging markets.
That something is rotten in the state of state-owned banks has been known for quite a while. A committee to examine the weakness
in state-owned banks and to suggest reforms was set up by the Reserve Bank of India more than four years ago under the
chairmanship of P.J. Nayak. The Nayak committee submitted its report almost at the same time as the National Democratic Alliance
(NDA) government was sworn in, during the summer of 2014.
Yet, three-and-a-half years down the line, very few of the committee’s recommendations have been acted upon.
Unless the government undertakes structural reforms to overhaul the way in which state-owned banks are managed, they will continue
to be the Achilles heel of the Indian financial system, dragging down growth and investments over the long term.

• What challenges are being faced by the Indian banking sector today as per the given passage?
• What steps were taken by Reserve Bank of India to examine the state of situation in state owned banks?
 Example of indirect questions
When the Indian economy and its banking sector emerged relatively unscathed after the global financial crash of 2008, India’s financial
system became the envy of the world. That seems a distant memory today as the banking sector of the country reels under one of the
worst crises it has faced in a long time. A mounting pile of bad loans, poor accounting standards and growing evidence of lax
supervision and banking fraud—unearthed over the past few weeks by several government agencies—highlight the deep rot at the
core of India’s financial system.
In 2009, India had among the lowest ratio of non-performing assets among the largest economies of the world, which form the elite G-
20 club. Eight years later, it has among the highest ratio of such assets.
The fact that India’s bad loan ratio looks grim today has a lot to do with the fact that India’s central bank has been prodding banks to
recognize such toxic assets over the past few years—after long years of quiet forbearance. Be that as it may, the rise in bad loans and
the lack of adequate provisions has put Indian banks in a tight spot now.
While the bad loan problem is more acute among state-owned lenders such as SBI, even private banks may not be fully accounting for
their share of toxic assets.
Stress tests by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) show that faced with adverse financial shocks, Indian banks may find themselves
to be much more vulnerable than their counterparts in other large emerging markets.
That something is rotten in the state of state-owned banks has been known for quite a while. A committee to examine the weakness in
state-owned banks and to suggest reforms was set up by the Reserve Bank of India more than four years ago under the chairmanship
of P.J. Nayak. The Nayak committee submitted its report almost at the same time as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
government was sworn in, during the summer of 2014.
Yet, three-and-a-half years down the line, very few of the committee’s recommendations have been acted upon.
Unless the government undertakes structural reforms to overhaul the way in which state-owned banks are managed, they will continue
to be the Achilles heel of the Indian financial system, dragging down growth and investments over the long term.

• According to the passage, what is meant by stress tests and what utility do these tests have?
• According to the passage, why is there a need to overhaul the way in which state owned banks are being run?
 How to read and understand the given passage?

Step 1
Read the questions that are given and do reverse engineering

Step 2
Read the passage slowly and try to locate the answer to the questions. The
answers to the direct questions should be located. The paragraphs
containing the central idea of the answers to the indirect questions should
also be located

Step 3
While reading, lay focus on the central idea of every paragraph. Remember
precis writing?

Step 4
Write the answers to the questions in your own words
 Common problems faced by students
Problem 1
• I am not able to understand the passage. (The words are too difficult, the passage
is too lengthy)
Solution
Who is expecting you to understand the complete passage! Just focus on the central
idea! Remember precis?

Problem 2
• RC consumes a lot of time, I have to read the passage 4-5 times. Then after I read
the questions, I am lost again and I have to read the whole thing again.
Solution
Practice reverse engineering. Read the questions first, then read the passage. Also
work on improving your vocabulary. The time you take to read a passage is inversely
proportional to one’s vocabulary.
 Common problems faced by students
Problem 3
• I am not able to manage time.
Solution
Same as solution 2. Bottom up approach saves time, a good command over words
saves time.

Problem 4
• I don’t know which lines are important in the given passage and which lines can be
safely ignored.
Solution
Remember precis writing? Look for the central idea/ important points in each
paragraph and also take a cue from the questions asked.
 NEXT LECTURE

Descriptive English – Phase 2 examination for RBI Grade B and NABARD Grade A/B

Discussion of assignment

Application of rules discussed

Examples of good answer

Examples of bad answer

Thank You! Happy Learning!

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