Reading Strategies for EPD

Most students approach EPD reading texts the way they would read a novel: from the beginning, word by word, before glancing at a single question. On the exam, this wastes time and costs points. The students who score well in Leseverstehen do not read more; they read smarter. They know what they are looking for before they start reading.

Three Strategies — and When to Use Each

There are three reading modes you need to know and deploy deliberately. None of them is right for every situation. The key is choosing the right one at the right moment.

Skimming means moving through a text quickly to grasp the topic and overall structure. You do not read every sentence; instead you scan headings, the first sentence of each paragraph, and prominent keywords. Use skimming at the very beginning, before you work on any questions. It builds a mental map of the text so you know roughly where each piece of information lives. Budget roughly 1–2 minutes for this first pass over the entire text. No more.

Scanning means searching purposefully for a specific piece of information: a number, a name, a keyword. When scanning you do not read the text fully; your eye travels over the lines until the detail you are looking for appears. Scanning is the tool for each individual question: you have read the question, you know the keyword, so now scan the text to locate the relevant passage. This should take only a few seconds per question. You already know the keyword, so let your eye jump to it rather than reading linearly.

Intensive reading means reading a passage carefully and completely to understand every nuance. This sounds like the default, but it is not. Intensive reading is expensive: it takes time. Use it only for the specific sentence or paragraph relevant to a question, never for the whole text.

Do not read word-by-word from start to finish. Word-by-word reading feels thorough, but on a timed exam it is the slowest and least strategic approach: you spend equal effort on irrelevant paragraphs and critical ones. The three modes above exist precisely to replace that habit.

The Right Order

Read the questions first. Then skim the entire text. Then, for each individual question, scan for the relevant passage and read only that section intensively. This sequence sounds counterintuitive at first, but it saves significant time on the exam because you never read without a purpose.

Task Type: True / False / Not in Text

This task type demands precise reading, not fast reading. Read the statement, scan to find the relevant text passage, then compare carefully (not for general sense, but word by word). Pay special attention to:

• Numbers and percentages: a changed number makes a statement false
• Modal verbs: muss (must) and kann (can) mean very different things
• Negations: kein, nicht, kaum can flip the entire meaning
• Paraphrases: the statement uses different words from the text but means the same thing

Watch out for tricky paraphrases that look wrong at first glance but are actually true. For example, the text says "Fast 80 % der Befragten bevorzugen öffentliche Verkehrsmittel." The statement reads: "Die Mehrheit nutzt lieber den Bus oder die Bahn." Your first instinct may be to mark this false because the wording is so different, but "fast 80 %" is a clear majority, and "öffentliche Verkehrsmittel" includes buses and trains. The statement is a paraphrase, not a contradiction. When in doubt, translate both sentences into their core claim and compare those.

True (Richtig): matches the text exactly. False (Falsch): contradicts something the text states. Not in text (Nicht im Text): the information is completely absent; the text simply does not address it.

Task Type: Complete a Parallel Text

In parallel text tasks it is not enough for a sentence to fit content-wise; it must also fit grammatically and logically into the flow. Read the sentence before and after each gap carefully. Look for cohesion markers: pronouns (what do they refer to?), connectors (deshalb, jedoch, außerdem: what logical relationship follows?), and thematic words that belong to the same field as the surrounding text. One sentence will always be left over. That is deliberate; it does not fit anywhere.

Task Type: Gap-Fill with Word Bank

First read the entire text to understand the topic and register. Then fill in the gaps you are confident about, as this shortens the word bank and makes the remaining gaps easier. Always check both: grammar (case, gender, verb form) and meaning in context. Each word is used only once.

Task Type: Synonyms in Context

Some words have multiple meanings, but only the contextual meaning counts here. Do not just read the sentence with the underlined word; also read the sentence before and after it. Then decide which of the offered words takes on the same function in this specific context.

Task Type: Multiple Choice

Read the question and all options before scanning the text for the relevant passage. Eliminate wrong options systematically: which contradicts the text? Which is not in the text at all? Which is too general or too specific? The correct answer must be traceable to a concrete text passage.

Common Mistakes

❌ Reading the whole text intensively before looking at the questions. Without a search direction you pay equal attention to everything, which wastes time and leaves no mental structure for the tasks.

❌ Getting stuck on an unknown word. An unfamiliar word is not a reason to stop. Skip it, try to derive the meaning from context, or accept that this word may not matter for any of the questions.

❌ Answering from memory instead of returning to the text. Memory simplifies and distorts. Always find the concrete text passage and compare it directly to the statement, especially in True/False/Not in Text.

❌ Spending equal time on every question. Some questions solve quickly, others need more attention. Mark uncertain ones and come back. Never leave a question blank.