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Reading Comprehension

UPCAT Reading Comprehension practice questions

35 free UPCAT Reading Comprehension practice questions with the correct answer and a worked explanation for every item. Read through them or run the section as a shuffled quiz.

  • 4 easy
  • 19 medium
  • 12 hard
  • 7 passages

Instructions: Read each passage, then answer the questions that follow. Base your answers only on what the passage states or implies. As in the actual UPCAT, this section includes passages in both English and Filipino.

All 35 questions

Answers shown on each page

  1. 1Which statement best expresses the main idea of the passage?
    Answer: D. Modernizing the fleet is justified, but the burden of paying for it is being misassigned.
    Main Idea
  2. 2According to the passage, how do most jeepney drivers relate to the vehicles they operate?
    Answer: A. They rent them daily and keep the fares left after a fixed payment.
    Detail
  3. 3The author mentions that financing is "calculated against a stable monthly salary" mainly to suggest that
    Answer: B. the repayment terms assume an income pattern drivers do not have
    Inference
  4. 4As used in the final paragraph, "relocated" most nearly means
    Answer: D. shifted onto a different group
    Vocabulary in Context
  5. 5The author's attitude toward fleet modernization is best described as
    Answer: C. supportive of the goal but critical of how the cost is distributed
    Tone And Purpose
  6. 6According to the passage, what gives a healthy reef its color?
    Answer: A. The zooxanthellae living in the coral's tissues
    Detail
  7. 7The passage as a whole is primarily concerned with
    Answer: B. explaining what bleaching is and why its increasing frequency matters
    Main Idea
  8. 8The passage suggests that a reef struck by severe bleaching in two consecutive years would most likely
    Answer: C. fare worse than one struck once, because recovery time was insufficient
    Inference
  9. 9As used in the last paragraph, "interval" most nearly means
    Answer: D. the time between successive events
    Vocabulary in Context
  10. 10Which best describes the function of the third paragraph?
    Answer: B. It qualifies the preceding account by noting that bleaching is survivable under certain conditions.
    Structure
  11. 11What does Delia's mother bring to the terminal?
    Answer: D. Two bags of food, still warm
    Detail
  12. 12The mother's remark that "It took me eleven minutes" most strongly implies that she
    Answer: C. once had a similar conversation with her own mother and already understands Delia's position
    Inference
  13. 13Why had Delia planned to speak at the terminal specifically?
    Answer: C. She expected the noise to soften the effect of her words.
    Inference
  14. 14The mood of the passage is best described as
    Answer: A. tender and quietly tense
    Tone And Purpose
  15. 15The final sentence is most significant because it shows that
    Answer: C. her mother's response has undone the preparation Delia relied on
    Inference
  16. 16According to the passage, trees reduce district temperature in two ways. One is by blocking radiation. What is the other?
    Answer: B. They release water that carries heat away as it evaporates.
    Detail
  17. 17The passage reports that raising canopy cover from ten to thirty percent lowers peak afternoon temperature by roughly
    Answer: B. two to three degrees
    Detail
  18. 18The passage implies that the nighttime cooling effect of trees deserves attention because
    Answer: B. sustained overnight heat is what drives heat-related hospital admissions
    Inference
  19. 19Which statement best captures the passage's overall point?
    Answer: A. Urban heat is unevenly distributed, and the districts most exposed to it have the least tree cover.
    Main Idea
  20. 20Which reason does the passage give for the lower canopy cover in newer settlements?
    Answer: A. They were built at higher density with no space reserved for planting.
    Inference
  21. 21The main claim of the passage is that
    Answer: C. both kinds of evidence are shaped by the purposes behind them, so each should be judged by what it was made to record
    Main Idea
  22. 22According to the passage, when does a village typically appear in the written archive?
    Answer: D. When it becomes a fiscal or legal matter requiring attention
    Detail
  23. 23The author acknowledges that oral tradition is "revised in transmission" chiefly in order to
    Answer: B. concede a genuine weakness before showing that written sources share it
    Structure
  24. 24As used in the second paragraph, "narrower" most nearly means
    Answer: A. more limited in scope
    Vocabulary in Context
  25. 25Based on the passage, a historian studying why a settlement relocated would be best advised to
    Answer: D. consult oral tradition, which the passage identifies as covering such matters
    Inference
  26. 26According to the passage, what happens in the hippocampus during deep sleep?
    Answer: C. It replays sequences from the day at accelerated speed.
    Detail
  27. 27The passage is chiefly concerned with arguing that
    Answer: B. sleep is an active stage of learning rather than a pause between periods of it
    Main Idea
  28. 28Based on the passage, why is an all-night study session before an exam a poor strategy?
    Answer: A. It leaves no sleep in which consolidation could take place.
    Inference
  29. 29The passage says the sorting of memories during sleep favors material that
    Answer: D. the brain has reason to treat as important
    Detail
  30. 30As used in the first paragraph, "untenable" most nearly means
    Answer: A. impossible to defend
    Vocabulary in Context
  31. 31Ano ang pangunahing diwa ng teksto?
    Answer: B. Hindi naglaho ang bayanihan; lumilitaw lamang ito kapag may pangangailangan.
    Main Idea
  32. 32Batay sa teksto, bakit hindi kaagad nakarating ang tulong mula sa labas?
    Answer: C. Nabarahan ng mga nabuwal na puno ang tanging daan papasok.
    Detail
  33. 33Ano ang ipinahihiwatig ng mga pangungusap na "Walang nag-utos. Walang nakasulat na listahan ng gawain."?
    Answer: B. Kusang-loob ang pagkilos at hindi kinailangan ng utos mula sa itaas.
    Inference
  34. 34Sa huling talata, ano ang pinakamalapit na kahulugan ng "pagkakanya-kanya"?
    Answer: A. Pag-iisip lamang sa sariling kapakanan
    Vocabulary in Context
  35. 35Alin ang pinakamahusay na paglalarawan sa layunin ng may-akda?
    Answer: C. Salungatin ang paniwalang wala nang bayanihan sa kasalukuyan
    Tone And Purpose

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