1. Reading 101
Inferential Skills

2. Learning Objectives

To recognise and be aware of information gaps
when they exist.

To apply inferential skill in filling information
gaps when they exist and when knowledge is
limited so questions can still be effectively
solved.

3. Introduction

Information gaps are present when there are
missing pieces of information.

Many sections in Booklet A and B employ
information gaps to test your command of
English.

To close the information gaps quickly, we need
language skills and knowledge.

We will see some examples of information gaps
in the questions that follow.

4. Information Gap in Vocab MCQs
Q: The cashier needs to ________ my credit card
before requesting for my signature.
1) swap 2) stroke 3) streak 4) swipe
Two things need to happen before you can answer
the question correctly:
1) You need to know what the multiple choices
mean – Vocab Knowledge
2) You need to find the Key Words (for contextual
clues) to understand what the sentence's meaning
is – Vocab Skill

5. Information Gap in Vocab MCQs

The most powerful way of solving information
gap questions is through the utilisation of both
Vocab Knowledge and Skill.

Using Vocab Knowledge of 'swap', 'swipe',
'streak' and 'stroke', you know that only 'swap'
and 'swipe' talk about cards.

Using Vocab Skill, the key words are 'cashier',
'credit card' and 'signature', you know that a
purchase was made.

The answer is therefore, swipe

6. Limit of Vocab Knowledge

Using a combination of Vocab Knowledge and
Skill, your chances of filling in information
gaps correctly is greatly enhanced.

Even if your Vocab Knowledge is lacking, you
can rely on Vocab Skill – with key words to
guess the meaning of the sentence – to find the
most probable answer.

The exact name of this skill is called
inferential skill – using key words to fill in a
missing piece of information.

7. Inferential skill

A flowchart of how inferential skill works is as
follows
Read the
piece of info
Select Key
Words Understand
the info's Choose /
contextual Recall Best
meaning Answer
Close Info
By using key words, the answer can Gap!!
be inferred, helping you to close any
information gap.

8. Inferential Skill in Compre Cloze

In Comprehension Cloze, inferential skill is
especially critical.

In this section, the key words extend to include
not just one sentence but several paragraphs.

This means that you need to understand the
structure of paragraphs before you can apply
inferential skills in closing information gaps.

9. Structure of a Paragraph
Simply speaking, a paragraph has:
1) a Topic Sentence (TS) -
The first sentence in any paragraph.
Lists the main idea of the entire paragraph.
2) some Supporting Points (SP) -
The remaining sentences after TS.
Give details to support the main idea in TS.

10. Inferential Skill in Compre Cloze

Once you have understood a passage's Topic
Sentences and Supporting Points, you can
apply inferential skill for each.

Underline the key words as you usually would
for the main idea in TS and the details in SP.

Practiced over time, this Vocab Skill of
inferencing will help you to increase your
chances of filling all Information Gaps in
Compre Cloze effectively.

11. In summary

The challenge of filling Information Gap is the
most common problem in Booklet A and B.

Using Inferential Skill, we have an effective
strategy to tackle Vocab MCQs, Compre Cloze
and OE.

With the help of Key Words and 5W1H, we can
dissect a passage's main ideas and help us fill
the information gaps easily and quickly.

12. In Summary