What Part C asks
Part C has two long texts, each about 800 words, written for a wide healthcare audience, like an article in a professional magazine. Each text has eight items with four options. The items test main ideas, details, the opinions of the writer or other people, and the meaning of words or phrases in context.
Many items need inference. The answer is not written in one sentence. The text supports it, but you have to connect the ideas yourself. Stems often include words like suggests, implies, most likely, we can infer, or 'What does the writer mean by…?'
Items usually follow the order of the text, and some name a paragraph. Use this to locate each answer quickly.
Locate first, then read around it
- Read the stem only. Pick one or two key ideas, for example night shifts and medication errors.
- Find where the text discusses those ideas. If the stem names a paragraph, start there. If not, start just after the place where you found the previous answer.
- Read the matching sentence, then the sentence before it and the sentence after it. Inference often needs all three.
- Decide what those lines support and put it in your own words.
- Now read the four options. Choose the one that matches your idea, and check that every part of it is supported.
Why the sentences before and after? Writers often make a claim in one sentence and add a limit or a reason in the next. 'Early results were encouraging. However, the sample was small and most participants were young.' The second sentence changes what the first one supports.
A worked example
Read this paragraph from an article about hospital volunteers.
When Riverside Hospital began training volunteers to sit with older patients at mealtimes, the goal was simple: more patients would finish their meals. Nursing staff had noticed that patients with mild confusion often stopped eating halfway through, not because they were full but because they lost focus. After six months, ward records showed that fewer lunch trays were returned more than half full. The dietitian, Ravi Menon, is careful about what this shows. Volunteers were present only at lunch, and the same wards had started serving smaller portions during the same period. Still, nurses reported that they had more time for other tasks at lunchtime, a change that was not one of the programme's original aims.
Question: What can be inferred about the volunteer programme?
- A It has proved that volunteers improve nutrition in older patients.
- B Its effect on eating is hard to separate from another change on the wards.
- C It allowed patients to be given smaller portions at lunch.
- D It would probably work better at dinner, when patients are more tired.
B is correct. The text never says 'the effect is hard to separate', but it supports it: the dietitian is careful, and smaller portions started at the same time. Fewer full trays could be caused by either change.
- A is too strong. Proved goes much further than 'fewer trays', and the dietitian is cautious.
- C mixes two parts. Smaller portions and volunteers are both in the text, but the text does not say one caused the other.
- D is common sense, not text. It may sound reasonable, but the text says nothing about dinner or tiredness.
Three kinds of wrong option
| Wrong option type | Signs | Example from above |
|---|---|---|
| Too strong | always, never, all, only, proves, will, must, completely | Proved that volunteers improve nutrition, when the evidence is uncertain |
| Mixes two parts | Joins two ideas that are both in the text but are not connected there | Linking smaller portions to the volunteers |
| Common sense, not in the text | Sounds reasonable to a health professional, but the text never says it | A claim about dinner, which the text does not discuss |
Watch for a fourth kind too: an option that says the opposite of the text, often because you missed a small word like not, rarely or less. Read every small word in the option.
Match the strength of the text
The correct option often uses careful language, because the text itself is careful. Compare:
| Text says | Supported option | Too strong |
|---|---|---|
| The findings suggest a link… | There may be a link… | The study proved a link… |
| Some clinics have reported fewer missed appointments. | Missed appointments fell in some clinics. | Missed appointments are no longer a problem. |
| Not all staff were convinced. | Some staff had doubts. | Staff rejected the change. |
Managing time
With about 35 minutes for Part C, you have a little over 2 minutes per item, including reading time. You do not need to read all 800 words closely before you start. Read the title and first paragraph to get the topic and the writer's direction, then work item by item and read closely only the parts you need. If you prefer to read the whole text first, keep it to a fast skim of about 3 minutes.
If one item takes more than about 3 minutes, choose the best option you have, mark it, and move on. Every item is worth the same, and the next one may be quicker.
Check yourself
4 quick questions. Tap an answer to see why.
1 Which option is most likely too strong?
2 After you locate the sentence that matches the stem, what should you read next?
3 Text: 'The new triage tool was faster. Nurses, however, found it harder to use with patients who spoke little English.' Which option is supported?
4 An option states something you know is true from clinical practice, but you cannot find it in the text. What should you do?