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Here are some questions for UMAT Section 1. They portray important reading skills necessary to do well in UMAT. The answers are available right underneath the answer selections, SO SCROLL DOWN SLOWLY if you feel you'd like to assess your Section 1 qualities. And if you appreciate this post, please share it to friends who are sitting the UMAT.

1) Determine the Main Idea

You should recognize key words in a sentence, main ideas in a paragraph or passage. Key words are important or essential words that determine meaning of a sentence. These are often nouns or verbs. The main ideas sometimes occur in the paragraph's topic sentence; it is often implicit. The other ideas provide support or evidence for this main idea.

Example -

Teachers and librarians need to be aware of the emotional, intellectual, and physical changes that young adults experience, and they need to give serious thought to how they can best accommodate such changes. Growing bodies need movement and exercise, but not just in ways that emphasize competition. Because they are adjusting to their new bodies and whole host of new intellectual and emotional challenges, teenagers are especially self-conscious and need the reassurance that comes from achieving success and knowing that their accomplishments are admired by others. However the typical teenage lifestyle is already filled with so much competition that it would be wise to plan activities in which there are more winners than losers, such as publishing newsletters with many student-written book reviews, displaying student artwork, and sponsoring science fiction, fantasy, or other special interest book discussion clubs. A variety of small clubs can provide multiple opportunities for leadership as well as practice in successful group dynamics. Making friends is extremely important to teenagers, and many shy students need the security of some kind of organization, with a supportive adult barely visible in the background.

In these activities, it is important to remember that young teens have short attention spans. A variety of activities should be organized so that participants can remain active as long as they want and then go on to something else without feeling guilty and without letting other participants down. This does not mean that adults must accept irresponsibility. On the contrary, they can help students acquire a sense of commitment by planning for roles that are within their capabilities and their attention spans and by having clearly states rules. Teenagers need limitations, but they also need the opportunity to help establish what these limitations and expectations will be.

Q. The main idea of this article is the:

(a) need for having clubs for students that will help them to compete.

(b) reality that student activities can help to provide a nonthreatening environment for youth.

(c) environment for learning is set by furnishings.

(d) implication that teachers and librarians should be aware of ways to assist young adults in coping with life's changes.

(e) students have great needs that are not being met.

PREFERRED ANSWER:

To find the main idea in a selection, you can often look at the topic sentence of the opening paragraph and then skim the topic sentences in subsequent paragraphs. In this passage, the main idea actually appears in the very first sentence. The correct answer is (d).

An inference is a logical conclusion or deduction a reader makes as a result of examining a passage. Often reading comprehension questions in the UMAT, focus on this skill because it requires the reader to draw on their own conclusions rather than locate the specific answer in a passage. This has to be achieved without being deceived by 'distracter' responses. You can think of yourself as a kind of detective as you build your skills in this area. Pay attention to details but realize that you cannot merely scan a passage to find the correct answer to questions.

Example -

After more than two centuries of experience, control of the Wodonga River has been reduced to four methods. First we have levees, the oldest of all. Second comes the enlargement of the discharge capacity by straightening, widening and deepening of the channels. Third in importance are the spillways, which guide excess water into auxillary channels or allow it to flood fairly small areas. Fourth, we have reservoirs to store up excess water, which may be released when natural channels are again able to carry it. Of these four methods, the construction of levees is still the surest because flood elevations are well known. Reservoirs are good but limited in usefulness because their benefits decrease with distance from the communities that are to be protected.

Despite the height that the river water once reached at St. Ann and despite the people left homeless and the damage to property and crops, the engineers have reason to survey their efforts at flood control with satisfaction. But, as has been frequently suggested, it is about time that a Wodonga River Authority is created to deal with the problems of flood control, navigation and power development.

Q. One may infer from reading this selection that:

(a) People are moving away from the area of the river in order to save their property and themselves.

(b) Life in the area of the rivers is difficult and dangerous, but living conditions are good.

(c) The government and its agencies are conducting ongoing efforts to control the rivers and improve measures already in place.

(d) The building of spillways, levees and reservoirs is very expensive.

(e) All of the above.

PREFERRED ANSWER:

The correct answer is (c). In the second paragraph, the statement is made "...the engineers have reason to survey their efforts at flood control with satisfaction". Later in the same paragraph, an authority is suggested to deal with river control. Answer (a) is incorrect, there is no mention of people moving. Answer (b) is incorrect; there is no mention of the quality of living conditions. Answer (d) is incorrect; the expense involved in control is not mentioned.

