HOW TO SOLVE THE CLOZE TEST

A Cloze test consists a text passage with some certain word removed (cloze text), test taker must replace the missing words from the given options

FOR EXAMPLE:

My mother waved me goodbye and the bus ___(1)___. The man sitting ___(2)___ to me was a doctor ___(3)____ to Kannur, ___(4)___ participate in a conference.

Cloze test is a very complex sentence completion test. In this test you will be given a paragraph with few blanks. And you need to fill these blanks from the given alternatives. This test is complex and bit typical because it evaluates candidates Vocabulary power and his understanding of the message of the passage or we can say to test the ability to judge the overall meaning of the given passage.

Often we provide answer and we end up with wrong one..

How-to-crack-the close-test

This type of test are very common in Bank PO exam because the result of this test provides the ability of a candidate to understand a passage, and his knowledge to grammar as well, as grammar is the root of any language this test can judge the candidate very well. If you make a good command in these types of questions you can easily score good marks.

Now the question arises “How to solve cloze test”

The Solution to this question is simple but the main thing is practice, more and more practice, “Only Practice Not Makes a Man Perfect” But “Perfect Practice Makes a Man Perfect”

How to solve?

• First of all go through the complete passage and get a rough idea about the content and the spirit of the passage.
• In a passage mostly all the sentence are logically related to each other. These logics will give you an idea about the appropriate word for the blank space.
•  Sometimes you will easily spot the correct answer, if you get the answer immediately mark it. If not then eliminate the improbable options one by one and get the right answer.

Considering the above example,

My mother waved me goodbye and the bus ___(1)___. The man sitting ___(2)___ to me was a doctor ___(3)____ to Kannur, ___(4)___ participate in a conference

First go through the complete passage we can say according to the passage it is talking about a journey.
Now the options provided for (1) are
(a) going              (b) started          (c) arrived           (d) stopped        (e) traveling

Now in the above passage we can fill the (1) blank with “(b) started” as going is not proper word, it cannot be “arrived” because if someone saying good bye that means other person is going not arriving so it is also not appropriate word. Similarly cannot be “stopped”. And finally it cannot be “traveling”.

In similar way by eliminating improbable words we can find other blank as shown below.

The options for (2) are:
(a) next                (b) besides         (c) near                (d) side                    (e) neighbour
This blank will be filled by “(a) next”

The options for (3) are:
(a) coming           (b) arriving          (c) going               (d) visiting           (e) flying
This blank will be filled by “(c) going”

The options for (4) are:
(a) to                     (b) for                   (c) so                     (d) and                 (e) then
This blank will be filled by “(a) to”

This way you can easily get the point by finding the spirit of the passage as here the spirit of the passage was the boy is going somewhere thus this makes easier to eliminate words like ‘arriving, stopped, etc ’from the given options.

Constant practice will help to answer cloze test quickly and accurately. The best practice to solve these questions is regular reading and interaction with English. And let me remind you again this can help you to score full marks in this cloze test. Practice more and more, clear your doubts, ask questions (off course we are always here for your help).

A Practice Passage is given below:

Smile, they say, and soon there will be miles and miles of smiles. If we keep ___(1)___ ourselves and do not mix with others, we shall soon be left alone to ponder ___(2)___ the misfortunes of life. Nobody likes to come across a ___(3)___ and self-centred person. People ___(4)___ gregarious and outgoing souls who are prepared to share their joys and sorrows ___(5)___ if they have the capacity to laugh ___(6)___ their problems and miseries. Laughter brings people ___(7)___ whereas keeping to oneself distances people. It has ___(8)___ been rightly said that laughter is the shortest distance between two persons. Once two persons ____(9)____ together, the circle of acquaintance and consequently friendship ___(10)___, thus making the world a happy place to live in.

1. (a) by                 (b) to                    (c) with                 (d) into              (e) across
2. (a) over             (b) on                   (c) at                     (d) upon            (e) above
3. (a) sad               (b) serious          (c) glum               (d) selfish          (e) resent
4. (a) like              (b) love                (c) hate                 (d) dislike         (e) resent
5. (a) disappear   (b) vanish           (c) increase          (d) fade out      (e) develop
6. (a) at                  (b) over               (c) away                (d) on               (e) above
7. (a) close            (b) near               (c) together          (d) apart          (e) different
8. (a) hence          (b) so                   (c) however          (d) therefore   (e) thus
9. (a) get               (b) come              (c) sit                     (d) are              (e) go
10. (a) widens      (b) broadens      (c) increases         (d) grows         (e) narrows

Answers:
(1) b.     (2) a.      (3) c.      (4) b.     (5) b.     (6) c.      (7) c.      (8) d.     (9) b.     (10). d