Reading comprehension skills: complete overview - Regents ELA Part 1

Part 1 of the Regents Examination in English Language Arts is Reading Comprehension: 24 multiple-choice questions across three unseen texts. Because the texts are unseen, this section tests transferable reading skills rather than memorized content. This site groups those skills into six strands that underpin every Part 1 question. This overview maps the six skills, how they serve the Next Generation standards and the exam, and how to study them.

The six reading comprehension skills

Each strand is a skill you apply to any unseen text, literary, poetry, or informational.

• Close reading and text evidence. Reading actively and answering from located evidence rather than gist, and separating what a text states from what it implies. See close reading and text evidence.
• Determining central ideas. Distinguishing a central idea from a topic or detail, and tracking how an idea develops across a passage. See determining central ideas.
• Making inferences. Drawing a conclusion the text supports, anchored to its textual trigger, and rejecting over-reach. See making inferences.
• Analyzing author's craft and purpose. Explaining why a writer made a choice and what effect it creates, not just labelling techniques. See analyzing author's craft and purpose.
• Reading poetry on the Regents. Reading the Part 1 poem for sense first, then figurative language and form. See reading poetry on the Regents.
• Answering the multiple-choice questions. A reliable method (read, locate, predict, eliminate) and the distractor types to watch for. See answering the multiple-choice questions.

How they serve the standards and the exam

The reading skills map to the Next Generation Reading standards for grades 11 to 12.

• Close reading and inference serve the standard on citing strong textual evidence to support what a text states and implies.
• Determining central ideas serves the standard on determining central ideas and analyzing their development.
• Analyzing author's craft and purpose serves the standards on analyzing how an author's choices shape a text and on evaluating point of view and purpose.
• Reading poetry applies all of these to a compressed, figurative form.
• Answering the multiple-choice questions is the test-taking layer that turns the reading skills into 24 correct answers.

The thread through every skill: evidence

The single habit that runs through every Part 1 skill is answering from the text. A central idea must be one the whole passage develops; an inference must have a trigger; a craft answer must name an effect the words support; a poetry answer must respect the literal sense. The exam never rewards a conclusion you cannot point to in the text, which is why "return to the lines" is the most repeated advice across these pages.

How to study the reading skills

1. Read unseen texts widely. Literary prose, poetry, and informational pieces, practicing close reading on each.
2. Answer from evidence, not gist. Train the habit of returning to the lines before choosing.
3. Predict before you peek. Form your own answer to each question before reading the options.
4. Name the distractor. Learn the trap types so you can say why an option is wrong.
5. Read poetry in order. Sense first, then figures, then form.

For the official exam materials

NYSED publishes past Regents ELA exams, scoring keys, and rating guides on the NYSED Regents Examinations site and the NYSED high school ELA assessment page. Always practice from released exams, because the question wording and the three-text structure are board-specific.