This skill is often tested by questions that ask the reader to determine what the author's purpose or reason for writing the passage is. What does the author seek to accomplish? Is the author trying to persuade the reader? to inform the reader? to entertain the reader?

Example -

In the South American rain forest reside some of the greatest acrobats on earth - monkeys. Yet agile as they are, the monkeys of the old world cannot hang by their tails. It is only the monkeys of America that possess this skill. They are called "ceboids", and their unique group includes marmosets, owl monkeys, sakis, spider monkeys, and howlers. Among these, the start gymnast is the skinny, intelligent spider monkey. Hanging head down like a trapeze artist from the loop of a liana, he may suddenly give a short swing, launch himself into space, and, soaring outward and downward across a 50 foot void, lightly catching a bough on which he spies a shining berry. No owl monkey can match his leap, for their arms are shorter, their tails untalented. The marmosets, smallest of the tribe, are tough, noisy hoodlums that travel in gangs and are also capable of leaps into space, but their landings are rough: smack against a tree trunk with arms and legs spread wide.

Q. Which of these statements does the author clearly state?

(a) The monkeys of South America are an exceedingly gregarious group and exhibit great affection for one another.

(b) The monkeys of the old world reveal an unusually high order of intelligence.

(c) The monkeys of South America have the ability to hang by their tails.

(d) Monkeys in general are very hostile towards other species of animals.

(e) South American monkeys reveal an amazing ability to adapt to captivity and therefore make splendid pets.

PREFERRED ANSWER:

This question requires you to recognize that the author's primary purpose is to point out special talents found in American monkeys. The correct answer is (c); this correct answer is drawn from sentences 2 and 3, in which the author specifically says that monkeys of the old world cannot hang by their tails, only the american monkeys can. All the other answers are incorrect as there is nothing concrete in the passage to substantiate their claim.

4) Identify the Author's Attitude

The author's attitude may be referred to as the 'tone'. You must atleast be able to identify whether the author approves or disapproves of the topic of the passage. You can do this by looking closely at the word choices. You can also consider the type of information - positive or negative?

Example -

There are a few books that go with midnight, solitude, and a candle. It is much easier to say what does not please us at that time than what is exactly right. The book must be, at last, something benedictory by a sinning fellow human being. Cleverness would be repellent at such an hour. Cleverness, anyhow, is the level of mediocrity today: we are all too infernally clever. The first witty perverse paradox blows out the candle. Only the sick mind craves cleverness, as a morbid body turns to drink. The late candle throws its beam a great distance, and its rays make transparent much that seemed massy and important. The mind at rest beside that light, when the house is asleep and the consequential affairs of the urgent world have diminished to their right proportions because we see them distantly from another and a more tranquil place in the heavens, where duty, honor, witty arguments, controversial logic, or great questions appear such as will leave hardly a trace of fossil in the indurated mud which will cover them - the mind then smiles at cleverness. For though at that hour the body may be dog-tired, the mind is lucid and white, like that of a man from whom fever has abated. it is bare of illusions. It has a sharp focus, small and starlike, as a clear and lonely flame left burning by the altar of a shrine from which all have gone but one. A book which approaches that light in the privacy of that place must come, as it were, with open and honest pages.

Q. Which of the following statements best approaches the author's attitude toward cleverness?

(a) Cleverness is a human weapon against overwhelming odds.

(b) There is something old, honest, and candid about being clever.

(c) Cleverness has something deceptive and deceitful about it.

(d) To be clever is to exhibit a high order of sophistication.

(e) Most people these days prefer direct honest judgment.

PREFERRED ANSWER:

Answer (c) is correct. This judgment of cleverness is borne out in several places: sentences 2 and 3 indicate that there is something 'repellent' about cleverness, when what man needs is something 'benedictory'. And the conclusion that a book must come with 'open and honest pages' precludes a clever work. The answer that is closest to (c) is (e), BUT this is just what the author would wish and not what is so.

5) Find Evidence

Careful reading of the passage can uncover the evidence or supporting details the author uses to develop his or her views. Usually this info appears in concrete, specific details. Whether you agree or disagree with the information - which is irrelevant to the question and the UMAT as whole - you must be able to locate evidence and determine it's validity.

Example -

Komodo dragons, like most cold-blooded reptiles, sleep during the night. As the sun rises and warms their blood, they become active, awakening from their resting places among tree roots and rocks to set out in search of food. despite their great size, Komodo dragons are quick moving and agile on the ground. They occasionally climb trees, gripping them with their large, powerful claws. They are also good swimmers, taking long, powerful strokes with their tails. When the usually solitary Komodos meet, they establish a clear hierarchy order based on size.

Q. According to this article, komodos are quite agile despite their:

(a) habitat's difficult terrain.

(b) propensity to stay with their young.

(c) large size.

(d) enormous tails that twice the size of their bodies.

(e) powerful claws.

PREFERRED ANSWER:

The correct answer is (c). This is a really simple example of finding the evidence. In the UMAT, you may need to search a bit harder but the evidence will always be right before your eyes!!!

For this skill, you must be able to assimilate new information and apply it to the material already provided in the passage. Often the question requires you to decide how this new information can be applied to the details in the passage. Be sure you read all of the possible answers before making your selection.

Example -

Lead poisoning may be observed in the acute or chronic form. Most cases of acute salt poisoning are accidental and seldom homicidal. Acute cases result from the ingestion of large amounts of soluble salt (acetate or nitrate) or many small doses at intervals. Retention of lead is cumulative so that a sudden attack may occur after a long period of administration.

The continued intake of small doses when released suddenly by the body's stores may give rise abruptly to a type of poisoning similar to that following the ingestion of a large amount. Removal of old paint by workers in a closed environment or with minimal ventilation may be responsible for on-the-job lead poisoning. Ingestion of lead containing paint and plaster by children still accounts for many cases of poisoning.

Although the symptoms of acute poisoning are varied, the patient may complain of a metallic taste, a dry burning sensation in the throat, cramps, retching and persistent vomiting. Hematemesis (vomiting of blood) may occur. In children, absorbed lead is often deposited near the epiphyseal ends of the bones and can often be seen on X-rays as a dark band near the cartilage.

Lead, after absorption, is carried by the blood to different organs, where it produces a multiform symptomatology. Symptoms can include weakness, anorexia, loss of weight, abdominal colic, constipation, backache, headache, hypertension and a variety of neurological signs. The three organ areas where lead has the greatest effect are the hematopoietic system (blood and blood producing organs), the central nervous system and the kidneys.

Q. Based on the passage above, one can see that laws prohibiting the use of lead paint and lead in petrol:

(a) are useless in preventing the serious effects of the poisoning.

(b) are only sporadically enforced around the country.

(c) can help to reduce the incidence of preventable disease.

(d) can cost construction and oil companies millions of dollars.

(e) can do nothing to control the fumes of the poison.

PREFERRED ANSWER:

The correct answer is (c). Legislation can begin to prevent disease. For all other answer choices, nothing in the passage indicates their importance.

In higher thinking, the ability to collect information and combine the details to arrive at a new conclusion is essential. The passage may also offer possible applications of the author's ideas to other similar situations. Even if you are unfamiliar with the material in the passage, DO NOT PANIC. The questions should be answered on the basis of the information provided in the passage. You are not expected to have any outside knowledge of the particular topic.

Example -

No step in life is more important than the choice of a vocation. The wise selection of the business, profession, trade or occupation to which one's life is to be devoted and the development of full efficiency in the chosen field are matters of the deepest moment to young men, young women and the public. These vital problems, should be solved in a careful, scientific way, with due regard to each person's aptitudes, abilities, ambitions, resources and limitations and the relations of these elements to the conditions of success in different industries. If a man takes up a line of work to which he is adapted, he will achieve far greater success than if he drifts into into an industry for which he is not fitted. An occupation out of harmony with the worker's aptitudes and capacities means inefficiency, unenthusiastic and perhaps distasteful labor, and low pay, while an occupation in harmony with the nature of the man means enthusiasm, love of work, and high economic values - superior product, efficient service and good pay. If a young woman chooses her vocation so that her best abilities and enthusiasms will be united with her daily work, she has laid the foundations of success and happiness. But if her best abilities and enthusiasms are separated from her daily work or do not find in it fair scope and opportunity for exercise and development; if this occupation is merely a means if making a living and the work she loves to do is sidetracked into the evening hours or pushed out of her life altogether, she will be only a fraction of the person she ought to be. Efficiency and success are largely dependent on adaptation.

Q. A thought that is contrary to the feeling of the author is that:

(a) one cannot simply relegate one's real interest in life to "spare time".

(b) a happy worker is an efficient one.

(c) if one wants to, he can work at his really important interests after he has completed his day's work.

(d) tying one's interests and enthusiasms to one's jobs can lead to a happy work experience.

(e) choosing one's career is something that calls for great care and thoughtfulness.

PREFERRED ANSWER:

Be sure to read the question carefully. This question calls for the "contrary". The correct answer is (c) - everything in the selection points to just opposite of that in the statement.